Asptastic

We had a great cycle ride to the German border and stopped at a lovely cafe literally on the demarcation line.

It was a crossroads of cycle paths, loads of casual cyclists having a ride in the countryside. Very few lycra clad pros in their mirror shades and silly clip on shoes.

The nachos we ordered in the cafe were the absolute dooh daahs, as was the ice cream and what nots and the Belgium beer wasn't too bad either. A lovely day out.

Our park up was on a part of the river Maas that was ridiculously deep and totally lacking in flow. Unsurprisingly, my feeder fishing resulted in a total blank.

However, I had noticed lots of fry in the shallow margins and every now and again a predator would attack and the fish would scatter. Most looked like perch, but occasionally larger fish would hit the prey fish shoals.

A small plug ( or as they say nowadays, "hardbait" ) was clipped on which resulted in several perch of various sizes.

A bit of fun, but I was interested in what those larger crashes were, pike maybe ? Catfish ? Asp perhaps , but I thought they were fish of fast water ?

After the bike ride, the sky blackened and the wind got up to ridiculous levels. We were in for a storm.  It didn't last long and blew itself out entirely and when the rain stopped, I poked my head out the camper door.

The river was flat calm. Not a ripple.

Dusk was encroaching, so I grabbed the lure rod, net and lures and headed down to the water.

I clipped on a surface popper and just before I cast, saw a huge crash in the margins as an unseen predator hit some unfortunate shoal fish.

Third cast I was just about to lift the popper out and out of nowhere the lure was hit with venom and the water erupted under the rod tip. Ten or fifteen seconds of mayhem followed before it was hustled into the net.

An asp and a good one too, maybe 6lb or so. Well pleased with that to say the least.

Next morning I tried again....but you knew that.

No activity at all so after fifteen minutes I gave up and headed back for tea and biscuits. 

We were moving on to another area and whilst packing the van I heard a huge crash in the margins fifty yards from the van.

Interesting.  Mid morning, bright sunshine but they were obviously on the hunt.

Again, lure rod and net grabbed and five minutes later another asp smashed into the popper in literally inches of water.  Another short but savage fight and he was in the net.

Another nice one of 5lb ish I guess. Lovely.

Pleased with that one too. Bit of opportunism.

Asptastic.

Canals and Carp

We headed south to the Dutch/Belgium border, just on the outskirts of Maastricht.  What a lovely city, really vibrant. Lots of young people being a University town, the place has a lovely feel to it.

The river Maas was walking distance from the site, but work was being carried out on the adjacent canal and extra water was being pumped into the river.

The levels were up and down like a spate river making fishing extremely difficult.  A pity, as it was a cracking bit of river, with lots of fast water, creases and pools.

I managed a couple of barbel on a short morning session before the sun got up and it became too hot. For me, anyway.

Goggle eyed fecker eh ?

Next morning I was up for an early morning bike ride and got chatting to a carp angler on the canal.  He said he'd not caught anything. After a while, having established I was a visitor and not a total helmet, he said, actually he had caught something.

He wasn't kidding. A 51lb carp.

I helped him lift in out for a photo. It was enormous, the biggest carp I've ever seen.

A proper wild fish, from a huge canal network. Good work. Proper carping.

The day before I'd spotted half a dozen carp feeding in a bay just off the canal. They were sending up huge silt clouds and occasionally rolling. If I'd have had time I'd have had a go for them, but you can't do everything. 

A few days later we found a nice park up just over the border in Belgium, right on the canal. As luck would have it, there was what turned out to be an absolutely fantastic little restaurant two minutes walk away. Perfect.

There were some great bike rides along the waterways, all on proper cycle paths. Plenty of anti tank turrets from WW2 along the way if you're interested in that sort of thing. 

I went in the local post office to get a fishing permit and was there for over forty five minutes. 

There was a problem with their IT system because they couldn't find "Great Britain" or "United kingdom " on it. Yes, really.

The woman rang head office and eventually agreed that the UK did exist and she could give me a permit.

We didn't catch much for a couple of days really, but had a nice time nodding about, eating, drinking, cycling and fishing.

Still Catching

I tackled up the little 6' 8" lure rod, clipped on the faithful Salmo Thrill and headed off for a new area, a crib where the water was even more turbulent and pacey than the others.

As soon as me and T, the Dutch boy, arrived the asp showed themselves by crashing in to shoal fish along the edge. First cast and I get a savage take, a small asp of around 2lb. A nice start.

Then I hooked a tiny pike and manage to get a treble in my thumb past the barb. One strong heave with forceps and it's out. 

Next cast and a fish hits the lure inches from the edge, I shout out that it's a zander, but no, its a cracking perch.

To finish off the evening I get another asp, another cracking session.

Next day I'm on the feeder in a new swim. It was a bit slow, but the first bite resulted in what I first thought was a nase or sneep, but after subsequently talking to some Dutch anglers I'm reliably informed it's a bluenose ( vimba vimba in Latin ). A fish that has infiltrated the Rhine system via the Danube

What a beautiful fish.

