Zuid Willemsvaart Canal - Prins Hendrikstraat, Aarle-Rixtel - 11 August 2024
Today, I am on the Zuid Willemsvaart canal fishing with Theo and Ingo. We are having a day on the pole.
We haven't fished here before, but I know that the canal has a few of fish in it, so we are hopeful of a good day.
We arrived at 09:00 and we were ready to start fishing at 10:10. It doesn't take that long to set up 3 pole rigs and get the bait and groundbait ready.
Today - as usual - I have white maggots and pinkies - dead and alive - casters, hemp and a few worms. To make my dead maggots and pinkies, I put the maggots and pinkies into separate air tight containers and place them in the fridge. The next day they are dormant, I wash them and cover them with cold water. This keeps them dormant and they eventually die in the water.
The casters are good - I get them from the Bokoi fishing tackle shop in Susteren. I also picked up a large pack of mixed worms.
Groundbait today is 1 kg of VDE Black Earth (half a bag), 1 bag of Sonubaits Sweet Skimmer (900 g), 1 bag of Sonubaits Black River and about a 1/3 bag of grilled crushed hemp. I don't make the groundbait too wet - squeeze a small amount together in your hand, and when you drop it, it should stay together.
Into the 4 balls of groundbait for the initial feed went a few casters and a few dead maggots and pinkies - not too many. I can add more later - the groundbait itself will get the fish into the area and interested in feeding.
I have made up 3 rigs. Because the canal flows hard to the left and to the right, I have set up a 2g Dave Harrell Flat Float. This in on 0.16 mm Preston Akku Power line. An olivette about 45 cm from the hook and a few No. 8 Stotz stung out below. This rig is about 1 float length over depth.
The other rigs are a Preston 1.5 g Power with a bulk and 3 No. 9 droppers, and a Preston 1 g Inter Carbon with a bulk and a string of No. 10 droppers. The Inter Carbon will catch a few fish as the hook falls through the last 50 cm of water. Both these rigs are fished at dead depth.
The canal here is about 2.8 m deep, so I have to use the top 3 sections of my Preston Competition 3000 Pole. The lighter 1 g rig has the line shortened to 4 m, but the others have 4.4 m of line. I have 2 No. 8 Stotz as back-shot on all the rigs. These are placed about 1/3 distance towards the tip from the float. Then the float will not get pulled under by the back-shot.
I fed the 4 balls at the start and started on the lighter rig. It was clear after 30 minutes that it was going to be another hard day - none of us had had a bite yet.
It was a good hour before I had my first fish, a small skimmer about 3 ounces. After 3 hours I only had 5 fish, Theo had 1 and Ingo just 2. It was proving to be a hard day.
I caught fish on the lighter rig when the flow stopped, on the 1.5 g Power rig when there was a slow flow, and on the 'Flatty' rig when it was pulling hard left or right.
I ended up with a nice Perch and a nice Roach in my 17-fish catch. It was hard work but at the same time an enjoyable day. Theo only managed to catch the 1 fish - he had a hard day. Ingo caught a few more, but also only about 8-9 fish.
I don't think I will bother with this stretch of the canal again. The flow to the left and right when the locks are filling with water is no fun.
I sure there are more fish there, and I think in the evenings, when the locks are not used as much, that it could be OK. But I'll never know...