Fishing in the Green Heart

The Green Heart is the pearl of the Netherlands. It roughly includes the area between the major cities Amsterdam, Gouda and Utrecht. Here you’ll sit or walk right in between the pastures, windmills and thousands of polder ditches. And the good news: all of these polder ditches have great fish stocks. These polder ditches are praised for their stocks of pike. You won’t have to bring a lot of tackle, just bring your rod and some lures or a streamer, and scour the ditches for kilometres on end. Be sure to cover the ditches between the farms: there are pikes beneath every bridge and at every bend in the water. You can hardly go wrong. 

Fishing for whitefish from a boat

Coarse fish and carp

The same is true when you’re fishing for coarse fish/silver fish: the ditches and canals in the Green Heart have great stocks of coarse fish, with plenty of rudd and tench. In the somewhat larger ditches and canals there’s also lots of bream. And then of course don’t forget the powerful polder carps, which are practically swimming around everywhere in the polder. They can be caught in this scouring manner: use a light rod, a float and a can of corn, for instance. Or use a floating bread crust: super exciting. They often give themselves away in springtime and in summer because the polder waters are relatively shallow. 

Pike fishing in a polder

The Green Heart is situated perfectly central in the Netherlands, close to all the major cities. At the same time it’s a peaceful and quiet area with great views. The Groene Hart is highly recommended! Do check www.visplanner.nl or the (free) VISplanner app to see which VISpas you’ll need in the polders you wish to visit. This may vary per area.

Polder pike
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