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 :-)