With a total of 650 catfish landed by customers, 2008 has been one of my most successful seas ons to date. We have managed to maintain a highly impressive catch rate averaging over 3 fish per day, with our aggregate poundage for the year exceeding 45000lbs.

April

The season began in fine style with the river in good condition following low winter rainfall s across Spain. April is traditionally a month where high water levels can be expected which can lead to difficult fishing conditions, but in 2008 the river was only occasionally above i ts normal 'summer' level, it was a difficult month, I was having to draw on my many years exp erience and knowledge of the river. The cats were certainly feeding heavily and the month pro duced a total of 61 fish in just 13 sessions on the boat.

May

May began with some unseasonably bad weather but ended up being a very prolific month of the season in fishing terms. Early May is usually the time when the cats are spawning and it is o ften the case that once spawning has finished a feeding frenzy occurs. I recorded some tremen dous results towards the end of the month, Tony Gillespie landing 300+ cats in his first day cat fishing being a notable achievement. Other customers who enjoyed the best of the fishing included John Finan; monthly total of 155 cats illustrates what a tremendous time of the year this is to visit the river, popular with our customers.

June

June is the month where the temperature begins to soar, but fortunately the fishing did not s uffer as we continued to record some truly amazing catches. Jock Tompkins, a regular on the b oat, experienced some tremendous fishing; June must be regarded as one of the best months to visit.

July

July was extremely warm this year. The quality of the fishing remained fairly high towards th e beginning of the month although towards the end was becoming more difficult. Some of the be tter results were enjoyed by Steven Barrs's party who landed 17 cats in 3 days fishing (inclu ding fish of 113 and 108 lbs), and also by the Bob Ruskin's party who managed 14 cats in thei r first visit to the river with 4 over the 'ton'. Whilst one of the most memorable fish of th e season was Mark Gillespies 89lb albino. A total of 91 cats caught illustrate just how consi stent the fishing is, even in the warmer weather months, when again my experience proved inva luable.

August

As with July, August is a very hot month with temperatures regularly in the mid 30's Celsius. This is perhaps not ideal for the fishing as the cats have a tendency to become quite lethar gic in the high water temperatures. By this stage of the season the fishing was markedly more difficult than the early season months. Despite this some notable catches were made, Shaun S mith group catching 22 fish (including fish of 121 and 132lbs).

September

September is generally a great month to visit, although this year September was somewhat limi ted. The fishing was restricted to very few parts of the river due to drifting weed creating problems in the more favoured upstream areas around Benifalet. Some steady action was had by most of our customers, the highlights including Tony Gillespies 134 lb. Other captures of no te in September included a 127lber for Billy Burg. A total catch for the month of 92 fish was slightly lower than expected but would have to be due to the excessive weed growth, which se verely restricted the choice of fishing locations.

October

Persisting problems with weed and falling water temperatures made the fishing in October relatively difficult. Fortunately, of the fish that were landed, there was a high proportion of big fish well over the 100lb mark. Deborah Bunce also catching 2 over the ton. An overall tally of 70 fish for the month illustrates that October was marginally more difficult when compared to the early season months.