Winter evaluation - April 1, 2023
Ever since the summer of 2022 I had been extremely busy building the new Fly fishing for pike webshop. It ate up all my fishing time. In the fall I did a last minute trip to Rügen and that was a great succes (thanks to Bernd Ziesche). But no session on Dutch waters. That lasted until after our first pike event in Februari (thank you Fly fishing Academy). Than I started to pick up the old days frequency of at least one fly fishing for pike fishing day a week. I also started to make short youtube videos about those trips. Check 'm out @flyfishingforpike on youytube. Overall it was a short but succesfull season. I enjoyed my time spent on the water very much. Somehow I tend to forget time. The short polder sessions pass in the blink of an eye and the ten to twelve hour days in the belly boat seem to pass in a few heartbeats. The Netherlands have so much great pike fly fishing to offer in stunning 'flat land' nature. The by-catch species make it even more interesting. Here are my three best catches of the species encountered in the last 6 week of the season.
50.5cm perch on the flexi dreki wiggle tail
88cm Zander on the big flashy perch
92cm pike on the clown streamer
We now have to wait until the last weekend of May for the Dutch predator season opening. It will be a time of tying streamers and for me also adding hundreds of products to the shop. I will make sure I'll be ready when the season opens. The predators will be rested and hungry and I will be on the water!
Tight lines,
Peter Elberse
