Foreign Adventures 2019.

 Back on Dutch soil for the first time in a year and it felt good! The last time I was over it was exactly the same time last year, uncanny that the dates and times almost matched exactly. Not necessarily an interesting fact for most but I found it spooky. Meeting with my good friend Yannick once again we spoke at length to work out what would be our best plan of action and given the battering the Netherlands had just received prior to my arrival last minute provisions had to be made.

The rain didn't hold off when it came!

 In a year a lot has happened, my fiancee went from being six months pregnant to us being parents for the last 9 months, a house that we hadn't even seen before now within our grasp of owning, giving up the flat we have called home for nearly three years all seems crazy, amazing what can happen in such a short space of time. All I know is that time is tight and my yearly trip to Holland was in serious doubt for a few reasons, regardless of those reasons I managed to make it happen. Yannick and I met up on the friday afternoon and headed straight over to the Waal in search of Ide and Asp.

 Both of the species I have been successful in catching previously but had desires to better both
personal bests. For Ide we wanted bright sunshine and light winds to get them on the top and feeding avidly, problem for us was that there was very little sunlight as the Netherlands was suffering with some pretty poor weather and with rain forecasted for all four days I was over it cast doubt over whether I'd get the chance and I think it was safe to say that blanks were inevitable, our first two days were a massive struggle and we managed one Asp between us and two Zander, all of which were below our target sizes, although for Yannick those two Zander represented the first of the species for him so he was delighted to have finally got that monkey off his back. Mind you, he doesn't target them much.

A small backwater where Ide were present.

 On Sunday however and conditions did improve a little beyond our expectations and by 10am the sun was out and stalking the Ide became a viable option. Half an hour of loading up crust finally got the fish rising and amongst the average size of 2/3lb the odd much larger shape broke the surface as they gained confidence. Within twenty minutes of the first rise we had scores of big Ide slurping crust off the top and then it was a case of having a bait in the right place!

A 2.5kg specimen, over 5lb and a new personal best!!

  Right place and right time accounted for this peach of an Ide, in the water it didn't look massive at all, but I guess looking down a 10ft embankment to a fish in cloudy water played a part in that! in the net and lifting it out clearly suggested otherwise and boy was I happy! Not quite in the 3kg club but I can save that for another visit.

 Conditions between the sunny spells were fairly brutal as we were hammered by winds between 45 and 55 mph and at times we had to stop fishing as I couldn't cast a lure further than five feet into the wind, plus it made for traversing the cribs even more difficult than it normally is.

 As the conditions didn't look to abate any time soon we headed inland and south to a canal system where we have had previous successes and this time was no different. A few Asp were taken off the top and a new personal best for me of 2.5/2.6kg was caught among quite a few other specimens averaging 1.75/2.25kg plus a stunning 16lb Grass Carp that managed to charge out of my hands as we prepared to photograph her in the water. Can't have it all :)

 It is very safe to say I will back!

Grass Carp heaven.