Wildervanck Canal, 19 May
Roger chose to come up to this canal today - after telling me some stories of big Bream, I decided it sounds like it may be worth a go.
The canal here is about 2 - 2.4m deep and 35m wide. There are 90 platforms along the stretch and today I'm fishing peg 89, Roger is on 88.
We have both decided to fish only with the pole today - but it is screaming the waggler to me.
After plumbing up, I found 2.2m at 11.5m with a gentle slope coming towards me, with no ledges or holes to be found. I confirmed this with the Deeper Pro Sonar Ball.
I decided to just fish one line today at 11.5m. It's a pleasure session and I'm not practicing for any matches - just a leisurely day. Roger decided to fish at 11.5m as well - on peg 88 to my left.
I mixed up some groundbait and added some casters, hemp and sweetcorn. At the start at 09:50, I cupped-in 6 balls at about 11m using a prominent willow tree on the far bank as a marker.
The wind was quite blustery but I should be able to fish at 11.5m all day.
I set up 3 rigs on my top 2's which are 3.05m long. A 4x14 Preston Chianti, a 4x16 Preston Inter Carbon, and a 1g Preston Inter Carbon.
The 1g rig was for fishing hard on the bottom for the Bream. The 4x16 rig for fishing bulk-down (positive), and the 4x14 Chianti for fishing on the drop.
After feeding the groundbait at the start, I began the session on the Chianti rig. With a 0.09mm bottom and a Kamasan B611 size 18 hook, I should still have a chance of getting out a big fish if I hook one.
I stayed on this rig for about 45 minutes and caught about 10 fish. Then I changed to the 4x16 rig which had a size 16 B611 and a 0.10mm Accu Power bottom. Bites slowed down considerably. I fished at dead-depth, with 5cm on bottom and with up to 15cm on bottom. No difference.
I had one or two Rudd as well. You can catch I lot of these on the waggler up in the water - but Roger has banned the Waggler for today.
Then I switched to the big 1g rig with a size 13 B711 hook and 0.12mm Accu power bottom. I had a couple of pieces of worm on this rig fished over-depth. Not a whisper.
I went back onto the Chianti rig and starting catching again almost immediately. I set the rig to about 2-3cm on bottom - not much more than dead-depth really. I single maggot was doing the damage.
After 19 fish I struck into something a bit bigger, and 45 seconds later I had an 800g Bream in the net - it was bronze, so I'm calling it a Bream!
After catching the Bream I decided to change tactics and concentrate on the heavier rigs for Bream. Alas, apart from 2 Perch and a small silver Bream on the worm this just did not work and was a waste of about 90 minutes.
A switch back to the Chianti rig and I was soon catching fish again - mostly Roach between 100g and 300g. I was loose-feeding maggots, caster and hemp regularly with my throwing stick, and that seemed to keep the fish interested.
At the end of the day I had 53 fish for 5.100g - if I had stayed on the Chianti rig, I think 10 Kg was on the cards.
Roger had 51 fish for 4700g and was happy with the result. I think both of us could have caught more fish though.
It is often a problem when you fish so many different venues, that you just don't quite get it right on the day. I'm sure with some practice 12-15kg would be possible on the pole - without any bonus Bream.
I will come back and fish this venue again later in the year with all of the Einfachstippen Team.
