Days 2 & 3 : River Ijssel - Mad German & Lake

Thu 2nd April

Mad German Stretch

A quicker start?

As planned we arrived at Mad German stretch a bit earlier today and hoped to get fishing much earlier as we were now setup and better prepared. This was our first time fishing in the Groynes on this trip. We hoped to locate some Bream today. The shore line is much more comfortable here as there are small stones rather than boulders and they form a gentle slope. I got my gear setup and was about to have my first cast about an hour earlier than day 1 when a police car arrived with 2 policemen to check our Vispass licences and our ID (drivers licence in my case). They were very friendly and chatty and it wasn't long before another 30 minutes had passed. One of them saw my keepnet and said that he needed to check that we were allowed to use them because he had heard of a keepnet ban. He then called someone in Kampen who said that the keepnet ban only applies to Kampen waters so we were ok. They then went over to Garry and I followed them. Another 30 minute chat ensued. I wish the Police in the UK checked for licences and adherence to rules. It would save local clubs having to do it and stop the licence holders having to subsidise all the licence dodgers.

Whilst on the subject of licence checks, we were fishing on a Zwolle water yesterday (Railway Stretch) and were checked by one of the HSV Zwolle controllers. I have an annual Zwolle licence and therefore access to their member portal and the QR code for my licence. Garry has a weekly Zwolle permit and therefore just a confirmation email. The controller was adamant that Garry needed to show his QR code so he could scan it. We promised to spend some time that evening to see if we could get his QR code in some way. Although adamant, he was friendly and not at all awkward about this.

Finally, I make a start

It was now about the same time that I started on day 1. I was starting at 27M and had a Roach first chuck. I then had bites on almost every cast. Some bites were instant as the feeder hit the bottom and before the bow had set. As the day before, I was missing a lot but caught a few. They were smaller in size than yesterdays.

I then tried a shorter tail (50cm) to see if my hit rate improved. Perhaps it did slightly but not significantly. The bites slowed but kept coming. I had continued with particle heavy 2 minute casts. I had also mixed a sweeter mix today in the hope of Bream and was introducing chopped worm as well as caster, dead maggots, hemp and mashed corn each cast. I then had a couple of bigger Roach. I weighed one at 13oz and the other at 15oz.

I also tried a closer line (just beyond the crease caused by the groyne). I tried this for about 30 - 45 minutes but it wasn't producing.

I sent Bertie the above photo and it wasn't long before he joined us and fished the next peg. He ended up with more than me (no surprise there!) and had a big Pike lurking. It hit 2 of his Roach. When he left he showed me the largest Roach I have seen in person. I weighed it at 2lb 5oz - a monster and one I would love to catch.

How is Garry getting on

Garry started a bit slower than me. Didn't have the run of quick bites. He then started catching in patches. He also suffered cut braid and cut mono (leader) on 3 occasions, even after changing spools. We suspect either mussels or a sharp (possibly) metal snag out in his peg. He said the cuts were clean as if done by braid scissors.

Weather on the turn

Up to now we had kept an eye to our left as there were dark clouds over Zalk village. We hoped they would pass us by but I nipped to my car to get something and saw the dark clouds approaching from behind us. I couldn't even see the tops of the wind turbines that were in the fields behind us. So, I quickly got the brolly out just in time. Up to now the light wind had been blowing from behind us so had been very comfortable. However the rains signalled a change in wind speed and direction. It was now blowing directly upstream (from our left) and was biting. The weather forecast showed that it "feels like" 2 degrees.

Time for a change

Another local (Yorkshireman now living in Holland) suggested fishing further out as the bites often dry up when fishing shorter in this slowly sloping stretch. I had noted that Bertie was fishing further out. I got another Roach first cast at 39M but bites dried up there too. The strong wind was blowing upstream and backing up the water causing it to rise - I wonder if that was having a negative effect?

In the meantime Garry had caught a couple of small Bream (approx 2.5lb) before his bites dried up too. He also tried longer but never had a bite. 

Yikes

A large passenger boat then went past. As it approached it drew all of the water away leaving our nets completely dry. Then came the waves. I was using a few rocks in a bag on the end of my net so it stayed in the river. However Garry had less weight on his and the wash left his net high and dry on the bank behind him! I thought I had set my box with enough height to clear any waves but I had miscalculated. The bottom drawer of my box was completely full of water. Thankfully it only contained floats so nothing was damaged.

We have about had enough

We decided to finish earlier today as the fishing wasn't great, the weather was awful and we needed to shop for food we could prepare without an oven. We would come back onto our shorter lines for the last 90 mins or so. I did manage a few more sporadic Roach and then a similar Bream to Garry's on the last cast.

The weigh-in

When I went to weigh Garry's fish he had immediately caught Bream when going back on his close in line and then continued to do so. Still, they weren't big Bream and not frequent enough to tempt us to stay out in the icy blasts. Garry ended up with 20lb 9oz. Just a shade behind yesterday's weight. They felt heavier but both Garry and Bertie read the scales so no mistake there. 

I weighed in a disappointing 8lb 3oz which would have been even more disappointing without that last cast Bream.

So that's now 1 - 1 on the overall results, me having won narrowly yesterday and Garry having been victorious today.

Garry's 20lb 9oz - hammered me!

Garry and I both bought several legged feeders from Bertie. Garry had lost a few today and we were going to head to the tackle shop the next day but Bertie came to the rescue.

The forecast is for more strong and cold winds tomorrow so we will have to have a chat tonight to see if we can find somewhere with the wind from behind.

Fri 3rd April

We decided on a lake where we could get shelter from the wind. I have been asked not to disclose the name or location. We put out the Deeper sonar device. It showed nothing in the peg that Garry had drawn but lots of fish in my peg.

I could not wait to get started. I mixed up some bait and fired out a few balls. I then had a horrible start as I got snagged on my first cast and lost everything. I then put out a method feeder whilst I tackled up again. I was having one of those days as it took me 3 attempts to tackle up as the wind kept catching the braid and messing up my knots or causing a birds-nest on one occasion. I finally got both rods in and settled down to hopefully catch some Bream.

The only good thing about today is that the forecast rain never really materialised and I managed to snag my method feeder in my lost rig from earlier and got everything back :-)

The same HSV Zwolle controller arrived to check our licences again. We hadn't had chance to try and locate Garry's QR code. The controller was now getting more inistent that we make a genuine effort to do so.

After a few hours, not a sign on either rod. I spoke to Garry and he hadn't had any indications either. So we decided on an early finish to go and checkout the river Vechte. I had not been to the allotments stretch so wanted to check that out. On arrival we saw that a match was planned for the next day. We then had a look at Broekhuizen weir (south side) as I hadn't been there either. It looked like a bit of a walk so didn't fancy this. Also the river was flowing more slowly than I was expecting - less than walking pace.

After today we need to catch some fish - it's the 1st time Garry has blanked on a foreign fishing trip and he has had a fair few trips. We headed back to the all-you-can-eat and discussed venues for tomorrow. It was Saturday and Hattem had a match on the Ijssel at the back of Zalk lakes so that was out - I had fancied it. In the end we decided to go back to the Railway stretch on the Ijssel. 

When we got back to our chalet we spent a fair while trying to locate Garry's HSV Zwolle QR code. We searched all of his emails (inc junk) to see if any had a permit and QR code attached (nothing). We tried several times to login to the HSV Zwoller member portal with the exact same email address where his payment confirmation had been sent and just kept getting the message that the email wasn't registered. We found a "contact us" page where we asked if he needed a QR code or if the confirmation email was sufficient. We didn't really expect a reply as it was the Easter weekend but we had done all we could.