Twente Canal, Enschede - 05.06.2015
The last day of my trip to see Roger saw us fishing on the Twente Canal in Enschede. It's going to be a scorcher today with temperatures set to reach 35°C.
We were further along this time towards the Zwaaikom campsite. The canal here is around 3.5 metres deep almost all the way across - from your feet all the way over.
I have always been amazed by anglers who cast a feeder close to the far bank and ignore the same fish right under their feet. If they were on the opposite bank they would be casting under my feet. There are fish at your feet waiting to be caught - don't ignore them!
With this in mind I always try and see if I can catch fish close in on venues like this.
I have plumbed the depth and found that slightly to my left the water is about 20cm deeper and this trough is about 2 metres wide. It is from 10 metres out to at least 13 metres. I have decided to fish at 12 metres in the middle of this trough.
I have set up three rigs for today. Two for the 12 metre line and one is 4 metres to hand to fish at my feet.
The Twente Canal flows in both directions and is therefore sometimes at a complete standstill. I have decided to fish a 0.75 g Drennan Carbon 4 m to hand. On the 12 metre line I will use a 1.5 g Drennan G-Tip 2 fished hard on the bottom, and a 1 g Drennan Carbo for Roach falling through the bottom 3 feet of water.
At the beginning I fed 14 balls (2 kilos) of groundbait with 1/4 litre casters, a large handful of chopped worms and some sweetcorn. Groundbait was 1 bag of secret and 1 bag of Zammataro Canal with some Zammataro Bream Caramel additive. All this went in at the start on the 12 m line.
I started with the 0.75 g rig on the 4 m and quickly started to catch Roach, Perch and of course the inevitable Gobies. I fed a small nugget of VDE Secret every minute with a few pinkies.
After half an hour of catching small fish at 4 m - just like casting the feeder several times to the far bank - the inevitable happened and I landed a 4 lb Bream from under my feet. This is not a coincidence as I have done it three times in a row now on the Twente Canal. The fish are there, so fish for them.
When I went out on the 12 m line, it wasn't long before I was into my first big fish. Wow - it powered out into the canal and pulled my hook straight - I didn't stand a chance. Maybe a small Carp.
As the day went on I caught a Bream when the canal was pulling slowly from left to right or slowly from right to left. If the canal was pulling hard or was still, not much happened. I caught in the trough, but also when the bait rode up the trough into the shallower water (left to right flow). Interesting for next time.
After a few hours Roger had a Bream as well, quickly followed by a second. He also had some nice Roach.
One thing that I did - and always do - that many anglers don't do is feed regularly. I loose-fed casters at regular intervals all day long on the 12 m line. The initial groundbait feed gets the Bream into the swim, but they need food served to them on a regular basis to keep them interested. Remember - feed the fish or they will leave!
Then, as often happens on the canal, a massive barge with a very deep draft powered through and completely killed the swims. Disaster! I did hook another Bream later on, but a maggot bent double over the hook caused me to lose it after about 30 seconds.
After a while Roger and I decided to call it a day.
Roger managed to get 2 Bream and put 4.739 kg on the scales. His best result over the last three days.
My 5 Bream and a few smaller fish pushed the scales round to 8.967 kg.
It was good to give my new pole a test with some larger fish - I am very impressed and highly recommend the Absolute 11 XS. Having 16 metres available also lets me fish where most anglers can't - and that often gives you a great advantage.
We had a good day on the canal, and I believe there is the potential for a 100 lb weight of Bream on the pole if no large ships go past - you just need some luck and an early start. Perhaps next time.
Many thanks to Roger for putting up with me for 3 days, and to Theo for great company on the Oude Ijssel. I'm looking forward to our next trip.
Tight Lines
Steven Holliday
