Big European rivers?

[Cat]

Afternoon All, I was just watching one of those adverts for European river cruises, and it set me wondering how do you approach fishing something that simply looks intimidating? I'm thinking Rhine, Danube, Rhone, where your 500 will be dragged off by a 360' mineral barge, or snapped by the weight of the anvil necessary to hold the bottom! Has anyone experience of such? Regards Cat

[Olly]

Yep - Loire!

[Watermole+]

Despite its immense width, the Danube is a noted and popular river for coarse fish of every size..



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[Hovis]

Afternoon All, I was just watching one of those adverts for European river cruises, and it set me wondering how do you approach fishing something that simply looks intimidating? I'm thinking Rhine, Danube, Rhone, where your 500 will be dragged off by a 360' mineral barge, or snapped by the weight of the anvil necessary to hold the bottom! Has anyone experience of such? Regards Cat

You should try the tidal trent in full flood!

All you need to rember is fish are just fish, regardless. Sometimes there are behavioural changes on larger waters but find the rhythms of the fish and you'll catch. It's rarely as daunting as it first seems.

[Dave Burr]

I've fished a few in France, this is the Seine,



The closest fish I saw showing was about 150 yards out next to a mid-river island. If you are thinking of fishing such places a boat is a great help and big reels with more line than mine held. We also fished a narrower section but the barges are a pain unless you can find an area where they divert them due to the bends.

Any tributary is also well worth a look

[Olly]

Can be a bit difficult at 300m across - to find the fish. And with the Loire 629 miles long - - - even harder!

And with carp rolling over a 100ft+ deep, 4,000 acre lake - - Lac de Vouglans in eastern France - - where oh were do you start there?

[Crucian]

I fished the river Weser in Germany for around five years. A big, fast flowing, and powerful river. Intimidating at first, but I loved it, best fishing I ever had.

[Dave Burr]

Although I said we didn't see fish, I was referring to carp as they were our target species. I have caught lots of chub, barbel, roach, bream and ide from French rivers on very basic tackle. The fish don't get caught very often on big rivers and respond to a good helping of feed so swimfeeder tactics will produce multiple species. On the river Lot, for example, the chub averaged around 5lbs so a targetted approach could bring healthy rewards.

Don't be put off by the size of the rivers, when I moved to fish the Wye, it looked big and intimidating but, by mentally segmenting the river into two or three sections, you can 'read' the water and detect features that will short-circuit the search.

There is always an area that is comfortable to fish and sea leads aren't always necessary.

[Duckett]

I’ve only done a few fresh water fishing sessions on French rivers and, when I did, I followed the advice of a farmer whose land we were renting a gite on …….. lure fishing near any feature, bridges or where another water course, even a drain, entered it. It worked and is precisely what I’d have done lure fishing a new river in the U.K., even a tiny one!

Drop-shotting or a Carolina rig with a soft plastic lure or live worms allows you to cover an awful lot of river as do small jigs.

Phil