Polders & North Sea Coast, Netherlands

Northern Pike

Esox lucius

A toothy ambush predator of northern weed beds, famous for explosive strikes and slime. Pike sit motionless in cover and lunge at spoons, spinnerbaits and large flies passing within range.

European Perch

Perca fluviatilis

The European perch — 五道黑 in Xinjiang, named for its five dark bars — is a bold, schooling perch found in China only in the Irtysh and Ulungur waters, and a perfect first lure target.

Zander

Sander lucioperca

The zander is Eurasia's glassy-eyed, fang-toothed perch-pike — in China mainly a fish of Xinjiang's Irtysh and Ulungur waters and stocked reservoirs — that feeds hardest at dusk and after dark.

Asp

Leuciscus aspius

The predator of the carp family: a streamlined hunter that smashes into bleak shoals at the surface with an audible splash. It lives in big central European rivers and is taken on fast-fished lures at dawn. Also spread through the Baltic margins and Dutch rivers.

Ide

Leuciscus idus

The ide is the big silvery shoal fish of Europe's large rivers and, as the winde, the Netherlands' number one river fish. It is NOT the same fish as the guide's amur ide (Leuciscus waleckii) — this is the true European ide, L. idus; its golden form is the ornamental orfe of garden ponds.

Common Bream

Abramis brama

The common bream is the number one stillwater and slow-river fish of German lakes and canals. Its shoals graze silt beds at night for bloodworm, and a well-fed swim can produce for hours. Deep-bodied, slimy and dark bronze, it is the benchmark lowland coarse fish.

Roach

Rutilus rutilus

The roach is Europe's most-caught fish by numbers and the benchmark 'specimen' coarse fish — a 2 lb roach is a fish of a lifetime. Red-eyed and red-finned and always in shoals, it is everywhere from canals to reservoirs and feeds all year, including in mid-winter.

Silver Bream

Blicca bjoerkna

The silver bream is a deep-bodied little bream of slow lowland water, in the Netherlands the kolblei of polder canals. Its red eye is the key separator from young common bream. Shoals sift silt for larvae and take standard coarse baits willingly on warm evenings.

European Seabass

Dicentrarchus labrax

Europe's number one saltwater lure fish — a silvery, hard-hitting predator of surf beaches, estuaries and rocky shores from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, and still expanding northwards. It is tightly managed across Europe, so always check the current local minimum-size and bag rules before keeping one. Called Wolfsbarsch in German, bar or loup in French, lubina in Spanish and zeebaars in Dutch.

Plaice

Pleuronectes platessa

The staple flatfish of the North Sea and Baltic — a smooth, right-eyed flatfish everyone identifies by its bright orange spots. Scholle in German, plie in French.

Sole

Solea solea

The night hunter of the flatfish — a tongue-shaped sand-dweller that buries by day and emerges after dark to feed, the classic quarry of summer night sessions on sand. Seezunge in German, tong in Dutch, lenguado in Spanish.

European Flounder

Platichthys flesus

The estuary flatfish of the Baltic and Wadden Sea — rough, warty and one of the few sea fish that tolerate fresh water and run far up rivers in summer. Its rough skin separates it from the smooth, orange-spotted plaice. Flunder in German, flet in French.

Whiting

Merlangius merlangus

The winter staple of North Sea piers and boats — a slender silver cod-family fish that arrives inshore in big hungry shoals as the water cools. It bites freely after dark on simple bottom rigs, which makes it a first sea fish for many beginners, and fresh whiting is mild and sweet despite its modest size.

Dab

Limanda limanda

The rough-skinned little flatfish of sandy North Sea and Baltic ground — modest, numerous and a mainstay catch on light gear with simple worm rigs. Its calling card is the lateral line curving in a semicircle over the pectoral fin, and its skin feels like fine sandpaper, quite unlike the smooth plaice.