Morocco carp, world record carp, Catfish, videos, tactics, tackle, photos

new world record carp at 91lb - Andy Komornicki

2009-04-08T01:34:00.005+02:00

Andy Komornicki and his new world record carp at 91lb

Andy Komornicki lands new world record carp at 91lb from the French water known as The Graviers
Andy Komornicki, a cargo agent at London's Heathrow airport, has landed a new world record 91 lb mirror carp known as The Scar.

“I thought my pal was having me on when he looked into the landing net and told me what I'd caught,” said Andy. “Then when I shone a light in the net, there it was. I couldn't believe it - it was absolutely immense.”

Andy's triumph came during a week-long trip to France with three mates. They were north of Dijon fishing Luke Moffat's water, The Graviers on a clear, crisp night.

Despite its size, Andy took only 10 to15 minutes to land the fish. “It's hard to describe how I felt, I was just so elated,” the British Airways employee recalled.

It turned out quite a trip. In all Andy landed 11 fish totaling 508lb, including his world record and five others around 50lb or more. “We were fishing in a lovely spot and the big one really was the icing on the cake.”

For some time The Scar - so called because of body damage caused by tangling with wire - disputed the world record with another specimen in the renowned Rainbow Lake, also in France.

But that one died earlier this year, leaving The Scar as the undisputed heavyweight champion. Even after taking off four pounds for the weighing sling, Andy still beat the old record by two pounds.

He said. “It must have been about 17-18 years old but they can live to 25 and beyond.”

Back home, Andy was flooded with phone calls and e-mails from well-wishers, friends and the media, all excited about the one that didn't get away.

View the Scar at 89lbs by Paul Merideth

Great White love story

2009-04-08T01:23:00.000+02:00

This is truly amazing! This aussie fisherman saved a 4 meter long shark from fishing nets and now she has a crush on him.

The Cats n Carp slideshow

2009-03-28T13:22:00.001+01:00

This is a Picassa Blog albulm slide show, all the photos we have published in the last 3 years, enjoy.

Bin Fishing logo

2008-12-04T15:11:00.001+01:00

Bin Fishing on Bin el Ouidane?

2008-12-04T15:06:00.001+01:00

Bin Fishing on Lake Bin el Ouidane

2008-11-19T12:08:00.003+01:00

Nice mixed bag of Zander and Blue Gill Perch

Fun weekend camping and fishing with Bin Fishing

Photo Mike and Guide Ishmael with some nice Roach from the net

Zander and big Blue gill perch on a midweek 2 night Berber Experience from Bin Fishing

Luxurt 2 Bed Apartment for Sale in Tangier, Morocco

2008-10-09T19:38:00.000+02:00

Atlantic Magna 5 star luxury on the Kings beach Tangier

Atlantic Magna is located in the most prestigious and exclusive area of Tangier, close to Cape Spartel and the Caves of Hercules yet only 10 mins from the airport and 15 from Tangier Centre.
This large 2 bedroom 2 bathroom ground floor apartment sleeps 6 people and is finished with traditional Tadelakt walls and Travatino marble in the bathrooms. The finishing throughout is of exceptionally high qualities.
As a ground floor apartment you can walk out to the landscaped gardens and pools, yet still have magnificent views to the Atlantic.

Bathrooms are finished in wall to ceiling Travatino Marble

The apartment is available for rental short or long term from January 2009. The apartment is also offered for sale immediately.

Technical Specification:

2 bedrooms 2 Bathrooms (1 en suite)

Fitted kitchen, living room, dining area, tea room

Berber lounge - could be converted to 3rd bedroom with access to:

interior and exterior patios.

Build surface 120.60 m2

Terrace and interior patio 45.57 m2

24 hour gated security, underground parking, storage room.

Architects: Gonzales & Jacobson.

41,130 m2 site, 72 apartments of 2/3 bedrooms

Atlantic Magna is perched front line above the beach and only a pleasant stroll to the Caves of Hercules and the magnificent Mirage Hotel with a wonderful al fresco dining terrace and a colonial feel club house bar. The Mirage has 25 suites built into the cliff side and it really is a special place to enjoy a civilised lunch or sundowner or two.

Rental
The Apartment is managed by Jurgen and Farida the owners of La Tangerina Hotel in the Kasba of Tangier. La Tangerina handle all rental bookings and the day to day management of the apartment in the same profesional way they manage their excellent hotel.

The apartment will be furnished to the highest standards and available for rent from the 1st January 2009.

For bookings of less than & week a 2 night minimum applies.

Long Term Rental 2000/month min 6 month contract.

Prices in Euros

Per night/min 2 per week 2 Bed sleep 6: 220 night / 1400 week

Additional bed +20% taxes included

+20% High season (March April /July & August)

Offer: For Sale

This 2 bedroom ground floor apartment of 165 sq metres situated in the residential complex of Atlantic Magna, Tangier is due for completion in October 2008.

Price:

Reserve price range of 295,000 - 335,000+ depending on the progression from uncompleted property with private contract to furnished rental apartment with ongoing rental bookings. (Prior to completion developer guarenteed finance available up to 150k)

Please contact me through the reservations system if you are interested in purchasing the property for a price update and progress report.

Morocco
While most house buyers are initially drawn to Morocco for its cheap property prices and its low cost of living, it does not take them long for them to become enamoured by the country, which has since the Romans, charmed and fascinatedthose that land on its shores. In 1999, the new King Mohammed VI came into power vowing to modernize Morocco, strengthen civil libertiesand democratise the country. Foreigners are warmly welcomed and their are no restrictions on foreign investment.

Investment bullet points:
Tangier superport, Europe's biggest port managed by Maersk opens 2008.

The straits of Gibraltar tunnel from Tangier to Tarifa (Spain)

20 Bn USD Direct foreign investment into Tangier mainly from the Gulf countries.

Spain only 14 km and 35 minutes on the fast ferry.

Unspoilt Atlantic beach coast with glorious 300 days of sunshine

The region still in infancy.

Prices significantly cheaper than Spain.

Favourable tax regime. e.g no tax on rental income for 5 years. No IHT if passed on to a family
70% mortgage available subject to usual requirements

Only three hours flight from major UK airports

Open sky agreement signed therefore low cost airlines fly and cheaper fares

High Quality and Prices still affordable Property hot spot Fabulous Sports facilities, Golf Courses, Yachting, Tennis Clubs, Water skiing, Sailing, Scuba diving and Camel treks etc.

Luxurious life style at low cost For more information leave a comment with your email on this post and I will get back to you:

Nice Black Bass and Zander from Bin el Ouidane

2008-10-09T19:12:00.004+02:00

Good catches of Black Bass, Zander, Pike and Perch from Bin el Ouidane in Morocco. A little bit of colour in the water really brings the fish on and a great days fishing was enjoyed by all.

Lowest water level at Bin el Ouidane for many years

2008-09-27T19:28:00.003+02:00

Twin waddies left hand waddi, ther right hand bend on the waterline is last years hot spot

twin waddies both waddies visable

snake spit and the island plus small island/bar visable in the gap

Bottom waddi or as its know to the locals Arranbow

Arranbow viewed from my house you can clearly see the bar running from the centre of Arranbow, roughly inline between the two groups of trees. This bar continues and eventually ends at Hotel island.

Snake spit in the distance and hotel island

hotel island

World Record Carp post and photo still most popular with catsncarp readership

2008-06-04T23:28:00.006+02:00

Dieter Markus Stein and Mary at 38.15 the most popular photo on flickr

I was just looking through some traffic figures for catsncarp blog and for our on line photo album on flickr and thought you might like to see the most popular items during the first 6 months of 2008.

click the image to read the most popular post on the blog

The most popular blog post from December 07 till June 08 with 5431 views was the post on Mary the big German common that came out at 38.15 on the 17th December 2006.

and from flickr....

it was the same fish that took the credit - a great photo and logging an impressive 9,990 views.

An interesting bit of History on Raduta

2008-05-26T20:59:00.005+02:00

The big fully scaled from Bin el Ouidane - another venue capable of a record

Austrians Kurt Grabmayer with the same fish at 25.3 kg

I was surfing around when I dug up this old article, I think I posted a similar story about my session on Raduta but Im not convinced all my details regarding the lakes history are as accurate as this piece from ESPN. Read the whole story here

Lake Raduta, Romania

An 82-pound carp was caught in the man-made lake in 1998 by an Austrian, and that remains the world record for common carp. (Although, the International Game Fish Association recognizes a 75-pound, 11-inch specimen taken from France's Lac de St. Cassien in 1987 as the all-tackle record.)

This carp haven was a collection of four villages 28 miles from Bucharest until the 1980s. Then former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu dammed the Danube River to flood the area in a misguided attempt to expand waterborne shipping.

Residents were given 72 hours' notice that their homes would be submerged.

In 1990, former tennis coach Robert Raduta leased the lake and land from the state and chased away poachers. He then built a hotel and stocked the lake with fish, building it into "the carp angler's Everest," according to the June edition of British Carpworld. He held his first World Cup in 1999.

Read the original post

Carpacast release Moroccan Carping: Real Pioneers Part IV

2008-05-19T19:06:00.005+02:00

Carpcast one of the best personal Carp fishing blogs on the internet released part 4 of the great series of articles covering a trip with Morocco Carp to Bin el Ouidane lake in Morocco. Its been a great read and even though I knew the outcome it has kept me glued to my screen.

Big water Carp fishing is never easy and no mater how well you prepare or how good an angler you are the possibility of a blank is always on the cards.

Why do we do it? its a question I've often asked myself over the years after another expensive and frustrating blank on the hunt for a monster, but I think its the adventurer in me, going where few have tread, pushing the limits physically, financially and mentally, I never seem to tire of it.

So to Will and the guys - I salute your efforts and I hope this little video I put together at Christmas will whet your appetite to come back and have a go when we open again.

Carpcast releases part III of Bin el Ouidane

2008-05-07T00:25:00.003+02:00

Will James of the excellent blog Carpcast and the French fishing holiday company Exclusive Angling Holidays has just released part III of his excellent personal story on his recent trip to Bin el Ouidane Lake in Morocco.

don't miss it.

Carpcast - excellent blog and a good report

2008-04-27T23:47:00.001+02:00

Moroccan Carping: Real Pioneers Part I

It is Wednesday, day five of our week-long break, and our host, Fraser, guides the small inflatable boat around the furthermost point of another apparently innocuous little bay to reveal, for the umpteenth time, a winding, vast expanse of water. At this point it truly dawns on me that to catch a carp from this monstrous lake requires something more…epic, than simply ‘baiting and waiting’.

The lake is Bin El Ouidane, 7500 acres of clear blue water set 800m altitude in the mid-atlas mountains of Morocco, and it is here that two friends and I undertook the challenge of tempting one of the lake’s stunningly conditioned and enormous carp. We were booked with Morocco Carp, a new company in its first year of operating, for a week’s worth of fishing along with evening and breakfast meals as part of the ‘Bankside Package’.

Upon arrival at the quaint and comfortable ‘Hotel Bin El Ouidane’ we were greeted by warm smiles and a stunning view of the lake. Though weary from our travels, it was hard not to feel energised by the sight of the turquoise oasis, and over a welcome beer and sandwich we listened to and questioned Fraser to find out exactly what sort of a trip we were in for.

Perhaps now is the time to explain that, although a modestly experienced fisherman, the scale of Bin El Ouidane was something entirely new to me. ‘Big water fishing’ was something that had long played upon my sense of what true carp fishing really is, yet i had never been quite bold enough to take the plunge and give it a try. Until now of course.

I knew what I was expecting to gain from our trip: more knowledge that trophy shots (yet there was no doubt that i wanted dearly to catch). So then, when Fraser began by describing how tough the lake was fishing, it came as little surprise and, if anything, firmed my resolve. In my eyes, raising the difficulty simply raises the level of potential reward.

Our first night was to be spent in ‘Twin Waddies’ a well fished swim on the same bank as the hotel, and one that has produced a lot of fish over the last 6 months. However, our host had grander plans for the remainder of our trip suggesting a relatively untested swim on the opposite bank, where the fishing is harder and the isolation more extreme. The stakes continued to escalate.

to read the rest of this excellent article and Part II click here.

gone for more gas back on June 9th

2008-03-18T16:01:00.002+01:00

New Spanish Carp Record 34.5kg Common

2008-02-25T14:36:00.009+01:00

Do you want to see the World Record?

A new Spanish Carp record was set this weekend with a huge common of 34.5kg from in Zujara in the Extramadura region of Spain; famous for its big fish.

Andy Mac from the excellent Spanish Language Carp fishing magazine Carp Diem sent me the pictures but I dont have the fishermans name, perhaps you could add a comment on this post Andy with any other info you feel happy to give.

Another excellent capture from Spain was this fine 24kg Mirror caught by Raul whilst fishing with the Carp Diem team, these mirrors are rumoured to have been stocked into certain lakes by Franco, a keen fisherman, and its not often that one of these fine specimens grace the banks. A fantastic effort Raul and everyone here at Morocco Carp salutes your achievment, having fished many waters in Spain for many years I know just what a cracking fish that mirror is. Looking forward to fishing with the Carp Diem team during the Semana Espanola which we are planning for the third week of June...watch this space and give Oliver Alcon a ring for further information and bookings. Spaces are limited so if you would like to fish with some of the best Carp anglers in Spain on one of the hottest big fish venues in the world, dont delay.

Oliver Alcon - Morocco Carp Spanish Agent Tel 0034 661627981

Life in Bin el Ouidane

2008-02-25T14:36:00.008+01:00

Mike Johansson from 360 factory with his second instalment called "Life - Bin el Ouidane"

Kurt Grabmayer shows how it is done on Bin el Ouidane

2008-02-18T15:14:00.006+01:00

Our Austrian friends Kurt Grabmayer and Richard Rishald had an excellent couple of weeks on Bin el Ouidane at the end of january and were actually the first fisherman to bridge the gap between Morocco Carp and the incumbent Morocco Carp fishing.

Kurt and Richard fished hard on one of Morocco Carp's top swims, Twin waddies and were rewarded with 8 fish the biggest going 25.3 kg

Thank you Kurt for an entertaining and enlightening week and I look forward to seeing you guys on the banks again;

Check out this excellent report on Kurts web site.

Morocco Carp - January Vlog

2008-02-05T18:11:00.001+01:00

A great January with 38 fish from 8 anglers with 9 over 20kg and 3 over 25kg.
February looks even better so why not subscribe to our blog and receive the latest catch reports by email?

66lbs asian big head carp

2008-01-27T15:55:00.001+01:00

66lbs asian big head carp, originally uploaded by radcarper.

Sam Jeffreys, Morocco Carps newest skills transfer water bailiff with a 30kg 66lbs Asian Big head Carp caught by a local fisherman in his nets. These fish feed on plankton so Im not sure we could catch them on rod and line but Im going to try these must be the hardest fighting fresh water fishes anywhere and I want one!

Morocco Carp Christmas 2007 video

2007-12-24T16:58:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas and a Carp filled 2008 to all our readers

Morocco Carp present Bin el Ouidane

2007-12-19T13:45:00.000+01:00

My Morocco Experience by Mike Johansoon 360factory.com

Morocco Carp Save a specimen Campaign

2007-12-19T13:06:00.000+01:00

A 50.6 lbs common Carp returned by Morocco Carp

This is actually the 4th fiush that Morocco Carp has purchased and returned to lake Bin el Ouidane and our first 50 lbs fish.

