Fishing Holland 2025

I have always wanted to revisit Holland for a fishing holiday after I went with my sons back in 2011. I was originally planning a trip with my angling buddy but he preferred a visit back to Ireland so we are going there in September. That left me with an unsctratched itch. I therefore decided to go alone to Holland, specifically with the aim of finding some good coarse fishing that is relatively accessible. I feel like I missed out on the heydays of fishing in Denmark and Ireland and I want to find somewhere similar.  So, I have booked a 3-week exploratory trip (last 3 weeks in May). We often book trips through a specialist angling holiday company like Anglers World or Sportquest but decided to book this all independently. This blog describes my trip. Accommodation I have booked a small self-contained "hut" on AirBnB close to the towns of Zwolle and Dalfsen in eastern Holland. It has 2 beds, a small kitchen, WiFi and on-site parking so should be ok for a long stay even though...

Cramming everything into my car went smoothly this morning, a dry-run 2 weeks ago helped. I even found time for another trip to the tackle shop at Sessay. It is a very hot and sunny day. The drive went without a hitch, stopping off for lunch on the way. Arrived at Hull Ferry Port in good time. Check-in and embarkation all went well. A quick drop off of my overnight bag in my cabin and then I headed for the bar.  Well, would be rude not to. Journey from Rotterdam I arrived and disembarked just after 9am. I then had a 2hr 25min drive to my accommodation. I chose the toll-free route that was a few minutes longer bit I wasn't in a rush. Check in was at 3pm but I contacted them and asked if I could drop off a few items to make room in my car for a trip to the worm farm and tackle shop for maggots & casters. I had a good chat with the host on arrival and he invited me in for coffee. Even better, he keeps horses and every fisherman knows what that means! He has no problem letting me h...

Intro I intend to write up each day - warts and all - not just the good days (please let there be some). River Vechte I have missed river fishing with our closed season (no comment). I thought a trip to the Vechte would ease me into the fishing and allow me to check that I have everything assembled correctly (I flat-pack my Octbox to save room when travelling) and that I have remembered any extras (e.g video equipment). As you can probably tell from the Intro, this was a "warts" day.  I didn't get to the peg until 10am despite being awake early. Once I setup my box, I mixed the groundbait to let it settle and then had a cast around with my "Deeper" to find out what the depth was and what the bottom looked like. It looked like it was around 11ft from half to three quarters of the way across (about 30m). Then it slowly shallowed to about 8 feet as you came closer. However there was a noticable shelf up to 6ft and this was about 8m out. Interestingly the  "Dee...

That's more like it I decided to fish the very local canal confluence that I pre-baited last night.  Just a heads up :  I will not be posting actual locations/addresses of places that I pre-bait until my holiday is over. I will then edit the appropriate pages to add What3Words addresses retrospectively. I was able to drop my gear off right next to my peg and then park my car about 50m away. It was so much easier not having to assemble and disassemble my trolley. Here was the view for the morning: - It was about 8am when I was ready for my first cast. I did not ball in any bait as I wanted to see if any fish were in the area that I pre-baited. I usually start with 2 rods. That allows me to try a different bait and different part of the swim. If one rod starts to get a lot of action then I put the other one aside and concentrate on that one. So, I started with double maggot on one rod and a piece of corn on the other (whilst I chopped up some worm). The maggot rod went on the...

A challenging day I headed to the Mad German stretch of the mighty Ijssel today. The wind wasn't too bad when I arrived but it was still a cold northerly with no shelter once fishing. First job was to assemble Piper Alpha so I could get into the water with enough clearance for the wash from big boats. Piper Alpha ready for deployment You can easily fish from the shore but your keepnet (and its inhabitants) would get battered every time one of the big boats goes by. Therefore it's safer to get into a reasonable depth and anchor the end of your net. I used an attached bag with a few big stones in it. Successful deployment This is typical of the boats that pass. As they approach, the river level drops by quite a bit and then, once it passess, the waves restore the level. I love the fact that you can drive right to your peg and leave your car there all day. My kind of fishing :-) The fishing I fished 2 lines; one about 35m and the other closer in about 20m. I first tried the Koru...

Day off but not a rest day! I was certainly ready for sleep. I awoke at 11:11am which is unheard for me. After that I had to get on. Finally got back at 9:30pm. Key for Zalk lakes As you may recall, the Hattem Tourist Information office had run out of keys when I visited 2 days ago. I rang ahead to make sure they had more and duly headed off. The following photo reminds me that I am definitely in Holland (oops Netherlands). I had forgotten to pack a sweater (other than my copious layers of fishing clothing). The evenings are decidely chilly so I bought one in Hattem. Tickets for various lakes Next stop was a pet shop in Dalfsen. David Deas (another reader of this blog) got in touch the other day and kindly told me of a few lakes that he fishes when staying in Dalfsen. One is known as square lake and another is a lake in Ommen. He had also heard of some new lakes in Nieuwleusen but had not fished them yet. He told me where to get a 1-week ticket for Dalfsen club that allows me to fish s...

Days 5 & 6 Combined I decided to combine these 2 days because not a lot happened fishing-wise. Day 5 Venue 1: Nieuwleusen Lake Location https://w3w.co/norms.heatproof.incurs ‎52.587902, 6.334288 I arrived around 7:30am and spent a while testing the depth/contour at various pegs before baiting up. I was fishing the small lakes so tested the pegs along the bank that joins both lakes (south bank). It had such an even depth across all of the pags that I tested. It was 5.6 foot deep out to about 35m where it shallowed up to 3 feet. I decided to fish the first (corner) peg because it had some lillies. I therefore fished 2 rods, one at the drop off from 3 to 5.6 feet (35m out) and the other at 33m just on the corner of a lillie patch. I was getting the occasional very light tap on both rods. I tried hitting them but am convinced it was small fish. I threw in a few pieces of corn close to the margin amonst some lillies. I saw one grain disappear and a few other being batted about. When...

