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The Portuguese are not into Barbel fishing in a big way, as they are much more interested in fishing for Black Bass and Zander which they take home to eat. To give you some idea of the fantastic potential for Barbel fishing here in sunny Portugal I would like to share with you some of my knowledge and experiences built up after spending 27 years exploring the south of Portugal .

A few years ago Andy Little came over for a short trip and had some very nice fishing on a beautiful little river for Barbel, a little while later a friend of mine in the UK was in a tackle shop at home and became involved in a conversation with A local angler who had just come back from Portugal. He had been up and fished this same river and using cheese paste had taken many fish including six doubles. I have spent years exploring  the Guadiana river from Elvas where it enters Portugal from Spain and all the way down to the sea on the Algarve.

This river and its dams are home to five distinctively different species of barbel, four grow to similar size as UK fish at around 20lbs but the big one is the monster Comizo which can grow to 45lbs. The Guadiana river - apart from a few areas close to towns like Serpa and Mertola, is virtually un-fished, in fact for many miles, unless you have a boat, it is un-fishable. One part of this river is 300 yards wide with islands, shallow runs, deep (40ft) holes and rocks, some the size of a double decker bus. Here a few locals fish with crayfish or live-bait and take some very big fish. The best I have seen was a 37lb Comizo.

One day I was exploring with my friend Bill, over on holiday from Yorkshire, in an area called Portela De Lobo, that's the 'pool of the wolf' which is in a remote nature reserve area. Here the river falls 60ft down into a deep pool the size of an Olympic swimming pool, that day we witnessed the barbel getting ready to spawn, hundreds of fish some into doubles rolling over and chasing each other about… spectacular and a glimpse into the potential for that stretch of river.Update we now have access to nice three bedroomed house in this area and can offer guided fishing trips targetting river Barbel even the odd trip up to the Alqueva dam jigging from our boat for Barbel.Pike,Zander and Black Bass trips start at only 650€ each.

River Guadiana update  E BOOK EXPECTED EARLY2020 ALL THE RIVER FROM SPAIN AND DOWN TO THE SEA ON THE ALGARVE-WILL POST A LINK HERE.

For now have a look at two interesting links:

Pool of the Wolf, north of Mertola

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN1epWZlhW4

First weir above Mertola on the Guardiana River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr6yCklIoSI

The Algarve 13 lb record is waiting to be broken... Do you have what it takes?

The secret river...

Eight Fox barbel rods you can use

John's first ten pound Portuguese barbel

2018 Recommendation from a Happy Customer

Hi John,

Just a quick line to thank you most sincerely for a great time fishing with you in southern Portugal last week. I really enjoyed the trip and will definitely try to come back and fish with you again in the not too distant future.

The whole trip ran like clockwork from the moment you picked me up at Faro airport until the time you dropped me off a week later. The accommodation that you provided for me at the Hotel Colina dos Mouros in Silves was ideal. It was clean, comfortable and all the staff were extremely friendly. What more can you ask for? Silves is a great place to stay and all the locals that I encountered were extremely kind, friendly and helpful and the local restaurants and cafes were excellent. An evening meal plus wine and coffees and all for less than 15 euros can't be bad !!

The three stillwater venues that we fished during the week were all different and beautiful in their own ways. I particularly enjoyed fishing the lake further to the west in the nature reserve. The tackle and bait that you provided was first class and everywhere we fished everything happened that you said would happen. You can't argue with that. Your expert knowledge of the fish and fishing in your area is without equal. My main objective of the trip was to catch some Gypsy (or Andalucian) Barbel and I achieved that quite easily. Unfortunately, because of the prevailing weather and river conditions, we could not fish for the barbel in the rivers as originally planned but I thoroughly enjoyed catching them in the various stillwaters in the area. They were all in wonderful condition, beautifully marked and they all fought like tigers. Great sport. The carp fishing was excellent too. It was good to be able to catch all the target species using different fishing methods and baits and next time I come over to fish with you I plan to try some different techniques to catch them. Seeing you catch such large fish on light float tackle was a real eye opener. We caught plenty of fish during the week in what was without doubt difficult weather and water conditions so I can't wait to come over and fish with you when the fishing is red hot!! Next time it would be great if we could get to target the barbel on the various rivers in your area. That would be ideal from my point of view.

Sincere thanks once again John for a great trip. I really enjoyed myself and I will definitely be trying to book to come over and fish with you again, hopefully, in the not too distant future. My batteries are now fully recharged and I am ready for anything that life decides to throw at me.

All the very best, as always, and tight lines wherever you decide to fish,

Paul Bowen.

Abergavenny, U.K.

