Oude Ijssel, Doetinchem - 04.06.2015
Today was the second day of my visit to Roger in Südlohn and we will be joined by Theo on the River Oude Ijssel near Doetinchem.
The river here looks fantastic and I was eager to begin.
Getting all my gear from the car park to my swim is much easier now I have the trolley system for my Octbox
Having such a nice path to the peg helps no end. I just need to put some more air in the tyres.
Simple tactics today - long pole at 12 metres and just two rigs. There was not a great deal of flow but I had 5 metres of water. Small delicate floats were of no use today, especially with the blustery side wind.
I set up a 3 g Dave Harrell DH11 float and a 2 g Drennan Carbo.
The 3 g rig was to hold back hard and fish hard on the bottom. The rig was tied to 0.13 mm Reflo Power with a 0.10 mm bottom. Hook was a size 18 PR355. I had two No. 8 droppers about 20cm apart and then the olivette - about 60 cm from the hook. This rig was fished about 15cm over-depth.
The 2 g rig was fished dead-depth and was intended to catch more Roach in the bottom 60cm of the water.
The rig was tied to 0.13 mm Reflo Power with a 0.10 mm bottom. Hook was a size 18 B611. I had a No. 10 dropper 20 cm from the hook and 2 No. 8s spread 20 cm apart above that. The olivette was therefore about 80 cm from the hook. This rig was fished dead-depth or up to 5 cm over-depth.
I mixed up 3 kilos of groundbait at the start and used 2 kg for my initial baiting-up. I used two bags of VDE secret, one bag of Zammataro Canal and one bag of Zammataro Bream Caramel additive.
The initial 2 kg feed 2 kg was made up 14 balls of groundbait. The feed contained 1/4 litre caster, a handful of sweetcorn and a large handful of chopped redworms.
Today was just the second outing for my new pole, a Preston Innovations Absolute 11 XS.
To make sure it stays clear of the rocks and to make for easy unshipping I used my Preston Super Pole roller. There is no point in spending lots of money on a pole if you are not going to look after it!
The river here looks absolutely fantastic and is screaming out to be fished.
After the initial baiting it took some time to get the first bites. I started on the 2 g Carbo rig. I changed between letting the rig run through with the flow, holding back hard, or easing through slowly. Constantly lifting and letting the bait fall through the water started to get me some bites and some fish.
As always, you get the odd boat coming through the river. At least this one didn't displace much water and the swim wasn't destroyed.
It's not nice having to start to build up the swim from scratch after a big boat has gone through.
After catching a few Roach and Perch on the 2 g rig I changed to the heavier 3 g rig. It wasn't long after the change that I hooked my first bream.
It's really nice when you catch your first 'proper' fish on a new venue. I guess it confirms that what you are doing is at least a little bit right.
Not long after the first Bream I was into my second - a little bigger this time!
I was using a No. 6 elastic on the 2 g Carbo rig and a No. 8 elastic on the 3 g DH11 rig. The No. 8 Preston Slip elastic handled the 4lb Bream no problem, but I think I will use a No. 10 in the future. The elastic is threaded through my power kits which are 2.38 m long (there are effectively a top 3 kit). I have cut them back a little bit to fit the Preston 1.8 mm internal PTFE bushes.
I am very impressed with the power top two's and will be ordering some more to cover all the different elastics up to a No. 10.
For the heavier elastics I have removed the No. 1 section from the match top kits and will use elastic through the No. 3 and No. 2 sections which is 2.22 metres long.
Although I have caught a few Bream, it was not really fishing well. Roger thinks the wind is wrong and that there is not enough flow. I think he may be right, but only future sessions on the water will confirm that one way or the other.
Theo put together 460 g today with 14 fish. Unfortunately, he lost a really big fish that just took off when he hooked it - he had no chance of stopping it. Maybe next time Theo.
Roger had eleven fish for 960 g. He had a few nice Roach.
I was lucky to catch 3 Bream and 8 other small Roach and Perch.
As you can see from the smile, I enjoyed the days fishing. And nobody had any Gobies, which is a good sign!
It was an enjoyable days fishing with Roger and Theo and I am looking forward to the Masterclass on 28th June with Günther Horler on the same stretch of river.
Tight Lines.
Steven Holliday
