Geoff Maynard, Dr Paul Garner and Gordy Hows- Fishing Magic
Travel Report

Geoff Maynard returns to Spain in search of a different and much more elusive Ebro monster.

…Gary Sheridan is fluent in Spanish and has been running angling trips on the Ebro for donkey’s years. I first met him about a dozen years ago when he guided fishing trips from his home on the delta. He’d already been at it for some years by then so there’s not much anyone can teach him about the job. He’s probably one of, if not the longest serving British angling guide on the river.

Find him via www.carpdreamfishing.com

Around three years ago he moved his base up to Caspe, so was a natural choice of guide for us. Gary was able to put us up in an apartment in the middle of town, handy for shops, bars and restaurants and much better than most of the angler accommodations I have experienced in Spain.

He also arranged our licenses and was a general mine of information about both the fishing and the area in general.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE…

Kevin and father Kevin “the catfish” Kelsey

Well, where do I start! After much anticipation and excitement, both my father and I arrived on a sunny Sunday morning at Reus airport. On arriving at the airport we were greeted by Pat, an expat and a great bloke who provided us with lots of knowledge on the surrounding area on our drive to Gary’s new house in Caspe.

The First day of our trip was spend looking around the local area and the stunning River Ebro trying to find likely spots to catch the monsters that we were searching for. After looking round the very beautiful and picturesque part of the river we were going to be fishing both my father and I were very eager and could not wait to catch our first catfish from the Ebro.

Later that evening we pre-baited a swim before hitting the sack ready to be up bright and early.

Neither my father or I had caught catfish before, but had heard from a number of friends and colleagues what to expect from them. However nothing could have prepared us for the week we were about to have! NOTHING!

Morning one started with the wind blowing a gale but we still managed to get out to fish over our swim we had pre-baited the night before. Half an hour after the rods went it the alarms were screaming and I was in to what I thought was a monster, these fish fight like no other fish I have EVER hooked into! When we got it on to the bank it was a 45lb catfish, the first of the trip which although it was not the biggest fish it was one of the greediest! With a mouth full of about 15 pellets, this fish had put up a good scrap and had me wondering of what it must be like to hook a 100lb + fish!

We had one more fish of about 25lb before the wind got the better of us, so we decided to go and get our shopping in and come back in the afternoon. We chose a swim well covered when we came back in the afternoon. And what an afternoon it was! Our first day resulted in 5 fish with the biggest being a 106lb belter from my Dad.

As the wind stayed quite blowy for most of the week we decided to stick to the swim we had fished in the afternoon for the rest of the week and this paid off in a big way! Over the next 5 days we caught a total of 35 fish with a combined weight of over 3000lb, YES, 3000lb of catfish. With 9 fish over 100lb!! (5 of which were caught by my Dad….grrr) With the biggest weighing in at 148lb was caught by myself. Most of the fish we caught were well over 70lb with a majority in the 90’s with a 100lb + fish landed everyday!!!

This was one of the best trips we could have imagined, the weather in Caspe is hot, the River Ebro is beautiful, the catfish fight harder than anything I have hooked and more than anything Gary worked as hard as any of those catfish fought to ensure that we were happy and catching as many fish as was humanly possible in one week.

I cannot say THANK YOU enough to Gary and his family for making this the trip of a life time and something I will never forget! (until next year when we return!!). I would recommend Gary to anyone, he is a great guy who is willing to go out of his way to ensure that you have a great trip that you will not forget in a hurry!

Neil Turton, Manchester

Having fished virtually all over the world over the last twenty years, both freshwater and salt for some of the most demanding fish the world has to offer both guided and unguided, and believe me some of the guided trips have been a total waste of time, how they can take your hard earned cash and sleep easy is beyond me. Well how pleasantly surprised I was after my first visit to Gary Sheridan’s.

Nowadays I am a bit skeptical about booking but the initial skeptic in me was soon brushed aside, yes I caught fish ,also some good ones it was everything I hoped it would be, when I originally looked at the Ebro I looked at various outfits listened to friends that had fished there, its a mine field especially if its your first time, but I liked the sound of carp dream fishing so stuck with it also it was to be a family holiday so the days were reserved for family activity the excellent beaches are a ten minute drive away also the universal Mediterranean theme park is only forty minutes away family sorted that leaves the nights for fishing you will catch carp and you will catch catfish they are there to the same mega proportions as the upper Ebro it is a little harder than other stretches

Plus side, the lower Ebro has lush tree lined banks plenty of snags extensive weed beds crystal clear water loads of wild life and you wont meet many other anglers, if you want to fish 24/7 you can, if you want to do it with your mates you can, if a group of you split the cost.

I don’t think you will find anywhere on the ebro as cheap, if like me you have a family and want to do a bit of fishing as well as family things you can and still catch some huge fish with limited time on the bank, and in case that’s not enough to wet your appetite Gary and his wife Loring are two of the nicest people you could hope to meet who will do there utmost to make your stay an enjoyable one.

I have know hesitation in recommending carp dream fishing to anyone whatever your level of experience novice or expert alike I even have a group of American friends that are threatening to come over to fish with Gary to try and catch a monster European catfish knowing them and Gary I’m sure that there will be more than one monster caught on that trip.

John And Sue Mcarthy

Having holidayed around most of Europe for the last few years doing the sun, drink and nightlife scene sue and I decided to combine another of our obsessions, fishing. I still wanted to have the pleasure of new surroundings and people, but wanted to combine this with a different style of. Experience. We had seen on the internet, holidays advertised, so decided to contact a number of them for information on availability, price and what sort of amenities, equipment etc. They provided. On each email I stipulated that because of the Xmas period I would understand if the level of attention and guidance was a little less. Of the five I contacted only one replied the same day, www.carpdreamfishing.com.