Thursday, 8th March 2018

                               Fishing for Giant Comizo Barbel in Portugal and Spain

We at Tightlines are receiving a good number of questions about the freshwater fishing in Portugal, and after 27 years fishing in the South of Portugal I feel it is a good time to share with you some of what I have found - with special details as to our Barbel fishing. When I started my long hunt for good fishing years ago there was nothing I could find to help in books or magazines on Portugal. After a few years I started doing a few reports for fishing websites like Fishing Magic and around that time I came across a fellow Englishman, Norman Smith who was doing the same but in Spain. Norman and his wife were based in Malaga and in their camper van (Herbi) they traveled around exploring  Spain, catching Carp and BIG Barbel. ALL that Norman found and reported about his fishing matches exactly what over the years I have found in Portugal. Norman told me about his mate Peter Staggs who was pathfinding the hunt for Comizo Barbel in Spain and again ALL that Peter has reported fits in with what I find in Portugal. Peter recommends that you rip up your English rule book about Barbel  because its all different here.

So why is it different? Well the main reason is the weather and rain cycle (no rain from mid April till mid October, and temperatures hitting 50c in the sun) and the way our water resources are managed. Starting around 1960 Portugal and Spain started a big plan in building dams. Dams in Portugal are nothing new the first dam was built by the British in Victorian times near Mertola  (water for a mine) but in the 60's things really took of with dozens of big dams built on all the big rivers. By big dams for me that's waters over 3,000 acres; some were over 10,000. As I write this in 2018 there must now be over 100 big dams and thousands of smaller ones. These small dams were built by local farmers again in the 60s and 70s on all small streams most are only three to five acres but can go up to 200 on one farm I know.

So how does this  effect our fishing? Let's  follow what has happened on my local river over this past year. In mid-May our fishing season opened and my client Russell came over for a week's barbell fishing and we hit it spot on. The river was nearly full with steady flow and nice colour. The water was around 12ft deep and easy to fish with standard Barbel gear and over the week we had a few hundred Barbell and Carp. This is as near as we get to normal English type Barbel fishing. By July this part of the river was only 3ft deep, with no flow and no fish. We had to move about one mile down the river towards the dam to find deeper water with fish. Here again we had lots of fish - Barbel over 10lbs and Carp to near 20lbs. By September we had to move again, this time two miles over the hills and into the top end of the dam still fishing in the old river bed and more nice fish. By Febuary we were another two miles down the old river bed and well into the dam proper. Here we could clearly see the old high water mark 60ft higher up the dam side. We still had some nice fish but not as good as when we fished the full river. The rain came in March and April and in just a few weeks the dam filled up and started backing up into the old river bed. The Barbel moved out of the dam and into the river and we had good fishing again. In early April the water was over the river banks and into the fields then the Carp moved into the grass to spawn. So that's the cycle over much of Portugal and Spain - just a few big rivers that can fish well all year.

Our Barbel

We have five different species  of Barbel in Portugal and their range crosses over into Spain  where they have another four different species making nine different types of Barbel in Spain. For now I will just talk about two types of Barbel that are of special interest to me fishing in the South of Portugal and down into the Algarve. I will talk about others when I retire from guiding and publish my ebook about all fishing in Portugal from Marlin to Barbel.

Luciobarbus Sclareri

This is the most common Barbel on the Algarve. Its range covers all the south of Portugal and over the border into Spain. I call it the Southern Barbel, others call it the Gypsy Barbel; whatever we call it it's a very special fish for me. It can live for 20 years and can grow big - some say near 30lbs, but over 20lbs for sure. Its in our rivers and dams. It prefers deep slow rivers not liking fast cold shallow water but can live and spawn in dams and grow big there. It is easy to tell the difference with this Barbel and all others as it has a dark back and yellow underside. So where to fish for these in the South of Portugal? Let's start on the East end of the Algarve. Here we have two dams - the Beliche and Odeleite. Both have good numbers of fish and some big ones over 10lbs. You can fish normal Barbel tactics and catch but some love to hunt these fish on the flats (shallow areas) fly fishing the poor man's Bonefish!!! These fish are in the river Guadiana all the way up to the Spanish border and Merida. Coming up the central area of Portugal they are in all the rivers  that do not dry up, and most of the dams. The best dams I have found to be Santa Clara and Alvito but good fish are in Monty da Rocha, Odivelas and Alqueva. Size is good with most fish 3lbs to 5lbs and good numbers of 7lb and 8lb fish. Over this and they get fewer but we have had doubles on consecutive casts. Just one bit of advise: these fish on their first run are FAR stronger than UK fish. Only a modest 5lb fish will bend a Carp rod double and scream off trying to get into any snags. Close to snags I think nothing of fishing 20lb line direct.

