Riete - 29 September 

I fished on the Riete with Roger, Ingo and Theo. It's a very comfortable bank and, as always with me, we parked directly behind our peg. 

What a fantastic looking swim. Three top 2's made up and also the cupping kit.

This is a lovely venue and a pleasure to fish. There are not as many boats as some of the other canals in the area.

Loads of space on this flat bank. If only every peg was like this...

The canal is about 2 m deep and easily fishable with the top 2 of my pole - my top 2 is 3 m long. I decided to fish at 10 m, while the others opted to fish at 11.5 m. In a previous visit it fished much better a the shorter length.

Theo was to me left, with Roger and Ingo on the left of him.

I made up 2 kg of groundbait, a mix of VDE Black Earth and Sonubaits Sweet Skimmer - I was hoping for Skimmers and Bream.

My bait for the days fishing - more than enough.

I set up three rigs.

As on most venues of this kind, I set up a 4x16 Preston Chianti - this rig always catches me fish. It has a bulk of a few spread No. 8's and the a string of No. 11's below. I spread them out in a taper, starting at 15 cm, then 13 cm, 11 cm, 9 cm, and so on. The bulk id just below half way from the float to the hook. Main line is Preston Akku Power 0.14 mm and I use a size 18 N10 hook to 15 cm of 0.09 mm Preston Akku Power line. I catch a lot of fish with this rig.

Theo catching a few fish on the pole.

Second rig today is a 4x18 Preston inter Carbon - I wish they still made these floats. I have a bulk of No. 8's and then a short tapered string of No. 10's. Hook is a size 18 N20. Main line as always is Preston 0.14 mm Akku Power.

Ingo was catching a few fish at 11.5 m.

I also have a third rig set up. This is a 1 g Preston Power float, with an olivette and 3 No. 9 droppers. Main line Preston 0.14 mm Akku Power and a size 18 N20 hook. I'll fish this held back a few inches on the bottom.

At the start I fed 5 balls with a few casters, dead pinkies and hemp. Later I introduced a ball with chopped worms. Roughly every 30 minutes I added a ball with some casters and dead pinkies in. All the time I fed hemp and casters over the top with the throwing stick.

Poles eye view. A yellow-tipped float against the dark background worked very well.

I caught fish all day long, mainly on the Chianti rig. The fish were small and no Bream could be found. Best bait was single dead maggot, although I did catch a few on the Inter Carbon rig with 2 dead maggots.

Today, Ingo and Roger both cracked the 7 kg mark. I managed 5.5 kg and Theo also broke the 5 kg mark. We all had a good day's fishing and had bites all day long. 

It was clear today that the 11.5 m line out-fished the 10 m line - I didn't expect that based on my previous visit. At least I had a comfortable days fishing.

Sorry that I don't have any catch photos today - I left the weighing net at home.