Twente Canal, Eefde - 23.11.2014
Today I was on the Twente Canal in Eefde fishing with Roger, Theo and Heiner. We were on a stretch above the locks were the boats tie up, so we had a nice flat stoned bank; it makes a big difference having a comfortable swim.
When I was looking around for a new box, I came across the Octbox from Nordik Tackle. What a find! I am absolutely delighted with this box and can highly recommend it. You can build up the box with different modules as you wish, and the footplate and extending pole rest support are great - very solid. I’m hoping Santa Claus will bring me a wheel kit for it for Christmas – hint, hint, Mrs Holliday.
Roger told me we would need top 5’s today (5.95 m for me) but I could have done with a top 5½. I think the short 5/6 mini section for the 5 series pole might be best for here. I don't like fishing with just 30 cm to the tip in almost 6 m of water. The water was 5.7 m deep at 12.5 m and came up sharply between 11 m and 8 m to about 4.5 m. I decided before arriving that I would be fishing two different lines, and after plumbing I decided on 12.5 m and 6 m.
The 6 m line will be for the Perch on chopped worm, and the 12.5 m will be for the Roach on caster. There are loads of big Perch all over Holland and they cannot be ignored.
My two basic rigs for today are shown above; although the ‘Bream’ rig was fished just on bottom with worm.
Rig 1: A Drennan Carbo 2 g, size 18 B611, 0.08 mm bottom and 0.10 mm main line fished dead depth for the Roach. The Carbo has a slim tip which I find ideal for the Roach.
Rig 2: A Drennan G-Tip 2 g, size 16 B611, 0.10 mm bottom and 0.12 mm main line fished just a few centimetres on the bottom for the Perch. The G-Tip 2 has a thicker tip than the Carbo that can support larger baits if fished off or touching bottom – it also glows well in the sunlight!
I like the flexibility that these two rigs give me, as I am normally only allowed to set up two rigs with hooks attached – Dutch licence rules that apply to rods with reels, and includes top kits! (See general rule 2 in the Gezamenlijke Lijst van Nederlandse Viswateren 2013-2014-2015.)
If you are caught with more rigs set up you may be fined. I think that this is one rule that needs changing/clarifying with regard to top sets.
The old Silstar Match Team line was my favourite, and it is still available disguised as Clark’s Match Team line but is only available from the UK. I get mine from Tim Alpin at Matchman Supplies in Nottingham – £4.95 for a 100 m spool.
I fed several balls of groundbait (a 50/50 mix of Secret Black and Supercrack Roach Black) with a few casters on the 12.5 m line by hand, and a pole cup of chopped worm and caster in a ball of leam (to get it to the bottom quickly and in a small area) on the 6 m line. The bait-dropper I have is not very good – I need a new one.
At the moment I am using the pole cup that came with my Sensas Power Match 675 cupping kit, but I think I will invest in some Preston pole cups in the next few weeks. Not that the Sensas pole cup is bad, I would just like some different sizes.
I have yellow Preston No. 6 Slip elastic (1.06 mm) through the top two sections (1.95 m) of my pole and I use a simple Stonfo connector to connect my rig. I like these Stonfo connectors as they help me to keep everything simple. The elastic is set so that it pulls back into the tip quickly, but it is not over-tight.
I started on the 6 m line as I often find you get an instant reaction from the fish after feeding chopped worm but on this occasion I had nothing in the first 30 minutes. I swapped to the 12.5 m line and started to catch a few Gobies and the odd small Roach.
After a while the first boat came through and the fish were gone. I cupped in two small balls of groundbait and some loose groundbait with a few maggots.
The reaction was instantaneous and I had a nice Roach. I few Gobies later I managed a small Perch but it was still very slow. Even on the 6m line all I could catch was Gobies.
Theo was catching Gobies and the odd small Roach and Roger was catching Gobies but slightly larger Roach - still small though. Heine was fishing the feeder and had a few Roach but no Gobies - maybe we should fish the feeder!
The boats were a pain, but as it warmed up the fishing got better, so that was when we packed up - I think we should start later and fish when the day is at its warmest.
I managed to put together a small net of fish and have still not blanked since re-starting match fishing.
Theo caught 25 fish, most of which were Gobies - it's like a plague!
We didn't weigh-in today - but I think I just beat Roger, and Theo's Roach were no match for my Perch - I'm sure he ate a few Gobies while in the net. Aah, now I know why Roger didn't want to weigh-in ;-)
I'm looking forward to next week when I'm going to fish a venue with no boats and no flow.
Until then, Tight Lines,
Steve
