holidaying in belgium, whats the crack

whats the crack in Belgium, do i need a rod licence, any odd rules i need to know about. Will probably only manage a couple of sessions hopefully on a river so won't be taking a mountain of kit.

john

Number of times, months even, I've spent in Belgium and never yet cast a line.

Too much going on. Too much damned good beer to be had.

Kwak, Bruges, Tongerlo (if you go to Antwerp area), Belle Vue ....

Oh sod it, just look here

I can even recommend a restaurant in Brussels down the back streets that serves everything in beer. In't Spinnekopke

Oh, and you have to go in Toone's bar and puppet theatre.

Start at the top of the menu of beers and see how far down you get before you pass out.

.

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Only joking, don't like to see people getting drunk. It's a great bar for a drink, if you can find it.

My daughter lived in Overijse near Brussels.

The local mayors office told me I needed a licence from the post office but i never got around to fishing.

There's a great lake in Overijse near the road seen many carp giant goldfsh and many other species caught there. Permits can be boughrt from the cafe opposit. I was told as a private lake i didnot need a state permit butnot realy sure as it's a flemish speaking district and english and to a degree french is not spoken much.

thanks Dave, i will enquire when i get there

Hello,

I'm quite late to answer but it might help people anyway.

The first question you have to answer is "Where am I going to cast my line ?" Why ?

Belgium is devided in 3 regions (Vlaanderen in the North, Brussels in the middle and Wallonie in the South) and each of them requiers a specific licence.

The second question will be "Am I going to wade or use any kind of floating stuff ?" In fact, depending on you staying on the bank or entering (floating) the water, the licence will be different.

In Vlaanderen : Visverlof | Vlaanderen.be
To summarise it, these're 3 kinds of licence :
•For the yougsters : gratis
•Normal licence (maximum 2 rods fished from the bank) : 11,16 euro
•The lot (maximum 2 rods fished from the bank, or wading or from a boat): 45,86 euro

You can buy it online here : Visverlof of visvergunning - Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos

In Wallonie : Maison Wallonne de la pêche asbl | Licences
To summarise it, these're 2 kinds of licence :
•The type A licences allow you to fish with one or two lines on the waterline and use a net (only to pull in the fish caught with the line). The price of the licence is set at 12,39 € (+ 1,75€ for postage).
•The type B licences allow you to exercise all types of fisheries allowed for type A licences. Moreover, they also allow you to fish with one or two lines elsewhere than the waterline (piers, benches, planks), as well as with other fishing gears. The price of the licence is set at 37,18€ (+ 1,75€ for postage).

You can buy them here : Commande en ligne des permis de p�che 2012 et des cartes d’affiliation

In Brussels : Pêche - S'informer - - Bruxelles Environnement
Nothing to say except to call the number provided in the link.

Hope it'll help ! If you have any other question, feel free to ask me.

jns513 said:

In Brussels : Pêche - S'informer - - Bruxelles Environnement Nothing to say except to call the number provided in the link.

Click to expand...

Where is there to fish in or around Brussels? I've never seen anywhere other than a few lakes that look like they're on restricted land or there's a canal, but it looks a bit industrious to me. I once looked for tackle shops and could only find one tiny little place selling second rate tackle, not for the well practised angler. I always thought the small lake in the Parc Leopold would make a nice fishing spot for kids, but once I went it was drained and only about 2ft deep. A bit of spending on it, compensation from the nearby European Parliament, would soon put it right. There are others too in other parcs, the Brussels Mayor should think hard about using these.

Well, yes, fishing in or near Brussels might be pretty special : I once fished the pond of the Rouge Cloitre (crucians, breams, carps) with the Belgian internationals. There was a daily ticket I guess. I fished quite a lot the Brussels-Charleroi canal in Ruisboek, Lot, Buizingen (Flemish part with the flemish licence. Nice swims : roach, bream everywhere, tench and carp in the margin in Buizingen (near the chocolate company). A dark groundbait with 30% of black and light ground is the key. Don't forget the margins, they are often very good. Perchs and zanders are also common. This very canal crosses Brussels toward Willebroek and becomes there huge and seaship friendly (breams and roach with a heavy feeder). This is my experience in Brussels
I know there is a little shop in Jette (place du mirroir) and a big one near Willebroek. Fishing gear choice is anyway poor in Belgium, especially if you're a feeder guy.

Yes, the canal down to Charleroi is very nice, bigger than our canals, but is it very accessible? The banks look a treat on Google, I only passed over it once on the way to Charleroi airport (a nightmare never repeated), but that was late evening and I couldn't see much anyway. I suppose they're all pretty clean and well stocked with fish, but around Brussels (same as the one from Gent to Sas-van-Gent - that is BIG) they look like industrial settings as I said before.

Why not drop a line to the King, he has the royal gardens in Laeken and there's some nice lakes in there that should hold a few fish.

The canal is quite accessible, but you cannot park your car where you want. The road which follows the canal is most of the time forbidden and you'll have to find a suitable place for your car nearby the bridges, ... When I'll be back home, I'll check on a map and post it here. I quit match fishing, championships, ... so I've to use my memories Haha, I'm probably ageing too