Street Fishermans' Paradise Amsterdam

Get ready for an unforgettable fishing trip to Amsterdam. Not in the least because you will be staying on a houseboat, right on top of the fish. It will be hard to put your rods aside to get some sleep with so much superb fishing waters in the immediate surroundings. Your host is an avid angler and will show you the best spots and give you the latest information about what soft baits are hot at the moment. 

You will be staying in a private part of a concrete ship that served during WWII. This place has been completely renovated and offers lots of comfort during your stay. There is one master bedroom with a comfortable double bed (160x200 cm) and a second bedroom with a bunkbed, offering two single beds of 80x200 cm. On request we can arrange a folding bed that can be placed in the living room in case you are staying here with four guys and you don't want to sleep in a double bed together. 

This unique Amsterdam fishing holiday home is designed and decorated in a fancy style from the 50's. You have a small but convenient kitchen (please no cooking of fish please - we promote Catch&Release!) and a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet. 

The living room, bathroom and kitchen are equipped with floor heating, and the bedrooms have regular central heating. This way you are assured to be nice and warm, even on the coldest winter nights. 

In front of the entrance you have a private deck terrace overlooking the water, and this is actually where you can start your street fishing adventure. Multiple nice zander and perch are caught right from the houseboat already. 

NOTE: IN THE NETHERLANDS WE HAVE A CLOSED SEASON FROM APRIL 1 TILL THE LAST SATURDAY IN MAY. DURING THIS PERIOD NO PREDATOR FISHING IS ALLOWED!

Now let's go into detail about what it's all about: street fishing in Amsterdam. Our boat is docked along the quay in the Eastern Docks. These islands are surrounded by water and offer kilometers of great shores where you can cast your dropshot or jighead. The most important species are zander and perch, but also pike and an occasional flounder are caught here. To give you the best possible impression of the fishing throughout the year, and to help you planning your fishing trip to Amsterdam, let me go into detail now.

Spring time: zander are moving shallow

After the winter, the zander (and perch too) are slowly migrating to more shallow waters. However, it occurs that they stay in water depths of 6m+ until the end of March. The good news is that these depths are found all along the Eastern Docks and the IJ River, all the way to Central Station. This means that you have literally kilometers to walk an cast your soft baits. As long as the water temperatures, it's more effective to fish really close to the bottom and retrieve as slowly as possible.

The advised weight for dropshotting and vertical jigging is 10 - 21 grams since you have to cover deeper water and you don't want to wait too long before your bait hits the bottom.

From April 1 till the last Saturday of May there is a closed season, so no predator fishing unfortunately. 

Summer time: fish active, fast and light

At the beginning of the season, from the last Saturday onward, the fish usually is found at depth of 1 - 6 meters. As long as zander is protecting their nests, you should be prepared to get an insanely hard attack of a zander any moment on shallow water.

The cool thing about this period is that you can use really light jigheads, say 5 - 10 grams. This way you can let the bait give a longer period to slide down: this is when zander takes it. Perch may attack any moment, both when the bait is sinking, or when you give it a twitch up. The host will show you the best spots, not only in the Eastern part of the city, but also on other canals right in the old city center. Basically any bridge or lock is a potential hotspot for both zander and big perch. On the hottest summer nights is's a good idea to chill out during the day and give the rods a bit rest until the late evening. Because that is what the fish are doing too now: chilling out and not eating. The last hours before dusk and the first hours into the night can be super effective, as well as the first few hours after dawn.

Autumn fishing in a feeding frenzy

Ok, the fish won't be feeding like crazy all the time, but the autumn is definitely a great time since the fish is preparing to survive another winter in cold water. So they are hungry and aggressive. This is the time when larger baits, fished more vigorously can make the difference. Also the fish are now migrating slowly to deeper waters. It really differs per year, but your host will share information about where the fish is at the moment so you don't have to waste time on finding them.

Winter fishing: slow, deep and effective

During the winter zander leave the shallow grounds and find deeper water and lay together, not wasting energy but wait for warmer times. The cool thing is that once you have found the right spots, you may expect multiple fish stacked up. The bait has to be fished really slow, actually keeping it still can be a very effective method now. There are various very deep spots right next to the quays of the Eastern docks and the IJ River where you can fish from the shore in a perfect way. 

You see that you can go street fishing all year round, and we hope to welcome you and your fishing friends aboard our houseboat - home of the happy city angler!