Day 5 : River Ijssel - Behind Zalk Lakes

Sun 5th April

Stormy waters

Almost like being at sea!

Still not sure where to go

It had been blowing a hoolie through the night and the trees around our chalet were bent over while we had breakfast so we were on the lookout for somewhere to go with a bit of shelter. We had 3 locations in mind. The 1st was the Power Station stretch on the Ijssel, the 2nd was Zalk lakes and the 3rd was the Ijssel behind the lakes. I had never been to the Power Station stretch so wasn't sure if there was any cover from trees etc. As the Power Station stretch was en-route to Zalk we had a drive there to check it out. It turned out to be quite exposed so off we headed for Zalk. There had been a Hattem match on that stretch of the river the day before and it had been won with 37kg with some good backup weights. On arrival the match winner was fishing so we had a chat with him. The wind was blowing upstream so from left to right and there were white-caps on the river. However he already had a few fish and we saw him catch a couple more while we were chatting to him. They were Roach but he had had a decent Bream too.

A wild one today

Decision made

The upstream wind meant that Zalk lakes didn't have any cover either so we may as well fish the river. Garry fished in peg 18 and I fished peg 19. Due to the strength of the wind we decided to position our seatboxes so that the wind came from behind and we would be facing parralel to the upstream bank.

Tackle graveyard

I got snagged up on my first cast and lost everything. I then started catching Roach and, for a while, was getting bites as soon as the feeder hit the bottom. I thought I was in for a good day, especially if the Bream showed up, apparently some guys had a few at Copse yesterday. However the bites diminished even though I was hitting far more - I think I am starting to get to grips with the Ijssel.

The wind made fishing very uncomfortable and resulted in a few keepnet hookups as the terminal tackle was blown around so much. I hooked bottom twice more so that was now 3 feeders lost and time lost retying leaders and rigs. Garry had an even worse day loosing 4 lots of gear.

We decided on an early finish as it wasn't enjoyable. We could have a more relaxed trip to the all-you-can-eat and have a chat about the venue for our last full day.

The weigh-in

Garry had 10lb 9oz of Roach and I had just 30 fish for 11lb 2oz.

Current tally is 2 wins each.