In the meantime, the summer period has already shifted quite a bit and my 6 weeks of rest (at least for fishing) are coming to an end. We are already at the end of August when the next session is scheduled. I have planned a 3 day social trip together with good friend and solar team member Patrick Krekt. I've invited Patrick to the Waesmeer syndicate to take our chance. Everything is closely monitored in connection with Covid 19. This whole event has kept us under his spell for six months now and you'll never know what measures will suddenly come into effect. Two days before the start of our session, the last matters are settled and we are ready to travel to the waesmere syndicate. On the same evening that day, we both have the idea that we should opt for a plan B if things did not turn out as expected. Once we arrive at the Waesmeer at noon, we choose to take a spot on the deeper side of the lake. We have some hard gravel bars at our disposal and that is what we are going to focus on. In the early morning we will go over the first night and see what our options are. My results can be briefly summarised outside a few breams. Patrick on the other hand did get a bite in the early morning and managed to caught a magisterial 24lb leather from the old stock. During the usefulness of the necessary caffeine drink, we once again have the same thought that keeps haunting our minds, namely plan B. This option consists of cleaning up our equipment, throwing it on the bus and heading for France. We are both under the spell of a previously visited public water around the 12hec where we gathered some good information of. After having some doubts for a while we make a decision. The blood is crawling where it can't go and we choose for the unknown. In short, the bus is pushed forward towards our southern neighbours.
Once we arrive in the promised land, we have all the water at our disposal .Our choice fell deliberately for a swim where we have never taken place before. We both have the same idea that this swim would give us more possibilities. The coin is flipped and fate decides whether I am going to post on the left or on the right. Left side it is. After a long survey with the help of the marker rod we both find some gravel bars where we place 4 rods, equipped with the new tunamino/E12 bait from Solartackle. In front of us, respectively at a distance, there are 2 large shallow plateaus overgrown with the necessary weeds and plants. With the help of Patricks drone we can quickly spot a whole bunch of good fish. On closer inspection there is a large troop of grass carp present with a few very large specimens in between. Let this just not be the ones we are after for. We also noticed a few large carp but they are seriously in the minority. Even during the night we hear almost nothing of carp activity . The first 24 hours are fish less for both of us and we are starting to have a little doubt if the population of carp here is not as numerous as we thought at first sight. We both choose to change the strategy and start fishing differently. Patrick chooses to move a couple of swim to the right. He decides to put his rods in the margins just in front of him. This time I choose to provide all my rods with a chod rig, each time with a different pop up. Hoping to mislead a carp with it. From we can deduce which pop up they prefer. The sweetcorn, E12 and the pineapple from the new range of perfect pop ups are my preference. Around 4am I get without any hesitation a hard bite on my distant rod. Like a madmen I put on my wading suit and lead me towards the rods. Thinking by myself, yes we are finally in some action. The fish comes from a long distance. On his way in it turns out to be stuck in a weed field. By constantly keeping good pressure on the rod, the carp has no chance of getting stuck. Soon he comes out of the weed field and the fight under the top of the rod can start. A few minutes later I can slide the net under a nice looking common. In the early morning we both admire the prize. It looks as if the carp is brand new from the package. Not a scratch an his mouth is flawless like he's never been caught before. Unfortunately, this fish is the only achievement. We decide to leave the water for what it is. We will certainly come back here, but in the appropriate season.
Virtually I have the privilege to have another two weeks of vacation. There are still a lot of jobs to be done on the home front and to keep the church in the middle, I opt to fish only during the daytime from early morning until somewhere in the afternoon. It all depends on how the carps response. As a hunting ground I choose the heikant syndicate. It is known to be a very tough water where some residents manage to stay out of the hands of fishermen for years. But on the other side, I have experienced in the past years that once they are loose you can catch them at a very fast pace and with a bit of luck during the daytime hours. It's a gamble that i have to take. I choose to do 5 short day sessions. It is not the easiest choice because the water is not very close to where I live and when I leave the domain, a fellow fisherman can take over the swim. Then there is the fact that you always have to setup your equipment in the morning, which sometimes means you lose valuable time. All in all, I take it all for granted, especially when I make the final conclusion. It was a complete madhouse. I returned home several times exhausted and tired, only to leave early in the morning the next day and repeat everything over and over again. Again I presented the new tunamino/E12 bait from solartackle abundantly and certainly not without success. Often combined with a pop up for the use of a snowmen presentation. Also with the ronnirig I outsmarted several fish. The result of this debilitating madness is that as many as 19 bites came of which one was unloaded. I don't have to tell you that each time you fish for about 8 hours, there are times in between where I can barely eat something. I do all the photo/film work on my own. Sometimes the bites followed each other so fast that I was sitting with 2 filled landing nets and another sling further on. I can describe it in two words, complete madness . The average of the fish oscillates somewhere between 28 and 33lb weight class. Young fish that benefit en masse from the presented Tunamino E12/Red Herring baits. Unbelievable how i a short time they have increased in weight an length. Each of them will grow into real good fish with of course a few exceptions, which will be massive in size. The future looks bright. But to go on about the session, the icing on the cake came on the third short day trip. Around noon i had a visit from the biggest resident of the lake. A fish that I was allowed to embrace earlier in 2018. This time she clocked off at exactly 60lb. I can hardly believe it, my third top fish of as many waters. I never dared to dream of achieving this. All the hard work was rewarded, the many kilometres travelled were quickly forgotten. This is without doubt my craziest fishing season ever. Meanwhile, almost 6 weeks later when writing this article i managed to catch a fish i could only dream of. But this is a story for later. In summary, its all been pure....Madness.