THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

SPAIN
I've only ever been to mainland Spain
once. That was slap bang in the middle
of the Icelandic volcanic ash grounding
of most of Europe's air traffic. As a
result, I spent three days on the road by
bus and train followed by a ferry journey
to get back to the UK.
there, I had to nip out and buy some extra warm clothes.
Far from my best experience if I'm
honest, with the fishing not exactly
providing a lasting memory either. Not
that I'm surprised. It was early in the
year on the tail end of a particularly cold
winter. So cold in fact that while I was
I was there actually for reasons other than fishing, but being so close to the River Ebro, over
enthusiastically as it would turn out, I decided to book a couple of days fishing anyway, which were
spent freezing my bits off in a small boat tucked in out of the wind failing to catch wels catfish close to
the town of Tortosa.
That said, Graeme Pullen went over there a couple of months later when things had warmed up to fish
further in-land on the top side of the dam. There he had an absolute burster with cats to one hundred
and eighty pounds, plus lots of big wild carp.
So I would most definitely go back again. It's all about timing, and in that regard, mine was completely
wrong.
THAILAND
Although I am and always have been an out and out saltwater boat fisherman, if I'm honest, with regard
to fishing abroad, the best foreign fishing I have ever enjoyed, and the aspect I would be most happy to
go back and repeat would without any hesitation be the commercial big fish lake fishing of Thailand.
It isn't cheap, particularly with a guide
who will collect and deposit you at your
hotel in an air conditioned vehicle, as
well as arranging food, tackle, and bait,
plus anything else you might require to
make the day a complete success.
Phill Williams, Mekong Catfish, Bungsamran
This then allows you to base yourself at
a nice hotel in the middle of Bangkok,
or over at the holiday resort of Pattaya
for the night life, and still enjoy some
of the best freshwater fishing in the
world by day, for an international range
of species and sizes of fish the likes of
which you will find nowhere else on
the planet. It's unique; it's breath
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