I had several around the 2lb mark with the best clocking in at 2lb 6oz. 

They really do pull in the fast water. 

I was having to use an 80 gram feeder with legs to hold the bottom, as the flow increased and decreased according to the boat traffic. These ships are truly massive and the amount of water they displace is incredible. 

I chucked a barbel rod out in the fast water and just about held with a 100 gram feeder with legs. The tip didn't move for three hours but as I was packing away the baitrunner screamed and I was in.

After a short tussle a nice fish of 6 or 7lb was in the net, not before it managed to snap one of the landing net arms. Or maybe that was me.

Well chuffed with that. I must admit it was a bit "chuck it and chance it". I wasn't building up the swim, I just chucked a feeder out and left it. Lazy git.

Anyway, it worked.

In the afternoon we had a long bike ride. We got back, I poured a nice cold beer and S said she was going to have a fish with the lure rod for ten minutes.  I said it's middle of the afternoon, bright sunshine, three foot of water, no flow , you're wasting your time.

First cast she gets a small asp.

Shows what I know.

Moving on tomorrow, but I'd happily stay here for a few more days.

Love it.

The Idemeister

Thats me, in case you didn't know. 

It's been boiling hot here in the Netherlands, well over thirty degrees for  several days running.

We stopped off at a campsite which initially looked the dooh daahs. When we had a proper look round we saw that it was busier than first appeared,  with power boats and jet skis roaring up and down the river and dogs wandering about barking and growling at people. One laid a turd outside our van. The dog, not a person. Lovely.

We left after a night.

We're back on the Waal now. The levels are down and the fish have moved out of the bay. Before it was a bite almost every chuck. Now, nothing.

However, I've found a few fish a little way upstream and have had some clonking ide.

A young Dutch boy came up to me and said

 " They said you're the English man who caught a 2 kg foren ( roach ) ". Well, sort of, but not quite !

He asked if he could come fishing as he wanted to catch an ide. I'd spotted some milling about a few feet out from the stone croys, so got some bread mash and fed four different spots, just like you would when chubbing.

Two swan shot and a big lump of flake a rod length out. Bit different from the heavy feeders I've been using.

First chuck and the tip pulled round and the boy was in to a good sized ide. A bit of thrashing and crashing and it was in the net. Job done.

It was my turn next and this time a slightly bigger fish of 4lb 12oz. 

Later on I returned with a feeder and although it was slow I managed two cracking fish, a fat pig of an ide of 5lb 3oz and a big roach just over 2lb. A few obligatory bream too.

I did try for a barbel too. I had one cast with a ridiculously heavy 150 gram feeder, immediately got snagged up and decided I didn't need to catch a barbel that much, so packed up.

Reality Check

After the recent non stop string of sucesses  I've had a more "normal" few sessions.

I've had another four or five asp, but much smaller and hard won. Also a few perch and small zander, but nothing earth shattering. 

At dawn and dusk, you get twenty minutes of frantic asp activity and then it just goes dead. The bastards ignore the lure most of the time.

I've so far failed to catch a barbel from the Ijssel this year, I did hook something decent but lost it.

The weather has been ridiculously hot and tomorrow the forecast is "for the mercury to hit thirty two degrees". Sorry, for a moment I thought I was a red top journalist.

We've been out on the bikes every day. Today we cycled through the forest to a renowned Dutch eaterie, specialising in tradional pancakes. Much as I love it here the food is average at very best. And I'm being polite.

I ordered a "secret recipe mixed pancake, made nowhere else in the world".

I can absolutely believe this claim, as it tasted revolting. I left most of it and the waiter asked if I enjoyed it.

I said said no. He said he'd box it up for me to eat later. Err...I think something was lost in translation. 

Oh well, you've got to try these things. Only once though.

I've  also had some clonking silver bream to 2lb 4oz, plus ide and bream, so it's not been too bad.

I've a plan to intercept fish coming in to the harbour at dusk to feed on the huge silver fish shoals ( one for Wak Baines  there ) . Other people keep "scuppering" the idea but hopefully I'll be alone this evening 

I'll let you know how I get on.

Asp Hunt

We moved on to a lovely place by the river Lek, a perfect stopover at an old fortress that is now a micro brewery.

It was a fair walk to the river and access was difficult. There was twenty five feet of water at about fifteen yards. Hmm, not perfect in these conditions. 

So it proved. Some nice roach to a pound and a solitary nase. Nice to see that.

But it was a bit "After the Lord Major's show". As it had to be really. 

On to the Ijssel and after a trip to the garage for a wheel change we were at a cracking riverside aire by a small harbour.

The evening barbel fishing produced only hybrids and silver bream. I kept trying with the lure rod for asp but saw no signs of activity. 

After cycling back to the camper, instead of sitting down eating and relaxing like a normal person,  I walked down to the harbour entrance where the fast water of the main river met the quiet, placid backwater.

