Netherlands 24-11-2013
Netherlands 07-03-2013
It has been two months now that I have been fishless.
The weather was cold most of the time and the fish where absent.
We had a sudden yet short lived infusion of spring this week with
record temperatures.
It will be freezing again this weekend so this afternoon when I got
out of work I made a last effort attempt to get at least one fish.
I am happy to say that I had succses.
The dead end canal at the local courtbuilding yielded some nice
yellow perch for me whom all fell for the polar minnow – in perch livery 🙂
Netherlands 10-02-2013
OK, it was not the smartest move to go fishing this day as temperatures
where barely above freezing and the second flu of this year had me in it’s grip.
Besides the joys of basic flu this one came with an eye infection as a bonus.
Still it was the second month without seeing a fish so I just had to go,
I timed my short venture outdoors during the period when the outside
air temperature would be at it’s peak.
I ventured to the harbour and guess what … I was the only fisherman.
I tied on a streamer and dragged the canal hoping for a bite.
It was could outside but not to bad.
The small roach where still active at the end of the canal but the strong wind
had made the water all murky – that was bad.
I did my best but I could not get any strikes from the predators.
With the sun setting the temperature went down the drain and the guides began
to ice up.
I tried the more sheltered mooring sites inside the harbour and had one certified hit
when I pulled the streamer long the egde of the ice sheet.
Unfortunately I had to leave the scene with a blank, Now I felt sick … really really sick…
As I write this I have spend the whole working week sick at home due to the flue but I think
I am enough recovered now to give fishing yet another try.
I might check out the river in the weekend and see if any fish are willing to bite before
the next cold weather period sets in.
Netherlands 29-12-2012
As an official closure of our fishing season 2012 my friends and yours truly made
a final attempt to catch some fish at this years ends.
Goal was to catch pike in some of our local small streams.
Now I have to say that the pike fishing in not really my “thing” so while the rest
was armed with 8-weights and chicken size streamers I opted to take the
four weight with me.
I carried some small zonker streamer with me for the perch and I also had the
nymphing rig ready in case I would spot any concentration of roach.
A H2O streamer, this would have to do the trick according to our specialists.
Mr. H2O at work, he actually hooked a pike right at the spot pictured here but the fish got away.
The geese on their way to somewhere…
Renaturized part of the stream, wide and shallow with a smaller fast flowing ditch in the middle,
nice if you are a duck – bad if you are a fisherman.
The so called renaturized section of the stream, completely off limits to us but I
had to check it out anyway since I had not been there since they rebuild the stream.
The bad thing about these works is that when the work is finished the fisherman are kicked
out, I also believe that the stream way back when did not look like this.
Anyway besides the one pike attack mr. H2O got it stayed very quiet in that stream so we
had to activate plan B ie find another stream to fish.
With all that rain we had during the last week many waters where just going back from
flooding stage so the choice of water was limited.
We picked one of the streams that always had a minimal flow and it turned out that
water clarity and current where good enough to fish it.
One of my friends new the place well and told me he had found a spot where large
schools of roach where present.
I headed down to the location he mentioned and was greeted by the guard dog of
the nearby farm.
The water was teeming with small fish so I quickly removed the fast sinking polyleader
plus streamer with a floating one and a size 16 pt nymph.
Bites where instantly but the size of fish was a tad dissappointing.
The weather … very warm for the time of year and for a change dry.
It was windy however and with that strong blowing wind the choice for the four weight was
not the best move I made this day.
There could have been larger roach underneath the small fish but the hard wind had to
much grip on the fly line so I could not make a good presentation.
With all those small baitfish there should have been predators around so I switched to streamer
again and fished that part of the stream as the sun was setting.
It paid off as I finally hooked something bigger, not the intended perch but a little pike.
As the sun went down one of my friend that fished the opposite bank got his first pike attack.
He missed the fish and immediately fished the same area again which resulted in another strike
from the pike.
That second strike was also missed so he made a third attempt which curiously again caused the pike
to strike.
The third strike was also missed and the pike left the scene.
We did to as it became to dark to fish.
We fished with six people all together, five pike where landed by three people.
To conclude the day we had planned a dinner along our route home.
So this was the last fishing trip in the year 2012 down here which only leaves me to wish you all the best for 2013.
Netherlands 18-11-2012
My plans for yesterday where to fish the river and hope that the
chub would be active.
According to the weatherforecast light rain was expected but it turned
out to be heavy instead.
The conditions where not suited for river fishing in my book so I had to
think of a plan B.
The weather would clear up midday so I decided to fish one of the local
harbors instead, my intended quarry was perch.
The harbor was quit, the last rains subsided and blue skies appeared in the distance.
Like every winter the water turned very clear so I could see quite a distance in the water.
No fish to be seen though.
I tried my usual to go spots but I did not even get a hit.
At long last i finally caught a small perch so at least I would not get skunked.
The fly I use for perch fishing, Polar minnow (Fulling mill)
The floating docks did not yield any fish so my last option was to fish a dead end canal that
usually had some activity in it.
The far end of the canal was used as an overwintering ground for many small coarse fish.
Diving Grebe’s where an indication that the small fish where present.
My canal outfit consisted of a light 7 ft #4 rod fitted with a sinking line and a superfast sinking
polyleader.
