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.