Fishing Holland 2025

More Ijssel Experience I went back to the Railway Bridge stretch at Hattem today. I spent the first hour fishing a close line and feeding with casters and chopped worm in the feeder with the customary 2 minute casts. I also fished a full worm on the hook. I was hoping to locate some Bream.

Good afternoon No, that's not a salutation but a comment on my day. I needed more bait and a few odds and sods so headed to Vos Engelsport for opening time. Yet again I was welcomed and treated to a cup of coffee and a sit down chat about fishing (of course). When I got back I needed to do a bit of tackle maintenance so didn't head off fishing until lunchtime. Wijde Aa Location https://w3w.co/fencing.kinds.dividing 52.541491, 6.102549 The weather forecast was atrocious today, strong winds and rain. I chose Wijde Aa because I could find a sheltered spot and also because I had heard recent reports of good catches of Bream and Tench. I got fishing for about 1pm and proceeded to cast every 2 minutes with lots of casters in the groundbait. Casters were advised by another FB group member (Kevin) who had recently returned home but told me that lots of casters in the feed had been very successful for them. Initially I had double maggot on the hook to see what was around.  I also put o...

Mission(s) Accomplished I guess it's no surprise after yesterday's session that I am back on Widje Aa. That PB Tench is still obtainable and a large Bream haul is on the cards too. I was ready to start fishing about 10am. The early part of the day was going to have rain and winds slowly moving from westerly to north-westerly. This would mean that it would be blowing at me later in the day but hopefully that rain would have ceased by then meaning that I would not need the brolly then. Today I set up my groundbait feeder rod at a similar distance (about 21m) and I also set up a method feeder rod to the same range. The idea being to feed one spot and then occasionally try the method feeder in the same area that I had been using the groundbait feeder. Yesterday I waited over an hour before a decent fish showed. Today I got my first Bream within 20 minutes so thought it was going to be a good day. However I then waited about 90 minutes for the next bite. This time, thankfully, a few...

This is my kind of fishing It's been an interesting day today. My plan was to fish Big Zalk this afternoon/evening and then pre-bait it before leaving and return tomorrow. Firstly I needed to pickup some more worms from Fons Albert ( https://w3w.co/absorption.undisputed.strain ). I also needed a top-up of casters from Zunnebeld in Zwolle. I called Bertie to see where he was fishing today and told him my plans. He reminded me that it was a public holiday today and that Zunnebeld would be closed. Thankfully I have enough until tomorrow. I had messaged Fons so I knew he would be open for business today. The worm farm was open because it is all automated - no staff : - Bagging is also automated but I asked for an extra 2Kg so Fons bagged them manually for me. I got back and had a few household chores to do before heading to Zalk lakes. On the way I stopped off to see how Bertie was getting on so I arrived at Zalk for about 1pm.  Best laid plans The wind was not favourable as only the e...

Not much to report First job today was to stock-up on casters from Zunnebeld. After that I headed back to the same peg on the Ijssel where I had success yesterday. The same two guys were there that I saw yesterday. He had stepped up his pole float from 30g to 70g! They said it had not been fishing as good today. By the end of their session they had 4kg and 4.5kg. I tried all the same tactics as yesterday and even tried halibut pellet today (in case Barbel were about). However, I was only able to catch small fish on worm, caster etc. Skimmers and Ide made up most of the catch with a single Roach and a Bream of about 3lb. I ended up with 8lb 13oz. I also had a visit from the Lancashire lads (Colin & Steve). They had fished Wijde Aa in a double-peg. One had 16 Bream and the other struggled for a bite. Their main takeaway was that it was like a swimming pool with many people out on the lake both swimming and wind-surfing due to the weather being nicer today. I had planned a float fishi...

Thank you Zalk I pre-baited Big Zalk last night and set my alarm for an early start to increase the chances of that peg being free. The drive there was quite stunning with the early morning mist: - The village of Zalk View across the Ijssel When I got to my peg I mixed up some more bait and baited up again whilst I set up my gear. I had pre-baited 2 different zones, about 60m apart, and planned to fish both to see if either were prolific. Before I baited up, I cast my Deeper (sonar) to where I had pre-baited the night before. This really got me excited as it was pinging (detecting fish) like crazy. I cast it again, a little way off my baited area and things were much quieter. Ready to start It took me a while to get fishing what with mixing bait, baiting up and getting "Piper Alpha" installed. Eventually I was ready and got a bite on my 1st cast but missed it. I got another bite the next cast resulting in a Bream of around 3lb. I then caught a couple more on that rod that wer...

Zalk re-visited After yesterdays successful session I just had to try Zalk again today. I had originally planned a day on the Vecht but reports are not good at the moment due to lack of flow. Also I checked today's forecast and could see that we would have wind all day but thankfully warmer than the winds of last week. Considering that the Bream turned off once the wind stopped yesterday, I just had to have another try. Therefore I baited up before I left yesterday. Not as much as I had the night before as I was just using up the rest of my mix. Probably 1/4 to 1/2 of what I had put in the previous night. My peg for the day; thanks to Bertie who snook up on me: - First impressions I decided to start at a more sociable hour today (1st cast at 9am) and risk not getting the same peg. Of course I wanted that one but had mentally prepared for the alternative and decided that I would mix a lot more bait and pile it in - then be prepared to wait a while for the Bream to show. I saw other ...

A day on the float Having several successful days on the feeder I fancied float fishing on my last day. I fancied a Bream or two on the float so decided to re-visit Wijde Aa and fish the slider. You don't have to fish too far out to get a decent depth of 20 feet (on this trip I have caught most of my Bream at that depth both on Wijde Aa and Big Zalk). I fished a peg near the footbridge here: -  https://w3w.co/compiled.solids.humid 52.543216, 6.102303 It is a bit of a walk from the car to this peg but my powered Octbox got me there without breaking into a sweat. Peg analysis I used the Deeper (sonar) to find my required depth. I could see that there was a fairly flat area around 25m out and it started to shallow once you came back beyond 24m. It did not detect any fish near the bottom but did show a few in the surface layers.  There was a fair wind blowing right to left but the forecast was for it to swing round later and be coming from behind me. As it turns out, the forecast ...

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 ab...