-The Catch!-
It’s November the 9th.
I’m calling a friend of mine who I saw the last time was almost one year ago. I said to him: ”Hey man, it’s time to meet up and to go have a fishing session. It’s to long ago”.
His answer:”Great idea!!, When?
I:”Let’s go tomorrow. The conditions are good for our type of fishing”
He:”That’s fine. I’ll meet you at 22:00 hrs at the parking lot”
I:”Deal! See you tomorrow”
So i started preparing my gear. Our target fish will be cod, fishing from the Northpier in between the rocks located at IJmuiden in the Netherlands.
So i decided to take the Saikou A11 and the Sublime Casting rods for this type of fishing. These are two powerful surf rods for maximum load capacity when the fish dives into the rocks. I made several type of rigs with different lengths and lines, all made with a breaking line system. It’s better to loose the casting weight instead of the hooked fish. The hooks I'm using are the BX60 series from Yuki in size 1/0 and 2/0. And of course some powerful reels with braided line. This is a heavy type of rockfishing I'm doing for almost 7 years and familiar with all kind of circumstances at this specific location we’re going to fish.
The next day, it’s the 10th of November in the afternoon:
I picked up my reserved bait at my local tackleshop near my place. I live in Beverwijk, the province North-Holland. The bait we will be using are large fresh lugworms and razor clamps.
And yes, we need a lot of this bait because we’re going to fish the whole night till the next morning. It’s about fishing, the passion we both share, and to socialize after this long time. We both will be fishing with each two rods.
21:00 hrs.:
I’m loading up my equipment in the car and heading to the parking lot of the Northpier. There he is, my friend Goksu, who i didn’t see for almost a year.
A firm handshake,a hug and big smiles when we meet again!
The vibe is good. Very good as always. We’re heading to the end of the pier. That’s about two kilometers from the parking lot.
Meanwhile we’re talking about work, family and ofcourse our fishing adventures we had in the last year. Finally we arrived at the end of the pier.
Quickly we set-up our gear. In twenty minutes we’re both ready to cast our lines.
My friend is fishing in the midsection and left side and I'm also fishing in the midsection and the right side. It’s wild and rough water with high waves rolling along the pier. The wind is blowing quite hard and it’s dark. Very dark. We both have good headlights. That’s a must when fishing the night. The ground is slippery just like the rocks because it’s all wet. The waves are slamming into the rocks of the pier. We’re getting sprayed by the seawater. No problem. We are pro’s and aware of the circumstances.
All four rods have tip lights on it. In this way we can see the bite registration of the tip sections of the rods in the dark. There it goes: The tip is heavily tipping. He grabs the rod and holds it still, feeling if the fish is indeed hooked. Yes!! Hooked……………….. He strikes and starts drilling the catch. It’s the first cod measuring 48 centimeters. He’s happy, me too.
After 25 minutes I'm looking at my Sublime Casting rod. It’s bending forwards and it stays in that position. I'm like: ”Huh???, why it’s not bending back”. After a few seconds it comes back in the straight position.
The rod is resting on a tripod so it can stand in a high position to avoid as much as possible the rocks. I'm standing next to my rod laying my hand on it to feel if there is any vibration. In that way i can feel if some fish are busy with my bait. My rig has four razor clamps and three large lugworms on it. All tied up firmly with bait elastic. While my hand is resting on the Sublime Casting it bends fast and hard forwards………
I quickly grab the rod out of the tripod and walk forward to the edge. It feels like something big and heavy is at the end of the line.
The spot i casted is about 60 meters from the pier. It’s pulling. Firmly. Now it’s the time to strike. I'm reeling in. The fish is fighting. I thought:”If this is a cod, it must be at least 70, or maybe 80 centimeters”. After years of fishing you can analize the strike and estimate the potential. I'm drilling and trying to reel in.
Stuck. “No, no, no….” I'm saying to my friend. Meanwhile he came next to me to see what’s going on here. It came loose again and i startet to reel in as hard as possible. It’s really fighting. This must be a big one. I'm drilling the fish amongst the rocks towards me.
In front of me it get stucks again. I see the head of it. It doesn’t look like a cod. My friend is shining with his headlight also into the water. He can’t recognize the fish. I'm pulling as hard as i can, but carefully. I don’t want to break my line or loose the fish. I have to land this catch………
There comes a wave, I'm pulling, it got free out of the rocks. I can’t believe my eyes what I'm pulling up there. It’s a conger eel. The first one I'm catching from the Dutch shorelines. It’s strong and struggling from left to right on the ground. We’re both astonished.
Wow!!! With care i unhook the fish. It has all the bait and both hooks in his beak. It was hungry it seems. Now it’s time to measure this magnificent catch. It’s 90 centimeters long. 
Actually it’s a juvenile. They can reach a lenght of 2,5 to 3 meters.
After the measurement and photo’s it’s time to release it back into the water.
The next day (November the 11th) it seems this catch will be granted as a National Dutch Record. It’s the largest conger eel caught in the Netherlands. I'm very honoured with it.
November the 23th i went fishing again at the same spot with another friend of mine. This time i brought the Saikou Bosforus
What do you know: I caught another conger eel. This time it measures 90,5 centimeters.
I broke my own record in just two weeks!!! Am i just a lucky guy or not??
I wish all fishermen and woman a lot of tight lines. Just make sure you got the right equipment.
I can tell you: Fishing with Yuki provides you the right equipment!
Glenn Soekhoe
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Glenn Soekhoe Your Yuki Ambassador from the Netherlands and Belgium |
 /YukiAmbassadorNetherlands |
