Fly Fishing

Marcel_Karssies

Today I headed with fellow flyfishingclub member Niels to
Lake Oostvoorne near Rotterdam/Northsea coast to see how things where fishing wise.
We drove two and a half hours to get to the coast.
When we arrived at the lake hailshowers moved in from the north
sea, it was a comfy 40F outside.

Niels in his trusty bellyboat on the lake.

As usual Niels floated around in his bellyboat armed with a sinking line to get to the submerged trout.
I guarded one of the entrances to the back bays and counted
several passing rainbow trout.
Unfortunetely the fish where not in eating mode.

Westwind

Beyond the north shore of the lake the port of Rotterdam is located and a ribbon of 12 miles of chemical plants in a row.
Luckily the wind was due west so we where spared the chemical perfume from behind the dunes.
On the lake which is catch and release only it was a common fact that fish fed either during dawn or dusk so our midday session was doomed for failure.
So we had a plan B, go fishing in the outflow of the massive EON powerplant and hoped to catch some stray seabass that had not moved down south during the winter.

The Eon powerplant and the cooling channel.

Niels floating on the powerplant outflow along the huge concrete blocks and tried to nail the bass from underneath the blocks while I launched shads with a spinningrod towards the bass hideouts. The weather was not working to our advantage because a strong westerly was muddying up the water.
At least I thought I got a bite among the concrete blocks.
The wormbrigade did haul in some little bass so fish where
present.

Niels in his element.

The water was rough with waves from the outside spilling over the concrete blocks. Niels was in his element again taking constant showers while he was drifting along the concrete blocks.

Sunset on the North sea.

The masterplan was to return to brackish lake Oostvoorne past sunset to fish the productive time during dusk.
Niels was soon into a fish while drifting along the little dams in the lake.
In the dark I got a good tug on my streamer and had a pretty long battle with a nice Lake Oostvoorne rainbow.
So it was cold, fishing was tough but in the end we where rewarded with the fish we came for.

Rainbow trout from brackish Lake Oostvoorne.

Z · Newbie Joined: Apr 15, 2005 Posts: 17

Nice fish, Marcel. Do these qualify as steelheads? Are they stocked fish or all natural?

I had a chance to fish the lake two years ago but the weather was so bad I had to abandon my plans.

Marcel_Karssies · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:40 am Post subject:

They are not steelhead in my book since they are not able to move out, maybe landlocked steelhead would be a better description for them.
The basic food supply for those fish are stickleback and herring, they grow quite fast in the brackish environment.
All fish are stocked, the lake is c&r only.

I know that in Denmark Rainbows do run freely to the sea, I even heard
something about established populations of sea going bows but I am not
sure if that is fact.
The rainbows in Oostvoorne are big and very strong, different fish from the ones I encountered in pure freshwater.

We always go to the lake in the worst weather months from opening day on 15 december untill february march.
When spring comes the lake expiriences are algea bloom because the water is becoming to fresh due to groundwater influx.
There are plans to build a pipeline to the sea (right nextdoor) to let in controlled amounts of saltwater to prevent the lake from getting all fresh.
The salinity is now so low that the shrimp (one of the main food items for the trout) are extint.

Z · Newbie Joined: Apr 15, 2005 Posts: 17

Marcel, are there any other populations of sea going trout - native browns - in the Netherlands?

barbe-rousse · Newbie Joined: Nov 20, 2005 Posts: 1 Location: France

Nice report Marcel Very Happy

I've never been at this period in Oostvoorne lake, but I imagine rainbows stronger than in the summer period.
What about the brown trout in winter ? Are they more active compared to summer ?

Marcel_Karssies · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:38 am Post subject:

I have seen a recent report that a big brown trout was caught in the Lake.
I have never caught one down there since my succes rate is very low in the lake. It is always very difficult for me to catch any fish down there.
I know that the majority of stocked fish is rainbow trout with only a few browns mixed in.

Everybody thinks that fishingconditions have worsened at the lake and most people contribute that to the increased levels of freshwater in the lake. Hopefully it will turn to the better in the future once they finally put the pipeline in place to bring saltwater back in the lake.