The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.124 - Stink Holes and Stall Whimpers

When the Wife is out I take every opportunity to eat fish, she’s not a fish lover you see unless it’s freshly battered from the chippy or a hunk of cod with some new potatoes and veg she’s not a fan.

“But it’s got that fishy smell”

“Well, yeah, it’s a fish, it smells fishy”

If I ever deep hook a Zander again and it looks palatable, I might give this a go that I found on YouTube . It shows how to fillet a Zander and also gives a recipe for a Doom Bar Batter. I often catch fish from the canal that look good enough to eat, plump, fresh white flesh, others I’d be worried I’d do myself a disservice and might not wake up the next morning. Now considering the quantity of Zander I’ve caught, I’ve yet to take one home, and yet, as they are not a native species to the UK, you can do with them what you want.

I’ve had communication with the Environment Agency in the past and they confirm as many of us Zed Heads know that Zander are very much naturalised and established in many Midland waterways so you wouldn’t be hauled up to the judge if you put them back.

And put them back I do, because I want to catch it when it’s bigger. Catch and release is practiced in course fishing after all, so why would a non-native fish be any different.

Not Zander for this meal, but trout wrapped in prosciutto, over a bed of puy lentils and samphire, with a few small prawns over the top.

Salty, lemony and peppery, what’s not to like !!!!

To be fair there isn’t much I don’t eat or wouldn’t try but the reality is I’m in a minority these days, well certainly a dying breed. China was certainly an experience I won’t forget any time soon, they basically eat anything and everything and use every bit of the animal.

Not a bad thing I suppose,now one thing I couldn’t quite get over though was how they cook their chickens. Basically they look like they had come straight from a spitting image set after being run over, not once but twice. Certainly not the most appealing especially when some of the dishes I tried still had blood oozing from them.

I tried all manner of dishes though, duck tongues, pig’s intestines, bull frogs and a ‘thousand year old egg’ which is basically duck eggs coated with lime, ashes and mud, soaked in brine for 100 days until the yolk turns green and the whites become gelatinous and dark brown. The eggs have a creamy cheese flavour with a strong smell.

Sound inviting?, let’s just say I’ll give that a miss if I go again !!!!

Anyway back on track, smelt as you know has been a bit of a revelation in ones Zander fishing. They really do the business, fish a small roach back to back, it’s the smelt that usually ends up the winner.

The thing is, it’s got a soft texture which I think helps, they sure do like it and with that combination of that dreaded ‘fishy’ smell and a background hue of cucumber, yes you hear right cucumber, it’s a winner.

For this quick session I was to fish the area I call the Laryngeal Prominence and also to get my daily  steps in, I'd also mosey on up and fish opposite the Jörmungand.

Now these are waters I know contain big Zander because not only have I caught my PB from here, but also a 8lb 10oz fish and also I’d lost a good’un as well . Back to what I do, two deadbait rods, leapfrog areas of likely fish holding areas….

….awaiting those zepplers to bob !!!!

An early start again and what a nice morning it was, now after three bites and two lost fish quite quickly in to the session I was thinking, hmm could this get any worse. It did though because after getting one of my floats snagged in an overhanging bush a couple of violent pulls it pulled free and was headed towards ones face.

Sadly my reactions were too slow and the float hit the side of my cheek full pelt. It drew blood and also marked the side of my cheek, what an idiot !!!!.

Now there was frost on the fields first thing but when the same came out it was rather nice, so it was out with my lucky hat and the beanie was dumped.

It was roving session this and ended up going rather well, after the initial problems, one particular swim I managed 3 fish from and all over 3lb as well. Another 2 fish caught out of a swim with thick cover, it appeared that the fish could well be off the nets, hungry and moving around.

The last swim another two fish caught the biggest going 4lb on the scales. It gave a good account for itself as well like many of them do at this time of the year. Despite being bankside not much past 6, o'clock the first boat came through at just gone 7.00am.

No let up either a steady stream of them till I left at 11.00am. An enjoyable session though and smelt and at the latter part of the session small whole roach did the trick today. I'd not fish this area for a while so good to see the fish back in numbers, Just need to track a big'un down now.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.123 – Schism Shops and Scoville Scales

Out one lunchtime in work to get some vitamin D, I spotted the many chilli’s on the packet, hmmmm what’s that then, interesting, heck might give it a bash nothing to lose, so in the basket on a whim it goes.

I was expecting a little more from Morrisons Takeaway Chicken Phall, ok we know that Phall is a Bangladeshi restaurant creation from these shores for those that enjoy the hotter curries, but their 'Volcanic Vindaloo' wasn’t a bad effort from someone who usually makes their own from scratch.

You only to look at the contents and packing to see that chilli and tomatoes would dominate the flavour, the chilli heat coming from from naga extract and scorpion paste, but the other ingredients stated on the packet such a coriander powder, whole curry leaves, cumin and mustard seeds couldn’t really be detected.

For a supermarket curry, it was a hot’un though, I must admit, if only the justice system in this country followed the same scoville scale in their workplace rather than their mass bell pepper consumption, this country would be a better place.

I’m a bit of a heathen when it comes to saucy curries, the ones I make are generally drier in the main so a simple side of basmati rice complements them better than the skinny fries I had with this raging retail effort. Sprinkled with a few small prawns and chopped coriander, and washed down with a freezer cooled bottle of Italian dry white, it certainly woke up the taste buds that’s for sure.

Now talking of taste buds I was hoping after the capture of a Zander in the week on smelt that after being off for a while with all things bukkake they would be back seeking some palate wake-a-rupper’ers as by now in theory the young should have hatched.

I was in two minds where to go for this session but an area stumbled upon that I recognised where a double was caught, won over an area that a bite would be forthcoming, the fish size all a bit mehhhhhh !!!!.

