From Madrid to the east you can find the River Tajo, the longest river in the whole country. All this area is very good for carp fishing. The river Tajo from the town of Zorita de los Canes in the region of Guadalajara until Aranjuez in the province of Madrid . In Guadalajara we can find the reservoirs of Entrepeñas and Bolarque, and next to them, the Embalse de Buendía. Al these lakes are very good for the fishing, and have a big biologic diversity. Although next to each other, all of them have different characteristics. As a reference we will choose the town of Sacedón ; the fastest way to arrive to those lakes is taking the A2 road to Guadalajara , and there we will take the N320 road to Sacedón.

ENTREPEÑAS

This is the first of the reservoirs of the river Tajo in the central area of the country, just over the Embalses of Buendía and Bolarque. The dam was finished in 1956, it has a capacity of 804 Hm 3 and cover an area of 3400 ha. Just after crossing the town of Sacedón , we will find the N204 road that will take us through 15 km of the eastern bank of the lake. First we have the dam area and from there we have a few bays. After crossing the bridge we will go through the western bank until the town of Gualda . This area has no interest for us because it is very deep and rocky. Next to this area we have another called Calas Verdes. It is a big bay where it enters a stream. There are a few sunken trees in this area, but also a lot of big carp. When the water level is high, next to the town of Pareja there is a very successful and weedy bay, very good in the months of April and May when the heat of the sun increases. If we have a boat, the best area in winter because of its depth and tranquillity is Isla Grande ( Big Island ). Sacedón, with its big and shallow bays, is another good area, unless it is holiday time, when it is full of swimmers and boats.

Carp and barbel

In Entrepeñas there are a lot of barbel, in both comizo and common varieties. They are not huge, but there are a lot of them, only comparable in numbers with the Embalse de Cijara. It is easy to catch up to 20 barbel in the 1- 4 kg . bracket in a sunny day. Sometimes we hear about catches of 6- 7 kg specimens, up to 11 kg . There are also a lot of common carp, usually up to 11- 12 kg , but we have heard of specimens over16 kg.

Baits and seasons

January and February are too cold and fish are very inactive. July and August are to hot for us and the little fish always disturb eating the baits. The rest of the months are all quite good. There are big carps but before catching them you should be disposed to spend at least 2 days catching hundreds of carp from three to eight kilos. Carp prefer sweet Boilies like Scopex Squid Liver of Nash or Tuttifrutti, it does not matter if it is cold or hot, they want something sweet!

BOLARQUE

Next to the Entrepeñas reservoir, we have the Embalse de Bolarque. It is a very long narrow and steep lake. Its water is cold, deep and very clear. The landscape is stunning, full of beautiful forests. The shallower areas are very weedy, full of crayfish and shrimp, main food items for some species, like the pike, specie that grows very big in this lake.The first dam was built in 1910, and the second was finished in 1954. It is a relatively small lake, with a capacity of 31 Hm 3 and covers an area of 480 Ha. A few kilometres before Sacedón we will take the road to the town of Anguix . The road that joins the towns of Anguix and Sayatón borders the western bank of the lake, and there are only a few accesses to this area, and through very difficult paths.

The river inlet

This area is one of the best for carp and tench fishing, and also for barbel in the spring. The barbel go upstream up to the dam of Entrepeñas searching for small fish to feed on.

The dam

To access this area, you have to go to the town of Sayatón and then, to the town of Salto de Bolarque where you can find the dam. This is a good area in the winter, although is productive all the year round.

The nautical club

You can access the nautical club from the town of Albalate de Zorita , and the urbanization of Nueva Sierra, through a private road. This is a very good area for the giant barbel, but the weekends is full of people.

The Rock of Anguix and the castle

This is a very sep area with only a few accesses. There are usually a few carp in the area, but the biggest captures in the whole lake come from this area.

The Barbel

In this lake we have the best weight average, and fish of less than 7 kg. are very strange. You can see big shoals of fish in the 7-10 kg bracket, but they are extremely hard to catch. They ignore most baits because there is a lot of natural food. The best areas are the steep banks and the inlets if the rivers Tajo and Guadiela, between Anguix and the dam.

The Carp

This lake is not known for its carp, but it holds very big carp. There are only a few, but most are above 10 kg, mirrors, and the biggest ever caught was 24 kg.

 

The Tench

This lake is one of the only places in Spain which holds tench in good proportions. It is easy to catch fish up to 2.5 kg, and some have been caught at 5 kg.

 

 

 

Useful information :

To fish Bolarque you have to be in possession of the regional licence of Castilla la Mancha. Navigation is allowed, except from March to May for protection of the birdlife.

Baits and seasons

The best months are September and October, because from March to May it is not allowed to angle. These fishes are not used to Boilies and do not even want to try them. The best baits are natural ones, like crabs or dead fish.

ZORITA DE LOS CANES

This little reservoir is next to the nuclear central of the same name, and is a true treasure. Fishing is forbidden because their are afraid of terrorist attacks against the central. It was built in 1947, it has a capacity of only 3 Hm 3 and covers an area of 57 Ha. The central is one of the eldest in the country, and it should have been closed a few years ago. Thanks to this, the water's temperature are high, so there are a lot of natural food available for the fish, who are active all the year round. It is a very narrow lake, and the banks are really overgrown. Before the fishing was forbidden, we had heard of captures of carp up to 22 kg., comizo barbel up to 14 kg and tench up to 5 kg. The easiest way to access to the lake from Madrid is through the A3 road, alter the town of Tarancón , take the C200 road that goes directly to the dam of the lake.

