Twente Canal - Enschede 

 14 October 2018  

Theo and I have decided to fish for a few hours on the Twente Canal at Enschede today - the venue for the Stippevent on 28 October - just to see how it is fishing.

We fished just where the forest starts on the far bank.

We picked 2 pegs just before the Zweikomm section - where the woods start on the far bank. I fished on the right and Theo on the left.

My peg for the day - car behind me - very comfy.

The water here is a bit deeper than further to the left opposite the Twente Stadium. I had a level area about 3.6 m deep at 11.5 m, and at 4 m just about 3.2 m depth. I used the top 3 of my M70e pole - with a foot of extra line to give me a bit more distance to the float.

Theo getting all his gear ready. Lovely day for fishing!

I only set up 2 rigs (all that's allowed when practicing in Holland), one for out at 11.5 m and one for close in. A Preston Inter Carbon 1.5 g for the 11.5 m line and a Drennan AS5 0.8 g for close in.

The floats I used today. The Inter carbon is a gem.

On the Inter Carbon rig I used Reflo 0.13 mm main line and a Reflo Fluorocarbon 0.10 mm bottom to a size 16 B611 hook. The AS5 rig had 0.13 mm main line to a Reflo Power 0.09 mm bottom and a size 16 B512 hook.

Groundbait wise, I made up an equal mix of Zammataro Roach & Skimmer Natur, VDE Secret and Zammataro Canal. Maggots, Pinkies, Casters, Hemp and worms were available for the fish, and a handful of hemp and casters went into the groundbait mix.

All bait options covered.

Eight balls were cupped in at the start - two on the inside and six out on the 11.5 m line.

I started on the inside and had a small Perch first put in. A few small Perch, Tommy Ruffe and Gobies followed over the next 20 minutes - then I decided I'd had enough of them and went out on the 11.5 m line.

What a good start out at 11.5 m. First Roach of the day.

I had a nice Roach first put in so things were looking promising. I have not had many good days on the Twente Canal because I always seem to hit it when it's in one of its many off periods. Apart from 5 Bream a few years ago, the Twente Canal has not been good to me.

Theo snapped this picture on his phone - nice sized Roach.

Anyway, I carried on catching Roach & Perch with the odd Goby, and Theo was catching well too - although he was using 2 rigs at once. I'm sure he missed a lot of bites doing that - just don't do it a match Theo!

Best bait today was the simple single white maggot. I fed Hemp and Casters, but they really wanted the white maggot on the hook today.

Theo had a few nice Rudd in his catch today.

Theo was catching well but my bites started to tail off. Normally, I use a catapult or throwing stick for regularly loose-feeding Hemp and Casters, but today I decided to use a small pole pot - it was not a good idea. Although the feed was accurate, it did not have the same effect as with a catapult - not as much sound on the water and the area was probably to tight. Theo was feeding constantly with the stick, and it worked really well.

Also, at first I caught with about 5 cm of line on the bottom, then at dead depth, and finally I had to fish just off the bottom to stop catching those pesky Gobies!

The pole pot didn't work as well as I'd hoped - back to the catapult!

78 fish for 5100 g. A few good Roach in my net this time on the Twente Canal.

At 3 o'clock we called it a day and weighed the fish. Theo had 6100 g - some really nice fish. I managed 5100 g and had some nice Roach.

Theo with his fish - 6100 g - Nice catch Theo!

The Stippevent promises to be a great event if the canal keeps its current form. Let's just hope we don't have any severe frosts to kill off the fishing before the big match.

Tight Lines, Steve