Summer Fishing in France & Holland - With Ade Kiddell

Join Ade Kiddell in his latest fishing trips across the Netherlands and France in this instalment of his Angling Blogs.

Read more Ade Kiddell Blogs, here.

Well, it’s been a very busy few weeks with plenty of fishing, with the campervan taking us from the north of The Netherlands to the historically famous town of Verdun in France with of course plenty of fishing trips involved.

Before we left, I needed a top-up of a few items of fishing tackle, so why not use the great services of Angling Direct Europe? It was unbelievably fast! The order I placed with Angling Direct was delivered to my home in the Netherlands not much more than 24 hours after I placed the order! great service at a great price for us European anglers. Give it a try I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Read more about Purchasing Fishing Tackle outside of the UK, here.

Zander Fishing in Holland

The first trip was to the North of Holland to one of the many small marinas in the area of Friesland, so many small harbours, canals and rivers in the area that it's an angler's dream. I have never failed to catch plenty of fish wherever we have stopped. There are so many options for the angler, silver fish for the pole or feeder angler, plenty of predatory fish with some huge pike and zander or even carp in some places. With the camper van, it is perfect for a few days but there are also plenty of campsites and public fishing spots. A great place to take young anglers to give them their first taste of fishing, with so many fish to catch they should enjoy it and want more.

We stayed for 4 days in a lovely little yacht harbour near Heerenveen, using a simple feeder or pole tactics I had some great fishing. On the first evening, once I got them going, I had a huge shoal of bream feeding, having fed plenty of Sonubaits F1 Dark and Sweet Skimmer groundbait laced with dead maggot and chopped worm the fish were queuing up. When I packed in at dark, I had 2 keepnets both with a good bag of bream in the 3 to 4-pound size, with a total close to the magic 100-pound mark. All caught on a simple pole rig it was certainly an elastic tester, very enjoyable simple basic fishing, like I always say keep it simple.

Over the 4 days, I had some really enjoy fishing, with the weather very hot I kept my sessions to early morning or in the evenings, that’s the best advice I can give at the minute with the hot weather, fish early or late. Keep protected with a good hat and decent sunglasses, polaroid glasses are essential for an angler, don’t forget your umbrella not just for the rain but also as shade from the direct sun. Be sure to pack high-factor sun cream and insect repellent as these are also important. A word of advice though, avoid getting creams or lotions on your hands when fishing. It is best to use gloves to apply or clean your hands well after the use of creams before you start fishing. It is very easy to taint your bait with the chemicals from these products and ruin a day’s fishing without realising why.

Summer Fishing In France

Next trip we ventured south into France to fish an area close to where we lived in France, around the village of Fumay. We parked the camper on the riverside and again enjoyed some amazing fishing, this time barbel were the target. With over 30 degrees during the day, I didn’t fish until the evening and fished into darkness, the perfect time for barbel fishing. I wasn’t disappointed with plenty of barbel from the river Meuse. No huge fish but to me, that’s not as important as just enjoying catching these magnificent fish, as I say they all count, big or small.

I have only been to my carp lake on one occasion in the last few weeks, with the hot weather the fish have been lazy and mostly on the surface and with a strict ban on surface fishing it's difficult to catch. I did have one session and managed a couple of carp, hopefully over the next few weeks as the weather cools down, I can get amongst a few and some of the better ones.

I mentioned earlier about how important polaroid sunglasses were for an angler, the proof came on our next trip with the Camper this time much further south into France but still on the river Meuse, around the town of Verdun. I was out on my bike looking for fishing spots on the river and we crossed a bridge, like every angler does we looked into the river from the bridge trying to spot fish and fishing spots. I was looking close by to some rocks in the river and could see the faint outline of some fish, I was wearing the normal tinted glasses I need for everyday use and could see the fish but not clear what they were.

The Benefits of Polarised Fishing Glasses

I changed to my polaroid fishing glasses and as clear as day I could see a small group of barbel tightly packed behind a few rocks in the river. The polarizing effect of the fishing glasses completely cut out the glare and with them on I could see a lot more fish including some big perch and solitary big zander. Incredible the difference that some decent glasses made.

The fishing in the Verdun area was difficult until the very last hour of daylight when what almost seemed like a dead river suddenly came to life and for the next couple of hours, I had some brilliant fishing. With bream and small carp coming to simple feeder tactics it made for some great sport. However, even though I spotted plenty of barbels I didn’t catch any on this trip, with the river desperate for rain and the water temperature above normal I think the barbel are very lacklustre and feed only in very short spells.

Hopefully, we will have some rain to refresh the rivers and lakes that are in desperate need of some fresh water and increased levels. The camper is on standby and plenty more trips are planned before the cold weather arrives. Lots to look forward to and if you are out to take care in the hot weather and done forget them polaroid sunglasses!