Winter carpfishing in Spain (II)-en

Emptiness dominated my feelings after another fishless night. Somehow I couldn’t sense the meaning of this trip. Too many rare things had happened in my relationship. Doubts were accumulating and my mind was totally confused. We had always been doing these trips together, it was so different now on my own with Chico. Plus living with the uncertainty of whether I actually was in a relationship or not. My doubts were getting out of control. They were constantly fed by stranger and stranger news. I was entangled in really negative thoughts. And it made less and less sense to be here alone trying to catch some fish. Though I told myself several times that day that one doesn’t drive more than 2000 km just to realize that he is in a misery and feeling fucking lonely. Being in an apartment watching into screens wouldn’t have helped either; that was for sure.

Five nights without any signs of fish – plus plenty of fishless time spent there in the past in wintertime – I had lost any positive phantasy of how things might turn. It might become just overwintering and a simple life at a beautiful place meaning that I would loose my motivation for good fishing far too early. Actually, I already was not so comfortable with the waiting game. I went for a small walk along the waterline and watched around me. Thick clouds were pressed northwards by the westerly wind and crashed on the point in 450 metres, where the spontaneously placed rod was still laying untouched. January is known for some tough fishing and it might have been just the start of it. I was truly lost in an emotional deep until – like really out of the blue – a screaming run disturbed my pessimism.

The long distance rod in eight metres water had really burst into action. First I looked for the eventual black bass anglers, a stork or whatever could cause the reel to continuously give line. No otter entangled, it was a carp! Pure adrenaline strongly pulsed through my veins. As fast as possible I fetched my life vest at the tent and ran back down the steep margin, grabbed my rod, jumped into the banana boat and pulled myself to the fish by reeling under constant pressure. The boat moved fast, only touched by the wind from the side while I felt a calmly fighting fish over deep water. After around ten minutes gliding over the water surface, I was close to her and she immediately showed her golden and big body. She made several deep dives just under the boat, always forcing me to change the rod from one boat side to the other with the rod tip deep under water. I looked around, sitting in small boat on the big lake with thick clouds moving from the damn wall fast towards me with a fully bended rod in my hands: nothing can be beat this feeling.

She really was gorgeous with an orange shine and a lovely build. And just while I installed the camera stuff for the photography session, for the first time in the last five days the sun made her way through the thick layer of clouds. It was the perfect moment and I immediately felt the kindness of the lake and could not help but smile with a 21 kg common in my hands.

How easy a good catch can change the mood of a carpangler. It made click and I realized that I just need focussing on fishing and enjoying being in this wonderful nature. Pessimism and loneliness had turned into joy and freedom. I completely arrived. And could hardly believe the luck of being able to spend some months here.

Bonne merde,
Alex