Day 19 - 1st June 25

Zalk re-visited

After yesterdays successful session I just had to try Zalk again today. I had originally planned a day on the Vecht but reports are not good at the moment due to lack of flow. Also I checked today's forecast and could see that we would have wind all day but thankfully warmer than the winds of last week. Considering that the Bream turned off once the wind stopped yesterday, I just had to have another try. Therefore I baited up before I left yesterday. Not as much as I had the night before as I was just using up the rest of my mix. Probably 1/4 to 1/2 of what I had put in the previous night.

My peg for the day; thanks to Bertie who snook up on me: -

First impressions

I decided to start at a more sociable hour today (1st cast at 9am) and risk not getting the same peg. Of course I wanted that one but had mentally prepared for the alternative and decided that I would mix a lot more bait and pile it in - then be prepared to wait a while for the Bream to show.

I saw other car's tire tracks when I arrived and feared the worst. However they were either fishing the Ijssel or pike fishing little Zalk so I did get my peg :-)

So, first job was to introduce more bait. I cast out my Deeper  (sonar) to the correct range (48m) to act as a marker for my catapult assault. In stark contrast to yesterday, the sonar did not detect many fish at all. Still I fired out the bait and continued to setup. Once I was ready to fish I cast out the sonar again to see if the bait had brought in any fish and was disappointed that it hadn't.

I then had a conversation with a dog walker who informed me that this lake often switches off at 12 at which time you may as well go home.

So, I was not expecting it to be a good day. However, in the day's before castable sonar I wouldn't have known and would trust that my groundbait did the trick. So I tried to remain positive.

First fish

Yesterday I had a bite on the 1st cast and a fish on the 2nd. Today was very different. I saw no signs of fish in the 1st hour. After about an hour I did get a bite and a Bream; had they arrived or was it a sole fish.

I then started to get indications (liners, small plucks etc) and fairly frequent bites and fish. Today I was weighing each fish as I caught it. Whilst this took time per-fish, it saved a great deal of effort in the end of the day. Not easy weighing a large amount of fish on your own (thanks Duncan for putting that idea in my head).

Biggest fish

My biggest today was 7lb 5oz. Not a monster by Zalk standards but a great fish to catch.

Surprise - was it another PB?

I caught the following fish. It weighed 1lb 15oz and I dearly wanted it to be a Roach (would have easily been a PB). I guessed it might be a Gusta (hybrid) but I usually look for the large anal fin as a give-away. This fish didn't have the usual Bream-like anal fin. So I sent the photo to Bertie who confirmed that it was not a Roach but a Gusta: -

Gusta that I hoped was a Roach

Bream coming regularly now

Once the Bream turned up, I continued to get fish. I fed an extra 5 balls of bait after every 2 hour period whether I was catching or not. Interestingly, twice I got a bite whilst I was bombarding them so they are not scared off by baiting.

Lake rising

As per my experience on Square Lake (connected to the Vecht), I suddenly noticed that I was standing in water over my footplate whereas it had been nearly 2 inches above the water when I started. Normally this would not be an issue but I had foolishly setup piper-alpha at the limit of my thigh wader so got a shock when I stepped into the water and a small amount of water came over the top of my waders. I must try and remember this in future and leave a safety margin when setting up. The level did go back down again after about an hour.

Late lunch time

I took my lunch quite late as each time I tried, I caught yet another fish. In the end I had to stop fishing whilst I ate my lunch so I went to chat to Colin and Steve whilst I ate.

I also took a moment to photograph these little beauties: -

After lunch I continued to catch regularly and thankfully the 12 o'clock shutdown did not occur.

Results are in

I reached the magical 150lb and was prepared to finish at that point. However the level had come up again, even more this time. I had to lift my net otherwise the fish could have escaped. Therefore I continued fishing until the level dropped again. The end result was a new best for me, 34 Bream, 2 small Roach and that Gusta for 171 lb 11 oz.

Thankfully I didn't mess up the recording of me releasing the fish. They gave me a good soaking in the process. I can't begrudge them getting some revenge: -

Tomorrow

It's my last fishing day tomorrow. I have had several good days on the feeder recently so I intend to finish with a day's float fishing. Of course I would love to catch but I just want to enjoy a tranquil day watching the float.