Warwickshire Avon – Smelt and Snot Rockets Pt.13

A big billy, bold as brass, a thick body of dark teal with contrasting black stripes, ejected the roach deadbait like a baby spitting out a dummy. A sizeable dead for a Pike, but this sergeant engulfed it like it was a palate cleanser.

Certainly over 2lb, a proper chunk….

Sadly the more selective bait of a load of lobworms ready to chop is on the way via a courier so it would have to wait till next week, where I might try and fish in to dusk and a little beyond in an area I’ve not done so yet. Hopefully to try and winkle out something more what the venue appears to hold, as there appears to be a good stamp of fish in these seemingly forgotten waters.

Obviously a nice perch would be nice, but the session will be a bit of double dipping, as it would be a last gasp Pike session to conclude which has been a pretty good season to be fair…

….a chub and barbel PB and I seem to be enjoying my fishing more than ever.

Then it’s back to continue with the Canal Zander Challenge where I’m determined to catch a double figure fish.

Now talking of Zander albeit of the river kind, this short after work session was down at an area of the Warwickshire Avon where I’ve caught plenty of Zander in the past but they appear harder and harder to track down over the last couple of seasons. The Pike and especially the jacks certainly dominate and make up the predatory biomass but I’m sure they are still some good zeds to be had.

A session here not long ago I had bites galore on deads and landed a pike and a Zander and missed runs and had dropped takes, so I was back again for an in to dusk session this time though, with Zander in the back of my mind, rather than pike.

So baits would be smaller and this time smelt only….

Now the smelt is a bit of an oddball, you wouldn’t think the Zander would be attracted by it but they certainly are. They have a distinctive cucumber smell but with a background pungency that is unquestionably a fishy sea bait, however….

….for targeting canal Zander it was a revelation to be honest, and when bought in bulk is very cost effective as well. Being a soft bait, apart from allowing the hook to pass through without hindrance the bait give allowing a decent sized bait to be used without becoming a gobstopper if a similar sized roach was used for example.

So anyway, back on track, anything doing ?

Well to be fair, it wasn't a bad short session, the weather was cold, damp and the river up and coloured as expected, but it looked perfect for Zander rather than Pike, and sure enough the first bite a Zander of around 5lb and maybe a little over as it was quite rotund took a liking to the smelt offering.

Another fish came quite quickly after but then despite fishing in to dusk, the action was slow indeed and not even a bite at sundown. The Pike a no show as I expected.