Up with the Larks I had not intended to fish "silly hours" - it is my holiday after-all. Still, best laid plans an all that, I decided that I needed to try everything to find fish. Perhaps I could have a good 3 hours before the sun/heat spolied the day. With that in mind I headed off to Square Lake. Square Lake The sun was just rising as I arrived at the Lake. Apparently it was once possible to drive to your peg but several anglers abused that resulting in the farmer/owner erecting a fence with a parking area. So, this was only the 2nd time that I needed to use my trolley wheels. The lake is connected to the river Vechte so anyting is possible. It was beautiful early morning: - I decided to start with just 1 feeder rod for a change and only revert to 2 if things were hard - spoiler, I never needed the 2nd. I erected my Octbox about 5m from the back to clear the trees. Water was about knee-deep with a firm bottom. I was fishing at 33m in 11 feet of water. That is where I had ...

Back to Square Lake Not such an early start today. I arrived at the lake and was ready to start fishing about 8:30am. I had pre-baited with 20 balls around 8pm the previous evening and fired out another 6 balls whilst I was setting up. I was getting plucks, bites or liners on almost every cast. I really should have caught more but managed 16 Bream for 56lb 4oz. I was hoping for an occasional Tench or big Ide - I know, I am never satisfied but that's what keeps us coming back time after time. All fish fell to a worm and corn cocktail. I tried maggots, worms on their own, corn on its own and caster but nothing improved bite/catch rates. I also omitted chopped worm in the feed to start with. After a couple of hours I did add chopped worm and this time, the Perch did not take over. I generally stuck to 5 minute casts (if I hadn't had a bite by then). I did have a couple of spells when I dropped to 3 minutes per cast to try and get them taking the bait quicker. It did produce a coup...

Non-fishing morning I needed to replenish my caster supply and get a few flavoured baits and additives (e.g. molasses, brasem etc). I also needed to replenish my food and beer supplies. Finally I had some tackle changes to make and bait to prepare. It was near lunchtime by the time I had done all this so I treated myself to a snack of crackers and a few different cheeses - very nice. The plan for the rest of the day I intended to fish the river Ijssel in the afternoon/early evening and then pre-bait Big Zalk ready for a session tomorrow. I checked the weather forecast for the wind direction (was going to be strong today) and chose the following stretch to have the wind blowing from behind me.   No prizes for guessing where I ended up This is known as "Storks" or "Storks Nest" and is near the village of Zalk. You have to park near the gate at the following location and then walk past the Storks Nest to the river. Location: - https://w3w.co/dream.anchors.churn ‎52.52...

Wijde Aa Location https://w3w.co/bugs.nests.episodes 52.54168, 6.097733 Seeing as I was unable to pre-bait/fish Big Zalk (due to the key problem), I decided to fish the above lake that is available on the Zwolle licence (you may recall that I got my VISpas in association with the Zwolle club). I met a couple of English anglers on Square lake the other day. The day after I met them, they fished Wijde Aa and had a good day with Bream to 6lb and half a dozen Tench, the biggest of which was 7lb 12oz - a cracking fish. I would love one that size. I was able to drive to my peg to drop off my gear but then had to park roadside (only about 60m away). The weather forecast was for another windy day blowing from the west. The western bank of Wijde Aa is accessible so should have the wind behind me again. On the topic of weather, we had quite a bit of rain last night and more was forecast during the day. I arrived around 8am and started by casting the sonar - and got quite a surprise - it was deep...

Half day today First job today was to replace my Zalk key with the correct one. I called the Hattem Tourist Information Office yesterday and they immediately recognised me - they knew they had given me the wrong key. The replacement went without a hitch. Out of interest, I asked what the wrong key was for and it was for a bird cage in the office - I didn't quite understand why a bird needed to be kept under lock and key but I guess something was lost in translation. After that I had a few housekeeping tasks before heading out for a half day fishing. De Gelderse Kolk Location https://w3w.co/whom.marbles.season 52.504622, 6.020678 I had been told about this lake by someone that reads my blog. He reported decent Bream in there. It attracted me today because the only real peg on the lake was favourably positioned with respect to the wind - yes another windy and rainy day today (no complaints here though - come on you Vecht!). The lake is fairly shallow all over with max depths of betwe...

Trying to get into my flow Today was a full day on the river Ijssel. I was very fortunate that there were a couple of local anglers near me and they were happy to share their knowledge/experience with me. I had struggled on the river thus far and hoped for a change in fortunes today. I was fishing on the Railway Bridge section located at  https://w3w.co/electric.singer.stars 52.489826, 6.060596 Railway Bridge The locals were getting quick bites almost every cast. These, when hit, resulted in skimmers, Roach, Ide, Gusta and a Bream. They were frequently changing baits between maggot (live and dead), casters, worm and corn and getting bites on all at different times. I couldn't wait to start and see if I could replicate their technique. I decided to feed less today, just putting in some loose offerings in the feeder for each 2 minute cast. I missed a bite on my 1st cast and caught an 8oz skimmer on my next - promising... However, from then on it was very like my day at Storks Nest wh...