Closed Season Zander Quest Pt.41 – I Breamed a Bream

The evening was pleasant

Sun falling, gnats still active, the towpath strangely devoid of life, no poo pickers, ramblers or maggot danglers

I’m on route to the Zander hot spot to try a new deadbait. No roach today, bream it is. One bait positioned boat side, the other slap bang in the middle of a large turning bay

Time for contemplation, these canal Zander can be finicky feeders

It’s easy to get in to a meditative state when fishing, dissolution of the boundary between oneself and the outside world, No need for lysergic acid diethylamide

Time passes, how much? Not sure

Weird, I hear some repetitive beats, 120bpm if I’m not mistaken. As a white label producer in my youth that’s clearly the square and saw wave tones of a Roland TB-303, the tones sculpted with the 24 dB low-pass filter.

Up from me a narrow boat comes in to view, disco lights, in full effect. Hang on a minute, surely my eyes are deceiving me, it’s a large group of nuns. White coif, black veil, holy habit……my eyes lower,

short skirts and white stockings…….

The boat is now in full view, our paths will cross. My eyes are transfixed, my ears too

Josh Winks Higher State of Consciousness on the Technics 1200, blouses at bursting point, a glimpse of the forbidden, a wall of hormones, of pent-up frustration

“Fancy joining us?” “We need some help”

The float twitches next to the moored boat, a fish is showing interest, decisions, decisions

“Sorry girls, I’ve fish to catch” I strike, a big fish on, my rods bent

I wake bolt upright, my arms and legs swinging in opposite directions, the Wife doing well to avoid the commotion.

Another memorable dream, Paxton and Whitfield’s finest Stilton kicking in again and given me another tryptamine trip.

I’ve since bought a job lot….try some.

So this Sunday morning session I’d come armed with a couple of Bream, I has some in my bait freezer that were initially for Pike Tyson that I hooked in to down the Avon. First thing I noticed was how much more blood came from the ½ inch sections, ideal as was the skin which is as tough as old boots.

I wanted to fish a stretch of thick cover I’ve never fish before after nearly 2 hours without a bite and 1/2 an hour biteless in a turning bay, I had to make a move. The next section of cover I’d spotted some carp in the past so with the cocoons donned and the sun bright whilst waiting for a bite I could watch and listen for a mooching carp.

Cocoons, great polarised 'over' glasses

It didn’t take too long to spot the first carp either, not the biggest but may help me in the future if I’m to partake in a carp quest. The quest for a cut 20, or along those lines.

Just need that double figure Zander….

So the first Zander bite took an hour but then a pack of schoolies must of moved in because the floats didn’t stop, both at the same time too on a couple of occasions. Not what I was after but at least it wasn’t a blank. So 7 or 8 fish within 40 minutes or so, biggest nudging 3.5lb.

The quest continues…..