Baits and seasons

The water of this little lake is quite warm during the whole year because of the nuclear power station. Next to it, even though it is not really worth angling there until the end of March. April and May are very good months and than we have to wait until October and angle very well until the end of November. As at Bolarque Lake here also fish do not like Boilies very much, they prefer natural baits.

ALMOGUERA

It's a little lake situated under the Zorita Lake . The best of all is you can also angle in winter due to the warm water which comes from the nuclear power station of Zorita. The dam of Almoguera was built in the year 1947. He has a total capacity of 7hm3 and covers an area of 186ha. It looks like a river; most of the zones are not wider than 50 meters. It's easy to catch carp between 8 and 14 kilos, even in the coldest months of January and February. The 90% of them are common carp. The biggest carp catched in Almoguera had a weight of 18 kilos, my friend Abel Sosa catched in December 2005 a common of 16.7 kilos. We are sure that bigger carp must exist, so we continue angling the area.

 

Finally in March 2006 I catched a beautiful common of 21.4kg. Almoguera is a nocturnal lake, during the day the activity is like cero. The easiest way to access to Almoguera is from the highway A3 from Madrid to Valencia .

 

 

 

 

Near from the town from Tarancón, we must take the road CM200 in direction to the village of Illana . From Illana we must take the road GU250 who will bring you direct to the lake.The fishes are not very selective and take all kind of baits. Personally I prefer to angling with fish boilies, but other anglers have good results with sweet boilies.

 

 

BUENDIA

The Embalse de Buendía is located in the province of Cuenca , and is one of the legends in Spain , with huge captures of carp and barbel. It was built in 1957, has a capacity of 1639 Hm 3 and covers an area of 7828 Ha. Today, the population of carp and barbel is much lower, because the SVC that affected the fish a few years ago. A lot of fish died, but most of the bigger ones survived.

 

 

The lake is recovering very well, and some nice carp are starting to get caught. Despite of this, most anglers who visit the lake search for black bass and pike. There are huge silty bays excellent for carp fishing with areas of steep banks and submerged trees. Buendia has a lot of different accesses, but the easiest is from Sacedón or from Zorita through the C200 road.

 

 

Lake main inlet :

This area is called “Los Cabezos”, next to the town of Alcocer . Some banks are deep and others are shallow, and both are good for the carp all year round and specially for the barbel, when the river Guadiela enters the lake with muddy water. The banks are easy to access, except when it rains; this makes them muddy paths hard to escape from, even with a 4x4.

Central area :

The Church area has a lot of big bays alternating with steep and deep banks. This area is quite pressured because the easy access from the main road that goes to from Sacedón to the dam, but is a very good area for the fishing, and very good barbel have been caught there. In this area there is an inlet of water from Entrepeñas, and when it enters water the fish search for food in the current. Another good area is the one called “La Isabela”, with less bays and a lot of sunken trees, is ideal for the big carp, if we are capable of not loosing them in the snags.

Buendia surroundings

Despite being so close to the town of Buendía , there are almost no angling pressure in the area. There are a lot of muddy bays, perfect for the carp. There are deeper areas perfect for the colder months.

The Villalba del Rey stream

This is one of the best areas for the carp, but not an easy one. It is a very steep area, full of weed, and a few bays. There are not huge numbers of carp, but the really big ones are in the areas of the sunken trees.

The dam

The dam area and the camping area are of the perfect depth for winter fishing. The steep banks and the difficult accesses make the area a very good and comfortable one. In winter it is worth fishing hard on the bottom searching for big carp and barbel.

The Carp and barbel

Most carp are mirrors, with a scaly pattern very familiar. They are very hard fighting fish because of the good quality of the water. 20 years ago we heard captures of 20 kg already with traditional methods, so a carp over 25 kg may be possible today. I personally angled in my last session two pieces of more than 15kg and my colleagues caught one of 16.7kg. Before the 90's barbel of 6-7 kg were caught quite usually, but now most barbel are small, although sometimes we hear of fish above the 10 kg mark. Nowadays there are a lot of little fish between 3 and 6kg, even though a few examples of up to 7kg are angled, but not very often. The barbus comiza has always been rare and difficult to catch. Nowadays it's more luck and coincidence, but there are still giants up to 14kg.

Baits and seasons

Even if this lake is so close to the lakes of Entrepeñas, fish have a completely different taste. In all the other lakes they only want something sweet and at Buendia only fishy like for example Monster Pursuit of Nash. It is good the whole year through to angle excepted July and August, not due to the unsupportable heat but most of all because of the pest of American crabs which make angling impossible.

INFORMATION AND ADVICE

Licences :

Servicio Provincial de Montes y

Medio Ambiente Natural de Cuenca

C./ Colon nº2 16002 Cuenca

Tel : 969 22 80 22

 

Boat permits :

Confederación Hidrográfica del Tajo

C./ Agustín de Bethencourt nº25 28071 Madrid

Tel:91 535 05 00

Fax : 91 554 55 02

 

 

 

 

You will be able to find more information in the International Carper Nº17 Mar. 2005