Amsterdam Canals

I recently visited Amsterdam and was very excited to check out the fishing scene on the canal systems that weave through the city. I did some research before heading over and prepped to target some Yellow Perch and Zander while I bounced around the city. The canals are also home to some big carp and big pike, but I knew I would be overmatched with the collapsible pole I could fit in my luggage. I did not pack the fly rod knowing I would be in urban areas that could be too crowded for a back cast. 

Upon arriving in Amsterdam I was blown away at the water access around the city. Literally every block is a beautiful canal waterway and fishing is allowed on all water with the purchase of a fishing license. Amsterdam is the biking capital of the world, so I hopped on a beach cruiser and headed down to Hengelsport 2000 to get a local license and check out my first European carp tackle shop. 

The shop was pretty amazing and Daniel was incredibly helpful. It was the first tackle shop I had ever been in that not only had a carp section, but had a HUGE carp section. It was crazy. Things are a little different across the pond. They also had a ton of big pike lures that were quite impressive. I had some difficulty trying to get a fishing license online but Daniel walked me through the process and was happy to translate. You need separate day and night fishing licenses in Amsterdam, but you have access to almost all water in the city. 

I followed the canals to the Amstel back to the city and stopped at the bridges along the way. I had a collapsible pole and some jigs in the basket and could not wait to make a couple casts. After working a deep jig slowly around some pylons I kept on the move looking for some active fish. I saw a few people fishing under one bridge but they seemed to be using live bait from what I could see from the opposite bank. They landed a few small perch so I knew there were fish in the area. I pedaled down one more bridge and found a sunny spot by the bridge. I was slowly jigging along the bridge pylon when I was caught by surprise by my rod slammed down and the drag started peeling! I was so pumped to be fighting my first fish in Europe! I was using ultralight tackle and 6lb line so I had to take my time bringing her up. When I got her to the surface I was pumped to see a chunky European perch! 

I was happy with landing one fish and decided to start back through the city when I noticed a few bridges that just looked too fishy to pass up. I worked the edges, the walls and the structure like I would normally bass fish but did not have any luck. I finally just chucked the jig out into the center and figured I would work it slow and deep to see if anything would be interested before I took off. The jig was almost immediately hit when it got down to the bottom and I reeled in a small perch. I was excited to get one more fish and figured it was worth one more cast. I quickly learned that once you find a perch, you find all the perch. The next 12 casts in a row brought in 12 perch in a row. Nothing big but a lot of fun on the ultra light setup. 

I spent the next day bouncing around Amsterdam and jigging for perch and zander on the urban canals. I didn’t know any specific areas to hit, so I was on the move and concentrated on the bridges from block to block and avoided the boats along the banks. I was looking for aggressive fish and moved if nothing hit in a few casts. I found a decent sized perch in the northwest area of the city before heading south following the main curve of the canals. I ended up setting up shop and catching a good number of perch in front of the Heineken Brewery. The water was pretty murky and I didn’t any fish swimming around. It was slow jigging and I had to deal with a lot of leaves in the water and snags along the bottom. Overall a great trip and an amazing city. I will definitely be headed back for another pickeled herring sandwich and my chance to land an urban zander.

Please practice Catch & Release in urban settings to preserve these precious resources for other urban anglers.