The Mighty Waal ( again )

The Ijssel was a bit of a disappointment. The river had dropped four or five feet since we'd last seen it a couple of weeks ago.

Plenty of fish but nothing really exciting.  I failed on the barbel and the asp. The asp deserve a separate post, they are the most infuriating fish in the world.

So, on to the Waal to meet up with some Dutch friends. The lady at the campsite told me that all the locals were saying it was fishing crap.

Luckily she was referring to the old boys fishing for zander and eels for the pot.

We parked the van up, right by the river, put the kettle on and then I grabbed my gear for a couple of hours on the feeder.

An hour in the bay, where I'd caught those big roach before, proved fruitless.

I moved on to the main river. First chuck an ide of 4lb 13oz, second cast Roach 1lb 15oz,  third cast Roach 2lb 7oz.  Now, that's a good start in my book.

I retired to the camper, poured a beer and sat outside in the gloaming, listening to the crickets and the huge cargo ships rumbling on down the river.

I'm a thirteen year year old boy in a sixty one year old man's body, so I couldn't sleep that night, thinking of all the huge roach that were one cast away.

Sunrise was still half hour away as I baited up and filled the feeder. First chuck I waited less than a minute before the tip straightened and I was in to to something unseen in the murkey depths. In the half light,  as the fish surfaced I wasn't sure what it was, but as I lead it over the net there was no doubt. 

A huge roach of 2lb 14oz. 

After that it got a silly. More massive roach of 2lb 3oz, 2lb 6oz  and 2lb 13oz, ide of 5lb 2oz and 5lb 1 oz, plus two big fours and lots of bluenose and bream.

The following day was similar. Three big roach of 2lb 8oz,  2lb 6oz and 2lb 2oz, lots of bluenose topped by a corker of 2lb 13oz and a couple of big ide.

They main issue was finding where the fish were. Most of the time they were in the main flow, where a 60 gram feeder with legs would just about hold. The occasional fish came in the slack water in the bay, but not many.

Simple self hooking feeder ring, short 10-22 inch trace, size 10 Guru Feeder hook ( brilliant ) usually with push stop. Everything on sweetcorn, seed and corn in the feeder.

I thought it couldn't get any better...

but it did.

The Baltic

Change of scenery, we moved southwards on to the island of Lolland in southern Denmark.

Couple of lovely park ups, some interesting fishing and some bloody lovely seafood.

We're not ones for the "must see sights" really.

Fishing, cycling, eating and drinking. That'll do nicely.

Having said that, we did have a day out in Copenhagen, sightseeing on an open topped bus. A good day, but after an hour or two I'm ready for the countryside and peace and quiet. Meldrew lives on.

We stumbled upon an absolutely cracking park up in a harbour that had been severely damaged by a massive storm three years ago.

The weather was stunning and the fishing pretty good, with perch to over 2lb and some smallish sea trout. Big shoals of garfish were  being smashed by the predators. 

The good old ABU Droppen proved its worth yet again, being the best lure by some way.

Those perch didn't half go on the UL lure outfit, bloody great sport.

Considering its August, it was amazingly quiet, with just a few locals and foreign campers and sailing boats enjoying the fantastic weather. 

On the ferry to Germany tomorrow,  a travelling day.

Toodle pip.

Moving Northwards

Having navigated the worse city in Europe for roadworks, congestion and general chaos ( Hamburg, and I don't care if the facts say different...copyright D.J.Trump ), we made the short ferry crossing from Putgarden to Denmark.

Parked up in a little harbour, tackle assembled and a quick evening session which resulted in a blank. Not a touch on the feeder rod. There were however,  signs of fish feeding near the surface in fifteen foot of water.

Next morning, lots of surface activity, so change of tactics.  Bits of bread were drip fed and soon there were swirls along the near bank

Second run through and the crust disappeared and the float buried. A lovely bronze flanked ide of 4lb 11oz hit the net. 

I did have a go on the feeder four hundred yards upstream and was rewarded with some cracking roach to 1lb 8oz and some decent perch.

The strange thing with the ide is that they didn't seem to be interested in any bait more than a few inches from the surface,  so you had to target them specifically. Which I was happy to do, obviously.  It was one rod, net and bucket of bait and that's it. Just how I like it.

I'd put a few crusts in an area, walk a hundred yards and do the same and repeat. Then look up the river until you see fish attacking the crusts.

They were catchable but wary. If you fished well, you caught. Too many cock ups and they'd spook and drift off.

Last night I fished a different section, mostly fast flowing and narrow, but with a few slacker areas.  Apparantly, there were big bream and carp, but it was not a typical habitat for both of those species. 

I fished like a plonker to be honest. No bites until I walked back to the camper and came to the last swim. I flicked in some crusts.

A single fish was mopping them up. I'd a float rig on, but the fish wouldn't move out of a tight area, so I quickly removed the float, retained the two split shot, lengthened the tail so the crust floated , but was anchored in position.

