Piscatorial Quagswagging

...the diary of a specialist angler in around the Warwickshire Avon and its tributaries.

Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Closed Season Zander Quest PT55 – Fridge bound after Jizzneyland

Catch results so far for this 2017 closed season double figure canal Zander challenge of mine have been mediocre to say the least. Not only has got me thinking, where have all the Zander gone as even my hot spots are devoid of fish, but also what am I doing wrong and what do I need to change or tinker with so to get back on track as

I'm running out of time to better my PB of 9lb on the premaxillary....


I don’t think fishing exclusively with deadbaits helps with the quantity of banked fish as a lure rod spurs up the predatory instinct of the Zander

It’s a stick poking approach after all.

….lures are clearly the way to go if numbers of fish are priority, but I know for a fact that for the chance for a biggy i.e. one over 5 or 6 lb then bait appears to be King.

Last week’s discovery of a tryst zone for adult Zander to engage in lusty pursuits got me thinking about the bottlenecking portage that this area possesses as it sure must form the transitional route from nest to feeding ground and back again.


The pre and post spawning feeding grounds up till this point have been difficult to nail down so before normality returns to the canal then something a little different is what this pursuit requires.

I’m sure after a week or two things will get convention but maybe if I can dangle that carrot in front of the hungry donkey then maybe I can intercept the big female Zander puffing on that fag and fridge bound.

So with ones arms out, and traps set this short evening session in to dusk I was hoping there was method in my madness to try and abate my ever increasing insanity.

I'm sure I'm overthinking things.


So enough of the guff how did the session go….?

Well a bite within seconds of the first cast which resulted in a fish that stayed on for a number of seconds but then the schoolie I assume dropped the bait.

Fifteen minutes throwing a lure around without a bite the float is on the move again, this time a more confident bite resulted in a small Zander, then as I was unhooking it, the other float bobs and stops and motors off again....


A similar size sadly and that's how the session continued as within forty five minutes or so I had another 4 or 5 fish all on the roach sections.

They were angry too, this one was a proper little snapper like he had seen the Goliath Tiger fish in Jeremy Wade's River Monsters

The little tart....!!!!

A micro lure dangler would be ringing his mates at this moment, me, whilst I'd still got the tail firmly between my legs.


A bigger fish was eventually hooked and it was hugging bottom much more than the others, but sadly  when margin bound after a few nods of its head it was off.

Maybe a 5lber who knows in these baron times as I've forgot what a big Zander feels like.

On to the next one, and this time,somewhere that for some reason I've overlooked.

Hopefully a canal towpath, devoid of dog sh*t.


I live in hope....

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