Planning A Foreign Fishing Holiday

I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy lots of angling holidays over theyears, in Ireland, France, Holland, Sweden and Germany. Each year wesee the whole world become more accessible. Travelling is lessexpensive, quicker, and more convenient, particularly by air. Ferriesand catamarans to Europe and beyond are faster. We have the channeltunnel for those who prefer it. Furthermore, in the not-too-distantfuture, at least in Europe, currency and language problems will,quite possibly, cease to exist.

Where angling holidays abroad have always been a problem forfamilies, necessitating either separate holidays where they couldafford it (and didn’t mind such an arrangement) or one or the otherdoing without, it is now easier to compromise, for an angling holidayabroad can be a compromise that suits both angling partner and thenon-angling partner. Warmer climates on the continent make thedifference, offering sunshine and possibly a nearby beach for thewife or girlfriend while the angler fishes. Or both can enjoy thefishing and the sunshine at the same time one day (for there are manybeautiful venues to suit all tastes) and then go sight-seeing,swimming, or whatever takes the non-angling partner’s fancy the nextday.

Planning

Before you make any specific plans, ask yourself exactly what kindof foreign holiday you want. Start with these questions:

1. What species do you want to catch?
2. Do you want to bag up with lots of fish, where size doesn’t really matter?
3. Or do you want to target just one or two really exceptional fish?
4. Or something in between, where the target is a fair number of quality fish, but not the super-specimens?

You may intend going with a party of anglers whose tastes areentirely different, therefore you need to choose a venue that offersa diverse selection of fishing. If the answer is that you don’treally care what kind of fishing you do, providing you enjoy a goodholiday, and get your string pulled often enough to stop you fallingasleep, then the world really is your oyster. Otherwise, you need tochoose fairly carefully to ensure you achieve your target.

Next, ponder on these:

1. Do you prefer a hot climate, a warm one, or are you not bothered as long as you catch what you want?
2. Can you cope with exceptionally hot climes, where the insects may be bigger and bite harder than anything you’ve ever known before? Where snakes are common rather than rare? Where a big coypu is almost as likely as a fish to surface in your swim?

And that’s only in Europe! Go further afield and you may have towatch out for crocs and all kinds of wild creatures. In many parts ofFrance the grass snakes are abundant, and adders are certainly notrare. Don’t forget, you’ll be fishing, and that usually means youwill be right out in the countryside where such beasties are mostlikely to be found. The snakes don’t bother me, but the insectscertainly do, for each bite off one causes a lump as big as a golfball. A couple of old mates of mine aren’t bothered by the insectsbut run a mile at the mere mention of a snake, even grass snakes.

Local knowledge and a phrase book

If you intend to visit a non-English speaking country and none ofyour party can speak a little of the foreign language then don’tforget the Phrase Book! My pals and I made that mistake on a recenttrip to France’s river Vienne in the Loire Valley, a stunninglybeautiful area, incidentally, that I must visit again sometime. Wespent three days fishing a non-productive area and then came across alocal angler who was obviously fishing for carp. He had all the gear,from boilies to bite alarms and there was no doubt he knew what hewas doing. The trouble was, he couldn’t speak a word of English andwe couldn’t speak a word of French. We managed to sign language ourway to a little information, but with a phrase book we could havegleaned so much more precious local knowledge, which is the bestknowledge of all.

Currency

Take a little more than you think you will need for you can alwayschange it back into stirling on your return. Although you can getmoney for a swipe of the plastic in most areas these days.

Travel

Do you mind flying? No, it’s not a daft question, there are somepeople who won’t fly for love nor money. More important, not even thecatch of a lifetime! Can you take all you want to take on a flight?Not easy when the intention is to bivvy up for a week or more, andyou need to take food, as well as bait and tackle. Remember too, ifyou fly you will probably have to hire a car from the airport, andthat can be expensive. You can take more or less anything you want ona ferry or catamaran, but they’re slower and it could cost you a dayor more of your holiday in travelling time. And there could be onehell of a long drive from the ferry terminal to your destination.

You need to choose the best compromise there is, taking everythinginto account. It is often better to sacrifice a day’s fishing for thesake of being able to take everything you need, and many things youmay not need, for very often there are no suitable tackle shopsabroad where you can buy that item you’ve found was essential afterall.

