Session Blog - Star hour in the spawning season

The beginning of June is usually marked by the myth of the spawning season. Many theories exist and the popular opinion is that it is very difficult to catch a catfish during the spawning season. From my experience I can confirm this to some extent, but I think it is very unlikely that it is impossible at this time. For one thing, all the fish never spawn at the same time and for another, as always, it is up to the angler whether the session is successful. From my point of view, the advantage of the spawning season is that the fish gather in groups and when you have found such a group, bites are likely. So it was to be with Sascha for a quick night on the Rhine with the big boat at the beginning of June.

In the early afternoon we met at the ramp and as we only wanted to fish for one night and therefore didn't have much tackle with us, everything went quite quickly. Once we were on the river, the water was alive. There was fry everywhere and this did not go unnoticed by the asp as they were predatory on this sultry afternoon. We moved at a slow pace and made ample location, because at this stage I think the choice of location is even more crucial to catching success than at other times. A change in the weather with a thunderstorm front was announced for the night and the sultry weather and overcast sky confirmed this. When the wind came in as well, we knew it wouldn't be long before we got some real weather. Our choice of spot was a shallow, flowing side arm with lots of weed growth, because we suspected the catfish here. The boat was anchored quickly and the mounts were prepared just as quickly. Since we knew from experience that the deadfloat mount is particularly effective around spawning time, all 4 rods were to be set with dead bait fish.

We had decided to fish the lower part of this tributary, because from here we could fish into the arm but also place two rods in the outlet to the transition into the main stream. Specifically, we fished one rod deflected upstream, one in the middle and two rods, staggered, in the somewhat deeper outlet.

The weather was getting more and more uncomfortable but under the Boat Cave it was pleasant and so we took care of dinner. As so often happens when you are busy with other things, suddenly the bite came. It was one of the rods towards the outlet. The fish ran clean into the brake and when we were over him with the dinghy, he didn't ask twice and gave full throttle. A short, hard fight on the solid rod had Sascha as the winner and then the first fish was in the boat. A really good fish, which surely exceeded the magic mark of the waller anglers. Top, it could go on like that.

And indeed it went on like that. We had just laid down when the second rod, set downstream, got a bite. This time it was my turn and half asleep we headed for the fish, which had immediately fled into the main stream. This colleague was a bit stronger and even pulled us against the current for quite a while until he finally had to give up as a result of this effort. The second good fish was therefore safe and this one was even a little better. A great session!

Now the fish had mercy and let us sleep through the night until the third fish actually came in in the early hours of the morning, shortly after daylight. This time it was Sascha's rods upstream and when we had unhooked the fish at the deflector, we noticed that the fish was stuck in the wood. We took our time and actually managed to release the urian from the obstruction. Lucky! Fish number 3 was safe and it was a stable mate again. As we were breaking down, fish number 4 came in, but it was still part of the rattle gang. The smallest fish of the session had the most severe bite injuries, which we know from the spawning season, the three strong fish were almost clean.

The session was over, the anglers were satisfied and it had been shown once again that you can also experience great moments in the spawning season if you have a good nose when choosing your spot.

Greetings and tight lines,

Sven Dombach, Team Black Cat