Fishing (or kayaking) in the Netherlands
 

I'm planning a trip to the Netherlands in April for a group of 12 of us. One of the guys was wondering if there was anywhere to go fishing, either lake, stream, or North Sea. I've located information about the Sportvisserij Nederland and their Kleine VISpas, but I'm having trouble figuring out WHERE to go to fish. Can someone guide me in the right direction for information about tourist fishing in the Netherlands?

www.sportvisserijnederland.nl

The other alternative would be boating, preferably kayaking. Is there any place near Amsterdam (our home base for 10 days), where we can rent a kayak for the day? Our only transportation will be public.

Thanks,
Robyn :)>-

On that website go to English then click ( for some reason it is in Dutch still) "Lijsten van Viswateren"
This opens up a page in Dutch to which it gives links to areas
* Groningen/Drenthe - Friesland - Oost Nederland
* Midden Nederland - Zuidwest Nederland
* NoordWest Nederland – Gooi & Eemland , Gooi & Eemland en Noordwest Nederland
* Limburg
all open up PDFs with further information. There is far to many places for me to suggest where so maybe you choose somewhere where you are going and if you have any questions, because of the Dutch then ask away.
I am not a fisherman so some technicalities I may not know.
An alternative is to use this website.
http://www.visplanner.nl/
Click the type of licence you are going to purchase then click one of the next three buttons. The first maybe best; it is for fishing spots.

For kayaking try something like.
http://www.galgewater.nl/. Which is in the nearby town of Leiden.
http://www.john-botenverhuur.nl/ just to the north of Amsterdam.
http://www.fluisterbootvaren.nl/boat...-canoe,56.html also just outside of Amsterdam.
You may need a car to get to some to these locations.

You can do sea fishing without a licence but are limited on were and how many rods you can use.
For fresh water fishing on rivers and navigation canals with a single rod and legal bait you need a "kleinevispas"which you can buy online or at a postoffice. Anything else you need to be a member of a local club and have a grotevispas.
You can read all about it here:
http://www.sportvisserijnederland.nl/vispas/english/
There is a pdf you can download which has all the info.

Kayaking and canoeing can be done all over the place. We use our local river, but it's not very exciting, but it does mean we can get out onto the Randmeren (the lakes between the old land and Flevoland -the new land).

You may enjoy the Weerribben in Overijssel, the Biesbosch which is not too far from Rotterdam, or Naardermeer, near Naarden, so close to Amsterdam.
The Biesbosch has European Beavers in it.
Or maybe the elfstedenroute (11 towns route) in Friesland - which takes you over the route of the famous skating race.

You need to be careful on canals and rivers as freight boats have priority over everything, and can't see kayaks easily, so the above are good places to explore.

You'll need a car to get to most of these places.

Thank you so much, ribeirasacra and hetismij, for the excellent fishing and boating information. I downloaded and printed out the fishing brochure for my friend, and I'll pass on the link to the waterways website.

I checked out the places for boating/kayaking. The whisperboats look like they would be fun - my kind of speed, with no rowing involved.

Are there any deep-sea fishing excursions available on the North Sea, where the boat captain takes you out and supplies you with the rods, bait, etc?

Looking forward to our visit in April 2011...

Robyn :)>-

Here's one of many:

http://www.rederij-trip.nl/c/doc.asp?docid=13

This site claims to list all of the boats:
http://www.herbert-vd-vlugt.com/boot...pstapboten.htm so you could pursue a few of those too.

Fuisterboots are great - you can hire them for many areas, including the Weerribben and Biesbosch, also for Giethoorn and area - and are much less work than a kayak :).

Thanks for the additional information, Barbara. I'll be passing on all these websites to our friend, who I'm sure will be really excited. The picture of Herbert vd Vlugt standing in the water in his "wader boots" kind of reminds me of our friend.

Robyn :)>-

No more information at this point as hetismij has answered, just to say sorry i was not able to respond.
If you had your own kayak I did find a great website which gives excellent routes. if I move back to NL it has got me thinking I about purchasing a kayak too.