Sierra Brava Lake, Extremadura, Spain

Here how we got on in Spain 2 weeks ago:

We arrived in Madrid airport and were collected by the arranged taxi which took us 4 hours drive South to the Extremadura region. Matt our guide from fatanglingtours rang and asked us exactly what our preferences were, whether we wanted to stay in the house at night or on the lake which I choice on the lake ASAP, Matt and Steve headed out ahead of us and set up all our gear at our swims. After about 2 hours Matt rang again and said he was standing on the dam looking down at about 50 40lb Carp bathing in the sun. As you can imagine I couldn’t wait to get fishing, We arrived down through the mountain covered in thousands of olive threes and passed about 3 or 4 lakes that were absolutely massive and would put Inniscarra to shame.

Anyways after getting all our supplies (beer & ice) from the market we arrived at the Sierra Brave lake which is about 15 KM in length and absolutely beautiful. Our 3 swims were right along side each other and the snags were plentiful. Lots of dead Olive trees still stood from the flooding of the valley 15 years ago. We were set up for 10 on Tursday night but had to reel in at 12 again as you are not aloud fish in the dark. We had no runs the first night but the Carp were topping everywhere and I was awoken all night by these monsters jumping clean out of the water. Matt and Steve had put us straight on the fish, before we put the head down about 10KG of all sorts of boilies were put out along with corn tigers pellets etc...
Up at 5 ready for road, We decided to fish 1 rod each over a bed of sweet corn using fake pop up corn and real tigers on the hair and our other 2 rods with different boilies. I was first off Friday with 2 big fish hooked but lost them both in the snags (Freaked). Soon after my brother landed this 33lb Common on the corn and tigers.




Soon after Anya was in and landed the only mirror of the trip at 28lb also on the corn and tigers.



Things were quite till about 5 in the afternoon then Stephen was into a massive fish which he couldn’t stop and ended up loosing it in one of the Olive trees. We had another few runs that night but nothing banked and we finally reeled in about 1.30 in the morning.
Back up at 6 and on with the Spanish sausages (advise to bring some Irish with you!) Beeeeeep and Stephen was off again with another hard fighting Common at 34lb on the corn and Tigers again.



Soon after I was into the first fish on boilies which pulled about 50 meter straight off the spool and fought like hell, This was by far the biggest fish of the trip and after about 20 mins I had him in close when I hit a snag which I later found out was a submerged Olive tree about 20 meters out left of my swim that I didn’t know about.
Soon after Anya was in again and landed this 35lb Common on the boilies.



Saturday evening i took a spin into the local town nearby with the guide Matt to get some supplies and we stopped at the dam to have a look if the Carp were back bathing, we were looking down at 2 Carp of about 60lb, throwing in some corn pellets to see if they would feed when this absolute monster came in which Matt reckoned was hitting the 80lb mark, this fish was bloody massive. The lake record is 83lb and there must be bigger in there.
We had another few runs that evening which were all on Mistral Baits Crab & Crawfish boilies so we each set up our 2 rods on these and kept 1 on the corn. That night we fished till 1.30 and before bed we put out a few KG of the Crab & Crawfish in each of our swims.

Well it was our last day Sunday and I still hadn’t banked a fish. About 3.30 in the morning Stephen woke me up saying he had dreamt we had caught some massive Carp and we should get the rods out, so we did and after about 10 minutes of my first rod out off the beeper went and I landed this Sierra Brave Monster at a hole 3lb. My new Spanish PB



Later that morning Anya feeling sorry for me said I could reel in a Carp if she got a run on either of the 2 outside rods but the middle one was hers, just as the words left her mouth off went the middle rod and she let me have it and came in at 34lb on the boilies.



After that Stephen was in and landed a 5lb common. He then was off again and landed a Turtle on a roach, he was trying to catch one of the Black Bass which were chasing pray in front of us since we arrived.
At about 2 o clock when things were usually very quite I got a run and finally landed a proper fish on my own rods. Weighed in a 36lb and also on the boilies.



All in all we had a great trip and new PB's for the 3 of us and I cant wait to get back there again soon to bank that 40 or 50. Our guides Matt and Steve were great and called down a few times a day with fresh food, beer and ice and anything else we needed and advise on tactics. Between the 2 of them they have had 18 fish over 40lb this year alone and the biggest to Matt at 64lb.
If anyone is interested in getting out there the contacts are on: www.fatanglingtours.com and the latest news / catch reports on here:http://fatangling.blogspot.com/
All the gear is provided and you only need to bring terminal tackle so flying in and out makes it a hassle free trip.

Later..

well done tony
great report and some lovely fish

Well done....Great fishing holiday ye .....The fish are in top condition that common that ur brother caught is a fine fish good angling

Nice one Tony

Super stuff Tony , great report . This and Tom's report will sufface great interest great interest inthis Venue and maybe get the ball rolling for a
carpfishingireland trip .


The only bad thing is the olive trees .
Are there trees and snags on every swim ?

I wouldnt worry about the snags, The underwater snags were only on the left of my swim, the other 2 swims were fine besides the trees that were visable, There are other spots with no trees but the carp were holding up around these trees and id fish the same spot again no problem. I lost a few fish from my own mistakes but ill know better next time:D

Ya a carpfishingireland trip would be fab, the growd i went with said they have the full gear for 12 anglers but will be able accompany more after September, The crowd Tom went with will prob be able to do the same so ya we should organise a trip

Ill throw up a video of our swims later on once i get it on youtube to give you an idea

Here gives you an idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07PLl5Q9NLY

Well done nice fish. Where abouts is the place that ye were fishing?

deadly tony nice one

great report Tony looks like u's had a cracking session.

Thanks lads

Florian,

Go to the maps at the end of Toms article if your looking to know exactly where it is. I cant remember the name of the town close by though.

Fairplay to ya's! Extremadura is on my hit list. Spanish record is from that region, can't beat those big wild fish. well done lads & lassie. GG