Zuid Willemsvaart, Helmond - 10 November
Today, I'm fishing with my new Shimano Aero X7 Competition 13 m pole for the first time. I picked this venue in Helmond, as I usually catch a few fish here and the bank is very flat.
The large crossing point of the two canals is a haven for many, many fish. In June, there are dozens of Carp here spawning - it's quite a sight. At this time of year, when the water temperature cools down, lots of fish can be caught as they seem to congregate in numbers here. The water retains some colour with the volume of barges that go through during the week.
It's an easy day for me today, fishing the pole at 11.5 and using the top 3, which is 3.92 m long. The water is 2.7 m deep, and that leaves a nice 1 m from float to pole tip.
Back-shot
I have two No. 8 Guru Micro Cubes on the line above the float to act as back-shot. The shot are placed about 40 cm from the pole tip, so that when they are under water, they don't affect the float. The back-shot keep the float stable and exactly where it is supposed to be. Try this, it works very well.
Rigs
I have set up just two rigs. The first rig is a light Preston 4x16 Chianti. Main line is Akku Power 0.14 mm (the same as on all my rigs for natural venues) and I have a spread bulk of No. 8 Micro Cubes about 1 m from the hook. Below that I have a tapered string on No. 11 Micro Cubes. The rig is finished off with a ready made Preston N10 size 20 to Akku Power 0.08 mm line.
The second rig is a Preston 1 g Inter Carbon. This rig has an olivette about 75 cm from the hook, and then a string of tapered No. 10 Micro Cubes. Again, a ready made Preston hook-length of an N20 size 18 to Akku Power 0.10 mm line.
Both rigs are set up at dead-depth to begin the session. I started on the lighter Chianti Rig and changed to the Inter Carbon after about 2 hours when the fish were really confident over the groundbait.
Pole Elastics
Now I have a different pole, I also have to have a different elastic setup. With my old pole, I had a Monoblock which was 1.55 m long. This was fitted with elastic - through the one section only - about 1.4 m of elastic. With the X7, I have a No. 1 section that is 128 cm long. This means that my elastic is about 1.1 m long, because I only fit it through one section. So, 30 cm shorter than before.
I have set up 2 sections with No. 3 Dura Slip, 1 section with No. 5 Dura Slip, 3 sections each with No. 5, 6 & 8 Original Slip elastic. After the fishing today, I'm unsure about the elastics used. The tip section on the X7 (Aero Pro top kit) is very stiff, and a larger diameter than my old Preston pole tip. I've changed from a stonfo-type Preston connector to a Slip Dacron connector because of the larger PTFE bush diameter.
I used No. 5 Original with the Chianti, and No. 3 Dura Slip with the Inter carbon. The Original No. 5 seemed too powerful for the fish - up to 8 oz, and the No. 3 Dura the same. The shorter length of elastic has affected the elastics performance considerably. I only want elastic in the tip section - elastic in the top 2 stretches for miles, and the fish are not under control.
It's not comparable to Carp puddle fishing. I can't use a puller because the water is too deep, and I'm using 3 sections. I'll have to do some experimenting with my elastics. I'll let you all know how I get on in later posts.
Groundbait
Groundbait for today is 1 bag of Sonubaits Black Roach, about 300 g of grilled crushed hemp, and about 300 g of VDE Black Earth. I mix the Black Roach and crushed hemp together dry, and then add water and mix until I have a good medium damp mix. Leave for 20 minutes, add more water if required, and then add the Black Earth. It will make a lovely mix that will go to the bottom and break up very quickly.
Baits
On the side-tray today, I have white maggots and pinkies - dead and alive - casters, hemp and a few worms. I never go fishing without dead maggots and pinkies.
Start Feeding
To begin the session, I fed 2 balls via the pole cup and 1 loose cup at 11 m. In the groundbait I added a few casters, some dead pinkies and some hemp. I left the worms out for the moment. During the day, I topped the groundbait up with 1 ball every hour and occasionally a loose cup of groundbait over the top. Using a throwing stick, I fed hemp and casters all day long - 3 times hemp, and then 1 time casters on a rotation.
Fishing
The first put in I had a Skimmer about 5 oz - that's a good start. The Chianti rig was working well. After the float had settled I waited just 30 seconds and then moved the rig. This gave me bites as the hook-bait was falling back to the bottom. If you don't do this, try it - you will get more fish.
Interestingly, I caught with a single dead pinkie. If I tried a live pinkie or live maggot on the hook, I didn't get a bite. I would have caught much less if I didn't have the dead pinkies and dead maggots with me.
The fish came fairly steady and I had 30 fish after the first 2 hours. They were confident now, so I decided to give the heavier Inter Carbon rig a try.
The fish were there and although I waited a little longer, the fish were a bit bigger. I used a caster and dead maggot, which was exactly what they wanted. I tried other baits, including worms, but they were just not interested.
I was catching some nice Roach and then I hooked into something bigger. A good fight on the No. 3 Preston Dura Slip elastic, and after 5 minutes I had a 3 lb winter canal Tench in the landing net.
It's always good to catch a 'wild' canal Tench. I don't think there are a lot of them, so it's great when one is caught.
A few more Roach, a lone Perch and a couple more Skimmers and it was time to call it a day.
I've had a great 5-hour session catching 56 Roach, 3 Skimmers, 1 Perch and a Tench. Awesome!
The fish are of a good size - no tiddlers - and most of them had to be netted. That's always a good day's fishing.
This swim will see me a few times during the winter. Usually on a Sunday when there are hardly any boats - only 2 went past today. I will also come here with Bloodworm and Joker.
Tight Lines, Doc
