2 countries in 1 day

Myself and Frans were lucky enough to be invited to fish a private river in Germany for Barbel today, I am sworn to secrecy on the place and name of the actual river, but lets just say its full of Barbel and a beautiful part of Germany.

Very much like our own river Severn it was like going back 10 years or so when the maggot feeder was the method, I had a cracking days fishing with 10 Barbel landed. The River has a lot of potential for the future with plenty of small Barbel as well as some better Barbel also Asp and Ide, our host also managed some very big Bream.

The Mitten Crab can be a problem on some parts of the river

After spending the day in Germany it was a quick hop over the border and back to Holland for a couple of hours on the River Ijssel, Frans managed a couple of nice Barbel and to lose a few feeders on the rocks, I was quite content with the one Barbel of over 7lb just as the light went

Thats a Barbel from 2 countries in the same day !!!

Sunday 30th August

Just trying to catch up after a couple of busy days here in Europe, firstly yesterday it was my first trip to fish the river Ijssel here in Holland.


I had a great mornings sport catching 5 different species Roach, Bream, Asp, Ide, and Barbel.

The Asp is another new species for me Frans calls it a Roofblei, but we found out later its more commonly known as an Asp.

With the tour of Europe continueing I think I need to buy a bigger car, or Perhaps Frans needs to cut down his gear a little.

Part of my Secret weapon in the evening session was my new hat, it brought me some luck with 3 Barbel from the Waal sunday evening after the 2 from the Ijssel earlier in the day.

Today in Holland

Firstly this morning we paid a visit to the town of Nijmegen for a look round and came across this sign outside the local tackle shop.

This afternoon we went to a new area of the Waal where the local anglers had told us we would catch a few, only they forgot to tell the Barbel the crazy englishman was here, I did manage one small barbel and Frans had 3, Cheese was the succesful bait for all the fish.





We fished until dark and were lucky enough to see a lovely sunset

Winde mystery solved

The fish Frans called a Winde is better known to us as an Orfe here is the one I caught today, its a silver Orfe (Ide)

Dutch Barbel on the feed

Had a Session on the Waal today with Frans I had 4 barbel and a Winde, the best barbel was about 5lb. The Winde is a fish that looks something like a cross between a roach and a chub.

All aboard

Waiting at Harwich to board the ferry to Holland

Back to work Tonight

Sadly its back to work tonight after another nice break, next week its back to holland for a few days with Frans and the Thunderbirds. I hope the fishing is good and we can get a few big barbel, I would love to break the Dutch record, problem is they most likely wouldnt invite me back.

I was very pleased this week to see my article in the Anglers Mail, a big thanks to Tom who gave up a few hours fishing to take some great pictures for me, I am pretty sure many people out there don't realise what goes into creating an article for a magazine. we took around 500 images to get the quality and content we wanted, it then took me around 8 hours to write it up and complete the article, it then goes off to the magazine for approval and editing as required. for me its a labour of love as i enjoy writing and photography so it all adds up.

I was pleased to see Des Taylor in the angling times this week giving it large about about the problem otters are causing on the River Teme, the problem is many either don't seem to care as its not their river or can't or don't want to see a problem. I have seen first hand the damage they can do on the Wensum. I am sad to say even the hierarchy at the Barbel society are not interested in this one, which is strange as otters now pose a bigger threat to our beloved barbel than ever keeping barbel in still water or all year fishing ever will.

Rant over time for work

Time to go home

Just put this nice 7lber back and it's time to go home, I have had 30 barbel since tuesday