I had the luck to live for more than thirty years at the Mediterranean Sea and I can just say that for me this is the most beautiful place on earth. White beaches, crystal sea, palm trees, oleander, bougainvillea, orange trees, excellent food (where the paella comes from) and a very mite climate. The capital of the province is the harbour city of Valencia whit approximately one million of inhabitants. It is a very beautiful city and here will also take place the next edition of the America 's Cup 2007. The seaside is since a very long time a tourist destination, actually for more or less two million people. In the province there also live approximately 50.000 foreigners, almost all of them English and German looking for the wonderful beaches and the mild winter climate. The sea shelters a lot of interesting specimen of fish and I dedicate some time also to some of them, like for example the tuna. In fresh water you can angle multitude of interesting varieties like Black Bass, Eel, Pike and Sander. Five kilometre away from where I live there is the Albufera Lake , an enormous lake but very little deep and with lightly salted water. It would be the ideal place for carpfishing, but it is the only lake in Spain where there is commercial fishing with nets since more than 300 years. They do not appreciate carp, they even sacrifice and cut the ones they catch and use them for feeding Ells and American Crayfish. This intensive commercial fishing prevents the carp's growth and proliferation at the Albufera Lake .

For me, Valencia would the ideal place to live if it was only possible to practice here my favourite hobby, Carpfishing. Unfortunately, there is no big carp in my region ! But… I'd better say, this is what I thought for a lot f years. When I started Carpfishing in 1995 it was really hard for me to get some information and the difficulties of the lakes in my region made me almost give it up. After two years the biggest carp I had caught weighted 8,5 kg. Tired of all this failure I decided not to angle carp any more in Valencia and I tried my luck in other provinces. So I angled for almost 6 years always in other provinces and sometimes even in foreign. Finally in 2003, after I had made a lot of experience, I decided to try it again for a few days here where I live. I immediately noticed what a mistake I have made during so many years, I confused theory and practice. That was not even a mistake; you'd better call it lack of experience. What I did was applying general rules of Carpfishing to an area where they were useless. The main problem of the entire Mediterranean region is the plenty of small carp which do not let the big carp take the bait. Because of the mite climate during the whole year carp sometimes even reproduce several times a year. In almost every lake and river there are many thousands of small carp. Seen from above like form the dam they flock together like a big black spot and there may be millions of them. With two rods with on boilie of 20mm, sometimes I caught up to 18 carp between 0.5kg and 3kg in one hour. I did not catch more because I could not change the bait any quicker.

During this last year I‘ve dedicated a few days trying to angle bigger specimen and for the few days I'm talking about the results were really good. Together with my friends Abel and José we succeeded in angling lots of carp of more than 8 kg and a dozen of them of more than 10 kg, the biggest ones 18.7 kg and 21.3kg. I would like to mention that this is not the typical carp of central Europe , most of them are wild carp or semi-wild, with a long body shape and they are very strong. For some angler this weight might seem ridiculous, but you can be sure that for me as angler, this specimen have more merit than other captures made over the 25 kilos.

Here a few practical advises to obtain good results:

•  Angle during the colder months, from November until April. Best is from December until the end of March.

•  Do not feed with particles, if you should use it for a feeding to distract a 100 meters away from where you want to angle.

•  Use big boilies of 30 mm or doubles of 20mm. If even now the small fish don't let you angle, use big natural big baits just like entire American crayfish with claws or a dead fish even 25 cm long.

THE LAKES OF THE TURIA RIVER

The river Turia shelters a lot of interesting lakes, but not all of them are good for Carpfishing. I made a small selection of, what I mean the best ones. The river itself and all its lakes are quite simple to angle; fish take almost every bait quite easily. There is plenty of carp of 8 kg and sometimes you may catch one of 12 kg. There is also a lot of Mediterranean Barbel, the normal specimen reaches a weight of 2 kg, but sometimes also up to 4 kg.

THE BUSEO LAKE

In the interior/inside of the province of Valencia there is the Lake Buseo which was built in 1912. Formerly it was a lake for irrigation but actually they do not use it as such because the dam has got a rupture. The level oscillates between 40% and 60% of its total capacity. We know that in the last 50 years it has never been emptied. It is supplied by the Sot River and by some smaller brooks which exist only in rain times. Its maximum capacity is 7hm3 and it has a surface of 60ha. You can reach it best by taking the highway A-3 from Valencia to Madrid . A 70 km after Valencia , close to the town Requena you take the CV-395 in direction of the village Chera. After 20 km and a lot of curves we get to the village and cross it. After one kilometre we turn left and take a lane which brings us directly to the lake. The carp population is mixed, but the royal carp grow bigger. There are also Mediterranean Barbel up to four kg.

 

 

I‘ve not been angling at this lake for many years. Before, even using the wrong techniques I succeeded in catching specimen of 8kg. In 1998 I saw from above the dam two specimens swimming together on the surface which could easily weight more than 20 kg. Last 25 of June 2006 I catch a mirror carp of 22.2kg, know we have the confirmation they exist carp over 20kg in the Buseo Lake . This capture is actually the absolute record of the Valencia community.

