Roadtrip 2017 dag 9

We woke up after a short night because of our noisy neighbors, but the sleepiness was soon gone / we´re going to fish! After preparing we jumped on the motorcycle and drove to our spot on Ebro's shore. Jos was already waiting for us. We got in the boat, went to our fishing place and set up our camp again. With our rods standing ready, we began our wait. Time flew with us talking, refreshing our bait and walking around. Cool morning breeze got changed by midday's heat. I sat in my chair with a wet bandana on my head, trying to cool down at least a bit. Still no fish, not even a bite. Se we waited, we laughed and we ate rice crackers. Marcel walked around the little natural beaches, collecting old fishing gear, lost in Ebro by other fishermen. When some clouds hid the sun, making it a bity bit cooler, I went out to stretch my legs - I climbed the rocks right above our camp, getting a nice view over the landscape. After admiring it for a while I had to climb down - if there was a fish, I didn't want to miss it!.. But there was no fish. Just Marcel and Jos, sitting and talking, ad waiting, waiting, waiting....I sat down as well. It was almost time to go again. As in my head I was already putting hopes to tomorrow, suddenly rod's bells rang. Marcel's call woke me up from surprisement, and I ran to the moving rod. There was a fish on it, a big one! It bended the rod really far, I needed all my strength to keep it up. We all stepped in to the boat. Jos was steering it and telling us what to do, and Marcel was sitting behind me, supporting me with holding the rod. The fish was putting up quite a fight, bending the rod so far, that it's tip went into the water! Me and Marcel were breathing heavy, holding onto the rod as if our lives depended on it, and I took in the line. Bit by bit, the fish was getting closer. Suddenly it's head came above the water. It was a huge, beautiful catfish! Jos grabbed it by it's jaws, and pulled it in the boat. The fight was over. My first catfish, so enormous and beautiful, layed next to me as we went back to the shore, where another team of fellow fishermen were helping us out with the lines of our other rods, as the catfish messed them all up while fighting with us. We prepared the photoshoot place for the fish and layed it down. It was as enormous as it looked - 2,01 meters! Then a quick photoshoot followed, during which we had so much fun, hugging the fish and finally slowly releasing it back in the water. I watched the huge fish slowly swim away with admiration and pride, while other fishermen were congratulating me and us all with the first catch. Then we washed the slime off as much as possible and cleaned up our camp. At the shore we separated with Jos and returned to the hotel where we took a good shower. Then we did some shoppings, had dinner and celebrated my first wonderful catfish with a box of ice cream. Now we need to gather our strength for upcomming days - who knows what else is waiting for us out there!

• Left for fishing: 08:45
• ​Returned from fishing: 19:20
• Weather: hot and sunny, later cloudy and cool