A dam lake created by the Tagus
In the optics of discovering new places, we go towards a dam apparently famous for its barbs and carps present in great quantity. The weather changed quickly and more than 30 degrees in the shade are announced.
Equipped with my fly rod, I leave to track down carps, largely active on the edge. The water is translucent, the bottom is sandy, perfect for sight fishing. The fish are very wary, it is necessary to approach them with patience and to succeed in good casts not to make them leave. On the other hand, they are very receptive and bite easily the flies.
The average size of the fish is about 1.5 kg, but the fights on a #4 line are very fun. In total, I caught 4 carp, a result I am happy with for my first real day on the fly.
Pike with chatterbait
With our experience of the previous year on a small secret river, we decide to try our luck with pikes. Unfortunately, the activity is not at the top, the days with 40 fishes of September seem far away.
As on the last trip, the only effective lure is the chatterbait. This time, the water is very dirty, so I decide to fish with a very bright color and the choice pays off! The fish are totally inactive, you have to fight for hours to make them bite. With a little perseverance, I succeeded in catching half a dozen fish including a nice pike of about 85 cm.
Fins, rain and fish
The weather is getting worse and morale is at an all time low. Some of them are at several caps in a row and sight fishing is totally compromised because of the rain and the wind. The choice taken is to do a float-tube trip again, but this time on one of the big lakes of Extremadura.
After a good period of 2 hours without touching, we finally find the fishing. The pike-perch are posted between 4 and 6 meters of bottom, along a gigantic herbarium which covers a shoal. The bites follow one another for the team and the average size of the fish exceeds 50 cm.
In spite of the weather, the day goes well, the wind rises more and more strong and pushes us to retreat towards the car. Each one will have succeeded in his day with a total of 25 fish to four. A few more days of bad weather are forecasted and then we can go back to our favorite sight fishing.
