ESOX HUNTER
Dutch Monster Fishing
By Uli Beyer June 12, 2011
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| | A great fish in anybody's book!!!. |
Uli contacted me approximately 3 - 4 months ago and told me of a recent catch of his that was going to blow the minds of pike fishermen in Europe and the world. He told
me to keep it to myself, which I did, but now he has given me permission to share it with you. The story on Uli pike
fishing is in or going to be in several of the fishing magazines in Europe, but Uli is sharing the story on the Esoxhunter website. Uli has supplied a lot of the pictures and I wanted to share them all with you. Although there are more pictures than usual for an article I thought everyone wouldn't mind seeing these impressive fish!
Visit Uli's new website at http://www.uli-beyer.com. The website is in German, but most browsers come with translation capability.
As enthusiast pike-angler I am frequently in search of good pike
waters. For a while I fished most of my time into the Baltic Sea for huge
pike. It is an incredible pike-water around Rügen, but after 10 years
I tried to find "something new". It was my Dutch friend Bertus
Rozemeijer, who told me, that the huge waters in the south of Rotterdam hold
enormous pike and I started to explore this water-system more than 3 years
ago.
My first impressions on the water: "Itīs huge and why are so few anglers
here, if it is so great fishing here?" I learned fast, why: It was a tough task
to find and hook the pike there and I were close to give up, when we had our
first great success last year shortly after the seasonal start in summer 2010:
We were fishing with smaller Jerkbaits weedy areas, could catch some
medium-sized pike and zanders, when one morning a first big pike with 1,16 m length
(about 25 pounds) came into the boat. Shortly later, my guiding-guest
Nils Gabsa could hook one of the famous monsters from there: An enormous pike
of 1,29m and approximately 18 kgs (approx. 40 pounds) made us
forgetting all the difficult moments on this water!
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| Awesome Pike |
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| Look at width of the back |
I knew, that I am on the
right spot with the right tactic. After learning these hard lessons I
restarted this year. My friend Carl Allen from UK had to cancel
our planned trip, because he had to work unexpected.
I invited Arne Seiberlich, a professional filmer to come over and to film
my next attempt to get one of the famous Dutch monsters there. This
year, many boats were out in search of big sanders and pike
there. My tactic was the same as last year: Smaller jerkbaits, uncommon presented
with a long spinning-rod and fixed-spool reel. Some of the anglers
had a little smile in the face, when they saw me jerking with a 9 foot-rod and
spinning-reel. I do this often, because I love to fish further
away from the boat! In my opinion, especially big pike are often more shy and
many takes came 25 and more meters away from the boat. On this
distance itīs a big advantage to have a longer rod. I fish a stiff
spinning rod with fast action and 100 gramms casting-weight. Salmo
Sliders, Zalt-wobblers (mostly 14 cm suspending or sinking) and Buster Jerks are
my favorites!
This year seemed to be really tough. After longer time fishing
the first fish was a big perch of about 3,5 pounds/49 cm. Not what
we expected, but nice. Fish no.
2 was a meter-pike
with 1,05meters and Arne was happy to have a "big fish" filmed after 3 hours
fishing. Another long cast out landed 40 meters away from the
boat. One, two jerks and "Bang", something heavy has taken my
lure. A big splash on the surface and an enormous fight began. It
was windy and I had to steer my boat with the electric motor, while I played
a huge fish.
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| A trophy for sure! |
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| Another beautiful pike |
It dashed through the weeds like an angry bull! "What
is this?" asked Arne while filming and I couldnīt answer precisely: "Probably
a really good fish!" Ten minutes later we saw "her" on the surface! "What a
fish!" "Please donīt loose it!" said Arne and continued filming
To be honest:
My knees were trembling a bit, because it was long time ago, that I had such a
monster as battle-partner and it was absolutely not tired, when we saw it the
first time. Without any indication it started another flight with
full speed - directly under my boat and hit my running, electric motor with a
loud punch. For a second I thought: "Game over - fish lost!" But
luckily my line was OK and the fish was still on, continued pulling like
crazy. The circles became smaller and - (normally I take for every pike
my hands) Arne gave me my landing-net. I was happy to have it and
with difficulties I could drive the battle-beast into the net.