Caught in the local fishermans nets and destined for the table

50.6 lbs and 36lbs brace saved by Morocco Carp

A little scale damage but not in bad shape

Big fish like these are best handled in the water

Morocco Carp returns a brace of Carp to Lake Bin el Ouidane to fight again another day and hopefully make some angler very happy.

We have space for late January and February so if you fancy hooking one of these Moroccan Monsters give Fraser a ring on 00212 783 48733

Morocco Carp - looking for an X factor Carper

2007-12-10T16:15:00.000+01:00

Chanel 2M 9 oclock news

We were jumping with excitement on Saturday night as 2M, the national Moroccan TV channel, ran our interview on the 9pm main evening news. The interview had been recorded at the tourism meeting we presented at a couple of days before and had actually aired the previous evening in French. We only found out as Hamids mobile started ringing continuously with people congratulating us on getting on the tellie!

Ali interviewing Fraser Cairns about Carp fishing in Morocco

Mr Ali ELM Rabat, the presenter who interviewed me rang me on Saturday morning to tell me that it had aired in French, but the best news of all was that it was going to be repeated that evening in Arabic, and the pan European French cable channel, TV monde had also run with the interview the day before. Ali has promised that he will make a recording of the TV tape and Ill post it on the you tube account, Im looking forward to seeing it again as I really cant really remember what I said!
I was so nervous at having to be interviewed in French that I think I just used all my brain power up for speaking leaving little brain RAM on the old grey cortex for memory storage...or am I just getting old?

seeing me seeing you... strange to see oneselve on the small screen

It was a great experience and Im just glad I had the chance to explain to the Moroccan public a little bit about Carp fishing and these crazy people that return fish alive. The whole subject seems to have picked Ali's curiosity and he has offered to come back with his TV crew to do a report on the lake and the carp fishing.

still not sure what I said and this version had been translated into Arabic!

Ali would like to film a group of good anglers going through their paces on Bin el Ouidane and I promised him I would put this up on the blog and see if there is anyone interested in coming over on a fishing holiday and working with the French TV crew to make a documentry.
I have some space available around the 20th of January and it would be ideal for a group of 4-8 anglers.
Give me a ring on 00212 783 48733 and see if you make it on CARP X factor!

Morocco - Lake Bin el Ouidane

2007-12-10T14:39:00.001+01:00

My friend and fellow nomad Mike Johansson from 360factory has produced this excellent video of his personal Moroccan experience.

I have Mike to thank for so much of the design, vision, photography and energy that has been required to get Morocco Carp to where it is today.

Looking forward to creating new content with you Mike and taking Web 2.0 to the furthest reaches of the non networked world.

Its been a blast and here's to the next
Fraser

Cheap flights to Marrakesh from Atlas Blue

2007-12-08T12:24:00.000+01:00

Morocco Carp videos for 2007

2007-12-08T10:56:00.000+01:00

The first in our monthly series of Video catch reports (Vlogs) All the fish, sights and sounds of the last month from Morocco Carp.
Morocco Carp organise fish and family holidays to Bin el Ouidane lake in the middle Atlas mountains of Morocco.

The best of the September catches from Morocco Carp. Check out our web site at www.moroccocarp.com for more information on our great range of fishing and family holidays.
Or our blog www.catsncarp.blogspot.com for up to date catch reports and news from the mythical lake Bin el Ouidane.

All the best from this stunning corner of the world. Keep up to date with the latest catches from the Bin el Ouidane and the local region.
Don't forget our blog www.catsncarp.blogspot.com for all the latest news from Bin, or to book a spot in fishing heaven www.moroccocarp.com or our agents: UK Essex Angling Holidays

Tadla Azila is a stunning region in the middle of Morocco encompassing the mid and high Atlas mountains.
This new video shows in detail many of the natural and cultural wonders to be found in the area.
This is the latest from the Moroccan Tourist Board and the local CRT and CRI for the Tadla Azilal region, so watch it then book a holiday and live it!

Thanks to: CRI

Morocco Carp and 360factory pioneer HDR photography in Morocco

2007-12-07T09:57:00.000+01:00

The image intensity is fantastic on this still life of the wash basin in the Cathedral suite of our hotel. Photo: Mike Johansson - www.360factory.com

In computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

Nailed! - what an HDR image. Taken high above the lake and village of Bin el Ouidane the old ruined Kasbah can be seen bottom right. The depth of field is incredible with the Ahansal river entrance streching for miles into the Middle Atlas mountains. Photo: Mike Johansson - www.360factory.com

HDRI was originally developed for use with purely computer-generated images. Later, methods were developed to produce a high dynamic range image from a set of photographs taken with a range of exposures. With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy-to-use desktop software, the term "HDR" is now popularly used[1] to refer to the process of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range. This composite technique is different from, and generally of lower quality than, the production of an image from a single exposure of a sensor that has a native high dynamic range. Tone mapping is also used to display HDR images on devices with a low native dynamic range, such as a computer screen.

Tonemapped image of Morocco Carp's twin waddies swim on Bin el Ouidane. Photo: Mike Johansson - www.360factory.com

Thanks to Wikipedia for the info

Morocco Carp presents the new video for Bin el Ouidane and Tadla Azilal region of Morocco

2007-12-06T20:34:00.000+01:00

Check out this fantastic new video from the Moroccan Tourist board with the participation of the CRT and CRI. Well worth the watch, some amazing scenic shots and such a wide range of activities available in this stunning region, home to the mythical Carp fishing lake Bin el Ouidane.

New Years Eve in Morocco

2007-12-06T14:13:00.001+01:00

€500 per person - Special 5 day New Years Eve package with Morocco Carp including a Gala dinner!

A new years eve celebration in the Atlas mountains of Morocco with traditional Berber dancing, music and a banquet fit for a Moroccan King.

Click here to take a virtual tour of the Hotel

Our retro cool boutique hotel has 5 suites and fabulous views over the majestic lake of Bin el Ouidane and the high Atlas mountains.

The weather should be similar to that of a ski resort, cold clear star filled nights followed by crisp sunny blue skied days.

Some of the best carp fishing in the world is on our doorstep and we offer full equipment hire to give you a chance to hook yourself a Moroccan monster.

The lake record is a massive 69lbs but the lake average of 30lbs would please most.

If fishing's not your thing why not kick off 2008 with some off road Quad biking? we have two 150cc automatic Quad bikes for hire and miles of unexplored tracks, ruined Kasbas and stunning mountain scenery.

If peace and tranquility is more your thing why not explore the lake on one of our surf kayaks? unsinkable and safe for even the most inexperienced its a wonderful way to see and get close to the wildlife. Just dont get too close to the Carp fishermen.

A Moroccan food experience.

Your breakfast and dinner are prepared by our hotel kitchens every day and are included in the price, the selection changes daily as we use fresh in season local produce prepared in the traditional Berber style .

The Berber lounge restaurant menu operates from 12pm-5pm.

The Pioneer menu - for ordering pack lunches and drinks when your out exploring or fishing.

Moroccan food is excellent and we hope to show some of its finer points during our Moroccan Gala diner dance on the 31st. This will be an unforgettable evening to stimulate all your senses. The night will commence in our lantern lit gardens where Berber musicians thump out their haunting drum and vocal melodies, live. The rhythm is followed by the pulsating dancers who twirl and shrill in a way that has to be heard.

The smell of the honey glazed whole mutton that has been slowly spit roasted for 8 hours is intoxicating and is the centre piece of a buffet table of locally prepared dishes that will be continually replenished during the evening.

Finally a full bar service is available till the wee small hours for those that wish.

Included in the Price:

5 nights Hotel room* single person supplement applies
Breakfast and 3 course traditional dinner each day.
31st December Moroccan Gala dinner dance
Day trip to the stunning Cascades d'Ozoud.
Transport Marrakesh Airport - Bin el Ouidane return.

Itinery

Friday 28th arrive at Marrakesh Airport - Morning and afternoon arrivals with a small Marrakesh shopping trip for the early birds. Its a pleasasnt and photogenic 3 hour drive from the Airport with the snow capped high Atlas flanking us all the way to our lake side hotel.The nearest large town is Beni Melal and its just up and over the mountain before you will be checking in and enjoying a typical Moroccan welcome.

Saturday 29th - excursions and activities available or just chill in the Berber lounge and take in the splendor of the mountains.

Sunday 30th - The mini bus departs the hotel at 10am for the amazing day trip to the waterfalls at Ozoud. Dont forget your camera and swimming gear, its a real breath taker. Plenty of shopping opportunities in the bustling local arts and crafts market that winds it way down the cliff side. Enjoy lunch overlooking the falls with wild monkies, its a wonderful place to spend the end of 2007.

Monday 31st - Grand Moroccan Gala dinner dance.
Traditional spit roasted honey glazed sheep and a buffet of delicious Moroccan and Berber dishes. Accompanied by live Berber musicians and dancers, candle lit gardens and the star filled night sky.

Tuesday 1st - A day for... fishing, kayaks, hiking, quads - check out availability and prices with reception.

Wednesday 2nd Jan - return to Marrakesh.

€500 per person* based on double room occupancy SPS of €20 applies.

Ring Fraser on 00212 783 487 33 or email at info@moroccocarp.com
Reserve your place today!!

You might need to bring:
Clothing:The nights are cold and the days are warm so bring clothes that will handle the big daily temperature change. Good fleece and mountain/ski gear is ideal for nights, shorts, t-shirts and suncream for the day.
Swimming gear, towel, water shoes.
If you want to fish: sleeping bag, reels, alarms, indicators and end rigs.
Everyone: A good torch, travel adapter (2 pin round plug) Sun cream, hat, your best French.

Important Info:You need a minimum of 6 months on your passport to travel to Morocco.Try and book your flight tickets to arrive at Marrakesh airport on the 28th December at around 11am or 3pm. The return flight should depart Marrakesh in the mid morning to allow time for the 3 hour drive.
Medical: The Hotel and lake is at 800m (2400 feet) please consult your GP if you are taking heart/blood thining medication prior to booking. Bring Parecetamol (not Aspirin) Imodium for upset tums and some PG tips - Im running low.

Money: The local currency is the Dirham (MAD) get some from the bureau de change or the ATM's at the airport on arrival. Dont change too much as you cant change it back at the end, the hotel will accept payment in other international currencies if you run out of Dirhams.

Strange days indeed.

2007-12-06T12:03:00.001+01:00

Master key cutter at work...

Sometimes I feel my life could not be any crazier.... then a day like yesterday happens.

Ive been more or less on the lake for the last 2 weeks and it feels like I've lost all contact with the outside world - Ive been living in my bivvy or in the shop and fishing a bit, but it seems like ive been mainly firefighting. The last month has been hard with non stop mechanical problems to my equipment and a couple of busted ribs have all added to the test. I lost two quad bikes and both outboard motors over the last few months to mechanical failure. Thankfully Ive got the main outboard back after a rebore and new pistons and the quads are just waiting for some parts, so Inshalla we will be working efficiently soon and not by brute force and manual labour.

All the gear for a big presentation

So I was ready for a little break and a chance to present the Morocco Carp project and the groundbreaking photographic work we have been doing in the area to the local tourism big wigs from the CRT (regional centre for tourism) and the CRI (inward investment agency) and a 40 strong selection of Moroccos press.

My favourite junk food stop...

The meeting was held in the grand offices of the CRI in the local town of Beni Mellal, just 45 kms from our base on the lake but up and over the mountain which makes it seem a much longer trip than it actually is.

Being interviewed by Moroccan TV

As we were setting up our cameras and computers we got chatting to the RTM film crew and before long Ali, a presenter for the channel asked if he could interview me. I jumped at the chance to explain about Peche no Kill as they call it here, Carp Fishing to us. They always seem to go kinda goofy and look at me like Im an alien when you explain that Peche No Kill means returning the fish back to the water alive, but I persevere in my poor French, and as he wraps it up I feel proud that Ive managed to talk in reasonably coherent French and I hope get the carp fishing message across to the Moroccan Public. He told me that it might be aired on Channel 1 which is Moroccos main TV channel, Inshalla.

On the way back we stopped in at Hamids house as his front door lock had jammed and his poor wife and kids were shivering outside. After a quick inspection it was back into town and a fruitless search for a locksmith, Hamid eventually persuaded a small keycutter to leave his shop and go and rescue the family, leaving me and Photo Mike to man his shop! - I made my first sale after only two minutes, a lovely Berber lady that wanted a new gas burner for her gas bottle, something I know alot about. It must have looked bizarre to her, two Europeans, suited and booted manning a hole in the wall key cutters! made me laugh too and the sheer absurdity of the situation will make me giggle for a long time.

A grand view of the middle Atlas from Hotel Ouzoud

A phone call on Mikes mobile was the cherry ontop, a beautiful Hotel just on the outside of Beni Mellal want us to do a few photos and a virtual tour of the place. A perfect end to the day with the chance to show our new internet and photo technology plus I get to stay in this rather nice suite and I hear they do a fine steak dinner.

The infinity pool looked great with the mountains reflected

Morocco Carp investing in the future fish stock of Bin el Ouidane.

2007-11-23T13:49:00.000+01:00

Mr Elastrari recieves his payment and thanks from Morocco Carp

Morocco Carp save a 40 campaign

A superb 46lbs common saved by Morocco Carp

Since I started this project in January 2007 improving the opportunities for the local population has always played heavily on any decisions I have taken in setting up and running Morocco Carp as a sustainable ecotourism and carp fishing venture.

Inspecting the net damage

Offering the local fishermen an alternative to commercial fishing as a means to make a living would seem to be the sensible solution. If Carp fishing is going to take hold and prosper here on Bin el Ouidane the local fishermen need to see that they can make as much or more from the Carp alive as by killing them and selling them in the local market. Carp has the lowest market price of all the freshwater fish that are sold, its not good eating as anyone whos tasted it will admitt (apart from the Poles and the Hungarians who have the barmy idea that Carp tastes good)

Morocco Carp investing in the future fish stock

Some time back I made it as widly known as possible among the local fishermen on the lake that I would pay market price plus a bonus for any 20kg + Carp brought to me alive and well. I hoped they didnt catch too many big ones but it seemed like a financial risk worth taking if Morocco Carp was going to practice what it preaches - sustainable use of local resources. That statement really means returning all carp alive, but lets walk before we run and start with the big ones and work from there.

I dream that in the not to distant future, working with the local fishermen and the relevant regional and national agencies we can create a new qualification, a new profession for the local fishermen as a Profesional Fishing Guide. The parabael "give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for life" - seems highly appropriate, but the local fishermen only need retraining in the skills of sports fishing, then they may feed themselves for life.

This morning just after first light Mr Elastrari, a local net and long line fishermen knocked on my door and told me he had a carp for me. The fish weighed 21 kg or 46 lbs and he had caught it the previous morning in his net along with another of around 9kg. The fish had been secured by a length of cord through the gill plate and out the mouth. Mr Elastrari had rowed the 4km across the lake with both carp swimming behind the boat.

some net burns and scale and fin damage

The fish seemed in reasonable condition, a few scales missing, split tail and dorsal fins and some nasty net burns across the nose and face, but not in bad overall shape. Fingers crossed the stress hasn't been too much and it will survive and prosper to grace our banks and make someones holiday some other day.

Hamid struggling with the weight a little

Thank you Mr Elastrari and all the other local fishermen that have helped me and shared their stories.
Hopefully the first of many big Carp that we can save and return to Bin el Ouidane.
Inshalla

Check out our New Years 5 Day special more details on the blog and web site.

