Hey everyone,

I have been in Germany to visit my Family. Whilst I was over there I was pretty keen to go for a fishing trip with my brother. I used to fish the area for carp and European eel (BTW from which my user name originates   ). The last time i fished the area is about 5 years ago and I had it a bit cleaner in my memory than it was. As I don’t have a valid German fishing licence we decided to go to a river where i could fish without one. Before we went for our first go I asked my brother do we have everything??? His answer was yes I do! All we could need I got! Don’t worry about a thing! The only thing we need to get is some bait. 

The night before our first trip we headed to the bait and tackle shop. There was the first surprise, all the shops i knew of where closed down( Not a really good sign). We went back home and checked the internet for a bait and tackle shop. There was one left. The next day we went to the river and stopped for bait on the way. 

At the river we set up and I used my old gear. I put on a sinker, hook and bait and went for my first cast. The sinker got in the air and instantly my line snapped. After checking all the reels we got i noticed that all the line was brittle and so old you couldn't lift a 2ounce sinker with it. I asked my brother when he last changed the line?  His answer, don’t know I think you did. That must have been than at least 6 years ago.......  

So I went back to buy new line respooled a couple of reels and then we could fish.

The first trip wasn't really successful and after about 6 hours without anything we headed back home. But at least we had good line back on the reels

The second time around my nephew came with us and he brought us good luck! We went to a different spot underneath a autobahn bridge where my brother used to catch good eels. The first bait was in the water and it didn't take long for the first bite to come. My brother struck..... and fish gone. That happened a couple of times and then we decided to go a bit smaller in the hook size ( I would say anything smaller then that and you can't see the hook with your bare eye anymore and you need tweezers to but the bait on). But it worked. Next bite, strike and there it was, what a Fish!!! I didn't measure it but it was at least 6cm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And this went on and on, one after the other! I even used them as bait and all you got was them. I don’t know the exact name of it but I got told later that it is an introduced species from Russia. And a lot of the normal species have disappeared. But it was good for my little nephew that there was the hole time something happening and not just waiting.

After a couple of hours doing that we packed up and went home. The final score was: I got 5 my nephew 4 and my brother 3. I didn't get a nice eel but i had a awesome time with my brother! Which will come over next February and then I will take him fishing here! With a little bit bigger hooks and bigger bait then maggots...

Cheers

Seb

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