The Fear Factor The big European canals are relatively easy to get your heads around once you know the rules, they are certainly not something to be feared. Yes, some of the bow waves created by the really big tankers on the River Maas in Holland at times were huge, especially if the wind was blowing against the direction of flow, when the lock gates open on some stretches of canal, the water can run off like the Trent. The waves ware big enough to take to off your feet if you were wading around and had your back to the oncoming tanker. Keith (Geordie) Burne an old Army mate got totally wiped out one day, after setting up right on the water’s edge. We had been warned by the locals, but he chose to ignore it. The memory of him shrieking and flapping about in the margins like a fat duck, after a wave hit him in the chest and took him and his tackle clean out, still makes me laugh out loud today. 30 odd years later. It was hilarious. Remember one thing, the carp are not bothered in the slightest about the boat traffic, the size of the water, the noise of the engines, the waves or anything else for that matter its home to them, its normal.

Hotpots & Channels On the big canals there is always a centre channel, usually this is identified by red buoys, white markers or concrete posts, identifying where it drops off or shallows up. This is the hotspot; it doesn’t take the brains of the Archbishop to work out that you should not be casting to the middle of the shipping lane channel. The water displaced by a few thousand tons of shipping tanker will shift your leads every single time. No amount of lead will stop this. Regardless of size, they are all roughly identical in their construction. But if your new to the sport then you may not know, and that’s OK. We live and learn. Canal Construction If you look at the image above, most canals are an extended flat- bottomed u shape. So, if you did manage to get a lead to hold the far shelf and it’s a light lead, your line is now in danger of being captured by the vortex created by the boat’s props. If your line is picked up by the spin and tow of one of the smaller white weekend cruise boats, with high set propellers. They will strip your reels in seconds. You may lose the lot. You should not be anywhere near the middle of the Cut if there is serious boat traffic, you ain’t “Stret Peggin” on these waters trust me. Only a total fucking fool casts to the middle of the Dutch Cut or towards the far side knowing that huge boats are on their way through. And yes it was live on TV. Sorry but get a grip, this is no way to promote the sport. If you do not knot know, then do not Blagg!!!

Unlocking the Code So, how do we tackle the big European cut? Which at first glance may seem very big, difficult if not laughingly impossible since almost everything looks the same? The straight and monotonous course of the canal often does not seem to offer any clues. But even the smallest irregularities often help and will give you the key to unlocking them. If you are not fishing a true canal feature like a boat turning point, which are more akin to a small lake in the canal and the easy cop out, or constructions like new jetties, natural harbour basins, locks, warm water dischargers from power plants. Feed loading points for boats carrying grain. Then you are going to be sat on a traditional, ruler straight, big, deep, bruiser of a European canal. So where is the spot on these canals? On a straight section of big European canal, with regular boat traffic the feature is exactly where the flat bottom meets the 30-degree sloping wall. The degree of the slopes varies, but the crease is the spot. The Crease So, in this diagram you are sitting at – set up on point P. The middle of the rising slope is D. The bottom of the slope is the tip of the green part O. To the left of O would be the flat bottom of the canal until it gets to the opposite side and we go back to the graph but in reverse. O = The Crease! Got it? OK. Now take your lead rod / marker rod and cast it out. Feel for the drop. Drag your lead back until you feel the resistance of the crease, the start of the ledge, O in the diagram. This is your line, O. This is the patrol area for all of the big carp on most of the big navigation canals in Europe. The shape differs slightly but they are all almost identical in most countries.