A short tipped and a perch style polar minnow completed the set.
The first section of the canal yielded no contacts but near the end I could see the perch
standing in the water.
A huge school followed the streamer and one fish finally grabbed it.
The end of the canal proved to be full of perch and soon I was catching the one
after the other.
Most where small but larger specimens where also present.
I even hooked a small pike for a short while but that fish was just holding on to the polar minnow fibers.
I fished untill the light was gone and action had died down.
Thanks to plan B a brilliant day in the outdoors.
Netherlands 16-12-2012
Before the world ended as we knew it I headed out to the harbor to check
on the perch.
Actually the break from the freezing temperatures of recent times was the
main driving force.
The water was clear, very clear.
I could count several bikes that where partially covered by the silt, off course the other urban
garbage like shopping carts could also be found.
The clarity of the water was to such an extent that the fish where clearly visible.
Some huge perch where following my streamer but they would only follow.
The sheltered water at the end of the canal canal boasted lots of small roach so I expected to
run into some more predators there.
The perch where present and clearly visible but also very lethargic.
A pikeperch was slowly moving over the bottom completely ignoring my offerings.
I caught two perch in the end and then called it a day as the skies opened.
Lake Oostvoorne Jan. 2nd. 2012
The first day at work was traded in for a day¡¦s fishing.
My friends and I decided that the first Monday of the year would
be better spend at the shores of Lake Oostvoorne in pursuit of
brackish water trout.
The weather was wonderful, a light North-westerly breeze and finally some sunshine after days of rain.
At the lake the fish did not show themselves, it was quiet ¡K at least at the spot I was
fishing.
When my friends came ashore for a break they told me that they saw loads of tailing fish but could get into proper casting range.
After the break we all headed to that attractive spot but conditions had changed quickly.
The wind had gathered force and was pushing nice little waves on the lake, the fish had stopped feeding and where nowhere to be seen.
We still tried desperately to hook one of those elusive trout but the fish where just not cooperating.
At least not for us because another Fisherman who just arrived managed to catch one within 15 minutes.
Most likely one of the locals who know the lake very well.
It was always very difficult for outsiders like us to do well at the lake especially during the winter.
The only thing we could do was to keep trying and wait for sunset because then the fish would enter the shallows and hunt for small fish and shrimp.
In the dark I finally spotted fish, to bad a large trout jumped right next to me instead it should have attacked the fly ļ
Even our bellyboat captain who always was into fish blanked on this memorable day.
We stayed pretty long after sunset but things where not working out so we left early.
When our friend drove in front of us on the highway we noticed something sticking out of the car.
We drove besides them and saw that one of their landingnets was still attached to the outside of the door via a magnet.
Even at 120 km/h it stayed put so we phoned them and told them they had forget
something.
They eventually safely retrieved the net by opening the window and grab it.
So Lake Oostvoorne will not see us in the near future.
Maybe we have a go at it in spring when the trout are more active and will hunt in the shallows.
Flyfishing Netherlands March 6th. 2011
Fellow flyfisher Joop called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to tag along
to one of the streams near the city to fish for perch.
It sounded like a good idea and so we headed out in sub-zero temperatures
to the stream.
Pike season had ended in February so I adapted my gear to the perch.
We walked the stream for miles without any signs of life in the water.
I did notice some of the rare white herons flying over – a more welcome
sight than those evil cormorants.
The first sign of life from the water came when I hooked the root of a
waterlily, appearantly the scuds where pretty active.
We thoroughly fished all the known hideways of the fish but nothing happened.
The spot I thought would produce fish was a junction of the main stream with
a small feeder.
That feeder stream came from a nearby nature preserve that consisted mostly out of heather and moorland hence the tea coloration.
The junction was usually full of reeds in the summer and loads of dace and roach would hang out there – a good spot for predators.
I hooked a fish downstream of the junction and noticed immediately that it was a pike.
I was fishing a small weighted zonker without a trace so I expected to disconnect at any minute but by some miracle the fish stayed on.
I quickly deployed my large landing net to scoop up the pike.
After a short photo session the fish was released back into the cold water.
It was good to be out today even though it was a tad chilly.
Just a short while for the trout opener – than we will be visiting our neighbors in Germany again.
Flyfishing Netherlands Jan.23 rd. 2011
Went out pikefishing today with the guys from
the local flyfishingclub and got hold of my
second pike of this year.
Last time I had to beach the fish and it got
away before I could take a picture.
This time I actually remembered to bring the
net with me 🙂
Flyfishing Netherlands Feb.6th. 2011
Plan A today was to head to Germany to fish the river for the first time this year.
I had hoped that the wind would die down today but I still could hear the wind howling this morning.
I opted to go for plan B which was fishing the harbor in the town I work.
Main target was perch so I took my 4-weight superfine rod plus some small zonker streamers with me.
My usual good spots where pretty useless today, the strong wind had kicked up so much silt that visibility was minimal.
I received not a single hit on the fly as I probed the walls and docks of the harbor.
As a last ditch effort I tried the dead end stretch at the courthouse.
When I tossed a streamer near a bridge I saw fish following so my hopes where up.
After a while I began to catch the perch, the majority very small but there where also some nice one among them.
Not bad for a day with rotten weather.