Fish of Belgium

Canals hold a place here that few countries give them. Inherited from industry and still working, they form a continuous navigable network fished in the middle of cities as readily as in open country. The regular passage of barges sets the fish feeding more reliably than the hour of day.

The Meuse and its Ardennes tributaries provide the contrast: faster, colder, more incised water with a fauna quite unlike that of the Flemish lowlands. A few dozen kilometres take you from canal fishing to running-water fishing.

The coast runs barely sixty kilometres, almost entirely sand, with a handful of harbours and groynes concentrating the shore fishing. Tides are strong and the shelf shallow, which keeps the water coloured and productive.