River Extramadura in Spain

[mark walters]

Well what a lovely place Extremadura is and the fishing aint bad either, 4 of us fished although only 2 of us fished on all 5 days, we had a total of 131 Barbel between us, with a few Carp and small cat fish thrown in aswell, I myself had 40 Barbel which could of been alot more had I stayed put but I chose to try different area's in search of some larger fish. Most of my fish were in the 4-6lb bracket with Collin who had only ever caught 2 Barbel before that trip catching the biggest at 8lb 2oz. I should of tried fishing lives which apparantly bring the bigger specimens but I was just happy to be catching but I will be giving this a go when i return later in the year. The bird life is amazing with Eagles,Vultures,Kites and Cranes as common as blackbirds, If anyone is thinking about going then I cant reccomend it enough.

[manu31999]

Hi Mark

Look's like you and your mate's had a great time on hol on the Extremadura in Spain.
The picture's are stunning What a great looking River and Barbel they are.

Thank's for posting on the site for are member to enjoy.

Sound's like some fantastic wildlife to see as well that's if you had time to take your eye's off your Rods.

Nigel (manu31999)

[johngp]

Hi Mark

Well done on your catchs looks fab there and good views ..Ill be heading back to spain next year with Barry for his first trip and he will be stunned when he gets some fish ..Well my holiday starts next thursday so fingers crossed i get as many as you but there are a lot of different species in Thailand and we are hoping for a few monsters!

Regards,

John.

[browny]

Mark

Nice stats for a trip to Extremadura plenty of fish, spectacular scenery and brilliant social locals. I am out on Embalse del Zujar as well as the rio Zujar and Guadiana in a few weeks time for my 6 year after the barbel and carp.

I have just found out that the licence system appears to have changed in Extremadura and they don't seem to be available via Telelicencia as they have been previously. Can you help me out on what the changes are and where you can get a licence from now?

cheers

Paul

[CabbagePatchKid]

Is it a trick of perspective or do those Barbel have huge heads?

[hooklength]

Yes I thought that when I saw the pics strangely angular with big mouths mind you they arent the same species as our barbus barbus are they
Pete

[CabbagePatchKid]

Not sure Pete, but local conditions must play their part in evolution even if they're the same species?

Cheers, Nick

[mark walters]

Mark

Nice stats for a trip to Extremadura plenty of fish, spectacular scenery and brilliant social locals. I am out on Embalse del Zujar as well as the rio Zujar and Guadiana in a few weeks time for my 6 year after the barbel and carp.

I have just found out that the licence system appears to have changed in Extremadura and they don't seem to be available via Telelicencia as they have been previously. Can you help me out on what the changes are and where you can get a licence from now?

cheers

Paul

Paul you can obtain the licence by completeing the form from any bank and pay the fee(£5.50) they then issue you a reciept which aparently covers you for 3 months, in which time if you havent collected the actual license from the local enviroment agency office they will post it on to you. I collected mine straight away as I didn't have any faith in it ever reaching me. I was in Merida and the bank and EA office were only 5 minutes apart so it wasn't too much hassle, if your planing on visiting Merida and need any adresses for bait/licenses etc let me know. I'm hoping to get back there in September I'l be interested to hear how you get on with the Carp as i was thinking about having a go myself next time, i had a look at Embalse de Alange when i was there, seemed to be plenty of fish in there.


Yes fellas there heads are alot bigger than ours, those fish are actually Comizo Barbel we also caught smaller fish were were more silver in colour and looked more like our the fish at home i think they were Iberian Barbel. The bigger Comizo are very predatory so maybe this has altered the shape of there mouths and live baiting will be my chosen method next time.

[browny]

Thanks Mark.

That seems to be the same process as I have used on some years previously, although I hadn't realised that you can fish on the receipt. This means I don't have to make the long trip from Isla del Zujar to Merida which is good news. I found telelicencia to be an easy option in recent years but it is more expensive than buying direct.

As far as the carp fishing is concerned, these embalses are not to be taken lightly. There are some huge fish but they take some finding. I have fished on Zujar 5 years in a row whilst on family holiday in August and not had a double (carp or barbel). I have however had my first barbel and carp on lures whilst after the black bass!! Zujar has produced carp to over 70lb and barbel not far shy of 20lb, so they are there but there are lots and lots of smaller ones as well.

Your right about the species of barbel, comizos and iberian will be what you are catching with the potential from the Guadiana for comizos of up to 40lbs. However there is just so much water, it is a bit of a needle in a haystack job.

Cheers

Paul