Some guys of our flyfishingclub organized a fishing trip to one of our major rivers, the Ijssel.
Purpose of this trip was to catch a relatively new fish species in this country called Asp.
Asps are large predatory shiners that where only present in Middle- and Eastern Europe. Some different theories existed about how these fish ended up in Western Europe.
One was based on the fact that a canal build between the Main river and the Danube was
responsible for an invasion of alien fish.. The other was that some fish like the Asp where stocked by fishing clubs in Germany in their fishing ponds adjacent to the Rhine river.
When flooding occurred the alien fish escaped and consequently started to conquer their new
habitat. Fact was that we had a new fish species that ate flies which was now present in a river where we normally not would fish with the fly.

So on a Friday afternoon five of us drove to the western part of our Province to try and get our
first Asp. It was about 89F with bright sunshine when we left for the river. When we neared the river dark clouds in the distance announced an upcoming thunderstorm. With some luck
the shower would just blow over so we could still fish.


Threatening skies in the backcountry.

The location chosen for the Asp hunt was an outflow of a pumping station located on the dam
that protected the low lying backcountry from river in case of floods.
Whenever the water levels in the backcountry would get to high the pumping station would dump excess water into the river. The hot and dry weather however made pumping water out
unnecessary so we had a little disadvantage to start with. Like anywhere flowing water is always good for fishing.


The pumping station


The outflow to the river.

When we arrived at the site we quickly rigged up and scaled the fences of the meadows to
get to the river. With this mass of water in front of me I doubted my choice for the trout bum
rod for this venue. An 8ft rod with a sinking shooting head might have been a better choice
than a 7ft rod with a 4 weight floater. Nonetheless I started tossing out a small streamer in the
mighty currents in search for the elusive Asps.



The mighty river.

The MO of the Asps was to stun bait with their tails when the bait would get into
trouble while rounding the many groins at the river. The main river current at the end of the groins would turn the small glass minnow into helpless prey for the Asps.
That tail beating of the Asps would be a visible sign that the fish where present.
Only on this day it was pretty quiet on the river. Only twice a large swirl was observed close the riprap at the shore. I guess I was the only one who twice had the idea that something was
trying to eat the fly. Since the fish where not coming to us we had to go the fish.
After an hour trying we left the place and headed out to a new spot a couple of miles upriver.
The groins there where larger and better suited for our style of fishing.
Location nr. 2 also showed no significant Asp activity. As the sun began to set we decided
To double back to the original location and try our luck there before it got dark.

Now and then a large swirl in the water at the outflow of the pumping station raised hope.
I switched from streamer to a large silvery woolly bugger as a last ditch effort to get some kind of fish. Besides the Asp there was always a possibility to catch Yellow Perch, Pikeperch (Walleye) of Pike in the river. The change of flies did the trick because soon after I had a little
fish at the end of the line. It was a small Pikeperch that had hit the woolly bugger. It was not
a monster but at least I had a fish. It was also the first time I had caught this fish species on the fly so my day was made.


A little Pikeperch.

When it became dark we quit. The other guys had no luck with fishing. They all left skunked.
Then again you could not expect to turn up at a river you never fished and instantly catch something. Like any water it would take lots of effort before results would show. We would just have to visit that place more regular and try harder the next time

hi marcel, you live in a beautiful country. love the wind mills. they seem to be common over there. i wonder why we don't have more?
how many fish species have you caught? fresh? salt?

The Ijssel river has it charmes. It's a wide flat landscape where the river flows trough. Lot's of wildlife in the form of Geese, Cormorants, Oystercatchers among others.

I do not know how many fish species I have caught but I guess it must be a fair number. Still there a lots of species on my wish list, especially the ones that I want to catch with the flyrod.