Day 1 : River Ijssel - Railway Bridge

Wed 1st April

Looks warmer than it was

Bertie was there when we arrived so we had a good chat with him. We decided on pegs 6 & 7 and, as usual, would draw pegs to keep it fair. I drew peg 6 so Garry fished peg 7 near (nearest the bridge).

It took a while to get setup on the first day as none of our rods were made up plus we needed to mix bait and setup platforms (or Octbox in my case). We also wanted to check depths and distance that we would fish. Consequently fishing began around 11am.

Finally, fishing begins

I had a small Roach of about 4oz on my first cast. I then continued to get bites in almost every 2 minute cast. I was introducing lots of particles in the feeder each cast. This was a mix of hemp, caster, dead maggots and mashed corn.

I popped to see if Garry was having the same quick response from the fish. Initially he was struggling to hold bottom even with a heavier (100g) legged feeder. I was using 70g and holding bottom ok. He was also getting quick bites but was unable to hit them. We discussed our casting techniques and amount of bow in the line. After a while he did have more success holding bottom. It was his first time on a river like the Ijssel and it takes a while to get confortable with it.

I continued to get bites and catching fish but was missing quite a lot. I was using a size 14 hook to 6lb 1M fluoro hook link. I was alternating between maggots, casters, corn and worm (or cocktails of either) on the hook. The Roach were getting bigger as the session went on. The Ijssel contains lots of Roach in the 10oz and above. 

I called Garry and he hadn't had a fish - struggling to hit bites. He was also using a size 14 and 6lb hook link. The only significant difference was that I was using braided main line and he was using mono. After a while (about 12:30 now), Garry switched to braid and hit the next bite. That was the key as he was now catching at a similar rate to me.

For me, the best bites were on corn or corn-cocktail. However bites would slow after a few fish. I would change to another bait and the bites resumed immediately. This was strange because I continued with the same 2 minute casts containing the same amount and variety of particles. Still, I can't complain if the fish kept coming.

There were a few lean spells but most of the day was a very consistent pattern. Lots of bites and a fair few missed ones. Tried with different tail lengths and bigger hooks - neither made any difference to the bite or hit rate. I also pulled out of a few and lost one much better fish. Didn't feel like a Bream, more like an Ide or very big Roach. I had one skimmer of about 1½ lb but all Roach otherwise.

Around 1pm I had an unfortunate snap on hitting a bite, the clutch slipped and the braid snapped at the line clip - nightmare! I am using a very fine braid rated at 12lb but would not expect it to snap there as it wasn't a big fish or a heavy strike.  Thankfully I had measured my previous casts at 9 x 3m wraps (27m). When setting up again I tried a bit closer in (7 wraps for 21m). After a bite less 45 minutes I went back out at 27m and the bites resumed straight away.

Garry commented that he hadn't previously fished a river quite like the Ijssel and was very frustrated until the change to braid and using longer bow in the line. Once he cracked it, he enjoyed it much more.

Wrap up

The end result was that Garry had 21lb 9oz. I had 47 fish for 21lb 11oz. How incredibly close. Garry had recovered really well after missing so many bites earlier on. He looked to have fewer fish but they were of a better stamp. My average was almost 8oz per fish. Considering I had a few well under that size, I obviously had a few much bigger too.

Garry's 21lb 9oz

My 21lb 11oz

It was a great first day. The Roach were an excellent size and very hungry. We couldn't really ask for more bites but could hope to hit more and for a few bigger fish (Bream and Ide) to show up but not bad for a first day. It was my best session on the Ijssel to date in terms of consistent bites and fish caught.

Tomorrows plan

I was thinking of the river Vechte for tomorrow but seeing as Garry is now into his stride on the Ijssel I thought it best to fish another stretch - possibly Mad German.

The weather had been dry today but there was a cold wind all day. It did subside for a while (when I got the photo of the bridge) but returned soon after. According to Bertie, cold winds had been a feature for quite a while irrespective of direction.