Urban Carp Match Group (UCMG)

UCMG is the fishing arm of the newest Valencian federated club on the fishing scene, the Urban Carp Club, and is the brainchild of NTT Tackle and Bait owner Alan Bolwell.

We have about 28 active members and we celebrate our matches on Sundays at the El Bosquet complex in Sant Felip de Neri (Catral).

In addition to these matches, we are planning to have matches at the huge Bellus Reservoir, which will take place one Friday (maybe 2 Fridays) a month.

All our Members MUST be in possession of the Valencian Federation Card and, of course, the Valencian fishing permit.

To close out 2024, we held a Christmas Festival, fished for two days (Saturday and Sunday) and 13 brave souls braved the somewhat chilly mornings.

Not only did we humans not enjoy the cold snap, but the fish didn’t appreciate it much either, and that was reflected in the results, and when a former senior world champion catches less than 10kg on both days, typically, 10kg won’t get you anywhere in the prizes, it shows how difficult the fishing was.

That said, it was former world champion, Harry Billing, who won both days and along with two other anglers, Martin Fisher and Marnix de Groot (Max to his mates!) took the maximum 2 points.

Harry’s superior combined weight ensured he took first place and took home a Matrix 10ft Feeder rod, donated by our title sponsor, NTT Bait & Tackle.

They also donated the second prize of a Shimano reel and Martin Fisher (again outweighing Max) gladly accepted the prize.

After the game on Sunday we headed to The Dog & Firkin pub in Catral (our co-sponsors) for the presentation and our Christmas dinner, which was a pleasure and was certainly filling.

UCMG would like to express our thanks and gratitude to ‘my hosts’ Trevor and Debbie Massey and the lovely maids, Jade and Jenny.

The Dog runs a food bank and I am very happy to say that all the UCMG members who attended donated various items for the less privileged at this time of year.

You can find out more about memberships and matches by contacting myself (Steve Higgins) on WhatsApp 744714343 or by email sf.higgins@outlook.com