Ahansal_River_View HDR image copyright moroccocarp

2007-11-13T16:18:00.001+01:00

Ahansal_River_View HDR image copyright moroccocarp, originally uploaded by radcarper.

A stunning HDR image of the Ahansal river entrance to Bin el Ouidane lake in Morocco.
The photo was taken by Mike Johansson of 360factory.com whilst working on new images including HDR 360 images of all Morocco Carp swims.

Morocco Carp October Vlog

2007-11-13T14:28:00.001+01:00

Our latest vlog the catch report from October - enjoy

Morocco Carp early November catch report from Bin el Ouidane

2007-11-13T12:26:00.001+01:00

A stunning fish and well deserved - top angler

Paul with a 38lbs twin waddies common

The weather has settled down into what I can only describe as perfect for fishing. We have cold clear nights followed by fantastic sunrises and sunny blue sky days, just a shame the fish havnt realised it yet.

38lbs common - a very big fish one day soon

The lake is fishing slowly but Im convinced we have better fishing just around the corner. The natural food levels are dropping off as the water cools and the fish will start moving into the bays during the late mornings and afternoons. This should bring them into boat range and hopefully catch results will improve.

A hard scrapping common of 30lbs for Carl

We still have spaces for December so If you fancy a trip drop me an email or ring.

We are also planning a new years eve special so if you dont know what to do this new years eve why not give Morocco Carp a try? I will be publishing details later this week on the special banquet we will be organising for the night of the 31st, watch this space.

18lbs and to my eye a 3 summer fish

Paul and Carl, our first English anglers of the month fished the first week and opted for Twin Waddies to start their campaign. It looked like being a great week when first morning Carl had a 33lbs common and Paul lost one. The promising start dissolved into an abrupt blank due to the incredible amount of boat traffic on the lake. It was a Morrocan national 5 day holiday and the rich kids from Casablanca were on the lake in force with their noisy polluting penis extension... sorry I meant to say boats and jet skis.

Bin el Ouidane - nothing like it

This seemed to put the fish right down and it wasnt till Wednesday when they all went home that we got some peace and quiet and the fishing slowly started to improve.

Twin waddies only 10 mins from the hotel

Paul and Carl finished the week with 4 fish the biggest going 38lbs, well fished guys and looking forward to seeing you next year.

Pioneer carp fishing with Morocco Carp

Technical problems with our site

2007-11-13T12:05:00.000+01:00

Thanks to everyone that phoned or messaged to tell me about http://www.moroccocarp.com/ being down.

Apparently our site was hacked and the public HTML folder was deleated, or in other words they deleated my web site.

Anyway its not so bad as I was going to change my hosting soon and this has just made me do it faster, so sit tight Morocco Carp will be back on line by the end of the week latest.

End of October catch update from Morocco Carp

2007-10-31T14:19:00.000+01:00

The last day of October dawned cold and clear and this fish screamed off at 8 am giving me a right workout. I was standing about 300 yards down the bank chatting to a French fisherman when the distant whine of an alarm finally reached my ear. After a flatout sprint (at 2400 feet of altitude your on your knees I assure you) I reached the rod just as the last 50 yards or so of backing were peeling off. The fish must have taken 150 yards in one long powerful continous run.
I jumped straight in the boat, wheezing and feeling sick from the sprint and tried to get the backing line, only 10lbs mono to get me extra distance, back on the spool. It wasnt till I hit the reliable green of 18lbs Nash bullet that I felt I could give the fish any stick.

Anyway it put up a hell of a fight considering it had already taken so much line and I happily slipped the net under a beautiful 34lbs common carp, built like a dustpan lid.

I think this is a German strain of common - can anyone enlighten me?

Ishmael Morocco Carps head boat man with a 28lbs fully scaled

This slightly deformed fish fell to 4 grains of maize fished over the back of the old river bed at around 350 meters from the bank. Its Ishmaels second fish this month and he is really getting the hang of Carp fishing. He won the fish of the month competition in August with a fine 32 lbs common and he is now experimenting with different baits and getting the hang of the sonar.

Ishmael pulled it out the bag when it was needed when we had the pleasure of a group of 40 school children and their hard working teachers from the Casablanca American international school. A local exchange with a school just down the road was made and many of the local bigwigs attended, I think it was a real eye opener for the children from both sides and they ended their day with a tree planting ceremony.

The children also got the chance to see how we fish for Carp and it was this fine 28lbs common that Ishmael managed to land just as the kids arrived at our camp.

The carp gods also shone for me with this beautiful 36lbs mirror

The students get up close with a big mirror

The best bit was that the kids got to see the Carp returned unharmed and with respect.

World Record Mirror Carp - Paul Meridith 89 lbs

2007-10-24T14:12:00.001+02:00

Paul Meredith with Scarfish at the new world record weight of 89lbs

The New World record Mirror 89 lbs (40.45)

pictured here at a lesser weight of 38.02 (83.64lbs)

by Pete Simmons on the 3/11/2006 at La Gravier

Do you want to see the most popular World Record Carp Photo?

Paul Meredith from Birmingham has just landed the new World record Mirror Carp at 89 lbs from La Graviers fishery run by Luke Moffett. Paul was fishing on the swim known as the lawn and the huge Carp fell to a margin positioned bait. Paul and lake owner Luke had to take to the boat to land it after a hairy 30 minute battle.

Incredibly the same fish was caught 2 weeks ago by an un named angler who returned it without weighing, apparently he was content with his catch and didnt worry about the weight - a refreshing attitude.
Scarfish, as this fish is known, was also caught just over a month ago by UK angler Mike Cooper at 87 lbs, just 1.6 lbs short of the then current, now deceased Rainbow lakes record fish at 88.6lbs.

So it Scarfish that holds the record and with perhaps another month left of reasonable weather in France we might see her out again, and maybe we will see her break the 90 barrier.

Morocco Carp launch "La Aventura Espanola"

2007-10-19T14:23:00.000+02:00

Aventura Espanola - Spanish week with Morocco Carp on Bin el Ouidane

Give Oliver a call to reserve your place 661 627 981

Morocco Carp are proud to announce the "Adventura Espanola" a Spanish fishing week in February/March 2008 on Bin el Ouidane lake in Morocco.

Oliver Alcon Angullo, our new Spanish agent, will be organising things from Spain and if you want more details pop along to the Ebro-carp show on the 10, 11, 12th of November at Mequinenza. Oliver will have mint tea, Moroccan cakes the latest catch reports and daily updates by SMS message from the banks of Bin el Ouidane. So why not pop along and enjoy some Morocco Carp hospitality and reserve your place on the Carp fishing trip of 2008.

Oliver with a mid 30 mirror from Bin el Ouidane

We wish you every success Oliver in your new position and everyone at Morocco Carp looks forward to welcoming our Spanish guests.

Mid 30's common - a typical Morocco Carp

Stealth and good terminal camouflage are the route to success at Bin el Ouidane

2007-10-16T20:34:00.000+02:00

Bin el Ouidane is a hugh water supply reservoir situated at 800 m (2400 ft) in the middle Atlas mountains of Morocco. The lake is nearly 20kms long and around 5 km at its widest.
The crystal clear waters are fed by two high Atlas mountains rivers and the Carp feed by sight giving them an extremely developed sense of vision and are extremely spooky. The carp are large and plentiful if you can find them and in my experience a mobile and stealthy approach gives better results than sitting tight on a mound of corn.

Atomic Morocco Carp leads, rubber and clips

This stealth approach has brought me some cracking fish over the last two months and Ive refined my rigs and traps based on my experience on the banks. Here's how I approached a new swim with quiet spectacular results.:

Available in 3-6oz and 5 models

French Ramp swim is situated on the west side of the hotel and its a 3 man swim with the river gulley, old river bed and sunken island to fish to, it makes for an interesting and exciting swim.

Diagram of French ramp and hotel bay

I planned to fish 2 long range rods out to the old river gulley at around 250 m and beyond that on the slope off coming from sunken island at around 380m. these rods would be fished solo, without a great deal of bait, perhaps 1 kg of maize scattered in the area. The bait, a floro green Opal 18mm and 12mm pukka pineapple popups anchored by a shot on the hair.

Carp fishing for records demands the best tackle and technology

I was fishing a rig that Paul Russell from Essex Angling holidays had shown me. Basically the shot is placed on the hair just under the popups and the hook is tied with a knotless complicated knot. This is basically your standard knotless knot with the hair passed over the first 5 turns of the knotless knot and a further 5 turns laid down, then finished in the standard way. It allows the hair to pop straight off the middle of the hook shank and I like the hooking capabilities of this rig.

A size 6 Atomic Claw and a 6 inch stealth skin link, a 5 oz Atomic Morocco carp lead, 1 meter of brown lead core and 7 metres of brown 45lbs quicksilver snag leader to finish off the set up.

I boated my 2 long range rods out till I hit the 45 foot mark dropped 1 kg of maize off the back and followed it with the rig.
The third rod was fished beyond the river gulley on the long sloping drop off from the sunken island at around 400m.

The carp in Bin el Ouidane don't often really feed at night, which is a relief in some ways as I was absolutely knackered. Im still getting used to this life as a guide and the high altitude of the lake makes everything physical seem so much harder than normal. So with the rods out I made up my bed and pretty soon I was out, confident, very confident of a run at first light.

6AM like an alarm clock, off went my inside long range rod, I jumped in the boat straight away to avoid snagging the lead and was soon in deep water and out of danger. The fish made some impressive runs stripping 30-40 yards of line at a time and putting up a dogged resistance all the way through. After about 20 minutes I managed to slip the net under an absolutely mint common carp. I unclipped the landing net from its pole and wedged it off the back of the boat and made the slow pull back to shore, confident that I had a new PB common.
The scales confirmed it, 45lbs and also my biggest fish to date from Bin el Ouidane.

Fish were moving on the 200 metre line and I soon had the rod out again on the spot. The sonar showed a fairly typical bottom, about 4 inches of brown silt over a fairly hard clay and rock base. A small weed bed showed and I new it was more or less in the same spot as the night before so I dropped the bait and scattered some maize then rowed to shore with the line spooling out behind. A fish crashed twice right over my bait and I was sure it would go, and sure enough off it screamed. A fine 32lbs comon to give me my PB brace and an unforgetable morning.

I am sure the use of red/brown snag leaders, brown leadcore to keep it down in the silt, lead core hook links and camouflaged Atomic Moroccan leads and clips gave me the edge and caused these two fine fish to make a mistake, and that's what we are talking about, 1 mistake, just 1 mistake by a carp in Bin el Ouidane and it could be your PB, your fish of a lifetime, or even the new World Record.

Many people wrongly assume that because the lake has been lightly fished the carp will be stupid, this is not the case. The carp in Bin el Ouidane are extremely sensitive to noise of any kind and particularly tight lines in the water. These fish have been pursued since birth by the local fishermen using crude long line tactics and more commonly, seine nets. The fish are crafty, resourceful and very very sure that a tight line, net or tense cord spells danger.
The road to success on Bin el Ouidane is not easy but a big step down the path is using good camouflaged terminal tackle.

Radcarper 2007.

Check out our September Vlog catch report

Morocco Carp luanch UK marketing campaign with Essex Angling Holidays

2007-10-14T19:06:00.003+02:00

A sneek preview of our new advert due to launch in the UK next week.
Give Paul at Essex Angling Holidays a ring and secure your place at Carp fishing's hottest venue.

Water knowledge - Hotel Bay and French ramp

2007-10-14T19:06:00.002+02:00

I had a fantastic brace of carp from the French ramp swim towards the end of September. I also got blown off the point and destroyed a bivvy one night so decided that the next time I fish it I would place the bivvy further round in the bay and not sitting up on the higher ground and easily hit by the winds.

20.5 kg (45lbs) from French ramp

After a couple of days relaxing and blanking on twin waddies I felt it was time to revisit the French Ramp and Hotel bay and discover some of the features in this interesting area. It is also the closest area to our hotel with very easy to access for anglers and hotel guests - perfect really.

a stunning morning brace of 45lbs and 32lbs from French ramp

Diagram of hotel river to french ramp

Looking to the diagram you can see the hotel river and at around 400 m directly out is the sunken island. There is currently around 5 meters of water over the island and as the lake fills up during the winter many of these areas will become to far from the bank to fish. But for now its an exciting swim with many opportunities and some excellent features.
The river bends round to the right and runs parallel to the bank at around 250m, from the right bend until the river bed becomes one with the lake bottom is around 150m.

I think the best swim to fish to the sunken island is from the right side of the river, its around 350m to the front and this is where most of the fish have come from in depths of 12-18 m rather than rods fished ontop or on the sides of the island.

The right hand side of this 3 man swim, towards the French boat ramp offers opportunities to fish to the river gulley and long range beyond the river on the slope running from the sunken island along gradually getting deeper as the river bed fades out.

Henrik from Catch it baits in Denmark and his fishing buddy Peter are fishing the swim as I write so watch the blog for the latest catch reports.

Watch our first video - Morocco Carp the story so far...

Its gotta be a good day

2007-10-14T19:06:00.001+02:00

...when it starts like this

and ends like this...

1st week of October Catch report - Bin el Ouidane, Morocco Carp

2007-10-14T11:19:00.000+02:00

October - spectacular storms and sunsets

October started with storms and more rain, the water level continued to drop and the surface water temperature is now 72 degrees, thats 8 degrees cooler than at the end of September. Autumn has arrived and arrived in force and I've personally never fished through such a series of storms. I hope that it calms down a bit as Ive managed to destroy 2 Nash double tops in two weeks - an expensive pastime.

A beautiful 40 lbs common 2 days after the storm

The fishing has followed the weather and its been fairly difficult with many blank days when the weather was bad. Equally Ive had a couple of fantastic days with 6 fish banked. The fish seem to come on the feed, and come closer in to the dried river waddies around 36-48 hours after a big storm, so when weve had a 2-3 day break between storms Ive managed to pull out a few.

Danny with his first Bin el Ouidane fish, 29.04 lbs

Beachcomber John and Ebro Danny had been fishing the twin waddies swim at the end of September during some of the roughest storms. Danny managed a beautiful 29.02 fish on their last evening and I felt I just had to jump into the dead mens shoes, as the swim just had to come on.

Sunday afternoon I got the rods out on twin waddies, 1 rod to the right gulley on a lovely rock and weed mark at 32 feet, 1 rod to the left gulley in 42 feet of water at the end of the river bed and 1 rod between the two at long range, around 350 metres.

Just a 40 and a great fight

Fatima with her first Morocco Carp

Monday morning I had 1 small fish and lost a decent 1 after a hook slip.
Tuesday morning I had a nice 26 lbs common on the 42 foot rod

Wednesday was a great day with 6 fish banked

23lbs common as the fished moved into the dried river bed

25lbs common from the left river gulley

40.4 lbs common right river gulley

Another storm was to blow in on Thursday and the swim died a death, but not a bad week, 10 fish the biggest 40.4 lbs and 4 small fish from 10-20 lbs.

Check out our Video catch report from September

September Catch report

2007-10-11T00:01:00.001+02:00

It was a great month, we had the pleasure of welcoming 12 great anglers who caught a total of 59 Carp the biggest going 20.5 kg (45 lbs) Two special mentions to Tony Bartram for his PB common and Peter Kent for another.
I am also proud to announce that everyone of our clients caught fish, that gives me a 100 percent guiding record. Which Im bound to mess up for just having mentioned it!
Every one of Morocco Carp clients has caught fish, and anyone who has fished the lake this last few months will know that it is not an easy proposition.

