Jordy Kuijper on Lake Duyl – part 2

Unwind in the countryside at Lake Duyl. (part 2)

An annual ritual. My father and I, looking for big carp. Every year for the past 10 years we fish together for a few nights on a pay water in the Netherlands. This always makes for great adventures and a lot of fun. Last year on the site of De Vissende Hollander/Angling Escapes you could read an article about De Ganzenkuil from us. This year the article is about Het Duylmeer with new adventures and nice catches. Wondering which ones these are? Read on quickly!

In part 1 of this article you were able to read about the first two days of our vacation on Het Duylmeer. Already we managed to land some carp. Yet it is still a bit difficult and we still have to find our way.

Wednesday, July 8, Past results do not guarantee future results.

The cuttings fished by the cottage are still yielding little. So far only bream have come from the left-hand corner. Fortunately, my father manages to cash in on runs from the right-hand corner. Something that was completely the opposite four years ago. Then almost all catches came from the left corner. It turns out that past results are no guarantee for the future. However, we do not understand it. The only cause we can think of is a recently fallen tree. This tree lies in line with the left and for a large part under water. This could disturb the migration route of the carp and therefore they do not pass the left corner. The many jumpers at the back of the tree confirms this theory.

Don’t the carp want to come to us? Then we’ll come to them anyway! In the afternoon we hoisted ourselves into the wading suits, two rods each and a dose of confidence. Off in the direction of the fallen tree. Here we split up and fish both sides of the tree. The past few days have seen a lot of activity here, so we hope for a quick take. Unfortunately, this is not the case. After a few hours we turn back towards the cottage.

After dinner, I will try for a few more hours in the back corner of the water. Due to the success of the night before, hopes are high. However, this time I do not fish the spot from the forest side. This time I place my rods in the water so that I can fish just beyond the reeds. This allows me to fish a larger area and not disturb both swims after catching a fish. So the goal is to catch two or more fish in a short time.

Very carefully I wade through the water to place the supports and cast in the rods. The left rod comes up against the forest edge and the right rod against a wide reed bed. Soon I hear some carp turning. My heart rate shoots up and my eyes are fixed tightly on the rod tips. Any moment it will happen and it is waiting for one of the rod tips to warp.

Out of nowhere, the tip of the left rod flips double. Even before I reach the rod it springs back. A broken line is all that remains. I guess that one of the stones, which lie on the sides, is the cause of this. Bitten as a plug I quickly knot a new system on the line. There is no time to thread a boilie on the hair. The top of the other rod bends and the spool begins to rattle. Quickly I shoot into the water and pick up the rod. Fortunately, everything is going well now and I get it away from the reeds. Man, they are strong here! Too bad about the looser, but I return to the cottage satisfied.

Thursday, July 9, over with the rest.

In the middle of the night I wake up vaguely. I hear my father calling my name and soon know what is going on. Quickly I get out of the tent and there he is. In the pouring rain with a bent rod in his hand. A smile appears on my face and I quickly give him his jacket. It is his leftmost rod which has gone off. The fish doesn’t give in easily and continuously dives back into the depths. Meanwhile, it is still raining. We do not care and both of us are enjoying. The result is a nice common of around 10 kg.

With this rod we fish a deeper part of the water. Here we fish and feed exclusively with 20mm boilies hoping to catch the bigger fish of the water. The depth where the fish came from was around 5 meters. The water, with a relatively small girth, contains many deep sections. The sides here slope steeply and soon you are at a 4 to 5 meter depth. The deepest point is around 7 meters.

We crawl back into our sleeping bags and close our eyes. Not for long because in the early morning several beeps sound again from my father’s bite detector. He storms out of his tent and quickly keeps the fish away from the obstacles. Then he hands the rod to me and I can drill it further. Fortunately it is now dry and after a nice fight the fish slides into the net.

Again, the left corner yielded nothing. After catching the fish, I am wide awake and decide to try the back corner for a morning. The carp are loose and it’s over with peace and quiet! After a cup of coffee I hoist myself into the wading suit and set out.

Alas, after a few hours without a single squeak or sign of life I walk back toward the cottage. As it turns out, even here the carp have their times and places of baiting. So on this part of the water it is in the evening hours.

During this annual joint number of days of fishing, we like to tour the area where we are staying. Playing the tourist in our own country. Often we visit some large lakes or rivers in combination with a spinning rod or feeder rod. This time we visit the river area of the Waal.

When we arrive back at the water we meet the manager. He asks us about catches and talks a bit about the water. He tells us that not only carp, tench and bream swim there. The stock of predatory fish is not bad either. Many large pike and even predatory bleak know the water. After some more maintenance on the area, the man leaves again. We find the story of the predatory pike quite remarkable. A fish species virtually unknown to us and we thought it only occurs on rivers. We somewhat doubt the story. The man is already of age and perhaps he is mistaken.

It is around six o’clock when I open the gate and let my sister and her friend Wouter onto the property. While enjoying a drink, a piece of baguette and some meat from the BBQ, we enjoy the view and the conviviality. Wouter is also an avid fisherman himself and couldn’t resist bringing a spinning rod. At dusk he took a gamble. After only a few casts, a fish strikes his crankbait. The fish fights very aggressively and when it surfaces, we are amazed. It is unbelievable and we take back all our words about the manager. Because yes! It’s a predatory bleak!

My sister and her boyfriend leave the grounds again and we get ready for our last night. Both of us are fairly exhausted from the four nights of fishing. Still, we hope for one last fish to end the vacation.

Friday, July 10, an unexpected turn of events.

In the night, one of my father’s rods runs off. After picking up the rod, it unfortunately shoots loose after some pressure. This is obviously not the way we want to end it. The rod is thrown back in and we crawl back into our sleeping bags.

Less than an hour later, one of my rods lets itself be heard. After four days of waiting, action finally comes from the left corner. Soon I sense that this is a better fish. With all policy I lead it to the middle of the water. Like most fish here, it is unstoppable when it comes in front of the bank. This one just behaves a lot more cumbersome. After a few minutes it slides over the net. With wide eyes we admire the fish! A high and checkered scale is the result. With the heaviest fish of the day, we managed to end the vacation. That one bite from the left corner gave an unexpected turn to the vacation.

In the morning we fry another egg, make a cup of coffee and all our belongings are packed up again. Of course, we leave everything neat and tidy and return the key. We say goodbye to the countryside and drive back to the busy, yet so cozy city. On the way back we go over the vacation again.

Catch!
Jordy & Joost

Would you also like to go to Lake Duyl? Then check out the fishing vacation destination here.

• carp fishing on lake duyl
• Duyl Lake travelogue
• Fishing and holidays
• fishing on lake duyl
• Fishing stories
• fishing vacation in almkerk
• jordy Kuijper travelogue
• pay water Lake Duyl

Reclin de Gries

Trots ben ik op mezelf maar met name op de mensen om mij heen. En trouwe vaste klanten! Want alleen was het nooit mogelijk geweest om te komen waar ik nu ben. En nog zoveel jaar later, doe ik nog steeds mijn werk met plezier! Ik wens iedereen de trip van zijn leven! En vooral ook te genieten aan de waterkant!