My 6 day Ebro adventure day 4

[SIMPLE MAN]

Well as normal we are of at 0830ish and today i have the mother of all hangovers i think its a miracle that i am up at all i really feel rough,Alan being Alan wasn't taking the pee too much lol anyway its quite windy today so this might help my recovery I HOPE !!!!,we are soon driving along the river bank and as we stop for a quick chat with the Dutch although still very frustrated they have at least banked a 80lb fish so we wish them well and head up the river back to our swim and the winds getting even stronger now and with the river so low this time of the year the banks have just dried up and the dust being blown around is really quite uncomfortable,we are back to 2 carp and 2 cat rods today and its not long before Alan is trying to get my cat baits over the other side of the river much to my amusement as the wind is making it quite hard to row,but he gets there in the end and when he comes back he tells me if it gets any stronger he will fit the outboard on,anyway all the rods are out so we sit beside the land rover to try and keep out the way,even the rods are swaying quite alarmingly and to be honest i get the feeling we are going to struggle not so much identifying the bites as the cats don't mess around too much but more with keeping all our gear from flying off down wind and also keeping the dust out of our eyes plus the fact i think i feel worse now than i did this morning and just as i am thinking am i brave enough to try a can of pop no 2 cat rod springs into life i dash to pick up the rod and strike and for some reason this thing takes off like a steam train down stream,usually they head up river but not this one,after 5 or 6 min i have it mid stream and tell Alan i think its a 70-80lber at this point Ronny appears for his early morning hows it going chat and cant believe i am in to another fish,still this thing is trying to go down river and although putting up a good fight i am still convinced its a med size fish but because of the wind even when it comes to the surface you cant really tell,a further 10mins passes and Alan says i think this is bigger than you think mate but i am still not convinced and about 5 mins later its in the margins and Alan's in the river ready to glove it and as he does he says John this could be another 150lb plus fish and as i head down towards the water line and Alan starts to drag this thing out of the water its only then that i see its true size yyeeess i cant quite believe it another real corker and this one comes in at 163lb

And Alan decides i should have my photo bear hug style,he said its because it makes a good picture but i think he thought a face full of wet slime might help to cure my ongoing hang over but to be honest i didn't really care,another spanker on the bank what can i say WOW,Ronny said his goodbyes and wished us luck and to be honest i felt a bit sorry for him and his clients but full marks to Alan the guy has put me on to some crackers
Anyway fish released and i plucked up courage to try a can of pop and just about managed to keep my dignity JUST so bait back out and just as we sat down a tornado came rolling along the bank,Alan said they appear along here quite often !!!!!!!!!!! thank God they are only small ones hhmmmmmm anyway it all seemed to go quiet for a while apart from the wind which was still causing havoc with anything that wasn't secured down
As mid day arrived my no 1 cat rod lurched forward and i ran down and struck and what the f*** is this i kid you not i am a big lump and this thing pulled me 6-8 ft down the bank i said to Alan big fish mate big fish and he replied i will just have a can of pop then and roll a fag (cheeky b******)well he knows he has 20 min or so before i need his help (bless him) anyway this thing is going on long deep runs and certainly giving me a work out and after 20mins and Alan having his fag and pop i have another absolute stunner which comes in on the scales at 157lb and at this point i would just like to say i know it doesn't look that big but it goes to show how different camera angles can make such a big difference

And just as we released it my other cat rod sprang into action and bloody hell it feels like another cracker but on its 2nd run it dropped off and to be honest i was quite relieved as i am not sure how i would have mustered up the energy (never mind)
At 13.30 my carp rod awoke and after a short battle i had a nice common of 22lb and at 16.30 i hooked another carp which didn't really feel that big until i got it into the margins and saw this huge lump coming towards me and a quick roll and i lost would have been for sure a new pb GUTTED at 17.10 i hooked and lost another carp but not in the same bracket as the last,and just as we were starting to pack up i had a common of 18lb just to round the day off
So that was it for another day the Dutch hadn't had anything else and when we got back to the bar tonight Martin was in good heart as the police had found some of his property that had been stolen a few days before and the w****** were now safely behind bars so as a treat tonight he shut the bar and took us for a very nice Chinese (beer included) Thanks Martin
Day 5 to follow soon

[MRG2000]

Another amazing day at the river , cracking report and pictures John......

[mac1]

Wow nice fish..........