Canal, Oranjedorp - 06/07.02.2016
I'm fishing the canal in Oranjedorp with Roger today (6th) and tomorrow Theo and Ingo will be joining us.
Of course, for a good days fishing you need a good breakfast - so Roger made an English breakfast. Tasted really good.
This is my first trip for 2016, and hopefully, one of many to this corner of Holland.
Roger and Theo have fished here before and they have caught a few Roach. It is a prolific stretch of canal with several matches being fished here throughout the year.
I'm going to fish with Bloodworm & Joker, but I also have some casters, maggots, hemp and worms.
The canal here is about 20 metres wide, and after plumbing up I had 3.5 metres depth at 9 m. The bottom slowly gets deeper towards the middle, so I decided on 9 m as a comfortable length to fish with the strong wind.
I set up two rigs - remember, you can only use two top kits in Holland - unless in a match that has permission to use more.
First rig was a Drennan Carbo 1 g to fish the bloodworm / maggot / caster, and the second a Drennan G-Tip 2 - also 1 g to fish the chopped worm.
I used Preston Slip No. 5 (blue)elastic for the Carbo rig, and No. 6 (yellow) for the chopped worm rig.
The 1 g Carbo rig was on Preston Reflo Power 0.11 mm line and I have a B512 size 18 on a 0.09 mm bottom. I will change down to a 0.07 mm bottom if bites are hard to come by.
In the rig shown here, you can push the olivette up the line and spread out the shot - just work out how the fish want the bait presented. I ended up with 3 shot spaced about 15 cm apart and then the olivette.
The Drennan G-Tip 2 rig is on 0.13 mm line, and I had a Kamasan B560 size 18 to a 0.11 mm bottom. The rig is just for the chopped worm.
I have found that the heavy line does not put fish off when fishing with chopped worm, and there is always the chance of a big Perch or a lively Eel.
I have Bloodworm & Joker that I picked up from Guido Nullens shop in Bree. He always has top quality bait - and at 6€ for a half litre of Joker and 1.50€ for a large pack of bloodworm, I can't complain.
Roger did some home-made casters, and we picked up some fresh maggots, pinkies & a kilo of worms from Kruidenier in Haaksbergen. The tackle shop has everything you could want, and the staff are very friendly. Check out their homepage here: http://www.hengelsport-kruidenier.com/home.html
I put turmeric over my white maggots and pinkies to give them some colour and to de-grease them. I also think the flavour gets you some extra bites.
I also picked up two bags of Sensas dark damp leam which I will use together with my Zammataro Roach and Skimmers cloud groundbait.
I started the session by feeding 3 balls of Joker in a 50:50 mix of leam and Turbo Cloud Black groundbait on the 9 metre line - lined up with a far bank marker to make sure I got the right spot every time.
I also fed a ball of chopped worm and caster slightly to the left on the same line.
The leam helps the balls to break up quicker and add extra cloud to the water. I started with Bloodworm on the hook. Switching between baits, it was still 2 hours before I got my first bite, and then I had 30 fish over the following 3 hours.
I never had a bite on a piece of worm - and I usually always get a few Perch on the chopped worm.
I'm using an Octbox D25 at the moment, and it is very light, strong and stable. I don't use a platform, and sometimes on sloping grass banks the swivel mud feet can slide.
Theo is interested in buying the D25, which would be great on a platform when the bank is really bad, and Theo uses a stand all the time, so the D25 would be ideal for him.
On the second day, the fishing was quite hard - I even tried some Pol Vitamo on a maggot, but even that didn't work today.
Of course, I should have changed down to much finer line (0.07 mm), smaller hooks (B512 22) and lighter floats (0.5 to 0.75 g) - but today I was just too lazy: I have told myself off for that!
On the first day, Roger caught earlier than me and managed to put together 40 fish. He concentrated his feed much tighter, and it worked well.
He fished a little lighter than me (0.8 g, 0.08 mm and B512 20) and it obviously made a little difference.
The next day we went up there with Theo and Ingo and it was even harder.
I only managed 8 Roach on the second day, Theo 12, Roger 20 and Ingo 22.
The canal here in Oranjedorp is nice. The banks are good and there are fish to catch - it's just a long way to travel for me.
I think I prefer the Mussel canal - which is full of fish and I can also fish the waggler for the Rudd. Roll on Summer.
