So a call to Gary at www.garysmithfishing.com and a couple of days fishing were hastily arranged.  Gary told me that the Carp and Barbel fishing had gone off as there had been some snow melt from the mountains, and the Spanish fish don't like the cold.  Even the reservoir that had fished so well when I was there in November with Capn F wasn't producing any fish, so there really was nothing to lose in trying a location new to both of us.  We headed off for a small water north of Murcia, not an easy place to find, it even managed to shut up Gary's Sat Nav for a while as it tried to figure out where we were!  The trip was worth it though as the scenery was just stunning - 10 out of 10 for location.  The local Spanish waterboard man arrived on the scene as we tackled up, and explained that there were plenty of Barbel, Carp and Black Bass in the water, but the fishing was very difficult - he wasn't wrong.  We had some half hearted response to the baits we put out, but no fish on the bank.  I tried fly fishing for the Black Bass with no luck - but it was encouraging that as we packed up in the afternoon, some locals turned up with fly rods to fish for the bass - so I think next time when the fish are not feeling so chilly, we'll have a fly only trip there.

Right, so plan B then.......well every good fishing guide has a plan B, and Gary's was a trip the next day to Hondon Trucha.

Stillwater trout fishing as we know it is hard to come by in Spain, but an enterprising Dutchman has opened a trout fishery near Alicante www.hondontrucha.com
Hondon Trucha is a very small rectangular fishery about 40 x 60 metres - OK not what we're used to here where we're spoiled for choice, but it's water, it's full of trout and it beats the heck out of shopping!  Bait fishing, spinning and fly fishing are allowed, but due to the size of the place, numbers are restricted, so booking is advised.  20€ gets you a five fish ticket with catch and release after that.  The trout are fairly small, but they do better in the Spanish heat than bigger stockies, and they fight hard enough.
Gary and I turned up early and as the fishery is quite high up, there was a hard frost on the ground - an hour or so later the frost was gone and I was slapping on the sunscreen - not bad for trout fishing in January. 

..........so on behalf of Capn F and myself, I like to apologise to Spain for last week's record breaking torrential rain, gales and floods  - Sorry Spain!

For the first half of our fishing trip, the Spanish news was nothing but shots of cars floating down streets, flooded houses, buildings collapsing - if you want an idea of just how bad it was click HERE

Luckily we'd booked the services of an excellent guide - Gary Smith, who managed to pick his way through the various localised storms and save the week with some spectacular Carp and Barbel fishing.  We'd hoped to get some fly fishing in the river Segura, but when we turned up at the river it was the colour of ovaltine and completely unfishable - not only that, but on the dam wall of the reservoir just above that point in the river were lots of very worried Spanish officials looking and pointing at the rapidly rising water levels!  Time to beat a hasty retreat.
But Gary took us to a reservoir quite a distance North of Murcia and using his secret ground bait mix, we had great fun fishing for Barbel and all sorts of Carp.  It was literally fish after fish all day long, to the extent that we could afford to muck about with the fly rods, trying to get a Carp on the fly.  The problem is that they won't take the fly and turn like a trout, they come along and suck it in and blow it back out all in one motion - we tried for hours, but didn't hook one despite take after take - good fun though.

As I say our holiday could have been a washout (literally) without the services of Gary who managed to get us some great fishing, even if it wasn't what was originally planned.  Everything was supplied, transport, food, bait, tackle etc  Gary even arranged our Spanish fishing licences, which are a must, and usually have to be arranged before you go.  So if you are in the Murcia region, and want to do some fishing, it's worth contacting Gary, his website is www.garysmithfishing.com
If you want to arrange a fishing holiday, you can even go and stay with Gary in his impressive villa.
He also runs trips to the Extremadura region of Spain where all the fish seem to be just enormous.
Cat fish over 100lbs, Carp up to 60lbs, Comizo Barbel and Pike up to 40lbs! 
It's on our list!