Fishing in Holland - September 2016

Fishing the big Dutch rivers for Zander with soft plastics

It's got to be said that the internet has changed my fishing forever. Being connected to and being able to talk to anglers all over the world at the click of a button has enabled me to make like minded friends in interesting places.

One such friend is Dutchman, Tim Puts. He's a dedicated angler living in Central Holland and is literally surrounded by water and great fishing. His fine angling skills first came to my attention when I started to notice the giant Perch that he was catching with shocking regularity through the winter months. I've honestly never seen fish quite like it! They were huge.

Tim with one of his giant Perch!

His speciality is catching them from a float tube on light lure fishing tackle. I was so impressed that I got in touch to chat it all over with him and we found that we had an awful lot to talk about with regard to our fishing. He was super keen, his enthusiasm was infectious.

Eventually, we agreed that we needed to meet and Tim very kindly invited me over to Holland for a long weekend of fishing in late September. I'd never caught a Zander, an Asp or an Ide before and Tim reckoned it would be a bit of fun to see if we could tick them off my list. Chasing species and new adventures is my kind of thing so I gratefully accepted his offer and booked up a ferry.

When the weekend arrived, Holland was in the grip of a late summer heatwave well in to the 30's. The fishing was going to be tricky, especially for the predators. Conditions were far from ideal!

Big or small - we love them all :)

Undeterred, I jumped on the ferry and made the drive down there. I instantly hit it off with Tim from the get go. The plan was to spend the first day trying for Zander and Ide from the shore. Day 2 was to be spent after the predators on a boat with his friend Synco and the last day we'd play by ear. We planned to fish the Rivers Waal and Issel and the mass of canals and lagoons that interconnects them all.

Tim agreed that the predator fishing would be tough in the heat but that the Ide fishing should be perfect. They respond well to high pressure and sunshine making it possible to take them off the top with breadcrust. It all sounded like lots of fun and I was itching to get going.

We started on the Ide as Tim reckoned this would be the easiest one to catch. The bright sun made the fish tricky and they weren't responding due to a lack of flow on the river. The weirs had been turned off due to low levels and without the flow the fish were reluctant to feed. Other than a very nice roach/hybrid? for Tim we didn't catch anything else that morning.

Is it a Roach or is it a hybrid? Hard to tell, either way...a cracking fish!

In the afternoon, we tried another much bigger river and this was a different story. We started here fishing soft plastics and I was fortunate to get my first zander, nothing massive but a new species for me and the first target of the trip met. Success. It was great to learn Tim's subtle technique and tricks for fishing these tiny baits in such a large, powerful river. Every day's fishing is an education. We never stop learning.

As the sun mellowed a little, we then started introducing bread into the quiet water between the groynes on the river. It didn't take long before some very nice sized Ide started slurping down the freebies. It was a great sight and really got my going, I love the visual aspect of this kind of fishing. After a while of cautious feeding, the fish were confidently taking the bait. It was time to start fishing for them.

Hooked up to an Ide on floating crust

Simple freeline tactics were all that was required as we had the fish within 20 feet of the bank. I'm not going to pretend that it was tricky fishing because it wasn't. The Ide were happy to take the crust and we both enjoyed some brisk sport taking several fish between us. It was a lot of fun but what was most impressive was the size of these Ide, they were serious specimens! I was chuffed to bits to have caught a few and tick another new species off  my list. It really was very enjoyable fishing.

Specimen Ide

The surprising thing about these Ide is that Tim and his buddies often catch them on small soft plastics when perch fishing, so they have some predatory instinct. This interested me immensely. I had a fly rod with me in the van and made a mental note to bring it with me next time. It had been a great, sweltering day. We returned back to Tim's place, ate and prepared for the following days lure fishing on Synco's boat and then hit the sack.

Tim getting in on the Ide action too.

We were on the water by first light with Synco in his impressive boat, the target was an Asp. He had a couple of spots in mind but the low light was key, so we headed straight there. Second cast in and Tim had an Asp swipe at his lure right by the boat, so we were in the right place. A few more casts and he hooked a fish, the Asp we were looking for. A very nice specimen but a baby compared to some that are caught in those waters. Either way, an Asp is an Asp. It was the only one we managed to catch mind you.

Tim and Synco with our only Asp of the weekend

The rest of the day was spent drifting all of Synco and Tim's favourite spots on the river. We fished hard with all manner of lures and had a great day. The fishing wasn't on fire, again due to the excessive heat, but we all managed a few Perch and Zander to keep us entertained and had a cracking BBQ. What more could you want?

Tim with a Zander

My final day with Tim was another scorcher. Back on the banks again, we started close to a large weir trying for an Asp in the half light. Neither of us even had a touch so we moved back to the other river and got back on the Ide and Zander trail. We caught plenty of Ide and a couple of more small Zander too. I tried with the fly rod and a bread fly but the Ide just would not take my imitation. It was very frustrating, they'd slurp up every bit of bread but ignore my fly. They knew.

More monster Ide

That drew my time with Tim to a close. It had been great to spend time somewhere new and swap ideas with a forward thinking angler like Tim. It's great to make new friends in new places and I'm sure we'll get together again at some point in the future...maybe when it's a little less hot!

That wasn't quite all the fishing over though. I had 5 hours to kill the next day as my ferry wasn't until late in the evening from Dunkirk. I got up and left with Tim on the Monday morning, said my goodbye's and headed straight back to the river. I had a bee in my bonnet and had to catch an Ide on the fly.

We had a few Perch but no monsters

I'd thought about it a lot and chatted it over with Tim on our last evening together. I decided to give the 'bread fly' a break and try using a 'proper' fly and appeal to their predatory instinct. I had a box of trout flies with me and there was a selection of lures and nymphs within. This would be my angle of attack. I knew where the fish were located having caught them in good numbers on bait so it made sense to return to the same spot and try my flies.

Specimen Ide on a Wooley Bugger Fly

I sat and watched the water as I rigged up my fly rod. I was fishing a #6wt setup with floating line, to the end of this I attached a 12 ft tapered leader with a 6lb mono tippet. As I was doing this there were several good boils in front of me, the fish were there. They were quite a way out though.

Given that Tim had caught them on small soft plastics before I went for a lure to start with and picked out a white Cats Whisker fly with a weighted head to get it down a little. I went about casting all over the swim, concentrating on the still water between the groynes as he fish seemed to like it here.

The Wooley Bugger does it again!

My fly was unmolested unfortunately, so after 15 minutes I changed it to a large black Wooley Bugger and gave that a few casts. I was allowing it to sink right down and then retrieving it in short sharp jerks to get it jigging through the water nicely. To my surprise, several casts in everything went tight and I had a fish on. I knew it was an Ide straight away from the familiar nodding fight.

and again!

It was a good size and hooked fair and square in the mouth too. I was made up, it's just a shame that Tim wasn't with me to share in the experience. This gave me the confidence and I fished on for the remaining couple of hours taking two more large Ide on the fly before the open road was calling.

That wrapped up the trip very nicely and I returned home happy having made some new friends, caught some new species and got one hell of a sun tan! Holland....I'll be back :)