It is with a heavy heart that I make this post. Today I was told by a colleague that when she was horse riding through Amsterdamse Bos that she had seen a lot of dead carp, so as I couldn’t get over to the water during the daylight I asked a friend of mine Marcel if he could pop by and see what was up. We knew that there were issues in the water in Amsterdamse bos but not to the extent that greeted Marcel.
Hundreds and hundreds of dead carp. When Marcel popped round to the other part of Bos to check the main pool he was greeted by an even more grizzly sight. What he thought were white birds popping up on the water were carp, bream and other fish dead as far as the eye can see.
All of the white spots you see on the water are a dead fish. It is hard to believe that this was once a prolific water producing my best pike of 2009 as well as numerous others. Many anglers got a great deal of pleasure from fishing these waters. I even had the honor of watching a grass snake hunting in the margins late last year the 1st time I had ever seen this in Holland.
Fish sizes ranged from an estimated 15-20 lbs ( Average size) to at least three 30lb + mirrors and even a huge eel of 5-6lbs which is a rarity that will be caught no more.
Anyway I leave you with a pic of Amsterdamse Bos in happier times as the pic below will not be repeated for quite some time to come.
What do you think ? Should the Bos have been dredged earlier ? should it be restocked ? should it be left for a year to recover ? use the posting button below and make a comment.
If you have other pictures of the Bos that you would like to share please send them through or post me a link and I will include it here. For more pictures of the disaster click here
UPDATE 05/03/2010
I have just returned from the water and I can confirm that the forest authorities have removed most of the dead carp. Loads still remain however along with dead eels and pike, more of the grizzly pics can be found in the new gallery here.
The Masterblanker 