Simple Match Fishing Forum

well i must say running up to this years trip i was in the complete wrong frame of mind what with overwhelming work loads over the past few weeks plus the winter fishing had took a right toll on my confidence i really didn't know whether I'd enjoy it as much as other years :-/but when you set sail the holiday mode soon kicks in a long with a few beers
we started meeting up with the stainy boys pedro Snider and the colmic lads and all agreed it could be on of the hardest years we'd fished as the weights had seamed to go up and down everyday and no real patten to the fishing one day you could catch 15 to 20 kgs of bream and the next you could sit bite-less
after collecting bicko's fags during the the crossing it was cheaper to pick up 40 fags with every round of drinks [4.89] per 20 than duty free which was 59.99 per 200 anyway i thought i'd pick his brains when i arrived needless to say we got to bed in the early hours ready to dock around 6am and having listened to the lads that had already traveled the drivers all took there time and a couple were stopped at the docks needless to say our lads were all safe
after docking its only a matter of 20minutes before you are at the citta complex .as we disembarked yes your guest it the windscreen wipers were on YES it was raining and as windy as hell
we decided to take a look at the canal before heading into town for some breakfast



this was our first look at the canal and none of us could believe the damage the long hard winter had done normally reeds hide every peg and stand anywhere from 3ft to 5ft this year they were still in the ground perhaps 3cm with no fish topping apart from the odd roach .normally where this photo was taken is almost the end of the canal where most of the fish spawn not much signs of that and after a few minutes standing outside i was soaked



and as we drove down the canal which is the best part of 3 miles long we didn't see another angler this is unheard of normally the regular first week-ers are fishing somewhere anyway off into town for some food and few extras like cheese milk and other bits and bobs you think this country is expensive from there we headed to the citta which looked like a ghost town still no signs of any of the anglers that had fished the first week so we collected the keys and off we went still getting over how cold that first day was .i asked the question that we should really go and fish the canal as we were heading straight into a match the next day .this really did get thrown out the window no one wanted to get there kit wet through on the first day
by the time we had sorted our digs out which happened to be next to pat the organiser it was nearly time for a few beers again



first in the bar was our old mates the colmic boys and of course hogging the pool table



that was until they met Mr Barr our secret weapon [well we were is carers for the week ::) ::)]HAY-UP-LADS would become the saying of the week and you could expect to hear it a 1000 times a day



that was unless he fell a sleep and then it was giant ZZZZZs and snoring
but as always good for a laugh
part 2 the beginning of extracting info which seamed to be like rocking horse sh#t

first practice day and with having a house full of old farts that snored [ including me ]we were up and cooking breakfast by 7.30am Rob would be the main tea lad as bomber Adey and myself would do the cooking for the week ;)nothing better to start the day and then it was the normal Rachel of tying hooks checking rigs setting up feeder rods and bomb rods passing one bit of kit to each other before returning it back
then mid morning the complex has a real buzz 8-)about it YES everyone powers up the whisks and mountains amount of groundbait and start mixing all with there very own mixes
i'd cut mine back for this day as you can always put more in but you can't take it out [i feel this was the beginning of my down fall as i had looked at the results of the first week and had started to go down a quiet negative root before the festival had started :( ::) ] i didn't feel that confident in putting a large amount of G/B on there heads i had also over heard a few saying the same thing

pete and mark were giving the G/B the once over



this would be repeated over the whole week

tackle was loaded and it was off to the draw this took place on the banks of the voorne where you have to wait for the dutch to pack up before we start the dutch only fish until dinner time and after the first few days i could understand why !!! every dinner just before our matches the wind would get up lucky for us we didn't see it straight down the canal but it was a cold north east wind for the first part of the week


99 peg on the first day it can be a good peg but school boy eras made during this match cost me loosing a couple of fish and weighing just two breams
but you do come away learning a lot more than you would just pleasure fishing like must drink more beer so my head is completely washed out as the bream fishing on the voorne is totally different to anything or anywhere where else do you ball in anything from 10 to 20 balls of G/B then wait a hour before the match starts then fish past it
bicko drew near me on the match and i must say he catches fish from most pegs but 99% of the time on the pole so at the end of the match i was straight on his box no feeder rods or bomb rods just two pole rigs he even leave his box set up in his van in fact he's set up in 10 minutes [mistake number two for me why why why would i think i could follow this man ] yes there is nothing better than catching big bream on a pole but not necessarily right anyway it was back for something to eat before they stopped serving the time flies by and before you know it its 9 oclock
part 3 tomorrow

Keeping us hanging already Joff
Only the 51 weeks left until next time around

day 3 sort of getting into it a little yet still ruled by the law in my head [you've come to Holland to catch on the pole end of that the voices in my head]so again setting up 4 top 5s one cupping kit and a bomb rod again mixing a bucket full of G/B and the bait tray looking spot on


yet still no worms still blinked and watching others the final practice match and i had drawn peg 50 in past years it hadn't been the best area but especially this year anything can happen fish moved from peg to peg and no one could be sure where they would turn up
cutting back on the days G/B bombardment to ust 10 jaffas with very little in the mix 150ml of casters 100ml dead maggots and a small amount of corn .a completely negative approach to the day before as nothing had come off the peg and this was the last chance to sort anything out [yet the feeder rod never crossed my mind again]



there is nothing better than catching bream 5 metres deep the whole experience from hooking to landing them stood 3ft off the water on wooden pallets and having to stand up yourself is second to none



well things went a little better either two bream or three i can't remember as its a long day from start to finish



bicko was a few pegs to my left and ended up with 6 or 8 bream i even had time for a walk and stand behind him and i honestly thought i'd got it right ::) ::)
still at the weigh in bicko had come 3rd in the match another day of school boy eras

the festival starts in part 4

Joff, you sure you was 50 on Sunday?? Andy Mundel won match off 51 end peg on the Sunday? I'm sure you was on 50 on the Saturday when I was 3rd off 54? Wigan lad 53, Sned 52, Andy Wildsmith 51, You was 50?? Old age must be kicking in???

