Street fishing 5+6+7

For the past two days the weather was not really encouraging for fishing, pouring rain and 7 degrees. I went fishing both days only for one hour. One day I blanked (two empty strikes though). The second day I landed 75cm pike and accounted an exciting strike of a huge pike just at my feet, but she missed. I'll definitely visit the same place next weekend.

Today it was a different story. I landed four fish (74, 47, 77 and 78cm) and lost another two.

Tomorrow probably I'll not have time to go out fishing, so this makes it the last fishing session this year.

Happy New Year and lots of bending rods in 2012!  

Street fishing 4

I don't have to work between Christmas and New Years, so of course I went fishing today. What a day! I landed 4 pikes, the biggest one on the picture above was 87cm. This is actually a fish I caught already this year, a month ago, on November 27th. I had two another spectacular strikes, just a half a meter away from my feet, in both cases the fish unhooked themselves, I didn't manage to land them. I fished all day with SPRO Screamin' Triple Devil lure in "Aussie Poison Frog" color.

Street fishing 3

I've been ill last week, so didn't do any fishing. This Saturday however I managed to get done few hours of street fishing. I landed three pikes - biggest one 80 cm. The guy few meters away from me landed really nice, fat 105cm.

On another note, in order to get some solid knowledge about pike fly fishing before buying any gear, I treated myself with some books. I'll try to read them between Christmas and New Years (I'm on a leave then :-)).

Fly fishing for pike

For a couple of months now I'm googling for anything related to fly fishing for pike and thinking about buying the gear to do it. I think I got hooked specifically by the movie below. Fly tying looks like fun too, when you have not much to do in the dark winter evening, tie a fly or two ;-) If I take off with my plan to treat myself with a big birthday present in January, I'm sure I'm going to post any developments in my fly casting education and of course the first catch. In the meantime enjoy the movie - it's a treat!

Street fishing 2

Just a quick session today in the morning and a nice catch of 87cm. The other one was 70 cm. Again Savage Gear 4Play does the job ;-) Tomorrow long anticipated friendly pike fishing competition near Amsterdam :-)

Street fishing

Today I spent a day doing some street style fishing in Leidschenveen/Forepark. Very foggy weather and cold. I have landed 3 pikes, the biggest one 74cm. The water was very murky and of course the pikes adapt their colours to it. Look at the fins on the first picture ;-) All pikes were caught on Savage Gear 4Play in 3D Minnow and Golden Ambulance colours,

Quantity but not quality ...

I haven't written anything in over a month and my fishing time is limited to only one day a week. Despite that I have landed around 30 pikes on 6 trips – I lost count to be honest. I have been fishing mostly in the polders near Gouda. Most of the pikes were average 60-70 cm with few peaks above it. Only one decent fish – 85 cm – on the picture above. I decided to not take pictures to anything below 70 cm and if possible unhook the fish in the water. The most used lures were Savage Gear 4Play Lip Lure, colors 3D minnow or Golden Ambulance. Tomorrow I'm going to do some urban style fishing in a search for a bigger catch... Next week – a friendly competition between the Poolse Sportvissers in Nederland.

Sunset, golden colors and a 92cm pike...

Today I went fishing to another polder, this time a bit closer to The Hague - Weiportse Vliet. The sun was setting down, so I decided to use a lure with the colors that call to be used in that kind of situation - orange/gold/yellow. I chose Savage Gear 4Play - "Golden ambulance" color. The result - a 92 cm fat lady. So far the best catch of this season for me.

Poldersnoek again

I spent another morning fishing in the polders near Gouda, 4 pikes caught today. Two were very small - 30 cm so I unhooked them in the water. Next one was a 60cm, with following 77cm (nice!). All pikes were caught with SPRO BBZ-1 (again).

Personal best perch - 44cm

Hell yeah! Just 2 hours fishing straight after work and personal best in perch in the first cast. Solid 44cm on the bank after few minutes. I caught also 70cm pike in the last cast :-)

Autumn has arrived, predator fishing starts!

Polder pike

Another trip to the dutch polders and a good catch again - 84cm. The water was clear and only 50cm, so I saw the strike. Poetry for the pike angler :-) I was using again the little SPRO BBZ-1 swimbait, which becomes my favorite lure this season. I use it in the clear waters and also with the fluorocarbon leader, this works very well.

Back in bussines!

I got back from the annual leave and went fishing of course! Just a small jackie, but it counts :-) I'll hope the autumn will be better then this years spring. I know one thing, it's going to be a lot of polder fishing.

Best catch of the season (so far)

Yesterday I've set up the alarm on my phone to wake me up at 4:30AM. Hm... apparently I switched it off because I woke up at 8AM. I quickly packed my stuff and drove 30km to Reeuwijk. All the canals in the polder were full of weeds, so I decided to explore further part of the Vlist instead. The part I have chosen was not as wide as the one yesterday and it was also full of weeds. Again I decided to move somewhere else.  It was already a bit late for fishing but I decided that I will visit the near polder, where I landed four pikes last week. I noticed a nice crossing of two canals, where shoal of small whitefish gathered. I observed for a moment and saw a couple of pike strikes. I started fishing with a 12cm ripper on a wide offset hook with some additional weight below the belly.

