Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.100 (Canal Zander)

To be honest I was lacking in motivation for this post work afternoon session but it would keep me out the pub where they have a decent selection on at the minute, and I'd not managed to get out sadly this week with the weather being pants and obviously work and life getting in the way. 

So it was needs must really, I only had a few hours though but the diary makers would get involved but more than enough to try and winkle out a canal Zander.

It wasn't the best conditions for fishing really as it was very windy and with blue skies and often some warming suns rays, however because of the frequency of the boats at this time of day the waters colour up nicely and it's just a matter of leapfrogging cover to try and find the fish.

Simple tactics as shown below with fluoro as the hook-link because there are rarely pike here, so rare in fact I've only ever had a small jack from this stretch where Zander dominate.

Now the usual spots were not doing it whatsoever, even by the boats where I had a near 7'ber from recently. It didn't help the whole area I was fishing was open to the wind and these foam floats I have been using trying out are superb for registering bites, however they are very susceptible to the wind sadly, so much so they are a pain to watch effectively as they can move a foot in a split second as they are so light. 

In the end I decided to hot foot it back to the car and drive to another stretch where the banks are elevated which provides some much needed shelter from the wind. 

So a 5 minutes drive and a 10 minute walk I was back fishing again and it didn't take long for the first bite. When I tightened up to the circle hook the fish felt decent and was staying low and I was teasing it nearer the landing net where it spat out the bait right near my feet, goddamnit.

I didn't get to see the fish which probably wasn't a bad thing as I'd probably be more gutted if I did. Was it a monster ?, unlikely but you never know with Zander, especially when they stay low like big pike do often they are one of the good'uns.

I failed to hook-up after getting two more bites pretty quick but both of these I could feel the bait being pulled from the small pincers. At least I knew there was fish in the area though so spent the rest of the session concentrating on this 100 yard area. 

The next fish came after a short pull of the float went dead, so a twitch of the deadbait brought an instant reaction from the Zander and finally a fish was on.

It gave a spirited fight but was soon in the net where it looked like it might nudge towards the 4lb mark. I've caught hundreds and hundreds of these fish now and still love catching them because they are such a nice looking fish. They can be quite aggressive too, all jaw and protruding sharp fins but this one was pretty chilled to be honest, probably enjoying the sun like I was.

The boats by now were every 10 minutes or so and were becoming a pain especially when a boat came round the corner and I'm playing a fish in plain view but the narrowboat still came tanking through, with no let up with the throttle.

Yes I managed to catch another fish which again took the deadbait on the retrieve when I had to reel in because the narrrowboat was coming my way. A lovely dark Zed this and this one didn't like being caught at all.

After things went quiet I decided to call the session half an hour early with a couple of fish caught and a welcome top-up on the Vit D. I assume the Zander have spawned by now as I did see them the other day at it 😀 and they could no be harder to locate with so much water to go at, but we will see. On to the next one.