Canal Zander - The Hallowed II Chronicles Pt.8

I haven't been up this neck of the woods for ages and considering I know what swims within these hallowed waters I'm not sure why I've waited this long. In-fact when I got the gear out the car and started walking on the towpath alongside the green waters I had a chuckle to myself because this is like no other canal I fish, for those in the know it's an eyeopener. 

That double figure canal Zander I caught and also my pike PB >17 came from here and there are even bigger fish within its containment to be caught if I'd only put the time and effort in.

The fragrancy of the spring flowers were tainted by the rotting animal amongst the reeds but I soon got fishing.  The plan was to fish worm / bread with some groundbait for anything that comes before the boats started moving so I arrived for 6am before the tiller ticklers decided to spoil the solitude. 

What I didn't expect though was the first swim that has form for bites produced naff all for 45 minutes so it was time for a move. That is very off indeed here really because the fish show quite quickly in the swim especially when using groundbait.

The move was crucial for success it seemed at within 10 minutes of moving swims I had the first bite. I was a little premature on the strike so I bumped the fish off but at least I knew there were fish in the swim.

Then a little flurry of activity when a shoal of rudd turned up and I caught quite a few in quick succession. Probably 15 or so, none of the big ones that reside here but at least I had a bend in the rod.

Then as quickly as they turned up they disappeared leaving me to scratch around for some bites. A few swingers were next, such as small perch and a skimmer but again things were not exactly prolific. The deadbait rod, well that I fished in two swims and was seeing no action whatsoever, so with a circus of boats now starting to arrive I decided to do what I do best and go on the rove.

Locks always hold fish generally but in the end there was that many boats I just couldn't get a bait to settle in the tsunami all very frustrating. So yeap you guessed it, back on my feet again where I retraced my steps but this time go beyond to an area of thick cover that throws up a fish or two. 

What I didn't expect was within 5 minutes the float receives a bite and after a couple of bobs confidently turns in to a full on bite. The fish felt a decent weight but it wasn't fighting at all really and I soon had it in the landing net. 

A proper battle scarred warrior this one, it had seen it all before I can well imagine. Not a bad fish though, quite a long'un and going 6lb and 8 ounces on the scales. With boats now coming at me from all directions I decided to leave it there on that fish and maybe come back again soon but this time in to dusk and beyond an maybe try for a Tench.