"Wow - what is this!?!" Arne and me were happy and impressed. In
Germany the length is very important. We measured a length of 1,34
meters. Arne asked me to weigh the fish: "Check, if it is 40
pounds!" I wanted to handle the fish fast, because the water was already warm and the
fish fought strong for a while. We checked and found out, that
this was my heaviest fish ever: with 18,55 kg (41 pounds) it was 150 gramms
heavier than my personal best before! More than happy we released this great fish
after few photos and celebrated this extraordinary event into the
boat. Unbelievable: We filmed my biggest pike ever! It was no problem for us,
that nothing happened this day any more.
Day two was a very nice day: Sunshine, low wind from west but also low
activity we thought. 2 hours fishing brought only one small pike - no
more bite! I asked Arne: "What shall we do? Staying here in the monster-area
or changing the spot to get some more action with normal fish for the camera?"
Arne replied after thinking few seconds: "We have all, what we need! Itīs your
decision, what we do
" I decided to stay into a difficult monster-area and
only 10 minutes later the calm surface exploded with a loud splash.
30 meters away from the boat another huge pike has taken my jerkbait! "Thatīs
a beast again!" I told Arne, who couldnīt believe our luck.
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| Another 40 pound in two days. |
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| Falls to a Casiac gizzard shad! |
This fish was strong, but fought deep in the weeds. Not so fast and
explosive, but I felt the power of another great fish! "Is it possible?" YES, it
is! After some endless minutes another, more impressive beast appeared on the
surface. Arne filmed and spoke something like "unbelievable -
incredible". I took the landing-net again to make the battle
shorter. When I lifted it out of the water, it seemed to be
blocked. "Wow, thatīs super-heavy again!" and when it came into the boat, we cried
loud. "This fish is more impressive than the first one!" said
Arne. Indeed, it was so fat and I thought for a moment, that finally
I could reach the magical bench-mark of 20 kgs. After measuring,
the fish was 1,28 m, I knew, that it wouldnīt reach this magical
weight. But with 18,2 kg (40,1 lbs) again a pike of a lifetime! Arne said:
"Thatīs enough, it canīt become better!" and drove really impressed
home. I was alone and invited Nils to come for a guiding-trip. He was
a bit sad, that I wasnīt free this year and came immediately with these good
news for him. And the following 2 days brought two other monsters
again: 1,29 m / 16 kg and 1,25 m / 18 kg. Also these pike came on
jerkbaits on bigger distance with long rod and spinning-reel! Nils drove with
a big smile on his face home, because he never expected to get such a great
moment like 2010 again! And I asked myself: "Game over? Are there more fish of
this size?" Of course we checked other places and could catch many nice pike
and sanders, but not that big. 2 days were difficult, when I found
another hot spot. "It" started with two very nice fish of 1,09 m
and 1,15 m and finally I hooked another beast of 1,25 m/but only 12,5
kg. The water was very shallow and I fished a twitched Castaic Gizzard
Shad. Between some more good fish my friend Michael could catch the
last pike- beast with 1,26 m and 16 kilo weight. My last super-fish
there was not a pike, but a zander, which I could see standing suspended into
the open water. I presented my lure just beside from him and
expected nothing.
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| They all are beauties |
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| Monster Walley (Zander) too! This one is 38 inches |
One, two jerks and also this predator couldnīt resist!
It grabbed very aggressive my jerked lure and I couldnīt believe
it. 97 cm long and over 20 lbs were a great final catch!
To be honest: Never before I had such an incredible stay for pike anywhere!
More than ten fish over one meter and 20 pounds, 6 fish reached the magical
mark of 1,25m and more and two fish over 40 lbs! From Bertus I was told, that
other collegues were not so successful in the same waters and of course I asked
myself, what my secret of success could be. The other Dutch
anglers know the waters much better and are really experienced in catching huge
fish. I could see, that they presented mostly huge lures (Bulldawgs,
huge Swimbaits, large Jerkbaits and Musky-spinners) with short rods on mostly
shorter distance. In my opinion the predators were not out for big
prey and maybe they were also shy about boats and engine-noises.
All of our fish (except the zander, which was 3 meters beside of my boat visible!) took the lures
on distances of 30 meters and more and all were taken on lures of 12 - 14 cm only! Hopefully we meet each other again -
maybe a bit bigger again
Gordy again - Here are the remainder of the pictures Uli sent.
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| In the net |
Respectable for sure |
Another fine pike |
What can you say? |
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| A monster zander |
A nice pike |
Huge walleye (zander) |
Another shot of the walleye |
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Last updated on ... June 12, 2011