Tackle

Assuming you are travelling by some means other than by plane, andthat there are no restrictions on what you can carry (within reason)then what tackle you need to take with you is a major consideration.Obviously, you take the major items of tackle you need to fish forthe main target. If that target, let’s suppose, is carp, then fourrods; two light ones and two heavy ones, are ideal. Otherwise, if youcan take only two, then make it two heavy ones, for it is possible touse the heavy rods for any fish and any situation, whereas light rodsare restricted to what they are suitable for. I know it is less thanideal to use heavy rods in a light rod situation, but, as I said, itis possible, and it is the best compromise.

Four reels are handy, specially if you have taken four rods, forthat way you can keep all four rods tackled up, each for a givenapplication, even if you aren’t going to use all four rods atonce.

At home I have a tackle box for each type of fishing I do, ie, aCarp Box, a River Box, a Pike Box, and a General Box, this latter onebeing used for bream, tench, and other general stillwater fishing.Such a system saves a great deal of preparation time, trying to thinkwhat you need for a particular days fishing, for all you need to dois pack the box that applies to the fishing you intend to do thatday. It means I have to duplicate certain items of tackle that gowith most types of fishing, but it is a small price to pay for peaceof mind, for there is nothing worse than forgetting some essentialitem of tackle, or worrying that you may have forgotten something.When I go away I take the obvious one, ie, the Carp Box when I go ona carp fishing holiday, plus one other box if there is a chance Iwill be trying for something else. If I’m not sure what I shallrequire then I take the main box, plus a box with a selection ofvarious tackles to cover most of the situations I may come across. Infact, I call it a Selection Box, and it holds, for instance, one ortwo wire traces, a few floats, including pike floats, a fewswimfeeders, lures, small hooks (perhaps for bait catching) splitshot, and anything else I think I could possibly need.

Other essential tackle items you take are obvious and need nodescription from me.

Bait

Bait is always a problem. Too much and there can be a terriblewaste, too little and you may not catch the number of fish it waspossible to catch. Live items such as maggots offer the greatestdifficulty, for there is the problem of getting them there in goodcondition, and then keeping them in good condition over the span youare there, specially in hot climates. If where you are staying has alarge cold store then fine, but most places don’t, and apart fromIreland, many foreign venues dislike you having maggots in theiraccommodation (always check this out beforehand to be on the safeside). Remember too, that in most countries it is illegal to takelive worms in with you.

Transporting maggots is easy once you know how. What you do iscool them down to fridge temperature and then put up to two gallonsin a good quality bin liner. Force all the air out and tie off theneck. Place it in a polystyrene cool box, along with two or threefreezer blocks, and seal the lid with tape. Collect them from thetackle shop and seal them up as near as possible to departure time.They will keep like this for at least 24 hours. When you take themout of the bag and transfer them to conventional bait boxes onarrival at your digs (or the water if you are bivvying up) they willbe stretched and appear absolutely lifeless. You’ll think they aredead, but within an hour or so of being in open bait boxes (as fewmaggots as possible in as many boxes you can get hold of) themajority will be completely back to normal, wriggling as thoughnothing had happened to them. There will be a few losses, but nothingto worry about. We lose about two or three pints of maggots out of 12gallons when we go to Ireland. Riddle these off at the firstopportunity and use them for prebaiting a swim.

Shelf-life boilies are the easiest. Take more than you think youneed and then you can take unused bait back home with you. They willkeep until your next trip or can be used in your home waters. Howmany to use when you’re there is the most difficult thing to decide.Far too many anglers use far too much bait, swamping the swim withumpteen pounds of boilies regardless of where they are fishing. Theremay be a few waters where bait saturation is necessary, but there aremany more where it can just as easily work against you – or at leastwhere it doesn’t help at all, which means you’re simply throwingmoney away. If you do think it’s essential to bait very heavily, thenthere are many cheaper alternatives, such as particles, groundbaitand maize meal, etc.

Reckon on taking at least 2lb to 3lb of bait for each day’sfishing, more if you wish, bearing in mind that any unused shelf-lifeboilies can always be taken back home and used some other time.

And Finally

Planning is the key to enjoying any foreign holiday. If I was togive just one piece of advice it would be this: ‘Don’t leave anythingto chance.’

Do your homework. In particular speak to people you know have beenbefore. Try to go with someone who has been before. If you don’t knowanyone personally who has been to wherever you’re going, then post amessage to the forum and ask. There is bound to be someone who haseither personal experience of the water or knows someone who has.