This is what Gaz had to say about the trip:

“Part of the problem with planning trips well in advance is you can never predict the weather, and this year the late spring trip just didn’t fall favourably for us at all. A few days before we were due to leave I’d spoken to a few friends in the different regions of France we were planning on heading to, with some still spawning, some just about to, low water levels on the barrages and a 30-35 degree forecast for the week, we had to quickly make a plan B.

After a few other calls to friends in Holland, Belgium and Germany it seemed that throughout Central Europe they were spawning, and with the severity of the heat forecast we didn’t fancy any of those options much. I had actually been at a little Belgian canal the previous weekend and they didn’t look close to going there, so we decided to head there first. On arrival at the area I fancied within minutes we heard a thrash.. then another, and quickly it became clear that despite the rain, low pressure and cooler temperatures it was still warm enough for them and so after watching them go at it for half an hour we set the Sat Nav further south and headed off.

The next two days were a fascinating bit of angling, playing cat and mouse with a tricky stock amongst the weed and snaggy margins of another canal. Marcus bagged himself a mega 28 pound common within an hour of arriving after we found a group fizzing up close in. A carefully lowered Krill wafter did the job and we were soon admiring an amazing, black, big tailed common.

That night was quiet, but the second evening I bagged myself a beautiful upper 20 mirror and then another lovely plump one shortly after first light. Marcus added to his tally with a nice low twenty common and a strange, kinky backed mirror just before we left; but before we knew it, we were off, loaded up and with the van pointed for Northern Germany, where we knew for certain the temperatures were cooler and they hadn’t spawned yet.

In hindsight, we’d have been far better to have stayed on the little canal, but if you never roll the dice, you’ll never know I guess! Ten hours later, and a fair few coffees were rolled up to a massive SW storm front lashing across 2000 acres of German pit. It looked brutal, and there was little chance of us doing any angling that night, so we just watched that evening as darkness drew in, had some proper food and kipped in the car park, loading up the boat early the following morning and setting sail to see what we could find amongst the waves. The answer as it turned out, was very, very little and after two days of searching high and low, we only had one show and a day of complete wipe outs from the masses of drifting silk weed to show for our efforts. Finally we found a few, set up full of expectancy, and then on the third morning, they spawned on us there too! Once again we wrapped up, with no intentions whatsoever of fishing for ones close to spawning and considered our options, this time heading back to Holland to meet a friend for a quick pit stop night on a Dutch canal.

It was a beautiful spot, but a quiet night ensued, apart from the 100ft long Dutch barges passing by all night, and so we were once again off early the following morning, it did at least give us time to catch up on some sleep. This time we headed to another Belgian canal where we knew they’d spawned a few weeks previous. It was a tough two nights, with savage thunder storms, a brolly lost thirty foot over a road, tiny little spots amongst the weed and rocks and very little sleep, but Marcus did manage to nick one last bite, a cool little low twenty mirror that saved the day and we headed home happy, with a few new spots to head back to, some amazing sights seen, and some memories of a 2000 miler that never quite paid off, you win some you lose some!!!!”