This is a good weedless rig, nothing gets stuck on the lure. The disadvantage is that the hooking is very poor. I had two strikes but no luck. I switched to Salmo Skinner 12cm and later on to Salmo Fatso Crank and some topwater lures. Also a couple of strikes but not a single fish. I moved to the deeper part of the watercourse and started to fish with SPRO BBZ-1 swimbait. Second cats and bam - a nice strike. I'm fishing with a light tackle in the polders, so it took some time to land this fish as I had to be extra careful. Few pictures, measuring (80cm) and fish gets back to the water. Some reanimation had to be done as it was very tired after the fight, but it happily swam away in few minutes. I'm starting my vacation next week, so I will have some break from fishing. I'm back in the September and hopefully the canals will clear out from the weeds, so the fishing will be easier.

Water in my boots:-)

Still exploring areas near Gouda. I found an interesting place - the Vlist canal. Right now it's full of lilly pads and weeds so it's really difficult to effectively cast the lure. Nevertheless I have landed two pikes - 66 and 53 cm. I fell in to the water when landing the first one, so my knee-high boots filled up with water :-) On top of that when trying to take the picture of the first pike, he flipped in my hands and managed to jump straight to the water. No picture then. I have seen a lot, a lot of pike action today. I even saw a pike flying today :-) (chasing his breakfast). I will definitively get back here in the Autumn, when the water plants will  be gone. Tomorrow another polder - Reeuwijk I think.

My "Arsenal"

This is my "Arsenal". Mostly Salmo jerkbaits, bur recently I started fishing with swimbaits as well. Lures length varies from little 4 cm cranckbaits to 18 cm Salmo Jack. Salmo Fatso 10 cm sinking in TT color caught the most pikes, secon one I think is 10 cm Salmo Slider RGS.

Personal best in zander

Fishing on the Vliet again and I've caught my biggest zander. It may not be very impressive, but still it's a decent 70cm. Picture taken by a cyclist :-) It was caught on Salmo Executor 12SR in "Real Dace" color.

Polder fishing - I like it!

I got up really early today - just after 4AM I was already sitting in a car driving to my fishing destination - polders near Gouda (again). After arriving I ate a quick breakfast prepared in the evening the day before, decided on the rod and the lures, packed the bag (I drive my car with most of the fishing gear in the trunk) and went in the polder. Today I was fishing with 2.45m 10-35 gram cw rod and small lures. I have to admit that my little SPRO BBZ-1 looks and moves just like a little roach. In no time I had two pikes on the bank - decent 70cm and 40cm jackie.

Later on I landed two more 60+ pikes. I think I'm going there tomorrow as well ;-)

Fishing on the Vliet

Another evening fishing on the Vliet canal. This time I tried out my new swimbait - SPRO BBZ-1 6".

Second cast and I've landed 50cm jack:-) I stayed just one more hour, but nothing came out of it.
I'm starting preparations for the Saturday - I'm planning to go again near Gouda to fish in the polder.

Pike fishing in the polder

Fishing in the polder is very specific. The water is very shallow and quite clear at this time of the year, so if you are wearing your polaroids you can see just everything. It is great to see pike following your lure and hitting it hard. Today I've landed 3 pikes: 66,50,50cm, and lost another three. The lure of the day was SPRO BBZ-1, very lifelike action, it could be just a bit bigger with two trebles instead of one.

One of the pikes had a very interesting body color, kind of copper with thick black stripes.

I also tried my mini headcam, here is the result with a little bit of video editing:

Not a good start...

Over 1,5 month of the new season has past and the best way to describe pike fishing is “bad”. Constantly changing weather and temperatures around 14-16 degrees makes is difficult to hunt down my favorite prey. Imagine that – only 3 pikes landed in 1,5 month... I lost another 3. I'm fishing with my new rod designed for jigging (with flexible sensitive tip) and have some problems with setting the hooks hard enough. It's not the same feel as very stiff jerkbait rod. Most of the time I'm trying to fish near the bottom, there are almost no signs of pike food - whitefish or perch - on the shallow water, my usual hots spots for this time of the year are just empty. I have 3 more weeks until I go on my annual vacation in August. I have a feeling it's not going to get any better and I have to wait for the September, when the predators will prepare for the coming winter and start to bite hard again.

Note that a perch on the picture above is not faul hooked :-)

44 fish in 9 days!

