April 20, 2019 Catfish session on the Meuse: Static session without much expectation

April 20, 2019 Catfish session on the Meuse: We set off on a Friday evening towards the Meuse. There, after a long time, we went bank fishing again. I had to look after the dog this weekend, and he doesn’t quite fit in the bellyboat. So he came along. Happy dog, happy me.

Once we arrived at the spot, we decided not to cast the rods out anymore that evening. There was only 1 more hour allowed to fish with worms. In Wallonia, during this time of year, it isn’t allowed to fish for catfish with live bait fish or lures.

The next day we started fishing as early as possible. We didn’t have much hope for it. It was the first time we fished that spot, it had been a long time since we’d fished statically from the bank, and the water temperature was still on the low side. As a rig, we like to use an underwater float with a rattle in the current here. The bunch of worms is then presented about a meter off the bottom. We anchor the whole setup to the bottom with a heavy stone on a breakaway line.

At 10am the first breakaway line snapped. This immediately felt like a good fish. On a 400g rod it already put up a very nice fight, and easily ran out against the current. After about 20 minutes of tug of war we managed to land the first fish. At 1.87m, already a good one right away. Hooked in the current on a bunch of dew worms.

On the Belgian Meuse you’re allowed to fish with worms until one hour after sunset. After that, only carp fishing with plant-based bait (boilies) is allowed. We usually try to fish until the very last minute, because that’s really the time catfish start feeding. Literally 3 minutes before the end of fishing time, the second catfish took the line. This time for Jonas, and at 169cm a mighty fish. The following day a few smaller fish followed.

All in all, a fun, surprising bank session.