Stay tuned to the blog for more catch reports and updates, October is looking a little quiet but we have still had over 15 fish from 3 anglers in the first week of the month.

We have availability still for late October and November but we are getting booked up quickly for spring 2008. Dont delay give us a ring, drop us an email or contact our uk agents, Essex Angling Holidays for reservation details.

mid September catch report and other ramblings

2007-09-28T17:42:00.000+02:00

Oliver with a beautiful 35lbs linear mirror

The week started well with all swims producing good fish. Oliver and Javier from Barcelona had opted to start their campaign on the reliable Twin waddies swim – two dried river beds; and were enjoying some great action.

Javier with a big Bin el Ouidane common

Oliver hits another screamer on twin waddies

I had opted to pioneer a new swim, the French ramp, and it delivered on Tuesday morning with a magnificent brace of commons at 45lbs and 32lbs.

Morning brace of 45lbs and 32lbs

What a fish 45lbs of Bin el Ouidane perfection

A beautiful looking 32lbs that came from the same spot as the 45lbs

Peter Kent had opted for the Hotel Bay river gulley and had his PB on Monday afternoon, a fine 32lbs common.

Peter with his new PB common of 32lbs

I didn’t know it then but the next 24 hours were going to be radically different.

The storm turned and blew me away

Tuesday afternoon saw a change in weather as a nasty looking storm blew in, the water temperature dropped 3 degrees and the wind was gale force, I was pretty worried. The French ramp swim is situated on a long rocky spit that delineates the start of hotel bay. I had pegged the bivvy down as best I could on the rocky and unforgiving ground, but at around 3am the storm decided to change direction and the wind started howling straight into the door mouth of the bivvy.

pounding 3 foot waves a howling wind - scary

It was a scary night but I had managed to drop off to sleep even with the Nash double top taking a pounding. I don’t remember much but it was like being in a car smash, one minute sleeping contentedly the next in the air and hurtling towards the stony ground. To be honest I don’t remember a thing, just waking up and having leads and bed chair and all sorts of other stuff clattering around my head. I think we rolled a couple of times and I remember thinking at least I’m not in the water and trying to find the door out of this bivvy wreck.

Nash double topped after the storm

I made the best of things as the rain lashed down and the wind blew the guts from my destroyed camp. I managed to drag everything under the bivvy and peg down the sides with rocks as best I could. Crawling inside I clung on for sunup.

Bin el Ouidane 1 Nash double top 0

By Friday we were back to normal weather conditions but the storm had put the fish down and all swims were fishing slowly. Javier and Oliver decided to move to the sheltered Tortuga Bay and managed a brace of commons of 36lbs and 23lbs plus lost 3 more fish, one of which was a biggie.

The first fish from Tortuga Bay 36lbs

There were plenty of fish showing in the bay but they didn’t seem interested in the maize, the two carp captured were held in a sack for 5 hours so we could examine their faeces and both carp unsurprisingly left the sack full of maize and seed. A similar experience occurred on snake spit and the island, the carp were there but few of them were getting stuck into the beds of corn.

It seems the closer we move down the bank towards the area fished by Belgium Mark the quicker and easier the fish accept maize. Twin waddies for example seems to be an instant swim perhaps as the fish are patrolling around the headland and into Marks area, an area that’s seen heavy maize baiting for the last 2 years. The further away we go from Mark’s area the harder the fishing. The Carp in these new virgin areas show every indication that they are interested but they don’t get their heads down. It’s a question of time and bait I suppose.

Friday night was a great evening, our first Morocco Carp social.

Beachcomber John, Ebro Dan, Pete and Phil had driven down from Spain and we invited all the anglers up to the Morocco Carp Hotel roof terrace for a Berber feast. We started with Harira soup, the traditional soup that breaks the fast each day during Ramadan, followed by some delicious fried Perca Sol, freshly caught that afternoon by Oliver and Javier.

Fried Perca Sol make a delicious appetizer

The main course was kebabs of wild boar that Hamid had hunted the week before cooked over charcoal by Chef Mohamed with a tagine of fresh vegetables to accompany.

Some great local wine from the Meknes region of Morocco and even a drop of good Spanish Cava brought along by John to finish. A great night and the first of many such evenings I hope.

The Carp’s diet in Lake Bin el Ouidane

Some more thoughts on the food source

I’ve been enjoying some good smokey socials with Oliver and Javier and we have had some interesting conversations. I think I’m leaning away from the water snail theory. The shore line is awash with small white snail shells and the obvious thought is that these water snails are the main diet of the Bin el Ouidane carp. On closer inspection of the beach areas and the great tides of snail shells, most of them appear undamaged, empty but not crushed. I feel that if a carp was going to eat a snail it would crush the shell with its throat teeth and the remains would be like a white course sand when it passed out the other end, 90% of all the snail shells are intact.

We have also noticed thousands and thousands of small holes in the silt, I thought perhaps these were of the snails making but on digging into the silt we have found nothing.

Oliver was observing the Perca Sol in the margins and they hover, transfixed over these holes in the silt, as if waiting for a worm or lava to pop its head out.

I need to rig up some sort of underwater video camera, Oliver suggested a fish tank in the margins with the video camera inside and focused on one of the holes, see if we can capture on video what is actually making these holes and perhaps providing a rich food source.

Another point of note, Oliver caught a fish that was leaking sperm, the date is the 20^th of September, a one off? or are the Carp breeding multiple times?- probably the latter which would explain how the lake developed such a huge population of fish in such few years.

Catch report for the week of 20^th September 2007

Peter Kent – Hotel Bay

32lbs common maize/pukka

28lbs common maize/pukka

Lost 1

Oliver and Javier Twin Waddies and Tortuga Bay

22lbs common

35lbs Linear mirror

28lbs common

42 lbs common

21lbs common

20lbs common

35lbs common

35 lbs common

23lbs common

29lbs common

10lbs mirror

3 small carp and 7 more lost

Radcarper

45lbs common popup snowman opal/pukka

32lbs common popup snowman opal/pukka

Lost 1

Morocco Carp...the story so far

2007-09-24T16:22:00.001+02:00

Our first catch report video.
August till the start of September.

New swim French ramp produces the goods 45 and 32lbs morning brace

2007-09-19T16:21:00.000+02:00

A morning brace of 45lbs and 32lbs

I decided to try a new swim to the right hand side of the Hotel.
With clients fishing Hotel bay and twin waddies I opted for the next bay along so I could keep visual contact with everyone and help out Peter Kent, fishing alone, if he hooked a biggie.

This mighty 45lbs common had never been caught before

What with all the running around that seems to be consuming most of my days it was only really after dark that I got to fish the swim, but I was baiting morning and evening with around 20kg. The second morning saw me lose a biggie when the hook slipped after a long and strong battle, to say I was a little pissed off would be an understatement particularly as the Spanish guys on twin waddies had been banging them out since Saturday and Peter had managed a new PB common at 32lbs, I was the last one to catch.

steady girl.....

Water dance with a 44 lbs common

The Spanish guys, Oliver and Javier from Barcelona fishing the twin waddies swim had 12 fish out since Saturday with the biggest going 42lbs a beautiful fully scaled mirror of 38lbs and 2 fine commons of 35lbs and 37lbs, not to mention the further 8 fish all above 25lbs. Most of their fish seemed to be coming from around 12-14 metres (40-50ft) in the mouth of the dried river bed. I decided that I would find similar depth water infront of my swim.

Another big common graces the net of The Spanish crew Oliver and Javier

Oliver with a 25lbs common part of 12 fish catch in 3 days on twin waddies

Oliver's biggest at 42lbs but the Spanish guys are here for 2 weeks...watch this space

I planned to fish 2 long range rods baited with a popup snowman of Opal 18mm and 12mm pukka pineapple. I was fishing a rig that Paul Russell from Essex Angling holidays had shown me. Basically the shot is placed on the hair just under the bait and the hook is tied with a knotless complicated knot. This is basically your standard knotless knot with the hair passed over the first 5 turns of the knotless not and a further 5 turns laid down then finished in the standard way. It allows the hair to pop straight off the middle of the hook shank and I like the hooking capabilities of this rig.I was fishing with a size 6 Atomic Claw and stealth skin link, a 5 oz Atomic Morocco carp lead and 45lbs quicksilver snag leader finished off the set up.

I boated my 2 long range rods out till I hit the 45 foot mark dropped 5 kg of maiz off the back and followed it with the rig. My third road was fished at around 35 yards to a small mark I had found surrounded by Canadian pond weed, it was in only 4 metres of water but looked fishy enough.
The carp in Bin el Ouidane don't really feed at night, which is a relief in some ways as I was absolutely knackered, Im still getting used to this life as a guide and the high altitude of the lake makes everything physical seem so much harder than normal. So with the rods out I made up my bed and pretty soon I was out, confident, very confident of a run at first light.

6AM like an alarm clock, off went my inside long range rod, the same position as yesterday when I had lost the biggie. I jumped in the boat straight away to avoid snagging the lead and was soon in deep water and out of danger. The fish made some impressive runs stripping 30-40 yards of line at a time and putting up a dogged resistance all the way through. After about 20 minutes I managed to slip the net under an absolutely mint common carp. I unclipped the landing net from its pole and wedged it off the back of the boat and made the slow pull back to shore, confident that I had a new PB common ( my previous best common was 30.8lbs from the Ebro) The scales confirmed it, 45lbs and also my biggest fish to date from Bin el Ouidane.

A fine 32lbs Bin el Ouidane common to make the perfect brace

Fish were moving on the 200 metre line and I soon had the rod out again on the spot, a fish crashed twice right over my bait and I was sure it would go off again, sure enough about 1 hour after the 45lbs I had a screamer and a beautiful 32lbs common made the perfect morning brace.
If only all days could start like this - Inshalla.

white water snails - the food of big carp?

5 days of action for Essex Angling on Bin el Ouidane

2007-09-17T16:20:00.000+02:00

Paul Russell, Tony Bartram and Paul Manning – “The Essex Angling crew” flew over for a quick 5 day session at the end of August.

The baiting campaign had been running for 3 weeks and I was pretty confident that we would have immediate action. 3 times a week for the last 3 weeks I had been dropping 25 kg of maize on 6 main swims, and it was 1 of these swims, The Island, that I had decided to fish with the Essex Angling crew for the first weekend of their trip.

The island is a mind blowing place. Imagine being marooned on a tiny drop of land in the middle of a huge lake cupped in the mighty middle Atlas Mountains. The star filled night sky is like an IMAX theatre but better, much better – the crystal clear mountain air and the scale of the vistas just totally humbles you.

Due to a bit of a delay at the Airport we didn’t really get out to the island till dark had fallen and I could feel that the guys were a little worried, but we got the Nash double tops up and were just starting to think about our rumbling stomachs when Ishmael returned with the dinner run. After we had dined and drank like Kings under the stars the consensus was to get our heads down and be fresh for fist light. Huge carp were jumping and splashing all around, it was incredible, the night was still, hardly a ripple, the moon nearly full, the guys were snoring as my PVA bags splashed in.

I had gone to bed so confident of a run that I couldn’t quiet believe that nothing had happened during the night. The fish were there for sure, Id never seen so many fish crashing at any time but we really struggled for a take. Paul Russell had a nice common of 32.10lbs and Tony Bartram the smallest fish I had ever seen from the lake, a cute 3lb common plus another of around 23lbs. It was a slightly battle weary group that decided on the start of day 3 to up sticks and move to the hotel bank.

Final tally for the Island: 2 days, 4 anglers, 4 fish.

Verdict: I will be back

The Hotel Bank

The Essex angling crew decided on the twin waddies swim for the final 3 days of their trip, and it proved to be a good choice. 2 dried river beds feed either side of a headland and it’s a little like fishing an underwater bar on a gravel pit. The technique is to find the centre of the river bed with the sonar and drop your 3 rods at intervals along this river bed gulley. As you get further away from the bank in the river gulley it gets deeper so by fishing 3 rods and staggering them along the river bed you can quickly determine at which depth the fish are feeding and move the other two rods to the same depth.

Everything was quiet for the first day but at sunup the next morning the alarms started sounding. Paul Manning ended with the biggest fish an immaculate common of 39.10lbs. Close of play on the 5 day session was largest fish 39.10lbs common and total fish 15 with 1 PB to Tony Bartram at 28.10 common.

Hope to see you guys out here again soon.

Building roads in Morocco

2007-09-17T15:52:00.000+02:00

The JCB quickly banked up the new road

Anyone that’s fished with Morocco Carp on the mythical lake Bin el Ouidane will know that the walk down to our jetty and hotel bank swims can take the puff out of you. It was particularly hard work for our boat waiters who bring the breakfast and dinner and of course lug 100’s of kilos of equipment from the hotel down to the lake.

So in true pioneering fashion we decided to build a road!

The new road will lead directly from the Morocco Carp HQ along the side of the river gulley and straight to our boat jetty. This will allow us to use our 2 quad motorbikes (also available for hire) with small trailers to transport the massive amounts of gear, bait and food.

I blew the budget yesterday when I shook hands with a local carpenter that I’ve employed to build the new Morocco Carp HQ.

I love doing business with Africans, everything is made by hand, all problems can be worked round, nothing is impossible. I know this will change when the Ikea’s of the world decide that it is profitable to dump another branch of whatever crap they are selling close to these people.

For now, there is no other way than to build things from scratch, using whatever’s at hand. I salute these tradesmen and their skills.

In my ongoing quest to reuse, recycle and buy local I decided on the more expensive option of local red wood for the tackle shop and equipment storage rather than the other option of MDF.

I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing in terms of my carbon footprint. I mean; you have to chop down trees to get local redwood, and trees are not too common round here, so that’s bad right? Yet I want my HQ and tackle shop to look and feel authentic, I’m going to sand, stain, varnish, polish and pour some love into the finish of the place. Make it into the tackle shop I always wanted to visit, have a cup of tea and a chat… you know that tackle shop of your dreams.

MDF is cheaper to buy and I imagine it’s got to be better for the environment, it’s made from reclaimed wood and sawdust and glue – I think? But you can’t stain and polish it and it smells like shit, and I’ve never dreamt of a tackle shop with MDF shelves. I mean you just can’t love a piece of MDF.

For more information of all inclusive fishing holidays to the lake check out our main web site: www.moroccocarp.com

New swim "2 wadis" comes up tops with 7 fish in 24 hours

2007-08-28T21:45:00.001+02:00

Kens first Carp and not a bad start at 11kg

Sunken island mirror the smallest of the session 10kg

Starting the baiting campaign

Change of swim to 2 Wadis - 2 dry river beds

Sunken islands but too much boat traffic to fish there for long

Sunday morning new swim and an 11kg common to get things going

Plenty of Moroccan gold seemed to do the trick

another scale perfect common at 11.5kg

Ishmaels first rod caught carp - good effort 12.5 kg

Due to it being a holiday weekend the boat traffic forced me into leaving sunken island in search of less turbulent waters. Normally the leisure boat traffic is minimal so Im sure we will be fishing sunken island alot of the next few months.
Im glad I moved upbank as it turned into a great Sunday session from the new swim I had been baiting for a week which Im calling twin wadis. Basically 2 dry river beds run into the lake forming a small headland and its a double swim with each angler having access to their own river bed gulley, I fished 2 rods to the left gulley and 1 to the right.

Every 2 hours or so I had runs and ended the session with 7 carp from 11kg to 14.5 kg and lost 3 more, one of which was around 19-20 kg the hook pulled just in front of the net!