First cast and the crust disappeared. All hell was let loose as the fish thrashed crazily on the surface.  It looked massive and to be honest I thought I might have been a grass carp, but no, a huge ide slid over the net and was enveloped in the mesh.

I thought it was six pound plus but the scales said 5lb 13oz.  That'll do nicely.

I walked the ten yards back to the van, opened the fridge and took out a cold beer, where I sat outside in the gathering dusk, savouring the moment with a silly grin on my face.

Being a greedy fecker, I was up early next morning, where I fished a mile downstream and snared two more big ide, the best going 5lb 3oz. 

We've moved on to Copenhagen for a few days, so fishing will take a back seat for a while.

Maybe.

A Bump In The Road

We'd been in Holland, ooooh.... about an hour and I felt the steering wheel slightly vibrating.  A few miles on it was worse. I slowed down and crept along the motorway and staggered into the harbour, which mercifully had a free space for the night.

Next day I cycled to a local garage and the bloke said they could have a look, but not for a few days. No problem,  we'd a place to stay and it was right by the river Ijssel.

Never mind, "worse things happen at sea".

The river was rising quickly. A week previous, heavy rain had hit the alps and Germany and now it was affecting the levels here and quickly.

The usual brown crumb, seed and corn mix was prepped and ready to go. First couple of short sessions produced some big two pound plus silver bream and some absolutely clonking ide, the biggest of which weighed 5lb 6oz. 

That's a decent start in my book.

The fishing was quite tough, but with enough activity to keep me interested. 

A few nice roach showed one afternoon, the best went 1lb 9oz.

The lure fishing has so far been dire. I had one micro asp and a small perch but that's it. And I've not seen anyone else catch anything either.

S wanted a go and asked what lure to try. I said I hadn't a clue. And I hadn't.

First cast she had a small zander. This happens. Often. 

She also had lots if litluns on the pole in front of the van, mostly roach and the dreaded round gobies, a rapidly spreading invasive species. The zander love 'em though.

The van is fixed and we're moving north tomorrow, I'm hoping the weather will improve it's been pretty poor so far.

I'm hoping to fish one of the big canals near Groningen, I've no idea what it's like or what's in there but I'll try and find out.

Packing

Four and a half weeks in the van somewhere in Europe, leaving Wednesday 

The packing takes ages, I think there's enough stuff to last a year, let alone a month.

Ferry to the Hook of Holland, first stop a little place on the river Ijssel ( hopefully....nothing booked as usual ), then I've only the vaguest idea where.

Somewhere to avoid the August crowds where we can cycle, walk and fish. Not in that order obviously. 

Five lure rods, five feeder rods, two fly rods, three barbel/light carp rods, a float rod, 20 kg brown crumb, 20 kg seed, 5 kg, hemp and two trays of sweetcorn for starters.

Things never work out exactly as you expect, so let's see what happens. I'd like another big asp, a barbel or two and a monster ide. Oh, and another one of those huge roach.

Greedy, aren't I ?

In The Groove Again

The tides were crap last week. Next to no fish seen on my walks and I didn't even bother to fish.

Yesterday, I nipped out for a very quick afternoon session for maybe an hour and a bit. It was calm and sunny and looked....well, not very fishy.

First cast on the surface lure was hit by a bass and before I knew it I'd had three fish, decent size too. What do I know ?

I kept looking at a group of mullet that were showing close in around a very specific area. Fins and tails out, they looked as if they were feeding.

I rummaged around in my pockets and cobbled together eighteen inches of horrible,crinkly line with two flies and an orange indicator, which I clipped on to my bass trace. It looked horrendous, but speed was of the essence. 

Making my way to where the fish were showing, the mud got deeper and deeper,until it was an inch or two from the top of my wellies.

A decent cast to where the fish were and I left the flies static. More and more fish appeared and after fifteen minutes or so the indicator slid away and I was in.

In to a fish and in to even deeper mud that went up to my thighs and filled my wellies with stinking, sloppy goodness. The fish fought long and hard but was eventually netted.

I was well chuffed ( yes, that old expression again ) and truly covered in mud. Worth it though. First one I've had on the fly for a while.

Three bass and a nice mullet on a sunny afternoon in double quick time, doesn't get better than that.

This morning I was on the river at 04.00. Beautifully calm, warm and the surface was alive with mullet. Mullet that would not take my baited ( Isome plastic worm )  spinner, unlike the bass, which hammered it cast after cast.

I had about fifteen before I moved a mile down river. The first pool produced a sizeable fish on the popper and then I moved to a spot shaded from the early morning sun.

The popper was cast out and worked back over some bridge pilings when I noticed several fish that looked like bass mooching about , totally ignoring the lure.

A change to a shallow diver resulted in an immediate take and yet another decent sized bass was on and fighting like fury. Unfortunately, it was bleeding badly, so was taken home for the pot, along with samphire, blackberries and cherry plumbs. The fat of the land.

There are suddenly plenty of fish in the river again and "I know where they live", so this week I'm going to make hay big styleeeee.