Polder Pikes – The Netherlands
General information
The Overijssel area is located 80 km northeast of Amsterdam. The area is irrigated by hundreds of kilometers of easily accessible canals, rivers and lakes. Not very deep and rich in plants, they are filled with Whitefish and pikes. Unlike walleye, pikes are not very well considered for their culinary value in The Netherlands; they are rather valued as sport fish. For the last 10 years, fishermen systematically release the fish they catch, so that the quantity of beautiful fish (size above 80 cm long) is huge and one of the most important in Europe.
The Ijssel river and surrounding lakes are lined with reeds where fish are most likely to be found; therefore fishing in these spots is often practised from a boat or a float tube. And pikes are likely to be bigger in this kind of environment as they have more space to live in; pikes are also less numerous than in canals. The biggest pikes are thus very likely to be found in The Ijssel River and lakes.