Hit the road Jake: Inside Outside

A few weeks have passed since my time in Holland, but I don't want to hide from you what happened there. So today let's look at beautiful Holland from its rural side.

A brisk wind from the south has been building for days. This morning it is blowing almost like a storm towards my shore. I am away from the big cities on a large, clear quarry pond. I fished here last year, but back then I was the only one on the entire lake. This year almost every spot is taken, I only found a free spot right at the parking lot. Actually, I'm not here to focus on fishing, cleaning up my car is the order of the day.

The time in the cities was once again very exciting, but also exhausting. Some break was sorely needed. Anyway, I felt like riding my racing bike through the extensive pastureland.

On one of these bike tours I happened to come across a picturesque meandering river. And I actually found some spawning carp in a small tributary. Among them is a large, orange koi. He immediately turned my head. Logically, I started fishing right here. But the blazing sun encouraged the carp's desire, not their hunger. They shot through the weeds for hours and hopefully produced many offspring. The next day, however, it rained in the morning and I should get my chance. I caught two nice fish on pop-ups, but there was no trace of the koi.

More than satisfied, I met up with Mark Van der Zouw aka Carpfreaks a little later on a large river. Every time we two crazy people meet, we have memorable times. This time it shouldn't be any different. Although we weren't able to take a double photo, as always we had a lot of fun and had great conversations.

I particularly remember an all-nighter when we did a product shoot for a well-known company. It should be noted that Mark is a photographer by profession. Without a doubt one of the best I've come across so far. Working with him and learning from him is always very special and incredibly inspiring.

At half past five in the morning, after work was done, I decided to drive back to this deep, clear quarry lake to clean up my car and use the early morning hours for fishing. Unfortunately, night fishing was not allowed here. With tired eyes, I peppered small pop-ups into the wind and immediately went to sleep. I was exhausted.

In fact, I got a bite a little later and caught what was probably the smallest shad in the entire lake. Regardless, the joy was great and the picture with the self-timer speaks volumes.

By the afternoon I was well rested and went for a walk around the lake. I found some fish on a steep bank edge and caught one of them, again on a very small pop-up. I was more than happy with two fish from the lake, after all the whole pond was full of anglers and there was hardly any catching.

Of course, my main focus when traveling is fishing, but I also really enjoy just drifting around and filling my days with cooking, reading and sports. If you have the opportunity to live in such a timeless way, the best thing is to make the most of it. Especially when a pheasant runs in front of your car, cooking is the first priority...

I spent the last few days in this spirit and the day of departure came far too quickly. Holland had once again completely captivated me. The most beautiful rural areas invite you to relax, old towns full of life shine in a variety of colors and on every corner you can find a variety of waters with great fishing opportunities. Big Ups Holland, see you soon…