The baiting campaign seems to be working as I had action as soon as I dropped onto the swim and Im looking forward to next week when Ill be back at the lake with clients.
Watch out for the latest catch reports.

Discovering the sunken island infront of Hotel Bank

2007-08-14T18:01:00.000+02:00

Found it... 26 foot shows the top of sunken island

The sonar showed a slow and gradual slope of clean clay and rock from the hotel bank due south 270 meters where it showed 65 feet of water rising quickly to 25 feet on top of the island.

Dropping a marker on the spot

An H float and a more permanent water bottle mark the spot.
The island seems to be about 35 meters long, 12 meters wide and has a drop off of 40 feet on the north hotel side and 60 feet on the south.

Diving down to the sunken island in 26 feet of water a hard clean gravel top as expected

Moroccan gold - starting the prebaiting campaign

Happy Days - first fish from sunken island

10kg (22lbs) Mirror Carp

Atomic tackle develop new lead range for Morocco Carp

2007-08-07T18:47:00.000+02:00

The new Morocco Carp range of gravel leads from Atomic

Whilst embracing traditional lead designs, Atomic Tackle strives to bring the angler cutting edge tackle that can only improve your results.

in line bottle grippa, pear, distance, nobbler grippa and bottle

Atomic Tackle's revolutionary 'Gravel' lead coatings have proved so popular and enhanced rig disguise to such a degree that we asked them to design one for Bin el Ouidane lake in Morocco. The stunning lake situated in the Atlas mountains of Morocco is fed from two high Atlas mountain streams and the crystal clear water and red umber sandstone make challenges on terminal camoflage that only Atomic could solve. We are proud to introduce a special range of Moroccan "Gravel" leads designed to blend into the red sandstone bottom of the lake.

Morocco Carp have a range of 5 leads from 3oz - 6oz including:
The in-line grippa, swivel bottle bomb, swivel pear, distance bomb and swivel nobbler grippa.

Atomic's "gravel" coating matched to lake bottom

The special gravel coating of the leads are 100% natural and uses no glue in the application process, it has been matched to the lake bottom colours of Bin el Ouidane making your presentation almost invisible. The gin clear waters of the lake make terminal tackle camouflage all the more important and Morocco Carp are confident that our clients will see the results of these innovate leads with more carp on the bank.

The leads are available in 3oz - 6oz from Morocco Carp hotel tackle shop on the banks or from Essex Angling.

Take a virtual tour of the waterfalls and the hotel

2007-07-29T15:27:00.000+02:00

Mike Johansson and Anders Hollland from 360factory

The cascades d' Ozoud are located in the Grand Atlas village of Tanaghmeilt, in the province of Azilal and it is the most visited site in the region.

The largest of the three falls has a drop of over 100 metres and the hypnotic sight and enchanting sound of cascading water seems to seep inside you, as if by osmosis, leaving a profound sense of peace and beauty.

click this photo to see a 360 Virtual tour of the falls

Once the virtual tour opens and loads you can click with your left mouse button and control the image as if you were the camera. This type of image is called an equirectangular projection, and is in fact 2 or more images taken using a fish eye lens and a rotating camera on a tripod.
The finished photos are taken at angles to make up a complete 360 degree circle then stitched together using rather clever software to make these great moving images.
Have a look at Mike's site 360 factory for more information on these great moving images.

The Hotel, Maisons d'hote is situated in a privileged position overlooking the lake of Bin el Ouidane.

Morocco Carp Hotel Bin el Ouidane

Constructed by its owner, Hamid Ouallam, its quirky Riad style and the locally produced arts and crafts displayed on its walls tell something of the man himself and his strong Berber roots

Click this photo to take a 360 Virtual tour of the Hotel

If you would like more information on Family and fishing holidays please check out our web site

Morocco Carp launch UK holiday reservation number

2007-07-20T17:21:00.000+02:00

We have set up a UK land line number or you can leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. From the UK ring 0207 870 3515
We are also happy to receive emails and you can contact us at: info@moroccocarp.com

Simply let us know how and when you would like to spend your holidays and we will try and sort out an interesting and exciting package to suit your budget.

Marrakesh
Whether you’re snapping up souk style bargains or soaking up some sun, Marrakesh is a box of spiced delights. From the ancient rose-coloured city walls to the sounds and scents of the souks, Marrakesh is a showcase for Morocco’s past and present: the slender spire of the mosque and the courtyards paved with tiles are complemented by the razzle and dazzle of the latest riads (picturesque private houses built around a central courtyard)
Marrakesh may be rich in tradition, but consummate design savvy and the city’s vibrant bar scene gives it a cosmopolitan edge.
Once you've tired of city life let us whisk you to the Atlas mountains and our rustic lakeside Hotel where you will experience the marvels of the natural world and catch up with your fishing partner. Please check our web site for more details of the exciting excursions and lake side activities that you can experience.

Give us a ring and let us help you organise a perfect family holiday in Morocco and some of the best carp fishing on the planet.

Google earth uncovers new swim on Bin el Ouidane

2007-07-18T00:39:00.000+02:00

I was goggle earth surfing about 2.4 km above
the lake of Bin el Ouidane in Morocco....
.....when something caught my eye.

I zoomed a little closer and discovered an island right in front of hotel bank.

It took me a while to see it, its hard to visualise yourself on the picture as I'm so used to tramping the banks or seeing the lake features from boat level. To view it from 2.4 km above disorientates you slightly.

But its there, top centre of the photo above.

I've written its name, Secret Sandbar, and just above it: Hotel.
It is probably not a sandbar but a small island, but its secret sandbar till August when I get out there with the sonar. Whatever it is, its currently under a couple of meters of water and its a big fish holding spot. It explains why, when sitting on the hotel balcony having dinner, I keep seeing huge carp crashing out where I think the island shows on the Goggle earth photo.

A photo showing the lake as viewed from hotel bank or
check the virtual tour to see a 360 image of the spot.
(used your mouse to control the camera - click on the image)

I always have the same thought at those moments- why am I tramping km's round the lake when they are continually showing right in front of the Hotel? - yes, I've already called myself that about 10 times.

Going back to the goggle earth photo, below Secret Sandbar on the other bank you have the Ahansal river mouth which floods into the Ahansal Bay and then you can make out snake spit, another of our prepared swims for September. Move left till you come to the monkey nut shaped islands, this is our third swim and interesting enough the narrow strip between the two islands is currently about 1 metre under water.

Studying the photo and what I know of the lake, I'm going to take an educated guess and say that the Google Earth photo shows the lake with between 1-4 metres less of water. There are two further islands showing that currently don't show with the present water level.
I've got plenty to investigate when I'm down next in August.

I am very pleased to announce that we have partnered with Essex Angling Holidays, who are going to be selling our fishing holidays exclusively in the UK.
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Chris Woodrow, Paul Russell and Tony Bartram for all their advice and help. Tony in particular for guiding me delicately to choose, what we both believe to be some of the best fishing tackle on a commercial venue.

Check out our fantastic tackle from Fox, Nash, Atomic and Korda

The first 30kg African carp from Bin el Ouidane, Morocco

2007-07-16T12:40:00.000+02:00

The future looks bright for the new big fish mega water Bin el Ouidane as the first rod caught African 30kg Carp was landed in June. The scale perfect mirror weighed 69 lbs (31 kg) and is the current lake record.

The fish are packing on the pounds and with over 90% of the lake still to be fished it makes us go a little dizzy just thinking what this amazing lake will produce over the coming years.

Subscribe to our feed today and receive an email with all the latest catch reports.

World Record Carp on rod and line 265 lbs - 120 kg

2007-07-13T22:49:00.001+02:00

Want to see the Tuna Spear gun caught World Record?

The world's largest Carp caught on rod and line. A 265 lbs siamese giant carp caught by Fishing Adventures Thailand.

All photos reproduced with the kind permission of Jean-Francois Helias

Jean-Francois Helias’ Fishing Adventures Thailand team is known internationally to be the most professional pro guides for freshwater sport fishing in Southeast Asia.

Kik, who has been guiding in Jean-Francois Helias team since its inception, hooked up the kind of catch of a lifetime some anglers would sell their soul to the devil for. A Siamese Giant Carp or Catlocarpio siamensis they estimated weighing just over 120 kg (265 pounders).
"She may be a tiny bit bigger but to give her 120 kilos is already very fine with us. " says Kik.
Kik’s catch is the biggest Siamese carp ever caught in Thailand on rod and line, and moreover, the world’s biggest carp ever caught on rod and line.

Read the full story here.

Further info: Fishing Adventures Thailand

New logo for catsncarp to celebrate launch of Morocco Carp fishing holidays

2007-07-13T22:28:00.000+02:00

To celebrate the launch of our new fishing holiday company, Morocco Carp - organising fantastic fishing holidays to the new mega water Bin el Ouidane in Morocco, we have created a new logo and branding.

In addition to the new artwork the blog is now published as an integral part of the Morocco Carp web site and we look forward to publishing all the latest catch reports and photos as they happen, uploading photos from the banks at Bin el Ouidane.

To make sure you don't miss a thing simply subscribe to our newsletter using the subscribe box in the sidebar and you will receive an email every time we update the blog - it couldn't be easier.

Morocco Carp still have availability for September so if you fancy a week on Bin el Ouidane for only €600 click here for reservations and further details.

Morocco Carp announce tackle from Nash, Fox, Atomic and Korda

2007-07-10T17:47:00.000+02:00

Morocco Carp, the fishing holiday company that organise Hotel or traditional Carp fishing holidays to the Moroccan lake called Bin el Ouidane, announced an impressive line up of state of the art carp fishing gear from Nash, Fox, Korda and Atomic.

The lucky anglers fishing the water from the 1st of September will be using this great line-up:

The lakeside package includes:

3 x 13 foot 3.25TC Fox Warriers ES
1 x Fox Skypod with Skypod butt caps
1 x Fox Warrier Landing net 50 inch
1 x Nash globetrotter 2 man XL (on our permanent swims)
or Nash Double top Extreme 2 man (roving angler)
1 x Nash Weighlifter sling
1 x Nash Continental Carp sack
1 x Nash 6 leg Indulgence bedchair
1 x Nash Indulgence recliner day chair

it also includes..
Moroccan holiday fishing license, 25kg local prepared maiz, breakfast and dinner by boat waiter delivered to your swim.

YOU BRING: Reels, buzzers, indicators, scales, tackle box,rigs, leads (optional we sell) pop ups, plastic hook baits, sleeping bag.
Rods are optional, we provide 3 Fox Warriers, or for a small fee you can book them on as sporting equipment at the time of making your booking -the choice is yours.

Price: €600 - including return transfer from Marrakesh or Casablanca airport to the lake. This does not include your air ticket, you must purchase this and send a copy of your booking confirmation with payment. You must also send a copy of your passport so that we can preregister you for a Moroccan holiday fishing license.

Fraser Cairns of Morocco Carp explaines some of his tackle purchasing decisions:

The weather at Bin el Ouidane is generally fantastic, clear blue skies, loads of sunshine, a stiff breeze to keep the heat off and it has more than 250 days of sunshine during the year. The altitude effects the temperature greatly and in the autumn and winter months it can get really cold during the night. It also rains a fair bit during these seasons so the equipment would have to stand up to extremes of hot and cold, rain, wind and loads of anglers....
I hope Ive made the right choices, only time, rod hours and feedback from my clients will tell.

The Bivvies.

Our main swims will be kitted out with the Globetrotter XL bivvies to give maximum comfort and space and these will be in permanent positions on our 3 main swims. We are also planning on building a Berber tent shelter to provide shade and make a good relax area for the anglers. I will keep you all updated on that but I've just ordered the tents so watch the blog for more news.

GLOBETROTTER XL

Nash says:

A non-compromising, true, two-man, long session bivvy. Designed for professionals and for fishing long sessions, at home and abroad. With a clip-in groundsheet, a height of over 6’ and a width of 9½’ the Globetrotter XL ensures that comfort is paramount. Based on the popular, hoop-frame system for easy set-up the Globetrotter XL will resist any kind of extreme weather. Twin-skinned design and heavy duty waterproof outer and mesh inner make this bivvy the ultimate in comfort and reliability.

Just what you need on a hot Moroccan day

DOUBLE TOP EXTREME - TWO MAN

Nash says:
The brilliant Double Top bivvy, designed by Kevin Nash, Gary Bayes and our team of respected field-testers. It is a top seller and favoured by many of Europe’s leading carp anglers. This upgraded Double Top Extreme has all the great features of the original Double Top but with the added porch/door canopy. This canopy properly maximises doorway coverage to eliminate rain ingress and provide shade. Exceptionally spacious, 2 man design, enhances width to optimise space and passage between bedchairs.
Approximate dimensions: 280cm deep x 290cm wide x 160cm high

I have chosen the double top extreme 2 man for those anglers that want to go off and do a bit of pioneering, as long as you stay in range of our boat waiters, (4-5Km) then you are free to explore the bays and banks.
Bin el Ouidane is a rare thing, a huge untouched, unfished water, brimming with big carp. No one knows the potential of this place but just being there you realise that something very special has combined to make this a unique environment.
Every time I crest the summit of the Atlas and make my descent, the fist view of the lake from above always reminds me of Jurrasic Park - a land that time forgot and the carp grew huge....
We are only scratching the surface of Bin el Ouidane 95% of the lake remains un fished and its a time for pioneers. I am confident that these Nash Bivvies will provide our anglers with the protection to go where no Carp angler has tread before.

The Indulgence 6 leg

INDULGENCE 6 LEG

Nash says:

Surely, the ultimate in bed-chairs. They stand out from the rest with stunning multi-tone mattresses that also feature a mobile phone pocket and a zip pocket for keys or wallet.

INDULGENCE RECLINER

Recline in blissful comfort in this super-strong Indulgence chair. Both the Recliner and the High Back feature our unique oval side bars that dramatically enhance strength and support.

FEATURES:

• Mattress with multi-tone double depth luxury filling
• Fully reclinable back
• Fully adjustable legs
• New pivoting extra large mudfeet

The Fox Sky Pod

Fox says:
The Fox Sky Pod has taken rod pod design into another dimension. Specifically designed for those large Continental rivers and lakes

The centre body can be adjusted in length to give greater stability when used at an acute angle. Undoubtedly this is one of the most stable set-ups around making it an essential piece of kit when fishing at long range on huge Continental lakes and powerful wide rivers. With the rod tips positioned high an enormous amount of pressure is transferred to the pod itself, but even in windy conditions and fishing against a powerful current with big leads, the Sky Pod will be rock solid.

Warrior ES 13ft - 3.25lb

Fox says:

The action of the ES runs through the tip and middle of the rod although under heavy pressure the blank will continue to bend right through to the butt without locking up. This marginally forward action makes the rod ideal for distance casting with leads up to 4½ozs, PVA bags or method feeders while still being suitable for safely playing large carp close in.

The Atomic Dung - 3-60z available to buy in our tackle shop

They will also be stocking a selection of leads from Atomic from 3-6oz to save you from going over weight, they will be reasonably priced bearing in mind the cost of shipping lead, and we recommend the new Atomic Dung - perfectly camouflaged for the red silty bottom of Bin el Ouidane.
A range of Korda hook links and a general selection of bits and bobs that you might need. If in doubt just drop us an email.

Morocco Carp still have availability from the 1st of September so if you fancy a week on Bin el Ouidane, flights from London to Marrakesh have never been cheaper and their lakeside package is only €600, around £400 per person. It will be an experience you want forget.

