Arembergergracht 

A completely new venue for us today. The Arembergergracht looks like a lovely looking canal with some nice colour and only a few pleasure boats going up and down - at least no huge barges!

A heart to mark our newly found venue.

Today, Ingo, Theo and I would be fishing the pole at 11.5 m. After plumbing up I found 2 m of water at 11.5 m with a firm bottom. There seemed to be no changes in depth from left to right and the same depth was found at 10 m too. Perfectly flat canal bottom.

Reeds on the far bank, flat grass bank to sit on, and plenty of room behind for the pole. Great start.

Setting up here was really comfortable. The bank is great, with the car right behind you and a lovely flat bank for the pole behind you. It would be difficult to find a more comfortable venue.

Theo and Ingo to my left. Roger was at home looking after his wife after a minor OP.

Theo was to my left and Ingo to the left of him. The wasn't much wind so we could hear each other speaking quite well. This venue would be great for the waggler too. 

The usual baits were available, plus some Dendrobaena worms.

I set up a 0.5 g Preston Chianti with a spread bulk of No. 8's and a string of 5 No. 11's - all Guru Micro Cubes (that's all I use these days). This was topped off with a Preston Natural N10 size 18 hook to 0.09 mm Accu Power line.

Theo and Ingo with about 2.5 and 2.1 kg respectively. They had a tough day.

Also, I had a 'heavier' Preston Inter Carbon 0.75 g float with a bulk and a few No. 10 droppers. This rig had a size 18 Preston N20 hook to 0.10 mm Accu Power line. 

Five balls cupped in at the start and topped up with two balls every hour. This kept the fish coming all day.

The same groundbait mix as usual Sweet Skimmer, Black River, Grilled Crushed Hemp and VDE Black Earth. This is a lovely mix. 

4.5 kg of Roach - 111 fish and 6.9 kg of Bream - 6 fish.

The lighter 0.5 g Chianti rig, with a slow drop through the water was the perfect rig today. I snared a few Bream on this rig and also had a few on the slightly heavier 0.75 g rig. 

The Roach wanted a slow fall in the last 20 cm of water and nearly all my bites came just before the rig finally settled. I also had to do a lot of moving the rig about to keep the bites coming.

The last hour came and the Roach were lined up over the groundbait - it was text book fishing for me. Rig out, bite, fish in net, repeat. I just wish Ingo and Theo could have had the same amount of action. 

Overall, I managed to put together 11.4 kg of fish. A good days fishing wherever you are. Theo and Ingo struggled to get bites today - it will be their turn on the fish another day.

Cheers, Steve