Rio de Fuengirola - Spain

It was time for our annual pilgrimage to the Myramar Castle Beach Hotel in Fuengirola. Funny thing is the Rio de Fuengirola runs right by the hotel down to the seafront and I threaten to wet a line every year but never do. The river is chocker full of fish, as we feed them every night on the way to the town. This year though I packed an old Mitchell reel, some wagglers, decent hooklength line and a bit of terminal tackle. Taking no space in the bags at all it gave me the option should we see a cheap rod for sale. Imagine my surprise to find Decathlon had opened an outlet 200m up the road from our hotel complex. Fantastic I thought, even better I picked up a telescopic course rod complete with a decent enough reel for the princely sum of 11 euros.

 Now I was rocking. A tin of sweetcorn from the local hypermarket and I was ready to go.
This river comes with some unusual creatures to avoid catching though, there are dozens of turtles resident that also feed on the nightly banquet provided by hundreds of passers by throughout each evening. There is also a family of rats which have realised the food on offer here is easy pickings. My fear of Mr ratty has long since diminished after numerous encounters on the river Medlock over the years.

I found a great clearing in the trees on the opposite bank to the residence of Mr Ratty's family and cast a 2AAA waggler mid river. The first bite was instant, and immediately I connected with a fish. Would it be my first Mullet? After a brief but good scrap my first Spanish fish was on the bank. It was a small Barbel. Amazing really, for years I have struggled finding barbel and I travel annually to a river full of them. Not a river Dane type monster, but my first .

I continued to catch steadily all afternoon, all small barbel with the exception of a single mullet, which was another species I have never caught previously.

I only hooked two fish of note, one running into the undergrowth and slipping the hook, and the other, a much bigger fish, diving and catching me cold, breaking the hooklength. I visited a couple of times during the holiday with similar results, a bite every cast. With so much other stuff to do and see I resisted the temptation to turn the excursion into a fishing holiday. Anyway, there is always next year, as we seem to end up at the same place every summer. Next year I may go for one of the bigger fish that seem to appear in the evening for the leftovers offered up from lunch. These fish eat anything  from bread to cheesy wotsits!

The picture below shows the hotel and is taken from the bridge over the river. Gives you an idea of the proximity to the fishing. It doesn't do the complex much justice, but for anybody looking for a family holiday, with a big pool, 24 hour security, full leisure facilities and entertainment, a shopping and restaurant complex and hypermarket and crazy golf round the corner and the added bonus of the opportunity of a few hours river fishing within a couple of minutes walk, this place comes highly recommended.

This week I may try the Medlock again, although I fear the pollution may have taken its toll. My international piscatorial forays continue in Bulgaria in two weeks as I tackle the river Iskar, after finding another strategically placed hotel for the European championship qualifier in Sofia. I have struggled to find much info about this river aside from there are lots of brown trout so I aim to cover all bases (with my 11 euro kit).