Fishing in Extremadura: a week in paradise ...

Fishing paradise exists, I'm coming from it. And it's not far away, in Spain, in Extremadura. You book a week (well in advance) and launch yourself into the unknown. Well, for me, it was the unknown, and there are other fishing paradises, but this one holds the road.

It's never too late to let go of your desires, never too late to indulge your passion, never too late to treat yourself to your first fishing trip. And if, at the same time, you can offer it to your son and do it with friends, well, I'm telling you, when you get back on the plane, you'll wonder why you ever came back.

This story begins last year, Vincent knows Matthieu and tells me:

- Philippe, shall we do this?

- Let's do what?

- Broc and bass in Extremadura. I'd like you to meet Matthieu, the center's boss, whom I've known for a long time.

Let's chat, with Matthieu, what is this center, where is it, what do we do, how is it?

Decision made quickly, very quickly indeed. We decide to take a week in May 2018, with the bridges we limit the days to ask and this period is favorable to a mixed bass / Pike program. There will be 6 of us, my son and 4 friends, then we'll have to wait... and waiting is long... Friday evening, that's it. The pack is ready, the lures too (far too many...), the rods in the tube, the tube in the car, and everyone on the plane (not the car, we decide to leave it in the parking lot).

A quick word about Extremadura Monster, the service provider we used.

This part's going to go fast: perfect. The concept is "go fishing in Extremadura, we'll take care of everything". The first ones in the water in the morning, the last ones out in the evening, great guides who know the water like the back of their hand. Dream boats, the 80km/h runs between spots alone are worth the trip. The house for the 6 of us is just perfect, accommodation, breakfast and lunch included in the package, with a view of the lake to boot.

The destination.

Fishing on 3 different lakes, each with its own special features.

On-site, Orellana. Typical dam lake, huge, with meanders everywhere, bays, points, big bottom, shallow areas. Pike and Bass on the menu, although Comizo Barbel can also be found, but later in the season. Fishing at this time of year is all about the edges, Bass and Pike, but also pelagic Pike in certain areas teeming with huge shoals of bleak, which the Pike gorge themselves on to burst their bellies.

. [caption id="attachment_1540" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Breathtaking scenery for a dream destination![/caption]

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Garcia Sola. Just 30 minutes away, a totally different, mid-mountain setting. Smaller, steeper, prettier too. Bass densities are mind-boggling, the average size indecent. Pike and zander are also on the water, but we'll focus on bass.

The Serena. Another different setting. A large, open, fairly flat, grassy plain, a huge lake where navigation can quickly become complicated due to exposure to the wind. When the lake was impounded, the Eucalyptus forests were drowned, which is where the Pike hide. This is the metre factory. On Paul's boat, our guide, no unmeasured fish ever came aboard. That says it all. A trick reserved for psychopaths: you cast into the trees and when it hits it's metered and you have to extract the pike from authority as if it were a Perch, because if it hangs 10cm, it goes back into the branches and it's dead.

. [caption id="attachment_1541" align="aligncenter" width="800"] We're on 2 boats, Vincent my son and I with Paul, Christian, Christophe and Thomas with Nil.[/caption]

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For us, it'll be an all-inclusive fishing program, we want to touch everything, bass and broc. We'll start with Orellana on Sunday, then Garcia Sola on Monday. The idea is to see how they react and then decide according to the fishing and the results, bearing in mind that we'll of course be doing a day at the Serena. Impossible not to go.

Finally, the brookies are difficult at Orellana, so we'll spend another day there, on Tuesday, but we'll insist more on Garcia Sola, as the bass are on fire there...

Fishing.

According to the era, techniques will of course change, as fish outfits are not the same. As far as we're concerned and on our boat (the guide adapts to our requests), here's the essential fishing we've done.

Pike at Orellana.

The lake is teeming with huge shoals of bleak. They've just come to the surface, a week or two before our arrival. This is the start of pelagic fishing. Anyone who has never cast a Jerk Minnow or a Buster in a complete vacuum above 25m will have a hard time getting started. I've had a lot of trouble... but they're coming up... the lure splits the school of bleak, creating a movement that attracts the pike, which comes up to see and slams into the lure. It's hyper-violent... You can also fish with a shad, Straight retrieve / Cast and retrieve or Drift and lift.

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In addition to pelagic fishing, we also scoured the edges at Orellana. Bass spawning was over, and the weed beds were coming up along the edges, so the pike were there too. The fishing is typical of edge fishing, with Jerk minnow and shad in straight retrieves in depths of less than 10m. It's similar to our usual fishing, so we're immediately at ease on this program.

On our boat, we weren't looking for bass on this lake, we were targeting Pike. And we found a few...

Pike at the Serena.

Objectif Métré. Hyper-technical fishing. The big fish are in the submerged trees. He throws 7" or 8" shads on TP Texan and we pass between the branches, in greater or lesser depths. No fish for us, a break on a 105+ on the other boat. We'd do it again, but we'd finish the day so exhausted by the constant concentration.

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For the Bass, we headed for Garcia Sola. Finesse fishing on the edges mainly.

All on worms, either on a classic Waki assembly or a drop shot. I'd never fished for bass in my life, and I got a real kick out of it. The bass were on fire, and I think we hit a hundred fish a day, or close to it. A lot of breaking and stalling at first, but you quickly get better at that sort of thing, and we're bringing 70 fish back to the boat on Thursday. But the craziest thing is the average size... We're averaging well over 40cm and catching more than 10 fish of 50+/day (we don't catch all of them...)

