Flyfishing Netherlands, March 6th.

[Marcel_Karssies]

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.

[spilunkr]

Enjoyed your report and pictures as I always do. It's always a nice surprise to get a fish like that pike on a slow day.

Guy

[HJS]

Marcel - Nice pic of the pike. I wish I had northern pike closer to home than what they are. Guess I have to make do catching the smaller pickerel. What made the tracts in the last pic??? Red deer???

[Marcel_Karssies]

Tracks are of roe deer.

Its unlikely you will see deer there in broad daylight
since a lot of people walk the river banks with their
(unleashed) dogs.
It is against the regs. but it seems nobody cares about
it and nobody enforces regulations hence making them
useless.