All fishing tackle supplied by Essex Angling.

Morocco Carp launches merchandise range with Zazzle

2007-06-29T00:22:00.000+02:00

We have teamed up with Zazzle the great on-line merchandising company that allows you to create your own design T-shirts, caps, bags, mouse mats and much much more. You simply upload a photo or use your flickr account, add text, pick your design and voila.

Check out Morocco Carps latest Zazzle designs:

make custom gifts at Zazzle

If your fishing with Morocco Carp this year on the new mega carp water Bin el Ouidane upload your best holiday and fish photos via this special Flickr email: like43here@photos.flickr.com

If they make it into our Morocco Carp photo gallery we will send you a FREE T-shirt with your big fish or photo proudly displayed on the back and the Morocco Carp logo on the breast.

Please email us your photos with your full name, date and weight of fish or a description of the photo as the title for each photo, to: like43here@photos.flickr.com

Bin el Ouidane - the history of one of the largest Dam's in Africa

2007-06-19T12:50:00.000+02:00

The Dam at Bin el Ouidane was one of the last jobs the French completed before handing back the protectorate of Morocco.

The first feasibility studies were conducted in 1929 around the area of Ouaouizerth but construction didn't start till 1948.

The Dam at Bin el Ouidane is the largest hydro electricity dam in Morocco, it was completed in 1953 and has a hight of 132 m a length of 290m and for a long time it was the largest dam in Africa, holding back 1.5 million meters cubed of water.

The lake is fed from two sources, in the south the river Ahansal and to the east the river El Abid, the lake has a length of around 20 kms.

The water from the dam passes under the mountains to a small hydro electric station called d'Afourar and from there to literally hundreds of kms of irrigation canals that feed the Tadla valley and the fields of crops. (As you are arriving to Bin el Ouidane on the road from Marakesh you can see this impressive tube scaling the sheer mountain side.

Little could they have imagined that the lake would hold such a large quantity of large carp.

For more information on our fishing holidays please check out our sister site Morocco Carp

The black and white photos are reproductions from post cards of the time and we would like to thank Monsieur Ledaeron, a Doctor stationed at Ouaouizerth between 1952-1957 and to Anergui.

New World record common Carp 84.12 lbs (38.45 kg)

2007-06-14T23:24:00.000+02:00

The saddening news earlier in the week that the world record Mirror Carp, caught just 14 days ago by British angler Graham Slaughter from the infamous swim 19 at Rainbow lakes at a new best weight of 88.6 lb (40.2kg) had died. Its not know at this time the cause of death but probably old age and stress/spawning were to blame.

The blow is softened somewhat with the news, as reported by bagging up, that the Common World Record has fallen again. This time to German angler Emir Caro. The 84lb 12oz (38.45Kg) monster has been a long term target for Emir who has been after it for 3 years.

Emir tempted the common with a 20mm boilie on a size 3 Mako super fly hook, 18lb Krystonite and a 65lb Score Gold lead core leader.

come fish with us in Morocco

2007-06-13T15:54:00.000+02:00

Morocco Carp offers fantastic fishing holidays from September 1st - book early.

For those of you that read my blog frequently you will know that I've become a little infatuated with Morocco and the lake Bin el Ouidane. I have just returned from my third trip to the lake, accompanied this time by a professional photographer and a couple of fishing buddies from the UK. We spent 5 fantastic days fishing and exploring new areas and I now feel really confident that we can offer an unforgettable fishing holiday.
I have earmarked 3 main swims that will accommodate 10 anglers and I will be baiting with 2.5 tonnes of maize during the month of August, ready for our first Carp fishing guests on the 1st September.

Dont miss out, reserve early using our on-line booking form to be sure of your place. If anyone needs to contact me prior to Morocco Carp being fully operational please ring Fraser +34 666 074 861.

Bin el Ouidane viewed from the dam

We have teamed up with the local hotel, a small but beautiful Riad style property situated on the banks of the lake, and will be offering traditional bivvy holidays with twice daily boat waiter service, delivering your breakfast and evening meal (included in the price) right to your swim.
We have prepared a bank side menu and you can order soft drinks, beer, wine, snacks and bait from our boat waiters which will be delivered to your swim on the next boat run.

We are also offering hotel fishing packages for those that want to bring family or partners and we have 4 suits available sleeping a maximum of 6 adults plus 2 children, all our suites have terrace or garden dining, BBQ's, living rooms and the décor of the Hotel is typical of the local area and Morocco. All our suites have lake views and breakfast and evening meal delivered by our hotel waiters to your suite are included in the price. A full bar and snack service is available throughout the day and up till the kitchen closes around 10pm each night.
We have researched and prepared an exciting package of day trips and activities so that your family will have a fantastic holiday whilst you are fishing.
The area around Bin el Oudane and the province of Azilal is seldom visited and there are some wonderful natural scenic sites to visit including the famous and unbelievable Cascades de Ouzoud waterfalls. These falls are ranked in the top 15 waterfalls of the world, along with such famous places as Angel Falls. If you only leave the lake once this week we recommend that it be for the cascades trip. (you will be back in plenty of time to get the rods out for the night and it never hurts to rest the swim for a day)

Apart from the day trips we can offer a full range of activities around the hotel with Quad bikes, Kayaks, water skiing, jet skis and in season, white water rafting on the Ahansal river.
This really is a holiday of a lifetime for the whole family and as a travelling big Carp man myself I know just how important it is to please the family whilst you fish.

Cascades de Ouzoud - a must see

A better view in Carp fishing? we doubt it

Madeleine McCann - you can help

2007-05-17T09:49:00.000+02:00

All of us at CatsnCarp would like to offer our support for the search and safe return of young Madeleine McCann. Madeleine was abducted from her bed on the night of 3rd May 2007 whilst on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Madeleine has a very distinctive right eye, where the pupil runs into the blue-green iris.

Here is the link to the official Save Madeleine Website

Please click onto “News and Downloads” and you’ll be able to download the Madeleine Poster. They are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Please help by putting up posters in your local town and area.

We can all help by keeping this in the news and media. The search for Madeleine needs to be European wide so please forward this page to all friends and relatives anywhere in Europe.

Please let’s all do our bit to help the safe return of innocent Madeleine.

Latest underwater video technology on offer to UK carpers

2007-03-20T19:20:00.000+01:00

Sanderson Property Brokers who specialise in Fishing Lake sales are offering till the end of March the new CarpCAM VS350 for a great price of £255.00 with free UK delivery.

The underwater video camera, once positioned will allow you to watch your bait and baited area for carp and actually see the take.

The CarpCAM is designed to enable Anglers to view under water aquatic life using the latest in under water video technology delivering quality clear video images from under the water.

This new technology brings a host of exciting new benefits to Anglers.

The CarpCAM will help Anglers see the bottom of Lakes
Prevent snagging of fishing line.
Improve your Angling Skills
Watch fish and how they behave in there natural environment

I predict this will be a big hit and I would love to try it out, so if anyone at Sandersdon or CarpCAM is reading I would be happy to field test it on my next trip to Morocco.
Now that would be some promotional video - shoals of 30's and 40's going nuts over a 20kg bed of corn!!!
I am just packing up the gear now and leaving tomorrow morning for a 4 day session on Bin el Ouidane in Morocco. I should be at the water by sundown after the ferry crossing and a hard days driving. I have asked my local contact to stick in 100 kg of corn; 20kg of corn each night so my swim will be boiling by the time I wet a line.

So if you fancy some amazing underwater shots and a mind blowing promotional video for your underwater video camera get in contact.

thanks to Sanderson Property

Flickr

2007-03-05T00:45:00.001+01:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

30 thirties in 30 nights from the Ebro

2007-02-21T05:03:00.000+01:00

Stephen Buss and friends took on the mighty Ebro for a 30 day stint and had a session not to be forgotten....

"still keen from last years efforts it looked like January was to be the only opportunity for my own carp fishing this year, so I took it. Thirty nights from 27th December camped quietly on the banks of the River Ebro in Spain, hidden dark to all bar boat. This time the weather conditions were more than against me but lady luck sat firm on my shoulder. The water level rarely consistent, the long misty days turned to cold clear nights with a freezing wind and the odd sunny spell from the warmth and glow of my BBQ was a welcome one at that.

During this time I saw just over 200 takes with 176 carp on the bank, not a bad effort considering and one step further in understanding the shoal movements here on the river, based on water levels and weather conditions but more importantly their feeding patterns. From the 176 fish on the bank 61 were pasties or fish less than 20lbs! 37 were 20lb+, 48 were 25lbs+, 22 were 30lb+, 6 were 35lb+ and 2 low 40’s all graced my net."

Stephen´s pebble rig

Read the rest of this superb, indepth, informative article here.

Franklin lands a common carp of 23kg (50.4Lbs) Orellana Spain

2007-02-21T04:44:00.000+01:00

Dave Franklin landed yet another monster from the depths of Orellana with this 50lb 4oz common carp, according to Dave it has never been caught before, just imagine that 50 and a virgin....poor thing.

And just before Christmas Dave had this fine specimen of 37.4 Lbs. Good work Dave.

COMING SOON..... for an exclusive Catsncarp article on Moroccos big Carp scene.

I am just back from a hectic 4 day tour of Morocco, I found some fish, some big fish and an untouched water that could just contain a new world record..... Watch this space.

thanks to: Fat Angling Tours

DAVID MILLER a superb wildlife artist

2007-02-03T22:50:00.000+01:00

I stumbled across a beautiful painting of some feeding Carp the other day so I dug a little deeper and came across the website of David Miller.
A picture tells a 1000 words as they say and a painting might just do it a little bit better.

Have a look at some of these:

Born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1966, David Miller now lives and works in the heart of the West Wales countryside, in a wooded valley near the Taf and Towy estuaries with the dramatic Pembrokeshire coastline on his doorstep.

He paints mostly British wildlife, usually in oils, preferring to return again and again to subjects he knows well, travelling widely to gather reference and inspiration for his work.

David is perhaps best known for his underwater studies of game and coarse fish, inspired by a lifetime passion for angling and by many hours spent snorkeling and diving in rivers, lakes and gravel pits.

This knowledge and understanding of his subject is clearly reflected in his work and has led to him becoming perhaps the best known and well-regarded fish artist in the country. Internationally, his larger fish paintings now hang in London, Tokyo and New York boardrooms.

If you would like to find out more about this superb artist please visit his web site. David Miller

The current World Record Mirror and Common Carp.

2007-01-31T19:51:00.001+01:00

Are you looking for the 2008 World record Mirror? if so click here

Or the World Record Common Carp? if so click here

If you read my last post you will know that The world record article I wrote got allot of readers. Whilst I was exploring all the different web sites that linked up to my story, as they published the news of the capture to their readers, I noticed a few errors, wrong weights and dates etc, so I just wanted to clarify the current record situation for Mirror and Common.

World Record Mirror Carp 38.4KG (84lb 8oz)

Gary Hagues - Fishing the Rainbow Lake in France landed a world record mirror carp of 87lb 2oz to beat the previous record by Pete Fitzsimmons (84lb 8 oz) which had stood for just three weeks.
This was a repeat capture for Gary as he had caught the fish the year before from the same swim at a weight of 83lb 8oz.

Gary with his 2005 capture of the record

World Record Common Carp

New World record Common Carp captured by Dieter Markus Stein on the 17th December 2006 at 38.15kg (83.93 lbs)
Dieter was fishing with the new Vpop white popups glugged in Carptrak amino dip, both from Imperial Baits.

More World Record Fish?

World record Common Carp gets 12,000 hits this month

2007-01-30T22:31:00.000+01:00

After riding my first long tail wave it´s left me hooked on blogging.

The evening of January 8th 2007 saw me posting an article on the recently captured New World Record common Carp, a fine specimen of 38.15 kg (83.93 lbs) - see that post here.

Nothing much happened for a week as you can see from the graph taken from my Google analytics account, then on the 15th, off it went like a true screamer!

The first couple of big traffic sites to link to the post are pretty cool; neatorama and uniquedaily - both kind of daily news sites with a twist.
I couldn't believe my eyes as the figures kept going up.
I only started blogging in October and regular readers of catsncarp will know I started it prior to a big fishing trip to the Ebro - I was accustomed to 20-30 unique visitors a day.

Catsncarp hit a visitor high of 2,533 on Wednesday17th then slowly declined throughout the week. I was just thinking of perhaps going to bed before sunup and getting some much needed sleep, when whollop - the Japanese moved in.
elog-ch linked to the post and bingo I´m back up over a 1000 unique a day. Another couple of all nighters saw me trying to back link instantaneously as the Japanese forums all picked up on it with the biggest traffic coming from jyouhouya3

So as I sit here, knackered, hyped and frazzled but very happy with my performance and my newly tested ability with all the blogging tools Ive been setting up over these last few months, what conclusions can I draw from this very special little long tail wave?

From a cultural point of view; why are the Japanese so interested in the European Carp record? My guess would be that they are fanatical breeders of the Koi carp, a distant strain from our common carp, and secondly, they love eating Carp, its a delicacy in Japan.
When you think about that it´s a little bit scary.
Imagine loads of Japanese business men offering huge sums of money to Ninja fisherman to come over and Ninja fish Cassien or Raduta, I mean these guys will pay $50,ooo+ for a piece of Tuna. Please no!

and from a blogging point of view; what have I learned?

Without doubt MyBlogLog stats were the fastest way to see who had linked to my story, Technorati worked well but it was slow, only giving me the links after a day or so, with MyBlog Log I was getting live figures and could practically back link minutes after the story had been posted.
I also used Icerocket (free) for the first time and that threw up a few links that had escaped me somehow with Technorati (free) and MyBlogLog. (paid)
To be fair to Feedburner I didn't use their paid service on catsncarp, but I am using the paid service on my newest blog Jooster, which is getting good traffic at the moment, but I still don't think it comes close to MyBlogLog.

So I would like to say thank you to everyone thats helped me, from fellow bloggers like, DaveO Andy and Paco, .
To all the great companies involved in Web 2.0 and making it so easy for us to get out there and blog - its been a ride, but now I´m going to bed so for the love of big Carp - DONT link to this post.

Hanford Catfish declared new species

2007-01-23T01:04:00.000+01:00

What was once thought a radiation-provoked freak of nature has now been declared a distinct species by the National Academy of Sciences. Says one NAoS spokesman:

"We had previously believed this to be a sterile mutation, but have since discovered that - if the female is absolutely swimming in beer - mating and reproduction are theoretically possible...."

Thanks to KDC for some beautiful PS skills.

Read the story of how this catfish was captured here.

The old and the new world record common carp

2007-01-11T18:15:00.000+01:00

Here is a twango slide show of 10 photos, 5 of the old World record common Carp caught by Christian Finkelde on 25th of October 2005 and weighing 34.65 kg (76.7lbs)
and the new World record Common Carp captured by Dieter Markus Stein on the 17th December 2006 at 38.15 (83.93) both were caught from waters in Germany. Could they be the same fish? comments appreciated.

More world records? click here.

New World Record Common Carp at 38.15kg

2007-01-08T17:23:00.005+01:00

Want to see the current World Record Carp? - click here

The world record common Carp was hooked and landed on December the 17th 2006 by Dieter Markus Stein, fishing a German water.

The weigh in of the fish was witnessed by 14 different people from local Carp fishing clubs.

Dieter had targeted this fish as his target for 2007 but a short trip to the water gave him this stunning common as an early Christmas present.

Dieter was fishing with the new Vpop popups in white glugged in Carptrak amino dip, both from Imperial Baits.

