Closed Season Zander Quest Pt.23 – Dusk & Cover

I’d fished here before and despite catching not a jot it was a bit of an eye opener, the canals really can throw up some excellent fish if you are prepared to put the time and effort in and just that one session really got me thinking about the little I know about the local canals I fish (from time to time) and the amount I’ve still got to learn. The sad thing is, the more information and big fish whereabouts I’m exposed to the more I think about fishing and when my next session is….

….it’s addictive this fishing lark isn’t it.

What a great hobby and pastime we have, sadly I don’t get anywhere near enough banktime as I’d like, I’m hanging in there mind, I don’t have it too bad. For this short after work session I planned to fish in to dusk at a location a Wife’s shouting distance away. My usual 2 rod approach was deployed and it was a matter of hopefully a quick smash and grab session to see if I had been missing a trick and hopefully pick up a couple of fish before…

the 2 hours was up and I was cottage pie bound….

There was one particular area I wanted to concentrate on and if that didn’t produce over this session then a subsequent session would be a stone’s throw away at an area with contrasting features and outlook to see if that made any difference.

The trouble with Zander is finding the shoal pockets and their patrol routes, once you discover those it really does show you that towpath foot coverage is the key to catching them and although they are widely spread throughout the canals network there are huge baron stretches that unless you know any different you’d be thinking, Zander, what Zander. The are also possibly spawning at the minute so apart from no being that interested they might also be tightly packed.

An average schoolie a near 2lber, a 4, a good fish, anything over 5lb a cracker, a double, well they are there, but where…?

I’m wondering about this quest for a double and whether eventually if I do catch one it will be a massive anti-climax, what will I do when I eventually track down the Holy Grail ?, there is nothing more to do. Maybe if it fell to deadbait, I’d fish exclusively with lures? Then what, too many questions.

To be honest I’ve got to try and keep up with this mission as I’ll never find out will I.

So the report, like the session short and sweet, as I caught zilch, not a nibble or even a take.

3 dog walkers, a field full of rabbits, 2 bikers with the brightest lights I've even seen and a white owl kept me occupied. At least my new beanie hat worked as intended.

I've another session planned for Monday and then if I blank again I might have to fish the banker(s)