Holland Day 5

Day 5 was planned to be one of the highlights of the trip, for a fair while I have been in contact with Rinko Oosterveen but we have never met or fished together, but Rinko had a nice day planned for us on his favourite River Ijssel.


We left the site early and the hour drive soon passed and Rinko's precise directions were just that and got us straight to him and he was already fishing, the news he had already had 3 barbel filled me with confidence for the day ahead.

After only a few minutes chatting I felt like I had known Rinko for years, his enthusiasm for barbel and fishing in general is incredible, we talked about many things fishing from both a Dutch and an English viewpoint. With both of us being consultants for Korum and Sonubaits it was also great to discuss some of the latest products that we are testing before they are perfected and released to the public.

Tjitske and Rinko's partner Wendy took some great pictures and Rinko has a full report of the trip on his website www.barbeel.com

The Ijssel is a lovely river and home to some very big barbel but today they didn't want to play, but the bream did and we lost count of the slabs we caught while fishing big baits and trying not to catch them.

We had a great day even though we didn't catch any barbel, Rinko and Wendy made us most welcome and we are already making plans to meet again as soon as possible.

Thanks Rinko and Wendy from both Me and Lady T

Day 4

Day 4 was non fishing day we had visits to make to Tjitskes friends and family so firstly it was of to St Oedenrode to visit Corry and Peter, they had a great day planned for us which included a cycle ride and lunch in a restaurant on the way.

Well I think they all thought that I wouldn't manage the ride and would need rescuing half way round, but in my early days I did a lot of cycling so throughly enjoyed the route Peter had planned, although I was a little saddle soar at the end, a couple of stops for a cold beer or 2 helped.

After visiting another of Lady Ts friends if was off to visit her sister Jannie and her family.

We arrived back at the site just in time before curfew

Day 3

We were up early and off the campsite just after 0700 and soon in Gendt on a Krib that has produced plenty of barbel for me in the past.

With the river very low fishing is much more difficult as the pace of the river is much higher, where in the past 180grm feeders were enough even 240grm is not sufficient. I was glad I had my Korum Precision 2lb rods with me, they handle the heavy feeders with ease and coupled to my Korum reels I am well equipped for the challenge.

The first cast produced a bream followed by a Winde but when the rod hooped over on the third cast and the bait runner on the reel screamed the strike met with the tell tale surge of a hooked barbel, not a huge fish but most welcome.

We packed in just before 1300 as we had Tjitske friends Janny and Linda visiting us at the campsite, we spent a great afternoon chatting and Tjitske enjoyed the chance to catch up on the gossip she had missed.

I am sure they were talking about me but with only 3 words in my dutch vocabulary I didn't have a clue what or who they were talking about, rest assured I was on my best behaviour for the visit!!!!

Holland Day 2

The first job of the day was to visit the local supermarket and stock up on some Dutch goodies, then we picked up Linda and Folkert.

We had a great afternoon with them and it was great to see Linda as we both miss her very much.

I managed a couple of hours fishing with nothing to show for my time, but hey who cares I love the place and enjoy every minute on the river

As the sunsets on another great day even big industrial rivers have a beauty and what better than the fire glow of a glorious sunset

Holland Day 1

After taking the night ferry from Harwich we landed early on Wednesday and took a steady trip from The Hook to our campsite at Oosterhout on the banks of the River Waal, close to Nijmegen.

Considering it was the first time we had put the tent up and half the campsite waited in anticipation of us making a complete hash of it we were well pleased to be sipping tea less than an hour after of our arrival.

Tim arrived not much later with our vispas (Dutch fishing licence) and some cheese for bait, the bad news from Tim was the entire river system was fishing very poorly with very few barbel being caught anywhere in Holland.

Not put off by Tims news I couldn't wait to wet a line and decided to fish one of the Kribs at the campsite, out went the monkey with pellet on one rod and some cheese on the other, A bream took a liking to the pellet but when the cheese rod hooped over not long after I was over the moon when the tell tale fight signalled my first Dutch Barbel of the year.

I didn't land anymore fish that evening but had a great evening chatting with Tim, it was good to be back in Holland and good to be with great company. 

Thanks Tim for your help and picking up the bits and pieces for me, I will return the favour in a few weeks when you come to England

"ON THE BALL CITY"

As a Norwich City supporter there has not been much to cheer about over the last few seasons, but since the arrival of Paul Lambert that has all changed and now "We are premiership"

A Win tonight at Portsmouth and Cardiff going down 3-0 means we are promoted with a game to spare.

"COME ON YOU YELLOWS"

"OH AH Delia say OH AH Delia"

Well Done to all at the club

Excellent Bait + Excellent Tackle = Excellent Fishing

I am very lucky to be associated with both Sonubaits and Korum, which gives me access to some of the best Tackle and bait available to anglers in Europe.

The Barbel above was caught from the Rhine in Germany using a Cheesy Garlic Hooker Pellet

Spawning Time

With the nice weather over the last few weeks its time the barbel got round to some spawning, we need some continued good weather not only for the spawning but to make sure the fry get a chance to put some weight on and grow well before any bad weather.

The group shot below was taken on the Wensum this time last year, my big worry is how many of these adult fish have mad it through the winter, with continued problems with otters I some how doubt many have made it through.

I will keep an eye out over the next few weeks and try to find out.

Hopefully in the next few days I will be catching a few barbel, keep an eye on my blog to find out if  I succeed.