International Fishing at Bellús

An international fishing competition for under 25s was held in Valencia at Fortaleny and at the Bellus reservoir between 7th and 12th of April 2025.
The reservoir is breaming with fish having received 45 tons in December 2023, and thanks to recent rains it is at full capacity.
12 teams participated and as a curiosity the French team was captained by Englishman Matthew Morris, who lives and works in France as a gamekeeper.

The French team, looking for an authentic experience, were lodged in the mountain village of Beniatjar, where their host and local history expert, Juan Gamir, made his rural guesthouse available to them and their fridges, and organised all the necessary details of their stay, delighting them with local produce made with aniseed and sweet potato.

Matthew added these words for Valencia International:

“To resume our world championship campaign on the Bellús Dam.

After the first day we were 4th overall. Results were slightly lower than our expectations so we knew what we had to do the second day and so prepared for a tight battle with Hungary Romania and Germany .

It wasn’t to be , we fought like lions but our draw didn’t really allow us a realistic chance of winning with the formidable competition so we pulled out all the stops to no avail .

However we gleaned an individual bronze medal for young Adrien Dufour who was excellent in practice and also during the 2 days of competition I can conclude that the Bellús Dam still holds many secrets from us but thanks to great organization from José Sinthis and his team, a warm welcome from the Bellús community and mayor and the natural beauty of the area and local amenities…. 

We shall be back before long !