There were eruptions everywhere.  I ran down to get the rod but after half hour casting had nothing.

But "I know where they live" and I was pretty confident I'd see a few at dawn.

I rose early, had a cuppa and walked down to the water. Before I was anywhere near the river I could  here thrashing where the asp were hitting the shoal fish.

Surely I'd get one ?

As it got properly light the activity subsided, the surface was once again calm and it looked like the chance had gone.

But....you've got to keep buggering on

Just as I was losing hope the lure was hit with venom as a big asp launched itself out of the water.  The fight was short and furious and in double quick time the fish was in the net.

It looked massive and it was, as the scales read 9lb 14oz.

The photos are a bit crap, due to me being covered in sweat and mosquitos and shaking  like a shitting dog with the excitement. 

The fish destroyed one of the trebles on the Salmo Thrill. These fish are savage.

You won't be surprised to know I'm going to try and get another one this evening. 

When You're On A Roll....

Sometimes nothing goes right and sometimes everything you do turns to gold.

The amazing roach fishing continued with big fish every session. I knew how silly it was getting when I slipped back one fish just over 2lb without a photo.

Today I had another brace of twos, with the biggest a massive 2lb 7oz.

There were also some stonking ide mixed in with several more upper fours.

I'll not bang on ( too much ) about the roach, suffice to say I had ten over two pounds over several days before we moved on to another river.

It was a struggle to catch an asp. They weren't showing as the normally do but one evening I jumped on the bike to fish another section I fancied. As soon as I arrived there was a big explosion of water hard against the rocks, as an unfortunate tiddler met its maker.

I cast the Salmo Thill in the direction of the attack and was immediately hit by a ferocious take. It was on for about ten seconds before the hook pulled.  Bastard !

It seemed my chance had gone, but out of nowhere the lure was whacked again. A short but furious fight and the first asp of the trip was in the net, a cracking fish of 4-5lb.

I also caught two small zander that took the asp lure when being retrieved at high speed in the top foot of water. I've never ever seen that before.

I went over to tell my Dutch friend of this apparently unusual occurrence and amazingly he'd had two on exactly the same method and lure. He hadn't caught them like this before either.

The only rules is that there are no.....you know the rest.

On to a different river today.

Big Roach Madness

Warning '- Long self indulgent post

I was up early again the next day, there were obviously decent fish in the area, so I went back to the same spot.

First up was a clonking ide of 4lb 8oz, a great start. Then, the bream moved in. There are loads of them, decent fish too, mostly 6-7lb but a pain in the neck if you're targeting roach and ide.

When the bream thankfully drifted off I had two good roach 1lb 8oz and Ilb 11oz, before it went quiet.

Out of the blue I hooked what I thought was an average sized ide, but it seemed to be fighting a bit too well for the "weedy chub".

I got a glimpse of a silver, rather than a bronze flank and sure enough it was a big roach. A proper big roach.

Thankfully it went in the net first time and as soon as I opened the net up I knew it was over the 2lb mark. At 2lb 6oz my biggest ever and first two pounder in almost fifty years!

I re cast with wobbly legs and a silly grin on my face and as soon as the feeder hit bottom the tip went round. A similar fight and another big roach in the net, this time 2lb 0.5oz !

So, a brace of two pounders in consecutive casts after waiting a lifetime to get even one. It's a funny old game Brian

I packed up and walked back to the van for a welcome breakfast. 

The next day we had to move pitches on the campsite due to a cock up. This meant I could fish straight outside the van. 

I found a nice weedy area about twenty yards out and after baiting up lightly with half dozen feeder fulls the tip sprang back and after a short but spirited fight another clonking ide was having its photo taken.

More ide and bream followed before another big roach was banked, one that was obviously over two pounds. I put it in the net while I got the scales and on my return the roach was....gone. Oh dear.

After that it went dead, so I packed the gear away, leaving just the net and rod out whilst doing so.

Two German blokes I'd been chatting to shouted out that I'd got a bite and as I reached the rod it was thankfully still on.

It went hard in the flow and it was difficult to say what it was. One of the Germans said he saw it and it looked like a smallish bream, but as the fish rolled a flash of silver gave the game away.

It was a massive roach.

2lb 12oz and a truly huge fish.

Unbelievable. 

The following day we had a lovely long bike  ride along the river on virtually traffic free lanes. Bit different to Old Blighty.

We got back about 14.00. It must have been about 28 deg C and totally flat calm. The worst possible conditions.

As we had tea I chucked the feeder rod out, no baiting, just that feeder full. As the carp boys say, a "pub chuck".

Before I'd even sat down the tip whacked round. I couldn't believe it. A roach of 2lb 4oz. Then another of 2lb 2oz. It was getting ridiculous. 

I was then into something that was obviously not a roach, ide or bream. My first Waal barbel, going 9lb 1oz. Blimey. 

What an incredible day.