2024 - the numbers!
385 pike
First the absolute numbers
Despite the bad weather, 2024 started relatively strong. The year started slowly, but in March there was a steady increase in catches, especially for zander and perch. This increase is exceptional compared to previous years, where catches during this period were usually moderate.
When April arrived, the catches skyrocketed. April, May, and June proved to be peak months for zander. Even in June, the fish continued to bite well, especially compared to previous years.
The summer months of July and August are not representative this year as I spent most of these months abroad (on vacation).
However, September and October brought stability again, with a constant increase in catches, comparable to previous years. November and December closed the year with stable catches, more or less in line with the trends of previous years.
Overall, 2024 has proven to be a successful year with a very strong spring for zander and a relatively strong autumn for pike. 2024 maintains itself among the successful years alongside the top year of 2023 and the year 2020.
However, I must make two remarks about these totals. First, due to heavy rainfall at our eastern neighbors, which led to very murky water in the Biesbosch, the pike occasionally kept their jaws tightly closed for a week in the autumn. But really, where you could still easily catch double digits of pike one day, you wouldn't get a single bite the next day in the murky water.
Second, perch was a major absentee this year. In absolute numbers, 2022 was worse than 2024, with 292 perch in 2022 compared to 314 perch in 2024, but that doesn't hide the fact that 2024 was, percentage-wise, my worst perch year ever. I will come back to this in the following sheets.
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Final results
Pike: 385
Zander: 1,218
Perch: 314
Totaal: 1,917
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Followed by relative numbers
The first chart (Forecast 2024) shows an estimate of what you could expect on an average fishing day in a particular month in 2024, based on the long-term average.
The second chart (Realization 2024) shows what we actually caught on average on a fishing day in a particular month in 2024. If we disregard the months of July and August for the previously mentioned reason, it stands out that in the first half of the year, the average number of zander caught per day was much higher than what you would expect based on the long-term average. From September onwards, the catch rate for pike was on average much higher than the forecast initially indicated.
This chart also shows that perch was simply not present in 2024, at least in terms of numbers. The perch that were caught were almost without exception large or very large!
​The distribution of the big three in 2024 was 20% pike, 64% zander, and 16% perch.
Thus, in 2024, zander again accounted for the lion's share of the catches, and this year perch performed so poorly in numbers that (just like in 2020) it was easier to catch a pike than a perch.
And because zander consistently contribute the most in numbers year after year, I compared the average number of zander per day in 2024 against previous years. What stands out here is that the strong first half of the year aligns with the trends of other years, but the second half really lags behind previous years. I don't have an explanation for this, though.
Forecast, fun facts, etc.
A highly desired predator that often appears as bycatch showed up remarkably often in the boat this year. No fewer than 46 asp were briefly aboard in 2024, almost half of which were 70 cm or more!
For those fishing for pike: the chance of catching a meter+ fish was 3%. And the chance of catching a fish larger than 90 cm was 5%. So, quantitatively a good pike year, but qualitatively less so.
For the zander anglers among us, the rule remains: the Hollands Diep contains many and beautiful zander, but the really big ones are (very) hard to catch. The chance of catching an 80+ cm fish was less than 1%! (0.33% to be exact). And the chance of catching a 70+ cm fish was only 4%. So, almost the same as the chance of catching a meter-long pike.
And then the perch, the hardest fish to catch this year. But, when you caught one, it was almost always a good one. The chance of catching a 48+ cm fish was 7%. In 14% of the cases, you had a 45+ cm fish on the hook, and the chance of catching a fish larger than 43 cm was no less than 26%. So, in more than a quarter of the cases, you could land a serious fish if you caught a perch.
And finally, with everything we've learned this year, supplemented with the figures from previous years, I've made a forecast again this year of what you can expect on average in each month of 2025. Tight lines!
