Last week at the Efftex show in the Netherlands the guys from the Dutch PikeXL fishing team joined the Trophy Tech team at their booth, together with Think Big, Trophy Tech’s distributor in Germany. Right after Kris’ arrival at Schiphol airport the guides took him to a nearby lake for a improvised one and a half hours of fishing. Not planned at all, just the first spot available. 4 guys in a row boat, casting the revoshads resulted in 5 strikes and 2 fish reeled in. Kees just missing a monstrous personal best 48’’ Pike, slipping through Ferry’s fingers due to a broken crosslock. Never happened before… shit happens and that’s what it is, making Kris‘ video probably subtitled in Morse code when every swear is beeped.
Lucky Kris caught his first Pike a few minutes later, a respectable 90cm/35’’, hooked on the 9inch revo susp Bunker. Rick arrived just a day later and the same ritual went on. Same place, same time but zero fish… that’s fishing too folks!
For three days a lot of business was conducted along with, of course, a daily after party in the Amsterdam nightlife. Right after the show some days of serious fishing were planned, with a focus on, Pike XL. The guides from the PikeXL fishing team took us to some of their favorites hotspots. A tremendous amount of water is located within the Netherlands. Pike water is available within a 5 minute walk and, surprisingly, almost every ditch accommodates Pike. Really!! Fishing the lakes of Holland, 5 meters below sea level? Definitely a must do!
After the traditional 10 o‘clock Jägermeister the hunt for Dutch pike began. Just 15 minutes after trailing the boats a huge Pike hit the 7inch susp Revo of Joost ‘Shorty’ van Roessel, PikeXL’s youngster. A 49’’ fat bellied lady couldn’t resist the tempting moves of from this swimbait. Freakin’ awesome heavy weight fish! A new personal best, putting Joost up front of the all time best fish of PikeXL fishing team.
What a way to start a good day fishing. Or not.
For unknown reasons the fish were not in the mood at all. Trolling, jerking, twitching every lure available.. zero, none, no pike. After some bitterballs, a few beers, three hours fishing, dinner and a couple of beers more and just a few hours to go, again, the same story. No fish.
Just 5 minutes before sunset Kris grabbed the good old Rumbler. A desperate attempt (like Monty Pythons ‘and now something completely different’) to fool the pike with its silly walk. Cast. Bait strikes the surface. Just two twitches of the reel. Bubblebubblebubble..WHAM! An aggressive Pike getting airborn, chewing the Rumbler like a gummy bear. 99cm/39’’ Pike reeled in, Kris’ second Dutch Pike. A bad day? No way Dudes
The second day Kris left us to do some Walleye fishing on the River Waal with our German friend Juergen. The PikeXL team chanced tactics and went for some ‘urban trolling’, fishing downtown Haarlem (yep, the original). To make a long story short; everyone was catching pike. Except Rick. Still no Dutch Pike on his account. Same story all over. Casting, trolling, holding 4 rods, praying to St. Peter…. which finaly resulted in a 29’’ pike who took the 7inch revo for dinner.
Okay, the first Dutch pike to be caught by Rick but not the XL-type we promised. This is what we call a green herring…
A now quite bad tempered guide Kees did the best he could. All day long. Just a final attempt, by the book: trolling the pounder bulldawg from a depth of 7 meters onto a shallow slope of 2 meters deep. A bumpy ride, waiting to be disturbed by a sudden strike. And it did. Saved by the bell, a 98cm/38,5’’ piece of gold.
"You guys are freakin’ awesome, Dudes."
So, after all, mission completed. If you ever want to go after these giant fat Ductch Pikes..get hooked up with the guys of PikeXL fishing team (www.pikexl.com). Reaction Strikes. No doubt.
See you guys in Paris next year, next Efftex.
Efftex Show
Left-toRight: Aart, Kees, Rick, Kris, Joost, Roland & Ferry
Kris Reibel
Above and below, Rick Quade