I just got back from my short trip to Poland. It was a good one and a half week time off, I fished most of the days. As I suspected the water level in Nida river was high again, which made it almost impossible to fish. Instead I focused on the ponds in my hometown, Kazimierza Wielka. I knew that I'm not going to catch anything spectacular, but I made it in the quantity. 41 pikes and 3 zanders in 9 days. Not bad I think. One day was especially good, I landed 14 pikes :-) I fish almost only with the artificial lures (some dead baiting in the colder months), while the locals fish almost always with the live bait. If I came across somebody with the spinning rod, he was using a small spinner or a ripper on a jig head. My lures are rarely smaller then 10cm, so when the local anglers saw what I'm casting in to the water they were amazed. I'm happy to say that my methods were very effective, while the local anglers caught maybe1-2 or none pike per day. At the end of my stay I became “a recognizable person” :-)))

I tried also drop-shot method for the first time and I think I'm going to spend some more time mastering it during this season in Holland.  I had a nice ~70cm zander on the hook, but I've lost it when it was almost in the landing net – too bad :-(

It will be a round year until I will go to Poland the next time. I'll try to participate in the local pike fishing competition next year and maybe rub the locals noses this time (I came 3rd in the September 2010).

Closing the 2010/2011 season

I think this one is the last one in this season. I fished only for 2 hours on Saturday, it was just pouring rain. I was on a sick leave at the beginning of the week and didn't want to risk it again, so I head back home. Anyway – 2 hours of fishing resulted in 78cm pike, caught on Salmo Fatso Crank in my favorite TT color. In Holland the season closes with the end of the March (this Thursday), but I don't think I'll find the time to go out fishing again. The next time I'll be fishing it will be in Poland, in my hometown Kazimierza Wielka. I'm going for a short 1,5 week vacation to fish with my dad. I hope the flood will not ruin the plans to fish in Nida river (like it did in 2010 Spring). Nida river holds the polish pike (24.10 kg, 128cm) and zander(15.60kg,109cm) records, unbeaten since the 70's. Although the times of that big fish are gone I'm afraid, I still have high hopes for that river.

Next weekend I'm going to Rotterdam to visit the Visma, the biggest fishing trade show in Europe. I'll post some pictures as I already promised to write an article for www.jerkbait.pl.

Wydaje mi się że to ostatni szczupak w tym sezonie. Byłem na rybach tylko dwie godziny w sobotę bo lało jak z cebra. Na początku tygodnia byłem chory i nie chcąc ryzykować wróciłem do domu. Rezultat dwóch godziny łowienia to 78cm szczupak, złowiony na Salmo Fatso Crank w moim ulubionym kolorze TT. Sezon w Holandii kończy się z marcem (ten czwartek), ale wydaje mi się że nie znajdę czasu by jeszcze raz pójść na ryby. Następnym razem gdy będę łowił będzie to w Polsce, w moim rodzinnym mieście Kazimierza Wielka. Spędzę tam krótkie 1,5 tygodniowe wakacje łowiąc z moim tatą. Mam nadzieje, że powódź nie zrujnuje planów łowienia w rzece Nida (tak jak to się stało na wiosnę w 2010). Z Nidy pochodzą polskie rekordy szczupaka (24.10kg, 128cm) i sandacza (15.60kg, 109cm), nie pobite od lat 70-tych. Obawiam się, że czasy tak dużych ryb w tej rzece już minęły, niemniej jednak nadzieje mam duże.

W następny weekend jadę na targi Visma, największą imprezę wędkarska w całej Europie. Wystawię kilka fotek, i tak obiecałem fotoreportaż dla www.jerkbait.pl.

First pikes in 2011

Finally! The beginning of the 2001 was quite cold in Holland, so far each weekend was windy or rainy. However it got a bit warmer recently - around 6-10 degrees. I took the advantage of favourable weather and decided to explore new areas, I went to Leidschenveen-Ypenburg district. Generally I don't like fishing in the city, I prefer areas where I can enjoy the nature. Leidschenveen-Ypenburg is mostly offices, warehouses etc..., so not much of staring people in the weekend. I fish there in shallow canals 1-1.5m, maybe deeper in few places. Because of the winter I was not expecting any spectacular bites, however I managed to catch two decent pikes – 77 and 76 cm. Although the second one was shorter it was quite fat. Both were caught on sinking Salmo Fatso 10cm, in GS colour. Fatty on Fatso :-)

No w końcu! Początek 2011 roku w Holandii był dość zimny i jak na złość każdy weekend a to lało a to wiało... Ostatnio jednak zrobiło się trochę cieplej - 6-10 stopni. Postanowiłem wykorzystać sprzyjającą pogodę i poodkrywać trochę nowe tereny, wybrałem się do dzielnicy Leidschenveen-Ypenburg. Generalnie nie lubię łowić w mieście, wolę tereny gdzie mogę cieszyć się kontaktem z naturą. Leidschenveen-Ypenburg to przede wszystkim biura, magazyny itp..., więc w weekend nie ma tu zbyt dużo gapiów. Woda to płytkie kanały 1-1.5m, może miejscami głębiej. Jakby nie było jest zima i nie nastawiałem się zbytnio na jakieś szaleństwo i spektakularne brania, ale udało mi się wyciągnąć dwie nie najgorsze sztuki - 77 i 76 cm. Drugi mimo, że krótszy był nieźle napasiony. Oba wzięły na Salmo Fatso 10 cm, tonące, w kolorze GS. Grubas na Fatso :-)