Bass fishing

The Netherlands has a lot of good perch venues! The fact that bass are not too picky when it comes to lures makes this fishery extremely popular and very versatile. So it will never get boring.

The Netherlands is now known for the Goliath perch (50+ cm) and many perch fishermen have already driven from far across the border to our modest country to be able to catch a Dutch XXL perch.

What are good perch marks?

Channels
Bass fishing for us started 10 years ago on the Ghent-Terneuzen canal. A busy waterway of about 30 km long. The good swims here are edges with some rubble and the coves of the various harbors. They are also easy to catch near locks where there is an occasional current.

River puddles
The Netherlands is a river country with many excavations, the river lakes. The perch is easy to catch on the river in the summer and in the winter the perch then migrate to the river puddles to hibernate. From the side (whether or not wading) to catch them well. Especially the transitions from shallow to deeper water are real hotspots and they also like to settle in soil with structure such as the presence of mussel beds and stones.

Which lure for the perch?

Softbaits
A bass can be caught in many ways. A favorite are softbaits. This is soft lure mounted on a hook in combination with a lead (head). With this you can fish every layer of water. In any case, always take the bottom zone with you, because in most cases the perch stays rigidly on the bottom.

Very popular are creaturebaits, such as imitation of a lobster, shrimp or insect.

PXS Heikegani Craw lobster imitation from Pitch&Strike

Vary with lures between 5 and 8 cm. This size is ideal for the perch as they can inhale it without too much effort.

Fish a little slower in winter as the perch's metabolism also slows down. Give the fish time to inspect and eventually grab your lure.

Techniques that are excellent for this are fishing with the Ned-Rig, Carolina-rig and Backslide-Rig.

Hardbaits
You can also catch perch on hard baits such as plugs, spinners and spoons.
Pay particular attention to the depth of the swim and whether the perch feeds on the surface or deeper in the water column. You have different types of plugs, each with their own specific properties (diving, floating, sinking, suspending, topwater, etc.)

Diving : these are plugs with a diving lip that allows you to bring the plug to a certain depth.

Floating : if the plug has been brought to depth by means of the diving lip, such a plug will rise during a stop during hauling.

Sinking : This is a lure that will sink to the bottom after a stop.

Suspending : A lure that will neither rise up nor sink to the bottom after a stop, but will float at a certain depth.

Topwater : These are generally not fitted with a dive lip and always remain at the water's surface when fishing in. Think of a popper or walk the dog plug.

Tips & Tricks : how to catch perch?

Especially for the starting perch fisherman we have made an instructive youtube video " Perch fishing 2.0".

Here we explain perch fishing on a Dutch river lake and different types of lures and techniques are discussed.