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In program small crank on some edges, which gave well in the morning, a few on top water too, at warm times or in the evening, as well as on soft jerk, a discovery for me and a hyper fun trick, surface attack and sight fishing.

At the end of the day on both boats, we're doing 2 pikes of 105, one on each boat, quite a few 90+. The average size of the pike is over 85cm, fish as fat as pigs, gorging themselves on bleak. For bass, it was an orgy... An average size probably over 45cm, several dozen 50+ bass (3 for me, my son too) including a 58 and a few 57s (including my son). Personally, I landed a 55+ and set my record at 51. We also hooked a few Zanders / Pike-perch while cranking... and worming too!

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The blanks.

Not knowing the fishing there at all, I relied on a few indications gleaned from right and left. I made a mistake and an oversight.

The mistake was with the cranking, I thought I'd have to dive a lot, I took my Delta CB-706 and my big cranks. It's too powerful, we fish with small semi-submerged cranks (2-3m band), the CB-704 would have been more appropriate. The omission is the DS-761-HM. I didn't think you could fish bass on such light assemblies. Both will be on the trip next year.

For bass on the worm, I used my SJ-762-HM.

A 7"6' (228cm) blank that throws 3-12Grs and features a fairly flexy tip and a big reserve of power.

A pure feeder. Even though I prefer the DS-761 for the DS (logical, no?) it adapted perfectly to the program. Hyper-sensitive, hyper-flex tip to limit decros during jumps. I missed a few, especially at the beginning, but that's because I didn't dare pull/pull hard enough when they jumped. Once I got the hang of it, that was it. A 45 bass is shaky, but even at 50+ it does the job. Sure, it bends, but the heel never lets go. Even my 55+ doesn't scare it. Pure force-feeding.

For surface fishing on bass, Soft-Jerk and small sticks, I used my MB-705-HM.

A 7" (213cm) blank that's super fast and pretty dry on tip and throws 10-30Grs.

I hadn't brought it along for this use, it's more of a scraper blank and I was planning to pass rubber jigs with craw through it, but we didn't practice this technique (valid later in the season).

A little too powerful on the cast for the soft-jerk, it had trouble loading (4-5grs is a little light for him), but the reserve is appreciable for extracting fish from the edges, as that's where you go to get them with this technique. At the touch, it's all about American-style hooking and towing on the surface. To do this, this blank is perfect, but I'll take something else next time, more stickbait type, with a slightly more flex tip.

I had our guide try out these two blanks, and he still can't believe it. When I was fighting bass with the 762, he'd say "make it last a bit, I'm looking at this blank, it's so beautiful"... he did a few with it, he fell on his ass... I had a hard time getting my rod back, and what can I say about the 705... Hein Paul?

For Pike, I had my 2 trusty good ol' SJ-706-IM and RX7 IF-904.

The SJ-706 will essentially be on the Jerk Minnow program.

A 7" (213cm) blank with a fast, slightly flexy tip and throws 15-50Grs.

I'd never dared to go in so hard on this type of lure... the kind of fishing that replaces a forearm workout session... It also covered the Shad/TP14 combo when it was time to switch to slightly flatter assemblies. I definitely love this blank... it does everything right... on the other hand, my good old Lew's didn't stand up to the lumberjack jerks... the anti-reverse had a hard time finishing the week's fishing in Extremadura...

The IFS-904 covered the rest of the Pike program.

A 7"6 (224cm) blank with progressive but fairly fast action that casts (on the moon) from 30 to 110 grams.

Shad on TP 20 and 30Grs. I also passed him some Buster, a bit of swim (without success, the pikes were on small fish). It also covered the morning shot, from the shore, when you had to cast far. This blank is definitely a catapult, especially when coupled with the finely tuned Conquest 201. I think I was casting at least 15m further than the others. When we'd do the morning shot in the harbor while waiting for the boats, it brought me fish that my buddies couldn't reach. It took curves I'd never seen before... they've got a hell of a potato, the brookies out there...

Enfin, mon SWB-807-IM.

A swimbait blank that throws 50 to 170Grs and a huge taper, for power reserve.

It was dedicated to the Serena. You have to throw, sometimes in pitching, a combo of about fifty grams with a blank capable of not giving back a single centimeter to a 110 broc (the average there).

Well, it pitches (a hit to take), it throws too. But above all, what sensitivity! We fish in the branches, so the slightest bit of information is crucial. Small or big, tanned or not, whether you're slipping on a branch or not, etc. The sensitivity of this blank is amazing, and for that matter, sensitivity is vital! Pike bites are extremely fine on this type of fishing, but above all, if you let it go passively, you're guaranteed to get a tan. It's simple: I didn't leave a single TP... Well, I didn't catch any fish either, but I'll be back. The guide also loved this blank "we tell customers to come with a crowbar to extract the fish, but it doesn't throw and you don't feel anything, here no, you feel everything and it's not a bar, impressive."

I'm going back next year, same time. In my tube and given this first experience, I'll have:

- DS-761-HM for bass at the worm

- CB-704-IM for cranking bass and Zander / Pike-perch

- SJ-706-IM for shad and jerk minnow

- RX8 IFS-904 for the rest of the Pike program

- SWB-807-IM for the Serena, bearing in mind that the Phenix UMBX-790-H would be just as suitable, a little less sensitive and flexy on tip, but stiffer for extraction.

I'd probably complete with another blank than the 705-HM for soft jerkbait, a notch below in casting power, and a slightly less dry action and big heel... a MB-702-HM? Or how about the SJ-762-HM?

A dream week, not far away and on a perfectly reasonable budget considering the quality of the service (accommodation and navigation on big Nitro Z18s...) and guidance. That's fishing in Extremadura!