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Why is Holland so popular in all Europe for its numerous big pike? Holland- we have 16 million people in a small country of 40.000 square kilometres. There are 1,2 million fishermen. Most of them fish in the rather shallow, 1 till 2 meters, canals that are found almost everywhere in Holland. Not a surprise for these canals and ditches are a necessity to get rid of the surplus of water in a short time. One should know that huge parts of Holland, which means low lands, are situated under sea level and big strong dikes protect the land against the long time enemy: water! There is a network of very small, big and very big canals with a pumping station at the end through which the water is pumped into the sea. DIFFERENT WATERS AND DIFFERENT RULES In the part of the province of North-Holland say the region in the triangle formed by the historic towns of Hoorn, Medemblik and Enkhuizen, we have a network of about 2500 km length of ditches, canals and little lakes where we can fish for pike. Try to imagine that all these fishing waters can be found in a circle with a radius of not more than 25 km and that there is pike in even the smallest 2 meter wide and 50 cm deep ditch. This is because this area is so flat that all the canals are linked with each other, making that one can go by boat without any problem from one village to the others. So the distribution of the fishes, no matter if it is pike, eel, zander or whatever species, is no problem and happens very naturally. Also they don't need to stock fish for they spawn and reproduce naturally.  Most
of the pike fishing here is done spinning from the bank,
live baiting is forbidden in Holland, or trolling with
little boats in all the canals mentioned.But before a pike fisherman wants to go fishing, he needs some licenses and these are the same for both local and foreign fishermen. First of all, one needs the national license called Sportvisakte, which can be bought at all post offices but also from the fishing clubs, hotels and lodges with sport fishing arrangements. At the moment, the costs of this Sportvisakte, which is valid from January 1st untll December 31st, is Euro 8,75. Every fisherman, no matter what age, who wants to fish with artificial lures or dead baits, needs this Sportvisakte. The money is going to the national organisation for Improvement of the Freshwater Fisheries, called OVB, and they use it for research, water management, stocking new fishes and education of staff members of the 1000 fishing clubs in Holland.  Besides
this national license, one also needs a license of the
owner of the pike fishing rights the waters you intend
to fish. Perhaps people think this is very complicated
with all the thousands of canals, little lakes or
whatever kind of water in this area but it isn't.
Believe it or not, all the fishing rights are collected
under one big umbrella and it is possible to fish the
waters of about 100 fishing clubs in the provinces of
North-Holland, Utrecht and the new Flevopolders with ONE
license. This so called Noord-Holland Vergunning is
given when you become a member of one of the fishing
clubs just mentioned and costs about Euro 16,50 per year.
Fishing is mostly done with one rod, although it is
allowed to troll with two rods. You don't see signs
Private Water in Holland. So, when a foreign pike
fisherman buys a Sportvisakte and becomes a member of
one of the many fishing clubs, he can fish for pike here
as long as be respects the different rules we have here
compared with his home waters.PIKE PROTECTION 
Here in Holland the pike
is first of all considered as sporting fish that should
be released to keep the right balance between predators
and prey fishes and creates the opportunity to catch
bigger pikes later on. It is very simple: a pike of 50
cm that is knocked on the head and killed will never
become the 10 kilo pike many fishermen
Hoofdstraat 254,1611 AN
Bovenkarspel, Holland, fax: 0031 228516856,
e-mail:
dehalvemann@mail.multiweb.net
Either the De Vlietlanden as De Halve Maan can organize a fishing guide services. At the De Vlietlanden it is also possible to rent a boat for trolling or move into the numerous lakes; the cost is € 38 a day or € 187 a week For general information about fishing, maps and licenses you can contact www.pos.sportvisserij.nl or e-mail: info@pos-sportvisserij.nl . |
Copyright ©2005, by PESCARTE/SP, Brasil
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HOLLAND'S
PIKES
dream of catching. In more and more fishing licenses you
can read that it is forbidden to kill pike and that they
must be released in the same water after having caught
it. One of the reasons we protect pike is that it helps
to fight the eutrofication of the waters by phosphates,
nitrates and so on. About 40-50 years ago this
eutrofication of many of our waters started. Little by
little the clear water with plenty of weeds and pikes we
used to have changed into coloured water with less or
almost no weeds, visibility was less than 30 cm, and
pikes were disappearing fast. In this coloured, algae
rich, water especially bream and zander were doing well
but more and more original species like pike, perch,
roach, tench, roach and bleak could not survive in this
green pea soup. As a result of this decline in water
quality, programs were started to get back the original
situation and the pike plays an important part in it. In
many waters the surplus of bream were removed by netting
them. Young pikes were stocked, so they could eat the
fly of the bream in an early stage, silt with a lot of
nutrients was removed and also dephosphating of waste
water was increased. Because a lot of the original pike
habitat was destroyed, more and more fishermen, fishing
clubs and since 1984 the Dutch Belgium Pike Anglers Club,
named SNB, promoted catch and release of pike. This was
easily accepted and in this part of Holland, it is
forbidden now to take pike with you, it is only catch
and release.
All
fisherman know now pretty well that the situation with
pike in general - and especially that with big pike -
has become much better in the last 10 years. In the past,
say 20 years ago, it was quite unusual to catch a pike
over 100 cm or 9 kilo in the North Holland area. But by
the catch and release program, and also the fact the
commercial fishermen are only allowed to fish with nets
for eels, we have seen an enormous change in both number
and size of the pikes we catch here. To catch a fair
number of pike during a days fishing and especially the
bigger members, say plus 5 kilo pike, of the Esox lucius
family, is not a problem here.