Guido Richard: From a folding boat then!

At the beginning of April, the weather finally improved and I suddenly felt the urge to get back on the water. On the evening before the day I was due to start, I first fed 2.5kg of boilies with the tube. I had chosen the same area that I had fished in March. Everything went really well and I managed to catch three fish.

It got hot just three days later. I blanked, although lots of fish were showing - and this was to continue throughout April. The weather was perhaps not the least of it, as it went straight back from summer weather to winter; there was even a light frost one night.

Although I was never far from the fish, I blanked a staggering five times in a row in April. I wasn't exactly amused, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Fortunately, the fly fishing went all the better by contrast. I spent every sunny day on the river with my mate Dylan.

At the end of April it finally got warm again. Thanks to my drone, I found two large groups of fish in a huge shallow water area.

The only problem was that night fishing was out of the question as the risk of being caught was far too high. Fishing from the bank was also not an option, as the fish's supposed feeding area was far too far away at around 300 metres with a slight current. The water is also very popular with predatory fish anglers, which meant that at the end of April, the end of the closed season, there was likely to be a large crowd. So the only option was to fish from a boat during the day. To get to the area more quickly, I decided to use my folding boat without a second boat.

I prepared two areas with two kilos of boilies, on each of which I had a spot. On one I would lay the rod directly from the boat, the second I wanted to cast to from the anchored boat.

The next morning I was on the water before sunrise, but although I saw several fish jumping, nothing happened the whole morning. I was still in good spirits, as the wind was supposed to pick up in the afternoon and bring rain with it - in my experience, the best conditions to get the fish in a feeding mood. To be honest, after eight hours of sitting in the boat it was getting pretty uncomfortable. Fortunately, I had at least thought of an umbrella, because the forecast rain had arrived.

Salvation came out of nowhere. The drag on my right-hand rod, which I had cast from the boat, screeched open and the tip bent violently towards the water. However, I was soon able to untwist the fish in front of the boat and a short time later I had a really big mirror in my landing net. There it was, my fat spring fish!

I transported the fish to the shore by boat to take some pictures. The scales showed a whopping 25.5kg, so it was definitely worth getting up early.

I spent a total of ten whole days on the boat on the same stretch of water in May - until the flood came, which is still happening at the end of June as I write this blog.

In mid-May, I was still able to observe small groups of fish spawning early in the morning. With all the rain, the temperature fluctuations and the high water, it seems that this activity has come to an end. I still don't know whether they have passed or not. It was one of the most difficult early years for me, but I did manage to catch eleven carp from the boat, one of which was a brutally long 21kg scaly carp on the last day before the flood.

That's the way it is, fishing on large, open waters.

Your Guido