The Netherlands are essentially what the British call 'coarse fish' country. 
 One of the most interesting species to go after is 'Esox Lucius', more commonly known 
 as Northern Pike. We consider this freshwater fish to be a gamefish 'par excellence' and 
 chase him with our 7/8 weight rods, using streamer flies as shown in the STREAMERS 
 section of my website.
 Some mythology ... No species has inspired more fables than the pike. Its malevolent eye 
 and tail-drooping posture once identified it as Luce, the waterwolf. Anglo-Saxons compared 
 it to that ancient weapon the pike,and thus it became Esox Lucius, the pitiless pike. 
 Pike bones were also worn as talismans against withcraft. 
 In Bohemia, which is authentically the land where farm-pond management got its start in the 
 eleventh century, the sight of a pike feeding before midday was considered a bad omen. 
 Mystery, of course, has always been an important ingredient in angling, and nothing stirs the
 soul more that the abrupt arrival of a twenty-pound pike behind the lure.
 With baleful eyes and underslung jaw, it comes grimly to the feast.