Today I went Pikefishing with Hans, Michael and Niels.
The weather was as lousy as predicted. It rained continuously,
The outside temperature was 46 F.

Our first stop was at the Canal Almelo-Nordhorn. It was dug out
in the 19th century to transport peat and sandstone from neighboring
Germany into the Netherlands. The canal was never a success and
shipping ceased in 1961. The canal is shallow, has clear water and
is lined with reeds. Ideal habitat for pike.
We thoroughly fished both banks until the aquaduct of the Dinkel
river. No activity except for Niels who had a pike attacking his
streamer. The pike skillfully managed to elude the hook.


Gate house from 1887 at the Dinkel aquaduct

The most interesting place at the canal was the aquaduct of the Dinkel river. The river crossed the canal so a couple of sluice gates where build to regulate the waterflow in the canal. The river carried so much sand with it that shipping soon became impossible. They solved the problem in 1904 by building a aquaduct so the main flow of the river could flow underneath the canal. The river looked nice, definitely a place we should go back to in summer to do some nymph fishing. With no sightings of pike it was time to visit another place.


Canal Almelo-Nordhorn

Fishing spot nr. 2 was the “Omleidingskanaal”, translated that means
diversioncanal. Because the Dinkel river was flooding the surrounding land
several times a year the diversion canal was built in 1965. It leads excessive waterflows north where it joins the Dinkel river again. This canal had murky water in it. We stopped at a bridge and started to fish. When we are pike fishing we always look for structures. Bridges, pilings and inflows of streams or ditches are the hotspots when fishing for pike. No action here so we where off to fishing spot nr. 3 of the day.

Hans had a secret spot in mind. Problem was he could not remember anymore where it was. At the first intersection we went westwards and toured the countryside. 10 minutes later we arrived at the same spot we left just before. Obviously the guy was lost. So as expected this time he went eastward at the intersection. We passed a water that looked “fishy” but Hans drove just past it. We crossed the same stream a second time, at that point he stopped. Hans admitted he had no clue where he was
going, as if we did not figure that one out. So we decided to fish the stream. We had arrived at the “Rammelbeek”. Although this water carried the name “Beek” which means stream or creek it looked more like a drainage ditch. The water was murky and shallow. Niels made a cast under the bridge and a large pik e lunged at his streamer. Niels struck and once again the pike escaped. The same thing happened with Hans just a couple of minutes later. In the mean time Michael and I saw no action at all. So fish where present but we just could not get them. After standing al morning in the rain we called it quits and went home. Another Sunday morning spent productively.

Marcel,

Do you, or how you ever used flies with some sort of stinger hook rigs. Are they even legal there? It just seems to me that those pike always hit short.

I guess you mean something of a second hook.
Not sure if it is legal. Especially in the colder weather and the late season we are in now Pike are sluggish. At the start of the season
they will explode on the fly. Now it is more difficult to hook them.
Sometimes the hook just comes out. Somehow reminds me of fishing at pond X