Carp fishing in the Costa Blanca

A few years ago I left the UK to live in Spain, where I stayed for almost 3 years. For most of that time I worked as a fishing guide and charter skipper. I thought I would share some of my fishing experiences from my time in Spain. I still go back to Spain on a regular basis and when ever I can I take the opportunity to fish when I am over there.  At this time of year, just like in the UK the fishing is pretty slow especially from the boat. I normally concentrate on fishing the lakes or Embalses as they are known over there.

There are a good number of Embalses in the Costa Blanca, almost all of them man made and built under the orders of Franco. It was one of his better legacy’s to Spain. All the Embalses contain Carp and a lot of them have Barbel and Black Bass, as well as Zander and Pike. In this area the smaller fish are predominately Bleak.

One of my favourite waters is the Embalse de Amadario, which is situated only 12km from Benidorm, near the beautiful village of Orexta. Having just entered Spring, which is one of the best times of year. The Orange and Lemon trees are laden with fruit and the Almond trees are in full blossom. Couple this with the wild flowers in full bloom and you have a wonderful site.

I recently fished this wonderful mark. Weather was nice, slight winds and a comfortable temperature of 21c.
The water is at it’s highest level with the damn being at 98% capacity. At the moment depths vary between 3m and 70m. As you can see from the pictures the Embalse is set the floor of a valley with mountains on three sides providing a dramatic and stunning back drop.

Amadario is one of the very few private waters in Spain. It costs €12 a day to fish it. But it is worth every penny. It boasts Carp over 50lb. Although on the day we only managed a dozen or so, with the best topping just over 6lb.

This was due in main to the high volume of very cold water entering the Embalse.
The most popular baits for Carp in this region are sweat corn and bread. I have tried boillies and pellets many times with very little success. On a water like Amadario you do need to put a lot of ground bait in. The main bulk of my ground bait is crushed down chicken feed pellets. During the summer I use the pellets as a fantastic float fished Barbel bait. They can often be seen in large shoals just below the surface of the water. They can sometimes be tempted with floating dog biscuit.
Amadario is one of the best fishing areas in this region for Black Bass. They grow no more than 6lb in this area but are fantastic fighters especially on the fly, but that is another story.

Like most of the Embalses in Spain, access to most of the waters edge is only possible with the use of a 4×4.

Unlike the UK where most of the land is fenced off and inaccessible, in Spain you are free to drive most places.