Day 4 - 17th May 25

Day off but not a rest day!

I was certainly ready for sleep. I awoke at 11:11am which is unheard for me. After that I had to get on. Finally got back at 9:30pm.

Key for Zalk lakes

As you may recall, the Hattem Tourist Information office had run out of keys when I visited 2 days ago. I rang ahead to make sure they had more and duly headed off. The following photo reminds me that I am definitely in Holland (oops Netherlands).


I had forgotten to pack a sweater (other than my copious layers of fishing clothing). The evenings are decidely chilly so I bought one in Hattem.

Tickets for various lakes

Next stop was a pet shop in Dalfsen. David Deas (another reader of this blog) got in touch the other day and kindly told me of a few lakes that he fishes when staying in Dalfsen. One is known as square lake and another is a lake in Ommen. He had also heard of some new lakes in Nieuwleusen but had not fished them yet. He told me where to get a 1-week ticket for Dalfsen club that allows me to fish square lake and Nieuwleusen it was 10 euros for a week.

Bulking up - part 1

Next I headed to Almelo to Vos Hengelsport where I purchased a sack of brown crumb and 2 sacks of hemp along with various bits of tackle (hooks, swivels, fluorocarbon etc) - oh and a few 60g legged feeders. I was treated to a cup of coffee and spent a while chatting and getting some more advice on using the legged/claw feeders and fishing the Ijssel. The main advice that I had already come to realise was that I should only use 1 rod at a time on the Ijssel. By all means have more set-up for different ranges but only use 1 at a time. As they (and Bertie) said, the feeder empties so quickly and most bites come within seconds of the feeder hitting bottom. Therefore, pointless leaving it in for more than 2 minutes. That would not be achievable/efficient with 2 rods without missing bites. Thanks to the guys in the shop for their help and for loading up my car - and of course for the coffee. Finally, it was great to be able to park my car right outside the shop. I didn't relish carrying sacks of bait around. 

Ommen lake

I then headed back to Ommen to get a ticket for their lake from a pet shop in Ommen. It was 10.5 euros for a week.

Checking out the lakes

Now that I had got to all of the various shops before they close, I checked out the lakes in Dalfsen, Ommen and Nieuwleusen to decide where I fancied tomorrow.

Dalfsen square lake

Location
52.508827, 6.221565


According to David Deas, this really requires pre-baiting the night before. There were a couple of people fishing and there weren't that many accessible pegs. Perhaps pre-baiting and fishing a weekend is not the wisest choice so will probably leave that for a week day.

Ommen lake

Location

According to David, no need to pre-bait. I got the Ommen ticket starting on Monday so can't fish it tomorrow. It looks lovely but most of the pegs have a bed of lillies blocking them. I am not sure of the ettiquete of weed clearing but don't have anything to clear with anyway. There were a couple of pegs that I could get access to. Perhaps one for Monday.

Nieuwleusen

Location

David was told of this just before he left so hadn't visited or fished it. He gave me a street name and from there I found the lake(s) and discovered that you can drive around the lake (entrance at the What3words address given) and park at most pegs.


Smaller lake

Larger lake

Lucky for me, I met an official/bailiff walking around the lake so I had a chat with him. He said there are good sized Bream and Tench and some carp of around 40lb. There are also Roach. He recommended fishing the smaller lake for Bream/Tench and said that it got quite deep but then shallowed up to a sand bar in the middle (only about 2 feet deep). He recommended avoiding the deep water as it is dark and cold and the fish are in the shallower warmer water. He didn't think it needed pre-baiting.

I think I will fish here tomorrow. I will use my sonar to find the right depth/range to fish. I might not get fishing straight away as I will probably try the sonar in a few pegs. Ideally I want a peg which will be good for the feeder at whatever range gives the best depth but also has some lillies near the edge and a depth of at least 4 -5 feet so that I can try the float.

Bulking up - part 2

Having got some bulk bait for the fish it was now time for me to bulk up. David told me of a restaurant between Ommen and Dalfsen called Road Runner that served a full rack of ribs, chips and salad for around 20 euro. It closed at 9pm and I got there for about 8:15. 

This was yummy

Prep for tomorrow

Up until now, I have travelled with everything in my car even though I knew what style of fishing I would be doing. For example, I have been lugging around my Octbox outrigger, pole, top kits, whip, pole roller, bump bar and roost when I have not needed them yet. It makes arrival and departure a pain as I have to unload it all the get what I need and then reload it. So, I decided to leave it at my digs and just take what I intend to use. For tomorrow it's just feeder and float rods. I could use my pole but I only really brought the pole for flat-float fishing on the Vechte if it is running. I made sure that I have my sonar and the rod that I use for casting it. I also made up my dry mix of groundbaits and rinsed my bucket of particles (hemp, wheat and crushed sweetcorn).

Let's see what tomorrow brings...