Comizo Barbel

The big one, some say they go to near 60lbs. They have been taken to 47lbs that I know of . We get reports of Carp anglers hooking monster fish that have spooled them; these could easily be Comizos. Their range is along the river Guadiana from where it starts in Spain and in all the dams on this river and down to the sea on the Algarve in Portugal. It can be found again on the Tajo river in Spain and Portugal and in its dams, and down to the sea near Lisbon in Portugal. This fish can turn up in dams where its not known to be. My mate reported seeing two over 40lbs dead in the mud when his local dam was drained. This fish yet again does not like shallow fast rivers; it is happy in deep slow rivers but equally at home in deep still waters and will spawn there and grow big. The Spanish call this the Pike Barbel and its easy to see why as its head is very similar to a Pike and it's a predator. In fact it's predator anglers who catch a good number of these fish on live baits and lure fishing but normal Carp tactics work as well. Some in Portugal fish with Crayfish for them and others live bait with small fish, my mates have had good fish fishing maggot feeders and maggots. In some areas its easy to catch small Comizos on maggots or sweetcorn on light tackle but for the big fish you need to fish bigger baits on tackle that gives you a chance to get them out - and be patient! I have five places in mind for these that I have found on the river Guadiana and plan to fish two of them this summer with clients. I will let you know how we get on, so watch this space and my Facebook page.

Some  big Carp possible on the Algarve but best waters are private.

PLEASURE FISHING TRIPS ON THE ALGARVE

For a very good pleasure fishing guide we recomend www.algarvefishingadventures.com Keith Russell has access to the very best private water in the South of Portugal where we have often had 200lb mixed bags af Carp and Barbel. We took Keith Arthur there June 2019. This is not fishing for big fish Carp to mid doubles most around 7lbs and Barbel to around 7lbs most around 4lbs but lots of them. You can visit Keith's Facebook page here and see a video of him in action here:

John Bate's Baits - summer 2018

Further down on the Algarve we have the Southern Barbel, a beautiful fish which fights double what you might be used to with English fish of the same size, only last week in middle of winter we had over 50 fish to 11lbs in one day. These fish from where the river enters a big dam, bending a carp rod double as they screamed off taking 20 yards of line... awesome sport!

Are there monster fish on  the river to the north of the Algarve? Possibly... in general we have had no problem catching double figure barbel and carp to 20lbs from this river, but occasionally (weekly) we have hooked monsters that have broken us up on 30lb braid, we now fish with a stronger 42lb braid and are looking forward in seeing what these fish are. So, if you fancy trying for these fish we now have from 2019 a new B&B only five minutes away from the river.

River Guardiana, home of giant Comizo Barbel

Bradley, our syndicate member, with a near 50lb carp

Florin with a 51lb carp, 2019. Is it the same fish Bradley caught in 2018?

ALGARVE FRESHWATER FISHING

I have spent the best part of 30 years exploring the freshwater fishing in the south of Portugal and please believe me when I strongly advise you to book an experienced guide at least for your first few days fishing in Portugal. Why do I say this? Well our fishing is nothing like you expect in UK.

1)     There are no well-stocked day ticket waters with manicured banks with all snags removed.

2)     No English style Carp puddles.

3)     Just mile after mile of near virgin river fishing with overhanging trees lily beds, rocks the size of a double decker bus and big old trees fallen into the river. It's real wild fishing that experienced anglers love. There are a lot of big deep dams, some with lots of small fish a few with just a few bigger fish, access is normally difficult. There are very snaggy areas that's big rocks and trees left in the valley before it was flooded. So a guide who has seen these areas when the water level was low or, in my case, even before the valley was flooded can be a great help.

4)     In all my years exploring I have only dropped onto a big feeding shoal of fish a few times it normally takes a few days of heavy feeding to draw the fish into your area. By heavy I often feed 20liters of mixed particles at the end of my first day and 5kgs of boilies. Your guide will have been fishing and feeding a favorite area where he will take you.

On the Algarve there is only one reliably consistent water. This is private but my guide can take you there fishing – this is the only stocked water on the Algarve and I should now as I put over 1,000 Carp to 18lbs in there and 300 Barbel to near 10lbs. My guide will even take you fly fishing for Barbel and Black Bass.

PORTUGAL FRESHWATER FISHING GUIDE

My friend has just purchased a nice 3 bed house close to good river fishing for Barbel and Shad on the river Guadiana and it is not to far to fish the mighty Alqueva dam for BIG Carp, Barbel, Channel Catfish and much more. For this we take a boat as lots of big Barbel fall to jigging often in deep water that's 70 to 80ft. He will be guiding mainly in the winter into April. I to could be persuaded to do a few weeks guiding in the summer as I love this wild fishing. My friend is also interested in doing a full week camping fishing on the Alqueva dam now that we have legal night fishing zones there again it would be well equipped with a boat gas fridge and proper gas cooker with oven as he likes his food.

Price

Starts at around €650 PP for a week including food, gear and lots of feed.