Could be right big cup it seams a long time ago I think your right it should be the other way round
For the next part I drew 80,81,47 and 108 cheers pal

Peg 47 EH!  day 3 
The day i was on dreaded peg 43 n got hit by a mini tornado that claimed mi top 4 plus a 3gm rig ..

The day you decided to leave the seed at digs n fish fo bremes 

first day of the festival
up at the crack of dawn weather looked still windy but even so not straight down the canal just a cold northern wind this was the first the Dutch Belgium's get to meet us all and normally its over a pint of Heineken or two and boy these lads like a drink before there matches you can often get a free beer on the bank too ;)always a side bet if you have ever come across a brand called Jupiter be careful it can do funny things to you



the first day's draw takes place at the citta witch has a large lake that's normally stuffed with carp and lilies but again the harsh winter had held everything back
i had drawn 80 witch is a end peg in the past ive had some weights off it and really fancied it my traveling partner Mark had drawn ok in the early pegs so we were quietly confident

so i tried my video out on my camera

this is the first its a bit windy but like i said its the first time ive tried it



sorry this one is from the day before where i found pedro storking the bank wondering why no one had tried the hemp seed



after the normal stop off at the garage for refreshments we were soon on the bank heading towards our pegs so i thought i'd ask Marks what he thought about the draws



class
the question you always have to ask yourself is how hard is it to catch a voorne breames well let me tell you the first day was a white wash complete and utter white wash i near had a bream the next two anglers both fished for roach again stuck it out on the straight bomb and pole [blinked again from setting a feeder rod up ]Mark had phoned he had caught a few but so had everyone in that set it was'nt a good day kit was flying around and i sat there punching myself yet again

maybe i cant do the videos

day 2 out came peg 81  wasn't really looking forward to the day so a few more beers at dinner seamed the best idea although you can never tell where the fish are or will turn up on day two the big surprise was the day before where the anglers to my right had caught roach  ok only 4kgs but it was better than my result i did fare better than john southgate who had the dreaded DNW 
looking back now this match i wasted and should of only set one thing up but yet again the conditions were good the wind had eased off and of course you fancy the pole only this day i had loads of liners and foul hookers yet still couldnt get a proper bite until the last hour  one could say its easy fishing for bream but blimey the kit was being thrown about yet again at the end although i found a couple late on so did a few others so it was still low points  pete adey and bomber all felt they could of caught more after the event where Mark wanted the first flight home another bad one yet more fish seamed to be caught throughout the match length .this showed me that the more you fished the pegs instead of rotating section the better it was getting still back for a few beers andthis time we the first in the bar 



day 3 i'd already used my joker card and although the festival was still tight my chances of doing any good had almost gone and it was all about winning a match or get in the top 3 for all our lads ADEY Bomber and Pete still had chances of a good result in the festival but no real chance of winning it as the Dutch and Belgiums plus the regular boys were all doing the business
so the day 3 was down to a good draw and for me i drew 47 a peg that had a 19kg off it the day before and onthe pole and bomb. so everything set up and ready to go it seamed like a lifetime before i had any signs and all around me had caught early the only differents to my bait tray was a tub of chopped worm and casters
tomorrow did they work or not

Could be right big cup it seams a long time ago I think your right it should be the other way round 
For the next part I drew 80,81,47 and 108  cheers pal

3 fliers any other year

Correct I think one or two of us could say that john southgate had some cracking draws both weeks plus richieV I think this year made it a really open festival some of the best got caught out

Correct I think one or two of us could say that  john southgate had some cracking draws both weeks  plus richieV I think this year made it a really open festival some of the best got caught out

Yes your not wrong, some fliers didn't produce, some drew out there skin for how the canal fished, it was a real leveller and most of us got what we deserved by being to stubborn to throw the pig, Patt framed first week, complete last the second????? That said Dazzla did what he does and had the confidence in it and just got pipped week one and got in on week two, so what do I know??

great reading joff

now to start saving cuz i wanna go real bad now

the suspense is killing me for festival day 4 and how I got well and truly Leicestered (s)

the suspense is killing me for festival day 4 and how I got well and truly Leicestered (s)

Still had a cracking week mate

cant wait to go back already Lee, proper holiday with awesome company

cant wait to go back already Lee, proper holiday with awesome company 

To true mate. Just a shame it takes so long to come back round. Great Craaaacckk as always no matter how the fishing is

maybe i cant do the videos 

Joff wazz em up onto youtube then pastas a link in yer posts.
Just make sure ya vids are open to view by all

Simples.

Any probs email them to me n i slap onto PEDS account

They working on mine, just click on the photo