What’s your secret? Now. I’m giving you something which many of you will not know, unless you know. A small secret often overlooked. After 10 pm in most of Europe the lock gates are usually locked until the morning. Simply find the lock keeper on your given stretch or grab a local dog walker and ask him / her the question. If you get the answer you are looking for. “Ja, die Schleusen schließen um 22 Uhr”. Then you are night fishing and it’s game on. (You are still going to get traffic; the tankers will chug by and moor up in front of the huge lock gates in readiness for the morning. But there are much fewer of them). Timing It is so important to note when feeding your swim…..If the lock gates are closed at 10 pm at night, do not fish it too hard in the day and do not stick loads of boiled magic stuff into the Cut in the day. It’s a sin. The whole lot will be washed around by the ships, its going to be sucked around and distributed over a large area if you bang the magic balls in. Dutch Gefahr Whenever we are in Germany or Holland we go to the Yellow Peril or Dutch Danger. We knew it as The Yellow Peril way back in the mid 80’s. We were taught this very powerful little trick by some hard-core Canal Match Anglers who swore by it, it still works a treat. Yellow Peril is a Dutch Ground Bait consisting almost 50 / 50 Corn- Maize and Sweet Biscuit Meal. When mixed and compressed its solid and sinks like a brick. It’s a big Bream bait but carp cannot get enough of it. Mix up a really heavy batch, we used to do it in a

plastic baby bath, load it with leam (Powdered Clay) and we used a load of Hutchinson Scopex back then. There are other flavours available. We like Scopex. Ball them up into rock hard balls and stack them up in your bath. Let then dry out and form a skin. Stick 20 of them on the crease from the off. That’s O in the diagram remember. The ground bait is going to be turned into a sweet electrolyte soup by the boats, and that’s a good thing. We want the smell to be sucked along, we want our little stretch of canal to be stinking of Corn / Sweet Biscuit & Scopex. Trust me the Carp and the Bream will come along the crease from all directions for a sniff and a look around, but when they get to you there will be no real food on offer to them. (You are going to catch big Bream in Germany and Holland when fishing canals, accept it). Your Tiger-Nut hook bait wants to be the only real mouthful in your swim. Tip. By adopting this method, it ensures that you are not spreading boiled baits for dozens of metres left and right of you…..Bang tons of boiled baits into huge European Canals when the tankers are moving in quantity, and you are not helping yourself. Boilies lock in scent in most cases, they do not break down easily in cold canal water, they are used for a very different fishing situating in the whole. They are excellent on still of sluggish waters. Bang them in the big European canals, and the tankers will kindly spread them for hundreds of meters for you. The fish will gauge themselves on your 20-mil free offering when they feel peckish, if they are nice and rock hard they will be rolling about that stretch of the Cut for weeks. However, you can introduce loads of Peril into your swim without doing any damage at all to your swim.100 balls will not make a single bit of difference. Keep topping that scent up after every big boat passes. We used to aim directly for the propellers of passing boats and lob a ball directly into the blender. Every now and then we got a proper bollocking from the owners of the pleasure cruisers for bouncing babies head size balls of ground bait off the side of their shiny white “Benny Boats” boats when our timing was out. “Hay arschloch hast du nichts mere zu tune”. Came the cry accompanied by a middle finger.

In conclusion There are some huge carp in the big European canals. We were catching 30’s in the 1980’s. My mate Simon Nightingale one of the original Anglo-German Carp Society members had 5 30Lb carp in an afternoon from the Hamm Canal in Westphalia which got him into the German Carp Society’s magazine at the time. I think this was 1986-ish. Home-made, (Hutchinson) Pukka Salmon were the baits De-jour back then and we made them by hand. It took ages. Because the different sections of the canals are separated by locks, each section is occupied by differing numbers of carp. Carp really do not like swimming through locks. So, if you are struggling, give it a bit of time and if it’s not happening move to a different part of the canal system. You will have kilometres of it, almost to yourself. Some of the long ones have roads which run along the canals in both directions with small bridges which allow you to move from side to side. So, you see, a big European canal is not that frightening or monotonous once you know how to play the game. European canals are seriously addictive, miles of space, polite dog walkers, not having to worry about your tackle disappearing. Great food, stunning beer and some seriously pretty fat ladies to tempt you. The carp are also stunning. Touché!

Germany back in the day If you have never fished them, and you want to give it a shot. Give me a bell, I will happily give you the location of a couple of stunning areas, before you leave fella. I’m away to Germany / Holland for 10 days as soon as the lockdown has finished. Tight lines. TT.