🎣 Annual Predator Fishing Catch Report Lure Fishing Guide 2025
- Thom Prüst
- Dec 1
- 4 min read
Introduction
The year 2025 showed how strongly reality can deviate from long‑term averages. Since 2020 I have been recording the catches of every pike, zander, and perch on a daily basis. Those numbers tell their own story: 2020, 2023, and 2024 were outstanding years, with totals well above 1,800 fish already by November. 2021 and 2022 were clearly weaker, ending November at around 1,500 fish. But 2025 takes the crown — in a negative sense. By the end of November the total stands at a disappointing figure of not even 1,400 fish.
Based on the years 2020–2024 I made a forecast of the average number of pike, zander, and perch expected per day. I anticipated that these averages would confirm the same disastrous picture. Yet the reality turns out to be more nuanced. I excluded the month of July from the analysis, as I only fished two days due to vacation, which would have given a distorted view.
Total Predatory Fish
Winter (Jan–Mar): an average of 7.28 fish was predicted, 5.97 realized. That may not seem like a big difference, but it still means more than one fish less per day. Not a shocking deviation, but a clear sign that winter was weaker.
Spring (Apr–May): the worm period was estimated at 18.7, in reality 17.6. One fish less per day, yet an average of over 17 fish remains a strong score.
Summer (Jun–Aug): June was almost exactly on forecast. August was a positive surprise: with 13.92 fish per trip we were more than three above the long‑term average.
Autumn (Sep–Nov): September was still in line with the forecast, but October and November were major disappointments. Where the long‑term average predicted 11.3 fish per day, we ended up with only 7.3. And that in what is normally our peak season.
Conclusion: the forecast slightly overestimated winter and spring, underestimated summer, and heavily overestimated autumn.
Perch
Perch is the biggest culprit of 2025. Except in February and March, when the actual numbers were slightly higher than the forecast, perch catches consistently lagged behind.
April, May, September, and October were especially dramatic: where an average of 4–6 perch per trip was expected, we managed no more than 1.83.
Pike
Pike also lag behind. On average we should have been catching around 2 pike per day, but the actual figure stalled at 1.3. March stood out in particular: traditionally the pike month in the Biesbosch, along with October, yet in 2025 it delivered only 1.27 compared to a long‑term average of 3.14.
Zander
Zander saved the season. Except in January, October, and November, the actual results were usually well above the long‑term average. The final outcome: an average of 9.71 fish per day, of which 7.11 were zander
Totals
Of the 1,379 fish caught, more than 1,000 were zander. Pike barely reached 200 (199), comparable to 2022. Perch was the exception: only 170 specimens, while even the difficult years 2022 and 2024 still produced around 300 perch.
Bonus Fish
Alongside daily averages and totals, the chances of a true bonus fish are always an important part of the season. 2025 shows that those chances are small, but clearly measurable.
• Meter‑long pike: 4.5%
• 90+ pike: 8.5%
• 80+ zander: 0.4%
• 70+ zander: 2.3%
• 48+ perch: 5.3%
• 45+ perch: 10.6%
• 42+ perch: 12.9%
What these figures reveal: although zander is caught in large numbers compared to pike and perch, the chance of landing a truly capital zander is minimal. In contrast, the chance of a big pike — if you catch one — is quite significant: not 15%, but still 13%. And with perch the ratio is even more striking: more than one in four perch caught is over 42 cm.
Can we draw hard conclusions from this? Perhaps not. But these are the hard numbers of the year, showing that 2025 was remarkable not only in total catches but also in the distribution of bonus fish.
Closing Remarks
2025 confirms that not only were the long‑term daily averages not achieved, but total catches — especially pike and perch — also fell far short of expectations. The key question remains: how can this be? Many guests say, “It can’t be that the fish are gone?” But yes, it certainly can. What isn’t there, I cannot catch or help others catch. I am convinced that this year there were simply fewer fish present in the lower river area of the Hollands Diep/Biesbosch.
Contact with Niels Houben of Regio Zuidwest of the Sportvisunie supports this theory. He points out that catches in 2025 were disappointing not only for predatory anglers, but also for carp and coarse anglers. The idea that the Haringvliet and Hollands Diep had become too salty is incorrect: the sluices have been virtually closed since March and salinity is continuously monitored.
What is plausible: the low discharges of 2025. Current influences migration, water clarity, nutrient retention time, and thus the development of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton forms the basis of the food chain: less current means less plankton, fewer baitfish, and ultimately fewer predators. In 2023 and 2024 there was high discharge and therefore a richer food chain, in 2025 very little. That contrast explains a lot.
But there is also perspective. Once discharges increase again, phytoplankton production will recover and with it the entire food chain. That means more baitfish, more predators, and therefore better catches. For guests this is the moment to book: precisely in years when the fish are unpredictable, you learn the most about technique, reading the water, and strategy. And when conditions improve again, you as an angler will be ready to benefit from a new top year.
Do you want to experience firsthand what predator fishing on the Hollands Diep and Biesbosch is really like, and be ready for better catches once conditions turn again? Book your fishing trip now and secure your spot on board.
