Einfachstippen Champion 2020
In the future, after Corona problems have eased a bit, and match fishing is allowed again, we have decided to have a match between all of the Einfachstippen anglers (and our regular guest Uli) so we can have an Einfachstippen Champion for 2020.
All of the Einfachstippen anglers are taking part.
We have decided to fish the friendly 8-peg 'match' on the Linge near Zetten - a fair stretch of water, with similar features and depths in every peg - and it will be a pole only match. On this little stretch you could fit about 12 anglers, and there is always someone fishing here.
A big bonus is that it is only a 70 minute drive for me from home - about 110 km. You can also park directly behind your peg and the bank is really good too.
Average depth is about 2.2 m from about 4 m from the near bank to about 5 m from the far bank. There are a few undulations and a few beds of underwater weed, so it is important to plumb-up correctly. Use a Deeper Pro sonar if you can - it gives you a great picture of the bottom.
So, who's fishing?
Roger Lickfeldt Steve Holliday Theo Brüning Nico Legters
Marco te Lintum Bruno Funk Mick Heyermann Uli Tieben
I don’t think the end pegs will be decisive today as there are about 25 m between pegs.
The Match - June 28, 2020
Now that small matches are permitted, we have had our Einfachstippen Championship match. Here's how it went:
So, first we need to draw...
Peg 1 - Theo
Peg 2 - Uli
Peg 3 - Mick
Peg 4 - Roger
Peg 5 - Steve
Peg 6 - Marco
Peg 7 - Bruno
Peg 8 - Nico
So I have drawn peg 5, with Marco to my left and Roger to my right. We all had 25 m pegs.
Today, I will fish just 2 lines, one at 6m and one at 10m. There is only 20cm difference in depth from the 6m line to the 10m line, so I can use all the rigs in both swims with a little adjustment. At 13m there is too much weed.
My first rig has a Preston Innovations 4x14 Chianti yellow-tipped float, on 0.11mm Reflo Power main line to a 0.08mm Accu Power hook-link with a site 18 Kamasan B511 hook. I have a bulk of № 9 Stotz and then a string of seven № 12 Stotz placed at 12cm intervals. This rig is fished with orange Original Slip № 4 elastic through a single section. This rig is for casters, maggots and hemp.
My second rig has a Preston Innovations 4x18 Inter Carbon red-tipped float, on 0.14mm Accu Power line to a 0.09mm Accu Power hook-link with a site 16 Kamasan B560 hook. I have an olivette and 3 No. 10 Stotz droppers on this rig and it is fished with blue Original Slip № 5 elastic through a single section. This rig is also for casters, maggots and hemp.
The third rig for the 10m line is a 1.5g flat float. The canalised river can flow a bit from right to left and this float is perfect for holding a hook-bait steady. I am using a Hydra Pesca Round yellow-tipped float on 0.15mm Reflo Power line to a 0.12mm Accu Power hook-link with a size 16 Natural N50 hook. I have an olivette and three № 9 Stotz droppers and it is fished with yellow Original Slip № 6 elastic through a single section. If I catch a big Bream or Tench, I’ll upgrade to a black Original Slip № 8 elastic, also through a single section. This rig is for fishing worm, sweetcorn, maggots or caster for the larger fish.
The fourth rig is a yellow-tipped 4x16 Chianti. This rig is on 0.11mm Reflo Power main line to a 0.09mm Accu Power hook-link with a site 16 Kamasan B511 hook. I have a strung bulk of № 8 Stotz and then three № 11 Stotz. This rig is fished with blue Original Slip № 5 elastic through a single section. This rig is for casters and maggots.
Groundbait today is Sonubaits Black Roach and Sonubaits Bream. This is a hemp-rich sticky groundbait and will be perfect in the 7-foot deep swim. It will carry plenty of particles, and I’m going to put some hemp and casters in it, but mainly live pinkies.
I have also brought some liquidised bread, as I just have a feeling that this will work well here. I took 4 slices out of a loaf and liquidised the rest at home last night – including the crusts. Hopefully this will catch me a few fish. I noticed in practice that there are hardly any Perch – I only caught 1 in two sessions, and the others haven’t caught many either. I think either punched-bread or hemp on the hook will single-out the better Roach, and I might even avoid the Gobies.
At the beginning I cupped-in a pinkie-rich ball at 6m just slightly downstream to my left, and two of the same at 10m, but about 1m downstream. I started on the 6m line and starting loose-feeding small amounts of hemp at 10m. I’m not going to fish the punch just yet, as I want to wait as see how the fish react to the groundbait first.
I’m loose-feeding with a throwing stick today. The stick keeps the bait tight together, more so than a catapult - and in a highly visible place, using a catapult just attracts attention from those who don't understand fishing.
Today, I have plenty of pinkies, maggots and casters, a small tin of sweetcorn, and some medium-sized Dendrobaena worms. Fun fact - these worms are also known as the European Nightcrawler. Using the head of a Dendrobaena (1-2cm) can be a deadly method for catching big Roach and Rudd. As usual for me, my pinkies and maggots are covered in Turmeric, which degreases them and gives them a little ‘tang’.
The hemp is the Sonubaits Natural Hemp straight out of the tin. One tin is plenty for a session, and I use a Preston knot-picker to punch a hole in the hemp so it’s easier and quicker to mount on the hook. You can even punch 2 holes, going in one and out the other. I saw Des Shipp do this in a recent Sonubaits video – very clever idea. You can catch several fish on the same grain of hemp. One hole in the top works fine for me, but I'll give the Des method a go the next time the fish are hungry for hemp.
The first fish came after about 15 minutes - a Goby. It was hard, with nobody really catching and after 1 1/2 hours I had just 4 Gobies. I fined right down to a 0.07mm hooklink and a 22 with a single pinkie to try and get bites, but it was really hard. Every way I tried to catch fish didn’t work. I tried feeding small nuggets of groundbait to make a cloud - no luck. They simply weren’t interested in feeding.
I did get 2 Bleak, 2 small Roach, a small Perch, but the rest were Gobies - 18 small fish.
In the end I struggled along with 18 fish for 260g. Terrible. I did see Bream rolling very close to the far bank, and if the waggler would have been allowed, they might have been worth targeting.
The two end pegs, 1 and 8, had the most fish and were first and second in the match.
The Linge fished really poorly today - not a true reflection of this great place. I will be back again.
The Result
It was an interesting match - no, it was terrible - but we now have a Champion for 2020 and that's NICO!
