No, that's not a salutation but a comment on my day.
I needed more bait and a few odds and sods so headed to Vos Engelsport for opening time. Yet again I was welcomed and treated to a cup of coffee and a sit down chat about fishing (of course). When I got back I needed to do a bit of tackle maintenance so didn't head off fishing until lunchtime.
The weather forecast was atrocious today, strong winds and rain. I chose Wijde Aa because I could find a sheltered spot and also because I had heard recent reports of good catches of Bream and Tench.
I got fishing for about 1pm and proceeded to cast every 2 minutes with lots of casters in the groundbait. Casters were advised by another FB group member (Kevin) who had recently returned home but told me that lots of casters in the feed had been very successful for them. Initially I had double maggot on the hook to see what was around. I also put out a method feeder rod to see which started to produce.
After about 45 minutes a local (Johan) appeared with his dog and said that he had been chatting to 2 English fishermen recently. We had a long chat about all sorts. While we were chatting I caught a couple of small bottom dwelling fish. No idea what they were called but I referred to them as "Bullheads". I told Johan I'd had enough of them so would switch from maggot. I put on double caster seeing as that's what I had been feeding. I got a bite first cast but missed it.
Second cast I hooked into a Tench and Johan kindly offered to video me and take a catch photo (assuming I landed the fish). Here is the result: -
5lb 6oz Tench
Here come the Bream
I then started to catch Bream very consistently. Up to this point I was still feeding mainly caster with the odd piece of sweetcorn. I caught on both baits but the bites were taking between 1 and 2 minutes. I chopped up some worm but wanted to see if I could catch on worm before introducing that into the feed. Sure enough, the tip went round and I had another Bream.
So I added chopped worm in the next cast and the feeder had only just hit bottom when the bait was taken. I hadn't even had chance to tension the tip. This frenzy continued for a while, the bites were so quick to come (oh, side note, I had put the method feeder rod away now). I had 6 or 7 Bream in very quick succession.
Uh oh, a Bream slipped the hook when it found some weed on the way back. Those rapid bites ceased almost immediately and I was back to waiting up to 2 minutes for a bite and not always getting a bite. I also got a couple of Perch which was a sign that the Bream had vacated the area.
I tried more chopped worm then tried corn and caster again. This did not improve my catch rate. With about 30 minutes to go, I tried double maggot and got a take from something that started stripping line straight away. It may have been a Carp but I suspect it was a Tench. It found some weed and snapped my hooklink so I will never know.
End result
I finished with 24 Bream for 75lb 6oz and the Tench giving a total of 80lb 12oz - a very enjoyable afternoon's fishing.
As you can see from my clothing, the rain came down quite heavily toward the and of the session and whilst I was packing up. However, it couldn't dampen my spirit - this was the best session of the trip so far and in only half a day :-)
It looks as if today was the worst day of weather and it should start to calm down tomorrow. That will open up my options for the rest of the week. The Vecht is still not flowing. Unsure about tomorrow. I do fancy another session on Wijde Aa as I think I have my best chance of a PB Tench from there - and, as today showed, the Bream fishing ain't half bad either.
