Splodger
I went to Holland in April 2001 (cos Ireland was shut due to F&M) and we stayed in Brielle.
We were about a month too early according to the locals, the area doesn't really start fishing until May, but we still had some reasonable catches.
We only had four days, so the first two we fished a water called 'Zuider Dieps' which is a fair sized lake near Stellendam (south of Brielle).
We struggled a little the first day, just catching odd bream but after prebaiting we had up to 50lbs the following day (10 bream and 6 ide). The ide were enormous, the biggest one we weighed went 4lb 12oz and the bream averaged around 4lbs.
The third day we fished the Voorne canal, we had a bit of a late start due to a heavy night the day before and didn't really catch a lot (just odd bream)
Final day we went to the River Spui which is an awesome river. Its about twice as wide as the Trent with ocean going tankers using it.
Its tidal too and you need 4oz of lead on your feeder to hold bottom just a couple of rod-lengths out. The best weight we had on there was just over 22lbs (including a roach of 2lb 4oz), although we were on a split tide so the river rose 6ft in the morning before starting to fall again in the afternoon.
Don't worry about the language, the majority of the Dutch speak better English than we do. Theres a good tackle shop in the town too, maggots are a bit tricky to get hold of but they sell all the 'continental' groundbait we get over here (Van Den Eynde etc) and its only about half the price we pay.
We stayed at the Atlas Hotel in Brielle itself (very ancient town a bit like York)and because we went with one of the angling travel companies (Jack Purchase I think)our licences were waiting for us when we arrived.
I've got a few photos and a map of the area and as soon as I scan them in, I'll post them on here. Theres also a local angling club with their own website (all in Dutch I'm afraid), although you can e-mail them for further information.
Tight Lines
Simon
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