Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.80 (Canal Zander)

As I mentioned in the previous post my fishing mojo isn't quite there at the moment so I've not really had the urge to spend a lot of time fishing. The gin clear rivers are not helping and fingers crossed with the sunbathing weather a distant memory (most likely) and some rain on the way hopefully fishing will improve.

I'm slap bang in canal Zander country where I live so for this short evening session in to dusk I'll try and winkle out a canal Zander.

Now with an 11lb 8 ounce canal Zander concluding my 6 year quest a couple of years ago I could do with another challenge especially when the quest to catch a Stone Loach on rod and line was concluded in the 2nd session.

I'll have a think on that one, a 3lb river perch might be a nice quest, or something on those lines but in the meantime various sessions will keep me interested. Fishing for canal Zander isn't rocket science and fishing small deadbaits has been mainly the method I use since I started fishing for them.

What I didn't expect for this session was the first chuck of the deadbait opposite this boat that before I could get the bait on the next rod within seconds of the bait settling the float was indicating a confident run 🤯 !!!

It moved a good couple of meters before I noticed however when I tightened up to the circle hook I didn't connect in to it. Damn It !!! anyway another missed run on the same rod ten minutes later that usually indicates tiny schoolie zander not quite big enough to get the bait in their mouths.

Persistence is the key because where there are Zander in the swim there is usually bigger ones. I was correct in that assumption because the next bite, this time on the left hand rod I tightened up to a solid weight this time. It took me all over the swim but the 3lber was soon in the landing net. I thought I was on to something but 2 more missed bites there was more small'uns than big'uns milling around.

I tried a few swims in the end without anymore fish and oddly when dusk came and having to illuminate the floats with a focussing torch it went dead. Not unusual for these turbid canals because the Zander are happy enough going on the hunt during the day. A nice Zed to conclude the session though, I love Zander, and I'm luckily I can target them 5 mins from home.