The Mighty Waal

What a river the Lek is. I wanted to stay and learn and catch more, but this is a short trip and I'd a couple of other rivers I wanted to fish.

We found a lovely park up by the river Linge. Bogs, electric hook up and fishing right in front of the van. It was pretty, but a bit tame after the Lek and the fishing was slow, with just a few biggish bream saving the day.

The next morning we headed to where I really wanted to go, the Waal. The Dutch call it the Waal but its really a continuation of the Rhine.

We found a great campsite right on the bank of the river. The previous weekend the whole site was under water, a result of heavy rain in Germany a week before.

The owner told me the levels were now "only" up by 2.5 metres !

The croys ( groynes ) that go out into the river 100-150 yards were covered by the water, but no matter they created slacker areas and it was fishable. You just had to find a snag free area that contained fish.

It's difficult to describe how fecking huge the Waal is. It must be 800-1000 yards wide  where we were. The current past the where the croys finish is incredible. You definitely dont want to fall in.

The first day I got it wrong, fishing on a crease into fifteen feet of water, with just a single bream the result. They weren't in the deepish water.

I was up with the lure rod early the next morning and quickly had two zander under my belt. Not big, but anything from a new venue is welcome.

Whilst lure fishing I found a shallow spot with maybe six feet of water and a bit of weed. Interesting. 

After coffee and toast I returned with the feeder rod to fish the shallow spot. Half dozen feeder fulls of corn and hemp  and I was fishing. It was slow but I was getting bites and every fish was a cracker.

The first fish was a 1lb 9oz roach, the next a 4lb 10oz ide. Then a clonking roach of 1lb 14oz and another of over a pound.

More ide followed, all big ones over 4lb bar one, including an absolutely mint fish of 5lb 1oz. What a beauty.

The last fish was the obligatory bream, a decent one of maybe 7lb. A really cracking day.

It was all about finding the fish, they weren't had to catch.

I used a simple feeder rig with corn and they all hooked themselves.  Had to keep the bait going in and the fish would come and go with long periods of inactivity, then two or three bites on the trot.

Regularly service of tea and biscuits from the van, watching the enormous ships coming and going and a few bites and you have a very civilised way to fish. Fantastic day and well chuffed with the results.