 

 

 

THE BENAGUEBER LAKE

The dam of Benagueber is one of the few good things made by our Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. It was finished in 1955, it has a total capacity of 221hm and a surface of 1208ha. It is supplied by the Rivers Jucar and Regajo. Benageber is almost a mountain lake with clear and deep water. At first sight it seems to be a typical lake for Pike and Black Bass. Its sides are all quite sheer and deep and there are also a lot of areas of flooded trees. There are very few shores without obstacles and this makes carp fishing really difficult. The angling pressure for carp is like zero and even though people from the villages nearby have caught fish between 10 and 14 kg with potatoes. The easiest way to get there is taking the highway A-3 in direction of Madrid . When you reach the town of Utiel you'll take the CV-390 which leads directly to the lake. One of the areas easily to reach is the one of the island or peninsula, but this depends on the water level. You can reach this place by going down the path from the youth hostel to the lake. Before you reach the lake there is a deflection on the left side, a forest road, which brings us to the place where the river Regajo flows in. If the level is high, this is a very good place to angle, but keep in mind the possibility of hooking.

THE LAKES OF THE JUCAR RIVER

Also if it is very close to the river Turia, the characteristics of the river and its lakes are completely different. The waters of the Jucar are very difficult; fish are very suspicious, forestalled and active only during the night. There is plenty of Carp and Mediterranean Barbel but the big ones live only in certain parts of the river. Rarely the angle big ones like in the river itself, but there were some exceptions like the common angled by my friend Abel Sosa in January 2004 which weighted almost 18 kg.

 

 

 

This year in June I beat my own record with a beauty common of 21.3 kg.

 

 

 

THE TOUS LAKE

The Lake Tous is in the south of Valencia , about 70 km from the capital. The only access is the area of the dam. To get to the dam you drive the highway Valencia – Albacete A-7 and when you come to a little town called Alberique you take the CV-541 which leads to the new village of Tous . You cross this village and on the same road you get to the dam. The capacity of the lake is 340hm3 and its surface is 980 ha. It is a very narrow and long lake. To reach the real good angle places it is essential to have a boot with an electric motor. On the other hand these are really virgin and isolated places and you can put up your camp with all comforts without any problem. The Lake Tous was in the seventies the so called Mecca of Pike, it was not strange caught a specimen with more than 14 kg. In the afternoon of the 20 th of October in 1982 there was a tremendous flood which made the dam brake. This dramatic history will forever stay in mind of the people with a total balance of 9 dead and 27.000 injured. In 1991 the new dam was built and it is 133 metres high and 1.300 metres long, it is then the biggest dam built in Spain . The maximum capacity is 340 hm3 and the surface is 980 ha. It was never completely empty because in the original river-bed and big graves fish could survive.

Apart of what happened, the lake recovers quickly, the size of the Pike is becoming considerably again. There is plenty of depredators like Black Bass, Pike, Sander and the Sun Perch which are in charge of decreasing the population of little carp. There is still a very big population of little carp, but you catch always more often a carp between 8 and 13 kg. Due to its clear and rich of oxygen water fish of this lake are extremely strong and combative. José and Abel saw a specimen which could easily reach 120cm and weight 25 kg. A few months later they angled more or less at the same place a muscular common which was 98 cm long but only weighted 18.7 kg.

THE COFRENTES LAKE

The Lake Cofrentes was built in 1952, the volume is totally 11hm3 and the surface is 255 ha. Near the village Cofrentes the rivers Jucar and Gabriel flow in and form a wide delta before the river gets narrow again and the lake changes its name into Lake of Cortes de Pallas . To reach Cofrentes you should take the highway from Valencia to Madrid and leave the highway at the exit of Requena. From Requena we continue on the road N-330 in direction to Almansa. On that road, after about 35Km from Requena we cross the village of Cofrentes . In springtime the interesting areas are the ones where the two rivers flow in, this wide area which is little deep and has got a lot of vegetation which we call the delta and the river Gabriel itself. You can easily get to all these places by different ways which all start at the village of Cofrentes . Fish between 8 – 10 kg are caught very often but from this size up it is becoming complicated. Like in the rest of the River Jucar there seem to be more specimen of 18 – 20 kg than the medium size between 12 and 16 kg. Especially interesting in winter is the part of the Jucar River from the nuclear power station until the where the two rivers flow in. Due the warming up caused by the power-station the water in this part of the river is very warm the whole year through. Therefore, during the cold season all the angling concentrates in this part of the river where carp are still active. You can get there very easily, just cross the village of Cofrentes and take the road to the power station. Near the power station there is a road boarding the river for a long while. The shores are very inaccessible because of the vegetation and that's why there are not too many angle places. But in this part of the river angling is very exciting because apart the extraordinary natural strength of carp in addition the fish take advantage of the running of the river when it tries to flee.

Angling license

Medio Ambiente

C./ Gregorio Gea,27

Ph: +00 34 96 386 60 00

Navigation license

Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar

Paseo de Blasco Ibáñez, 48

46010 Valencia

Ph.: +00 34 96 369 62 00