The Holland blank report.

We knew the fishing was poor in Holland at the moment, but were hopeful of at least a fish or two - we were to be dissapointed.........

On arrival we checked in at our somewhat eccentric hotel and headed straight out with high hopes.

After a couple of hours we decided to head off for "breakfast" and had some great bacon and mushroom pancakes in a windmill (as one does in Holland)

Back on the water we fished a spot with a very strong current and chatted to another fisherman who confirmed that the fishing was awaful at the moment (the previous week had been fantastic and he had taken fish to 72cm!). The water did look good so we put some effort in, but nothing showed).

Next day we decided to meet with Rob Staigis who was running a bass workshop for a couple of clients while we were there (Rob had already been out on a boat - they struggled for a couple of very small schoolies).

We met up at Bass Hengelsport - a really cool shop dedicated to lure fishing for bass (they have a massive selection of softs - every colour and type you can imagine). The owner (aptly names Bas), really knows his local stuff & showed us some underwater video of large numbers of bass holding on local structure which was interesting). Bass Hengelsport is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Off we went again - cast after cast produced nothing (we fished well on into the evening)

That evening we decided that we would leave early the next day and cut the trip short (sometimes you just know when you have been beaten).
We did have alot of fun (as soon as the boys got back to the UK they went straight out and Mark managed a couple of fish - typical!)...........

Stop Press......
Just received a message from Mark - hes out this morning.......10 fish to 76cm! (what a difference a day & 400 miles can make lol). Not jealous at all (cough cough).

Teasing & Rubber.

I've just been having a bit of a tidy-up in all the boxes and bags Ive accumulated over the years & found a bunch of Sbirolinos and a few flies.
Although I have caught before on Sbirolinos before, I haven't used them that much, but as the fishing might be hard going next trip (Holland where the fishing has been a bit tough recently as far as I can tell) I may well give them another go.

Something else I have neglected, is using flys as teasers with both hard and soft baits (again something I intend to try in Holland if the fish are few and far between).

I will be taking a bunch of softs with me as they fish very well there (just picked up this nifty Illex bag for the softs).

Also new is the Lucky Craft ESGII 3.0g - 30g, 8'7" I recently bought (model code is 871XHXXF). The rod looks great & I cant wait to give it a go. Sorry if the pictures are a bit iffy.

Anyway keep an eye on the blog for more stuff soon!

Oh and happy fishing to all..................!

Holland in August.

August is one of the best months in Holland, so Ive decided on a weekend break there which I am especially looking forward to.

Hopefully we will be meeting up with Harold (take a look at his blog here), I met Harold last year - top bloke & great fun to fish with!

No cliff clambering involved here.

By chance, Rob Staigis will also be in the area (hes running one of his poular bass tours while we are there).

Take a look at Robs page: http://wolfsbarsch.com/ - plenty of useful information can be found on Dutch bassing on the various sections.

Im trying to talk a couple of the usual suspects into coming over from the UK so hopefully we should have a good crew together.

Enough for now (all the interesting bits on Dutch bassing will hopefully be in our catch reports - dont want to reveal too much for now as I hope to be trying a couple of methods that are new for me)

Thanks for reading...........