That's all folks

Final thoughts

Packing & departing

Thankfully the ferry was an evening departure and my AirBnB hosts kindly allowed me to leave anytime rather than being away by the stated 10am time. This meant I could enjoy my last day's fishing without having to get back early to start packing. Packing was a challenge as I was actually taking home more that I brought i.e 2 sacks of hemp, a sack of brown crumb and 2 x 2kg bags of worms (these are quite a size). I also needed to flat-pack my Octbox and then try to fit everything into the car. Thankfully I had some help with my packing: -


Once packed I said my goodbyes, wrote an entry in their visitors book and just had to have one more helping of ribs from the Road Runner cafe. The staff in there are great and I spent a lot of time chatting to them and sharing stories of fishing and travel in general: -




Overall impressions

The Netherlands is a beautiful country. I drove around the Zwolle area (about 30 mins in all directions) and was taken aback by the pretty villages, daffodil lined canals, stunning homes and very well kept roads. In fact, the whole place looks like it was only built in the last few years. Driving was easy other than the strange custom of stopping on roundabouts to give way to bicycles that have their own roundabout around the outside of the car roundabout and they have priority.

Fishing-wise, the Zwolle area is blessed with many great fishing venues and caters to all tastes from big powerful rivers (Ijssel), through to more sedate rivers (Vecht), endless canals and some superb lakes. As a coarse fisherman you really can't ask for more. Most venues allow you to drive to your peg and the tracks/banks are either sandy or stoney - no mud as such. Consequently, in three weeks I only used my barrow 3 or 4 times and my car came back relatively clean (but smelly) even though the middle week had some bad weather. Bait was easy to acquire (tackle shops or pet-shops selling tackle and bait were everywhere). Day/week tickets could also be purchased for waters not included on your VISpas. Worms, in particular were plentiful and much cheaper than back home - I paid 50 euros for 4kg.

Whilst the fishing could be exceptional, it wasn't easy and required some work. The rewards were superb though and made more enjoyable by having to work at it a bit. Lady luck also played a part once or twice: -
  • On the afternoon that I had some big Bream on the river, I had intended to fish Big Zalk but the weather was not nice when I got there (strong, cold wind in your face along with driving rain). I therefore abandoned Big Zalk and instead fished the Ijssel with the wind from behind me. I had my best session on the Ijssel that afternoon!
  • I fished the Ijssel the next day, it was mediocre. I planned to have a day float fishing the Wijde Aa the day after but the forecast was for a hot & sunny day (no wind) and a couple of acquaintances (Colin & Steve) messaged me to say that it was like a swimming pool and not conducive to fishing. So, I had to re-think my plans to fish that on a hot Saturday so decided to pre-bait Big Zalk and try that instead. That change resulted in a great day with 140lb of Bream.
So, the big question "Would I come back?"

In a heartbeat - I would love to come back more than once a year as I have still to experience: -
  • The river Vecht (with flow)
  • The river Ijssel with more flow and for Barbel
  • Ketelmeer
  • Countless other stillwaters in the area
I also have several targets that I believe to be achievable: -
  • 6lb+ Ide
  • 10lb+ Bream
  • 7lb+ Tench
  • 2lb+ Roach
  • 100lb+ net of Roach

Some stats from the trip

I broke my personal bests several times on the trip: -
  • PB Tench at 5lb 15oz
  • PB Ide at 3lb 15oz
  • PB Tench again at 6lb 2oz
  • PB Ide again at 4lb
  • PB Bream at 7lb 7oz
  • PB Bream again at 7lb 11oz
  • PB daily total of 118lb
  • PB daily total again of 140lb
  • PB daily total again of 170lb
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A big-big thank you

This is the first time that I have had a three week holiday. With fishing often being a solitary past-time, I was a little worried that I might feel somewhat isolated and lost with respect to locations, tactics etc. I really needn't have worried, I was welcomed by my AirBnB hosts (Niels and his family) and I have been blown away by the help and support that I have received from members of the "Fishing in Holland (NL)" Facebook group. In particular I would like to call out the following people that have contacted me directly to offer their advice: -
  • Ade Kiddell
  • David Deas
  • Paul Bishop
  • Kevin Litkowicz
  • Kevin Medlock
Arjan Visscher for giving me some bait additive and some of the feeders he has made. Also for inspiring me to fish the Ijssel on the day I fished that instead of Big Zalk and caught big Bream.

A special mention has to go Bertie. He came to see me on the Ijssel and following that we chatted and met regularly. He was a great friend to me on this trip. His feeders are superb too. I am sure we will meet again.

An extra-special mention has to go to Chris Watson. Thank you so much for creating that group and fostering a culture of helping rather than the snarkiness often seen in other groups. Additionally, the customised Google Map that you did was invaluable in getting me straight to the locations.

A parting gift - of sorts

I have often referred to my "Deeper" (a sonar device). There is a publicly available website that shows all of the Deeper sonar scans that people have done around the world. Many of the places that I fished had already been scanned. On this website you can search for a location (e.g. Zalk) then see a contour map showing the depths. It also has a measuring tool so you can measure from your peg to a specific depth that you require. The website is available here : -


ps: the above website doesn't work very well when viewed inside Facebook - it is best viewed in an external browser. 

Until next time...