Thanks to carp GPS, fish madrid, carpones and imperial baits.

Would you like to see photos and videos of the World Record Mirror Carp?

What happens when you get the camera angle just right?

2007-01-06T00:58:00.000+01:00

Thought these were worth sharing....

Thanks to Ryan Wagner for the link.

A broken resolution and photo shop antics

2007-01-05T12:41:00.000+01:00

I had made a new year resolution to go fishing, sometime after Christmas and through the New Year, but somewhere in between all the feasting and fun a plan started to form and the fishing trip was put to the side.

I think the impetuous of the plan came from a phone call around the 29th of December. The insurance company wanted to book an appointment for the plasterer and painter to come in and fix up my cellar, flooded the month before in torrential rain, whilst I was flooded out in my Bivvy on the Ebro. Read that story here.

I had recently gutted the damp cellar and chucked out all my water ruined possessions in what turned out to be a rather depressing few days work. The cellar is accessed from my back garden patio, down a set of twisting stairs and through a door into an area of around 3 meters by 4. Perhaps seeing the cellar empty for the first time germinated the seed that grew swiftly over the next couple of days into a short idea and finally now on the 5th of January, two insurance paid workmen are plastering and painting my project into reality.

An Underground Photo Studio, or the Studio, as I hope I will fondly call it in the near future as I snap away at another batch of items ready for uploading to eBay.

For over a year now I had realized that my amateurish photo skills and almost complete ignorance in the Photoshop department were holding me back. So whilst I can hear the scrape of plaster applied to brick and the reassuring noises of workmen creating, I'm going to do a bit of surfing and see if I can learn some new photo editing tricks.

This video is inspirational.

Customer service is the driving force for Carpones

2006-12-19T18:45:00.000+01:00

I was sitting here, in front of the computer, daydreaming about big fish... yes I know... so I decided to start the new year the way I would like it to continue - being by the water with a chance of a big fish.

"Where and when" are two questions Ive yet to answer, but I did realize that the "with what?" question needed answering pretty quick. My last trip to the Ebro had all but wiped out my bait supply, so with all the nightmares of Xmas post coupled with living in the sticks of Spain, right down here in Marbella, I knew I needed to get an order placed pretty quick.

A short email to Andy Mac, a new friend Ive made through blogging. (Andy writes the blog Fish Madrid and its a must read if your planning on fishing around the Madrid area) Andy gave me the contact details of a mate of his called Paco who had recently set up www.carpones.com so I thought Id give it a try.

Its not often that I´m truly impressed with customer service in Spain, we kind of get used to the Spanish "manana" attitude and when a really great customer service experience happens it feels all the more special for being so unique.

I placed the order on Friday night and paid by paypal on the Saturday. Every step of the order process was confirmed by email and Monday afternoon the bait arrived by courier. Cant beat that! Gracias Paco!

His shop is easy to navigate as long as you can find your way in, the "Tienda" link underneath the navigation box on the right side of the screen for non Spanish speakers. Once in, its straightforward enough for anyone to find what they want. There is a great selection of bait from all the top names and plenty of tackle.

Paco speaks English so if your thinking of coming over on a fishing holiday why not drop him an email and see if he could deliver to your holiday destination. Im sure Ill be doing that myself in the future.

Fishing book and gift store My Bivvy

2006-12-12T02:09:00.000+01:00

With Christmas just around the corner find the perfect gift for the fisherman in your family at My Bivvy. We have some of the cheapest prices on the web and a fantastic selection for any angler. Click on the picture above to go to our shop.

Some other World Records - Blue Marlin, Tuna

2006-12-12T01:05:00.002+01:00

Want to see some Freshwater World Records?

An incredible Blue Marlin with a spear gun

Two amazing videos .. hunting 1000lbs Tuna with a spear gun, in two parts but well worth the watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7upjOr4h9s
This is an amazing video using underwater cameras with one on the float, you can actually see the catfish come up from the deep and take the bait. The last scenes of the video he seems to be using a rubber squid type lure and it looks so effective from the under water camera... excellent movie

and something a little unusual from our mexican friends....

and a quick one to finish off.. tight lines

The World Record mirrors and common Carp

2006-12-12T00:45:00.000+01:00

World Record Mirror Carp 2006.

And the womens world record a 62.6 lbs common

And the World Record Common

Still photos thanks to Carpgate:

Would you like to see the New World Record Common Carp caught on 17th December 2006?

sister company to catsncarp - Virtual world 360 launch 360 widget

2006-12-03T02:48:00.000+01:00

Sister company to catsncarp launched their first widget, a little thing you stick in your side bar, like the one I have on mine.

They are very cool and I urge you all to have a look and perhaps brighten up your sidebar with one of their tours. They are adding new content every week, but at the moment you can choose from Marbella, Bodo, Oslo and Sierra Nevada, Spain, so you can change the content whenever you want.

Have a look at their gallery to see the latest releases. Its dead simple to do, I had my 360 widget up and running in a few clicks. For blogger users simply go to your template and paste the code into your sidebar and publish.

Here is a few words from virtual world 360 who are luanching the new widget:
Select your destination of choice and click on the tour and watch the stunning panoramas, use your mouse to pan in 360º or zoom with the +- keys. The tour runs for 2 minutes and you can turn off the sound at any time.

BODO - NORWAY
Virtual World 360 tour of Bodo in Norway
which includes 8 x full 360º images and 20 x still images.

A Virtual World 360 tour can be used practically anywhere that accepts
you pasting a tiny piece of HTML code, you can use it in a blog post or in your template, even on your web site. Just click - Get Code then copy and paste, thats it no more dull side bars, grab a 360 widget virtual tour today!.

Navigation is easy too. The tour runs automatically for 2 minutes or you can pause and explore any 360º photo, use your mouse to zoom and pan in any direction. Other navigation buttons are sound on/off, 360 gallery which will take you to our full tour selection, and get code so you can share this with your
friends.

Give it a try, it free, and its fun.

Virtual World 360 delivers quality multimedia content to your browser - adding interest and driving traffic to your web page, online shop or blog

Technical:

8 x 360 Images (Equirectangular Projections)
20 x High quality still images
Background music - "Oslo Summer" piano .au format
Voice Over - English .au format

This is a Virtual World 360 dedicated application created to view extraordinary panoramic photos of Bodo in Norway.

The Virtual World 360 tour is the most advanced browser widget application around; to create this little marvel our Geeks have used Photoshop, EasyPano, PanaVue ImageAssembler, Apple's QuickTime VR and other specialized tools to create the high-quality panoramas and wide-angle images.

For anyone involved with digital imagery this groundbreaking browser widget demonstrates a new way of thinking about what's possible in panoramic photography and image presentation. The results are interactive, often startling, and very entertaining.

VIRTUAL WORLD 360

You can get the code for the Virtual Tour by clicking on the “Get Code” button, - paste this into your post, web site or blog´s template, and viola!

You can also show your support by sending this to your friends and contacts - its Free so share the good news.

We are really excited about our new widget and its endless uses. We have loads of content ideas for future releases but we would like to hear from you if you own high quality 360 images (must be Equirectangular Projections) or regular stills, or if you have an idea for another application - please leave a comment.

Dont forget to visit the Virtual World 360 store for some fantastic deals

Crazy Catfish videos from round the world

2006-12-01T18:41:00.000+01:00

These amazing photos are from Lake Conroe, some 50 miles north of Houston, USA .

What appeared to be a basketball drifting round the lake, on closer investigation...

It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!!

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The guy tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful.

He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish.

You probably wouldn’t have believed this, if you hadn’t seen the following pictures…

Would you noodle a Catfish?...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Next summer, it will be legal to plunge into some Missouri rivers and grab catfish by hand — a type of fishing that is not for the faint of heart. Known variously as noodling or hogging, handfishing has long been a misdemeanor punishable by fines, because COLUMBIA, USA, state officials fear it depletes breeding-age catfish. It can also be dangerous:

Noodlers hold their breath for long periods under water and sometimes come up with fistfuls of agitated snakes or snapping turtles instead of fish.

That does not discourage enthusiasts, who insist there is great sportsmanship in fishing with your bare hands.

Joella Bates, an all round blokes blokes sort of woman has this to say about noodling....

As we putted through the no wake zone, I confessed to my gracious hosts, “I have always considered myself quiet brave. After all, I am the first lady to successfully take on Black Death, Africa’s Cape buffalo, with only a bow and arrow. I stared him eyeball to eyeball at a mere 22 yards before launching my arrow frontally into his heart. And, I have taken on mountain lion, alligators, wild boar, bears, 3 Asian Water Buffalos, American bison, and many other species with my bow and arrows. Despite a lifetime of extreme outdoor adventures, the idea of grabblin’ for catfish is very intimidating even for me. But, challenge is my middle name, so I just have to give it a try.”

Further Links of interest

2006-12-01T12:22:00.000+01:00

My Blog Roll;
elboutique1
oold friends
virtual world 360 blog
360 factory
michael 360

My Shops
Skype-Island
ElBoutique1
My Bivvy
Fish Eye Store

Fishing Sites
A Slovenian site with photos of some big big cats up to 140kg

www.carpones.com excellent Madrid bait and tackle online store
Fish Madrid:- and excellent Blog by Andy Macgregor

Blog Directory

EbroCats

A Hienz 57 of Catfish

2006-11-30T20:59:00.000+01:00

Fishers in northern Thailand netted this huge catfish in the Mekong River on May 1. Nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters) and as big as a grizzly bear, the behemoth tipped the scales at 646 pounds (293 kilograms). Experts say the fish, which belongs to the species known as the Mekong giant catfish, may be the largest freshwater fish ever recorded.

Want to know more about this endangered species? click the photo below to watch a superb National Geographic Video on the Mekong Catfish...

The Dutch think they have a new European record with this fantastic Cat, its been scaring the local tourists in a centerparcs lake, check out the full story here.

The Video Post - alternative methods for catching fish....

2006-11-30T18:00:00.000+01:00

A video post of some strange - but effective fishing techniques! -enjoy

And a little Brazilan magic...

The American Way?

Catfish Conservation Group

2006-11-26T01:15:00.000+01:00

Just came across this excellent site from the Catfish Conservation Group.
Ive signed up for their news letter and have been checking out the galleries, some excellent photos of big big cats from Spain, France, Germany and the UK.
Its got some very useful information and an online shop, which I found very difficult to navigate, but I would recommend this site to any budding Cat fisherman.
The catsncarp rating: Well worth a look.

I have just joined these forums, Carp Forum and Fishing Forum

catsncarp launches new online fishing gift store - My Bivvy

2006-11-25T16:12:00.000+01:00

Come and have a look round My Bivvy! - our fantastic new Fishing Shop.

We have books from Simon Crowe, Rob Hughes, Tim Paisley and more fishing legends, the latest DVD´s from the top names in the sport like John Wilson, some great computer games and other bits and bobs, that you just cant do without.

Click here to browse around My Bivvy

Its been an incredibly busy week, apart from finishing off My Bivvy I´ve been working on a new Blog, eBay site and online store, all of which are meant to be launching this weekend! - ermm doesn't feel like it will happen as of now, midday Saturday, but who knows.

I am involved with a company called 360factory that produces 360º panoramic photos, we are launching a series of City Tours with panoramic 360 images and still photos combined in an easy to use browser. This product is available free for use on your own web site or blog. Check out the first City tour of Bodo in Norway here. If you are interested in panoramic photography, virtual tours or Quick Time you might want to check out the new blog.

My mate Mark, he´s the one with the huge Catfish, - his first 100lbs+ fish - which he caught during our trip up to the river Ebro, you can read that article here. Mark enjoyed his first catsncarp experience so much that he made an excellent purchase of a full set of carp gear from eBay during the week. I really couldn't believe the prices and some of the gear that was being offered, it was excellent. I was cursing the money I had spent a few years ago upgrading all my kit from new, when I could have spent a fraction of that and got loads more, ok - its used gear, but we all know how well made and durable fishing gear is these days.

We had been chatting on Skype during the process of selecting which of the carp set ups to go for - trying to work out which setup offered him the best balance for the type of fishing he was planning to do and I jokingly said that he would need a bigger car to get it all in.

He stunned me a few days later with a Skype message saying he had just bid and won on eBay, a cracking Volvo V70 - good on you Mark! and welcome to catsncarp world.

I have had a few comments back from my last post on the dreaded Zebra muscle thats infesting the river Ebro, you can read that here. It seems drastic action needs to be taken, but the scientists are stumped. Ill keep you posted on the current state of affairs.

So thats about it, - Ive got to get back to 360 Virtual World as I need to write the advert for eBay, but in a nutshell the 360 Virtual Tour includes 8 x 360º pictures, 12 still images, professional Voice Over running commentary, backed up with text that automatically scrolls as the 2 minute tour progresses.
Our first offering is the Virtual World 360 City Tour of Bodoe in Norway, in addition to the built in features of the tour we offer you the chance to customize your Bodoe tour with your own logo or corporate message, Google adsense adverts, anything you like really. We supply you with a unique LIFETIME URL for the Virtual World 360 Tour and a unique URL for the built in IFrame, which within the space provided you can do whatever you like. (subject to content moderation)
There is no other product like it on the market, attracting traffic to your site and a chance to make your own slice of online income. To celebrate the launch of the first Virtual World 360 Tour we are offering our Bodoe tour at €49 ( not customizable) including a Free upgrade to the commercial Iframe version if you wish to make money from adverts in the bottom navigation bar. (Limited time take up may apply)

Our Virtual Tours provide excellent content for businesses and private individuals, they are well presented, slick and beautiful content rich additions to any web site or blog.
If you are interested in purchasing this tour please check our eBay shop here.

Oh and dont forget to have a look round "My Bivvy" - maybe you´ll find a great Christmas present for that Angler in your life!

Zebras Blogs and bits and bobs

2006-11-21T23:27:00.000+01:00

Ive been back from the Ebro for a week now and just about caught up with the work load. Why does it always seem that you are in need of another holiday as soon as you catch up from the first? I suppose it keeps you wanting more, and more holidays are always a good thing.

I wanted to start this post with a thank you to the excellent blog called Carpcast by Will James which Ive been reading over the last few days and would recommend for any Carp Angler. And also to my friend Mike who's just getting started on his blog. We have also just started a joint venture and you can read more about that here.

The other topic I wanted to mention was brought to my attention when traveling and fishing along the river Ebro. The Full story of that trip can be read here.

The Zebra Muscle is coming to a waterway near you....

It seems that this foreign invader has infested the river Ebro and is making devastating inroads up river and more worryingly into inland lakes and water ways.

Zebra muscles are native to the Black, Caspian and Azov Seas of Eastern Europe and probably arrived on the hull of a visiting sailboat. The little blighter's are resilient and can live for up to 2 days out of water, making anglers boats a prime and free transportation method from rivers to inland lakes and waterways.
The Zebra muscle wrecks havoc from both and industrial and environmental point of view. At a Michigan power station they stacked up 700,000 per sq. meter!

Zebra muscles are equally devastating to the ecosystem. They colonize on native muscles, killing them. They eat virtually anything suspended in the water, meaning algae, bacteria, protozoa, phytoplankton and all manner of important little microscopic creatures. This deprives other microscopic organism - dependent species like native muscles, minnows and baby fish.

From a fisherman's perspective its no bed of roses either.

