A pair of rods supported by a tripod aim skywards on a stoney beach

A pair of rods supported by a tripod aim skywards on a stoney beach. They look like big, tasty rods, maybe a pair of heavy beachcasters? Hung beneath them are a matched pair of multipliers loaded with strong line, 50lb braid by the looks of it. The rod tips nod gently with the current as the wind sings a tune through them. A seagull swoops past, narrowly missing snagging the rods, then soars above us. Fifty yards off the beach a boat swerves in, cuts it’s outboard and prepares to beach itself in front of us. The anglers aboard are armed with uptiders and more multipliers. A shoal of silver skinned mullet skip out of the boat’s way, one leaping four foot clear into the air. The harsh sun’s reflection rebounds off the water forcing us to screw our eyes into narrow squinting slits, despite our polaroid sunglasses. Looks like a nice day. Again. Not too uncommon a sight really, except that our horizon is blocked by the mountains on the far bank, a concept which is unusual, to say the least, to the average British sea angler. This however is not a British beach and, despite the surfeit of sea fishing tackle, we are not fishing in the ocean. This is an altogether more challenging experience, for here we will not be bothered with doggies or pouting. Here, when our rods bow over to the bite of a fish, that fish will possibly be even bigger than we are! We are chasing the monsters of the deep in the shallows of the Rio Ebro in Northern Spain. Giant Catfish! Monsters? They truely are. An average fish will top 80lb – and that’s if you manage to land it! The ‘ones that get away’ here are really big! The fight from these aliens (because that’s what they look like) has to be experienced to be believed. The first take can rip the rod from a tripod and send you scuttling down the beach after it – or in a boat, these fish can literally pull an angler overboard if he loses his footing! Not quite Deal pier is it?My first experiences with catfish were in Asia. There, we fished the ocean from the beaches, waiting until the sunbathers had cooked themselves enough first and the evening cool arrived. We would catch about a dozen each evening all in the one to two pound region. A different species perhaps from those Spanish fish, but still a catfish. Those Asian ones had poisionous spines yet tasted delicious roasted over the beach camp-fire. Another species of cat, which looked identical excepting that it was covered in a thick slime, I caught in the Australian freshwater river estuarys, again a delicious fish. There are about 4000 different types of catfish in the world but the best known in Europe, and the most accessable to the UK angler is the wels catfish (Silurus Glanis). This is a real whopper, growing to 100’s of pounds, and can only be sensibly tackled on sea fishing gear. Although this particular catfish is a freshwater species, it puts most sea fish to shame. Remarkably, very few sea anglers have ever fished for them despite the fact that they probably have a garage stuffed with exactly the right stuff to catch them. The usual freshwater anglers ‘heavy’ pike or carp gear is woefully inadequate for these fish, as so many have learned to their cost.As holiday time comes around and you feel like getting out of ‘plaice’, it might be prudent to suggest to the missus a ‘cheapie’ package holiday to Spain. If you are smart, you will suggest one of the resorts beween Valencia and Barcelona, neither more than a couple of hours drive away from what must be the finest fishing in Europe. Perhaps Salou which is served by Reus airport – and only an hour from the Ebro delta. Renting a car in this region is very cheap and it is doubtful that ‘she who must be obeyed’ will object too stongly to you popping off for a holiday bash for a day or two on the local river. The Ebro delta is an anglers paradise. It has everything from the shattering lure takes of the saltwater Bluefish in the delta itself, to the 150lb whiskered super-slugs in the lower reaches. Gentler types might prefer to tempt mullet of record proportions (by British standards) or take the kids and catch 2 and 3lb carp by the dozen every hour.The giant catfish here are descended from the Danubian monsters of ancient legend and are by no means hard fish to catch, if you have the will and determination. The best chance you’ll have of catching is by using the services of a fishing guide. There are several working the lower reaches and at least two of those are British with excellent reputations for putting holidaying angers onto the fish. So, no language problems either.There are two main methods used for the cats; bank or (more realistically) beach fishing and boat fishing. Both styles of fishing you will be acquainted with or find easy to adapt to. The use of break-away grip leads has never been fully used here (at least, not to my knowledge) so it might be worth bringing some if you want to experiment with them in the strong current. Small livebaits, although hard to catch, are the premier baits but squid, which is available in every supermarket, will also temp the pussies. When you hook a cat you won’t be in any doubt, a butt pad is not a stupid thing to wear. This is when you will find things getting very interesting indeed. When you hook a big fish at sea, you will rarely encounter any snags worth mentioning. Yeah, okay, I know about wreck fishing, but when you hook a giant catfish in the river, new skills are needed. These fish have to be played out in a situation where there are snags all around. It’s a heart stopping experience to have a big beast on the end, stripping off 50 yards of line heading towards a submerged tree – and all in pitch blackness. Arrgh!! (Though not nocturnal, the Ebro cats often feed more confidently in darkness)

Your mullet catching skills will be very handy for bait catching purposes but please, don’t eat them or anything else from the river or delta either. The cats and the mullet are here in abundance but given the ancient Spanish practice of emptying their sewers directly into the river, well that should be enough to put you off!! Catch and release is the order of the day – just as it is with other monsters, marlin and the like. If you can get the chance, give the big cats a try. It’s a new challenge and, let’s face it, you have already have the tackle!