Well, I am afraid no picture of yours truly with a fish today because as on many occasions he blanked. Yesterdays fishing session with four other guys from the local flyfishing club at lake Oostvoorne yielded two rainbows for one. The rest blanked. I had exactly two hits on the fly during the whole day, I missed both of them.

In the afternoon we took a break and went to the nearby powerplant outflow at the Port of Rotterdam. Watertemperature of the North Sea is currently 53 F, that is cold. The powerplant outflow is a section of beach enclosed by huge concrete blocks. The warm powerplant discharge water flows out between the gaps in the dam. The baitfish gather around the blocks and so do predators like Seabass and Shad.

To fish there you will need a bellyboat so you can drift along the blocks and cast with a heavy sinkingline in the openings along the dam.
There was only only one of us brave enough to take the plunge in to the fast current. We fished from the beach (only two people had bellyboats with them).
When we heard a shout we thought our friend was a goner but he actually had caught a fish. His first European Seabass and it was quite a big fish so early in the season.


Drifting towards the concrete blocks on the North Sea


Fishingbuddy Niels with a nice European Seabass

I guess I will have to postpone my purchase of the trout bum rod for a while because my waders a leaking big time now. This was very funny for my companions but not for me, it is darn cold around here.

Appearantly the biggest fish are on the outside / open sea side of the dam.
If you go there with your bellyboat you are a goner for sure. Next stop is either England or the main shipping channel of the Port of Rotterdam.

Hi Marcel, Thanks for the report. it is fun for us here in the US to hear of your adventures in and around the Netherlands. The cement blocks and wind mills are very immpresive.
Thanks
Mark Ward

It was an expensive day. Now I need new waders asap and in the future a belly boat. The bass hold out near the concrete blocks. There is no way you can fish those blocks from the shore. They are manhigh and slippery as hell because of all the seaweed. So if you want to catch fish you got to get close to the rocks. On the rough outer side by boat or with the bellyboat in the inside.

The waders are a top priority now. At the end of the month I will be heading to Germany´s Harz region for four days fishing for trout and grayling. The water is cold down there.

I will post something about my trouting trip from last april 30th when I caught five rainbows on a very bright and sunny day. It was the second time I used the superfine rod. A pleasure to cast and fish with.