How many times have you picked up a screaming take only to have the line part like cotton with not a whiff of contact? Its like someones played a practical joke on you, and I have actually looked around at moments like that to see if someones having me on.
But of course its just a hazard of fishing close to, or over, muscle beds, and from the sound of those Zebra muscles it could be a far more frequent problem.
I remember a very frustrating session on Salagou in Southern France when I lost fish after fish, I am sure the mussels actually open and closed on the line, as I had a couple of cracking drop backs only to find the line cut clean as a whistle!

At a local level there are plenty of well produced signs at all the popular boat launching sites, explaining to fishermen that they must clean their boat and gear on leaving the water. The signs are in three languages but it seems a bit weak when compared to the Zebras frightening reproduction rate, as the red areas on the map showing the infested regions, seem to be snaking their way inland.

The video highlights the current problems on the Ebro, and remember, this little critter has only just got started, the commentry is in Spanish, but a picture tells a thousand words as they say, click here to watch the video.

From another source - The daily news aptly describes it: The dastardly Zebra muscle And its well worth reading the article if you have an interest in this subject.
Finally a glimmer of hope from Millawokee Journal Sentinel
I have just found this interesting article that might be the solution to the Zebra muscle problem.

The article talks about a scientific experiment where the Zebras were subjected to low frequency electromagnetic waves, which apparently made the muscles die within 40 days.
Another couple of excellent blog post I found, again in Spanish but stressing that the local and regional authorities are not doing nearly enough to fight the problem. If you can read Spanish they are well worth a visit.

So its left me in a bit of a dilemma....

Do I respool all my reels with Krystons Ton up or electrocute the little buggers...

CatsnCarp: Fishing for Catfish and Carp on the river Ebro.

2006-11-18T22:28:00.000+01:00

Watch this amazing video of a massive Ebro Cat fish.. it nearly pulls the bloke in a couple of times!

Giant Catfish caught from the River Ebro, Spain

2006-11-18T22:24:00.000+01:00

Another whopper from the Ebro
CatsnCarp: Fishing for Catfish and Carp on the river Ebro.

Fishing for Catfish and Carp on the river Ebro.

2006-11-18T16:08:00.000+01:00

Exploring the River Ebro from the Delta to Mequinenza.

Monday 6th of November and my car is full to overflowing, I told Joe, my dog, to hop inside and we left a grey and stormy Marbella to make the 900km trip up to Tarragona and the River Ebro.

As always prior to these big fishing trips my head was running full of lists,
I systematically tried to run through the ever growing amount of tackle that we seem to convince our self we need for these big fishing sessions miles or even countries from home.
With a final flip through the mental shopping list, I decided to stop fretting; what wasn’t packed - wouldn’t be, so sod it, I would just make do, a characteristic well needed for long session anglers.

I had been thinking of pulling over somewhere just past midway, bivvy up and have a little shut eye so I would arrive around Tuesday mid-day, in time to meet my fellow anglers - Mark Finch, his girlfriend Hayley and Marks Mum and Dad, Brian and Olive Finch, who were all arriving at Barcelona Airport, hiring a car and making the pleasant 1 and 1/2 hour trip to the Ebro.
However as my Seat Altea eat up the miles and I felt the stresses and strains fall away as my mind and body slowly accepted the fact that I was now on holiday, I soon found myself 8 hours from Marbella and fast approaching the small town of Deltebre, situated around 15 km from the coast in the Ebro Delta.

I felt it was too late to wake our guide up so I thought I would just find a suitable looking swim, bivvy up and chuck the rods out, you never know your luck, and even though I didn’t physically have my Cataluña rod license on me, I would have, tomorrow, first thing when I located Gary Sheridan´s place.

On that shaky foundation - tested by then, a dozen times against the imaginary Guardia civil in my head and the conversation we would have at 3am in the morning, on the miniscule chance of them finding me in the first place. I turned the car onto a dirt track in the general direction of the river. The first 5oz leads with single pop ups were splashing down not 20 minutes later and soon enough I was in my bag and looking up at a starry night. I could hear fish crashing everywhere and every now and again an almighty splosh, as a Catfish, or I imagined it had to be a Catfish to make a racket like that, came out of the river. Lots of floating weed soon had me back at the rods and jittery, I tried tips in the air but I still kept getting wiped out by those floating golf greens, so it was a relief when around 4am I decided to reel in and get some kip.

5am and the sweetest of sleeps was interrupted by a purple faced wizened Spanish bloke going apoplectic. I was out the bed and hopping around in a complete panic, so wired subconsciously to wake on the sound of an alarm, my brain just couldn’t work out what was going on. This bloke screaming, I mean having a major fit in a dialect I could barley work out, half Spanish half Catalan with enough laborers’ gutter slang thrown in to make him unintelligible but to the locals. I couldn’t get a word in edgeways. He was threatening the police, screaming at me that this was a private swim, I tried to argue that it says you could fish on the sign, Peche DÁngle or something like that but it had a picture of a fish and a rod bent, which to me had meant fill your boots, it wasn’t till later in the week that I found out that this was a special swim to fish for eel palvers, and it was by special license only, which this bloke was waving madly in my face. I packed up as fast as I could just as the rain started, watched by the purple headed moron, getting soaked in his shorts and carpet slippers, small satisfactions are all we got sometimes.

It was a relief to finally meet up with my fishing buddies at the rented accommodation and get set up and sorted out.

It really tipped it down that first night, I mean cats and dogs, I was fairly lucky as I had set my Bivvy up in the most protected swim, cut into the 15ft high river bank reeds, so was protected from the worst of it. I did have small rivers running through the bivvy which was a bit more uncomfortable for poor Joe than me, but we survived that first night.

The important parts of the river Ebro, from a fisherman’s point of view, are the three sections created by the huge hydro electric dams. We were fishing the lower Ebro and this stretch runs from the sea up to Riba Rioja. The current record for this lower section is 167 lbs but I would think this will be beaten again soon as there is a huge head of 80-110 lbs fish and absolutely masses of bait fish. Our week was spent tiddler bashing for bait during the day with the carp rods out, and evenings on the boat for Catfish using the baits we caught on the float rods. It wasn’t hard to get a good netful of small commons, some excellent Crucians and plenty of Roach. I even hooked one of the acrobatic mullet that continue to jump out the water like skimming stones, three four...five times in succession.

It was a relaxed few days with plenty of sunshine after the wet start and spirits were lifting as Brian, happily bagging up with quality Crucians was startled by his screaming carp rod that he had slung down to the margins. He jumped up from the float road and hit into a scrappy Ebro common that took him through his other line and into a few weed beds before we could safely slip the net under a perfect Ebro specimen.

Brian was absolutely over the moon and when he told us it was a new personal best his infectious laugh and good humor started to rub off on all of us. Once safely photographed and returned Brian told us the story of his previous personal best common, caught from a local lake when he was just a lad of 19, today, some 50 years later Brian had beaten that well remembered and treasured fish from his childhood. A very happy chappy!

It seemed that the Carp weren’t feeding in the day, coming on slowly during the evening but not really getting going till 10pm through to 3am. I had been filling in with about 15kg of particle every day and around 3kg of boilies over the top, the bait was a simple shelf life bird seed scopex boilie bought from Gary Sheridan at 7€ kilo, but the fish when they came didn’t seem to mind what bait they took as I had them on plastic corn, various pop ups and snowmen rigs and straight single scopex bottom baits. Some nights with the traps set and everything shouting Fish - just passed in a confusing blank, whilst others were mad, the alarms screaming off every 1/2 hour and they all seemed to be around the 12- 16lbs mark.

I was losing a few fish due to weed, fishing tight to the margins, and being too far from my rods. We had 3 cat rods out from the bank in Mark and Brians swim during a couple of all nighters, and I have to admit, me legging it to my rods 30 yards away gave many fish just too much of a head start. But what can you do?, I was mad to catch my first Ebro Cat and I didn’t want to miss out on the party happening just up the bank. Not the best attitude I know but sometimes you have to do it.

I was hovering over my rods however when I got a screaming take that went ballistic from the first moment and I knew it was a different stamp of fish from the normal. The fish was practically diving into a reed bed on my right hand side and all I could do was lock up and hold tight. I had re-spooled all my reels with a 25lb braid and this did the trick, the fish splashed his way out of danger and swung back into the main current, I breathed a sigh of relief and not long afterwards Mark slipped the net under a massive common.

We weighed it straight away and it jiggled at a fraction over 30lbs after subtracting the weigh sling, I was happy with 30lbs dead and a new personal best common. Another very happy Chappy!

Mark had caught a small cat during one of the evening boat sessions that weighed around 35lbs and we celebrated our first cat of the trip with a bottle of the local red.

Brian had caught a very cute 1/2 pounder on a piece of luncheon meat whilst going for the Crucians, yet I was still to even get a bite. I had my live bait mysteriously nicked from 2 x 3/0 trebles and a single a couple of times, and am as yet, unsure how that can happen, but as my week drew to a close it looked like I would remain Catless.

I had decided to pack up and do some research on the middle and upper regions of the Ebro for my last 2 days, and Monday morning saw me pull the carp rods in and pack camp. I said goodbye to Mark and Hayley and left them with the parting words of:- go get a big one... as they were not flying back till later that evening and would get an early afternoon session in on the boat.
If I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have left.

They took the boat out and headed to the other side of the island where Mark had caught his first small Cat earlier in the week. 2 Hours of bite less fishing saw them drifting downriver close to the end of the island when Marks rod went off. The drag on the multiplier was screwed up tight and Mark, like myself, was not too familiar with the workings of the multiplier reel couldn’t loosen it. It turned into a hold and pull tug of war between Mark on one end and one very angry cat on the other, with the drag screwed tight there was no way to take a hand from the creaking rod to loosen it, Mark could do nothing but hold on and was barley able to keep the rod in his two hands as the huge fish gave it all that it had. It went under the anchor rope and on feeding the rod through and connecting Mark heard an ominous crack, as the Rod shattered somewhere fundamental.

So it was mark holding onto the upper section of the rod, Gary the guide pulling the line and Hayley with the butt section reeling in the slack that Gary was gaining, it looked like a lost cause, and Gary was convinced that they had a bigie on, maybe even the new lower record. After a Herculean effort by all Gary managed to glove it and pull the monster into the boat.

The fish wasn’t weighed but Gary’s expert eye put it at around 105lbs and who’s gonna argue with that. It was a physically and mentally shattered Mark that sat through the photos and slipped his first ton fish safely back. Well played mate!

Destination Riba-roja D´Ebre

So as Mark was making war on Gary’s tackle I was ambling along towards the more interesting middle section, where the river runs deep and wide through stunning cliff valleys. I felt akin with the rapidly changing geography as I headed towards Tortosa and a small village I wanted to see called Tivissa. From there I headed to the regional Capital of Móra D´Ebre and a spot of property hunting.

I had been thinking for a while that I would like to own a place on the Ebro, prices are still fairly reasonable and my business more or less allows me to work from where ever. So there were a few other little villages that I wanted to check out on my meandering course upstream. To be honest nothing really fired my imagination, the villages all seemed to be fairly dull agriculturally driven rundown places.
But as I approached Riba-Roja things started to look up. Just 1km up stream from the village the first hydro electric dam creates a heap of electricity and separates the lower delta area from the higher mountainous section running 40 kms or so to the next dam at Mequinenza.

I have written a post about the dreaded Zebra muscle which first invested the river Ebro from this area, you can read that post here.

The village was quaint, a little run down but lighter somehow to the other villages I had traveled through that morning.

On driving out the village I spotted a small marina where a couple of smaller skiffs were moored and obviously set up for the Cat Angler. I had seen a 4x4 on German plates around the village with Hacienda Angling on the side, and I knew from my Internet research that Riba roja was the start of the serious Ebro Big fish scene. Just passed the marina was the Dam and beyond that the middle section of the river Ebro and the home to some of the biggest catfish in Europe. 200lb fish are not uncommon from this middle section, but most of the real biggies seem to come out at the famous town of Mequinenza, Riba Roja has its fair share of lunkers too.

I passed the dam and continued on the only road I could find that would keep me near to the river, roughly 3 km out of the village I cam across Camping Riba-Roja and some excellent pegs, well maintained by a local angling club and fishable on the Cataluña license with a 3 Euro a day ticket from the campsite.

As I approached the county of Aragon I had been warned not to night fish, and not ever, never ever fish without a permit. The county line for Cataluña and Aragon crosses just upstream from Riba-Roja so I though that it would be as good a place as any to bivvy up and get the rods out whilst I was still legal on my Cataluña permit.

This had been obtained at the start of the previous week from an Amposta tackle shop with presentation of my passport and 14,50€ for a years fishing from bank and boat, the next day I would be entering into Aragon, where they have had us big fish hunters up to their back teeth and check all permits with a vigilance that’s quiet scary and firmly enforce the no night fishing rule.
But that night I was still in Cataluña, who have a much more lassie faire attitude about the whole thing of sleeping and fishing, or so the two guys in the camping restaurant assured me as I bought my day ticket and headed down to the swim.

As the sun fell below the mountains infront of me and the clear skies turned to a perfect observatory for the stunning light show the stars were offering. I felt confident of getting some fish, plenty crashed in the general vicinity of my single baits and small pva bags, so it was no surprise when my middle rod screamed off and I was into a lovely hard fighting common. Nothing special at around 11 lbs but a nice fish straight away from a new swim. The night was uneventful with 1 more fish of the same size just before I started packing up in the morning.

A few kms passed the camping in a small in cut to the main river is the the famous and massive German Wels Camp run by Andree´s Angelreisen and I was well impressed by their set up. No one really spoke English and it looked like they mainly catered for the German Market, but they do rent out gear, a cat set up is €7 per day and boats and guides are all available.
Next to Wels camp was a place renting out canal barges, and this has really taken my fancy for the next trip. At around €1200 for a week sleeping up to 9 and renting your gear from the Wels Camp it seems an excellent and reasonably economic way to get in among the big ones and fish at night - who’s gonna check my permit when im moored in the middle of the river!

From here the road winds inland away from the river through some stunning scenery and wildlife with fish eagles and buzzards riding the uplifts in a clear blue Spanish sky. (Excuse the plagiarism Mr. Issac)

The road then heads back to the river, slowly dropping down to the big fish Mecca of Mequinenza. I parked up and made my way to the river front in the center of the village, the pavement lined bank was dotted with Brits and Germans, their rods all fishing sea fishing style from cleverly made brackets that adjusted by screw thread to the concrete river siding. Due to the lack of bait fish in this section, and the only explanation of that can be that the cats have eaten it all as the lower Ebro is packed yet this middle section is strangely bait fish free. The anglers were all using big Marine Halibut pellets, numerous ones all threaded hair rig style and fished with big lead and super tight line.
I didn’t see anything caught but they told me that 2 different big fish had been out in the last 3 weeks, 1 of 227 lbs and 1 of 220, could have been the same fish with a tidily 7 lbs Carp snack in its belly, but lets say 2 cats over 200 lbs! It’s more fun.

I drove through the village and came across an excellent tackle shop called www.ebro-carp.com, what a great place, one of those tackle shops where you feel like a lad at Christmas, heaps of bait and everything you could need or even not need but buy it anyway cause it looks the business. So few of those here in Spain, but I’m pleased to say my resolve held up and I walked out of there with nothing. A short detour up to Caspe, a pleasant mountain town some 40 kms upstream, and in the third section of the river, saw me checking my watch and realizing that if I was going to make it home in time for work on Wednesday I had better make tracks.

So I’m looking forward to the next trip and hopefully putting 1 of those big cats on the bank, hasta la proxima, Fraser