Well I say that, you never know when a big’un will turn up, because all the ones I’ve caught over 5 or 6lb (quite a few now) have come out of nowhere.

The biggest a 9lb fish, came from a shallow area I’d only ever had schoolies before and the second biggest from an area that is usually a banker, but for waspers delights, nothing of note, but it can save a blank if you’re staring down that barrel that no angler wants to if they can help it.

So anyway back on track for this session I was at an area that I tracked down from a picture that appeared on a clubs Facebook showing a cracking Zander, a proper lunker. After a bit of messaging with the like-minded and someone who knew the capture, it was 12lb fish, but it was only when I decided to see if I could find it's location that even small details in a picture I could narrow it down to an area.

As someone who has covered miles and miles of towpath you build up a pictorial recall or retrieval of memory boarding on hyperthymesia, if I've been there in the past, I can pinpoint the location quite quickly and confirm it with the online tools we have at our disposal these days.

The reality is, if I'm to bring this quest of mine to a conclusion then I need to give myself a best chance of backing something big, and that sometime means jumping on other anglers successes. Not my usual way of fishing, but sometimes I need to do what others do to increase ones probability of catching a canal double.

I was initially given some information where it possibly was caught from but despite being on the same canal it was niggling at the back of my mind it was in an entirely different area altogether, albeit not a million of miles away, well 4 miles when I measure it on Google maps.

You see despite only a few features in the picture of what was a rather large canal Zander a quick look on Google and it's 3D facility and confirmed with actual pictures from the brilliant CanalPlanAC it was exactly where I thought it was. Well it looked that way anyway, the angle on the pictures wasn't quite right, so I needed to get to the location first to confirm the method in my madness.

The problem is, in my experience anyway catch a big Zander from a particular area you won't catch it again from the same spot. Unlike big Pike they appear to be very transient on the whole, however I'm sure there are areas such as marina's which will always hold the same fish and despite catching Zander from the spot where the big fish was caught, it I remember rightly it had enough feature to keep a big fish interested.

The fishing can be a little hit and miss at the minute but you cannot catch a fish without a bait in the water can you. So after an early start I headed straight to the big fish swim and as suspected it was where I thought it was. Now it's a big piece of water here, so there is a lot to go at so for the first couple of hours I put a couple of deadbaits, in and around the swim. It's deep as well as I had to adjust the float stop a couple of times. So I can certainly see why a big fish would be happy here.

I found a roach dead though so, someone else must be fishing it like I do, bugger !!!!

After an hour or so the first bite came with the float getting some interest and being dragged left to right and then right to left. As soon as I felt its weight I realised it was only a small fish, in-fact one of the smallest Zeds I've caught recently. But then as an experienced zed angler these bigger fish don't give up easily.

All went quiet and with the first boat going through I decided to go on the rove and fish some cover I've fished before. It's a bit of long walk but the sun was out and it was quite pleasant. After twenty minutes after the first cast I bite came.

It carted to the right quite quickly so I lifted the rod and the fish was giving a decent account for itself. I could tell it wasn't hooked properly though and sure enough after seeing its flanks It came off. Not a big fish luckily maybe 3 or 4 pounds but a fish I'd have liked to land.

I leapfrogged the stretch but when the locks are open here the water ends up in a torrent and the bait is often dragged off station. So again, back to where I came from to try and beat the boat and fish the big fish swim for another hour.

An out of condition spawned out Perch fell to a roach deadbait and that was that, the boats started up in anger and it was time to go. I'll be back though, maybe a couple of in to dusk session would be worth trying, there are certainly Zander here and some lunkers among them as well.

The problem is there are good Zander on my doorstep as I'd fish this area more often, the scale of the water is very different to what I'm used to and that brings issues in tracking down a big fish even harder. I could well spread myself too thin, I should be confident in where I fish because I have banked some nice fish now, just not that double I'm after.

On to the next one !!!!

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.122 – Long Nights and Lazy Man’s Loads

After a great chilled family holiday it was back to the daily grind this week, and the ever increasing need to fill ones coffers, top up ones reserves. A ridiculous amount of Mixcloud catching up and some good TV with her in doors got me back in the mood again luckily as I thought I would struggle. So this week episode 3 of season eight of Game of Thrones titled “The Long Night” aired on Monday and had some viewers wondering and moaning why the heck was the epic Great Battle of Winterfell, filmed in the dark, yes you couldn’t make it up.

Luckily for me as a social media avoider I only caught snippets of some of the comments as I’d have only taken to one keyboard post rum and that wouldn’t be a wise idea. For me it added to the atmosphere and cinematic experience of what has been a TV series unrivaled up till now, and for more to watch lots of TV is rare these days.

And yes the battle was epic, an hour and twenty minutes of it !!!!

Maybe I was spoilt as the Wife and I viewed it on a HD projector which when projected on the wall the image is >90"'s. and like many projectors it helps that the room is dark anyway. Now it took my Wife a good couple of years to get me watching it, and it was the promise of boobs, battles and gratuitous gore that eventually persuaded me to dedicate some of my valuable free time to it. After a few weekends of splurging and binging we caught up with the latest episode, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Unlike my Wife, my brain cannot absorb a novel, music is my thing you see where I can properly zone out and get away from it all. So luckily for me she is on hand to fill me in on any GOT question I have, because it’s based on a novel after all, a very complicated one at that. She should go on Mastermind, ok, she might have to skip the general knowledge questions !!!!, but get to the specialised subject of #GOT she would clean up for sure.

So now the Night King and the Army of the Dead is no more, bring on Queen Cersei Lannister who is the widow of King Robert Baratheon and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She is the daughter of Lord Tywin Lannister, twin sister of Jaime Lannister and elder sister of Tyrion Lannister. So who will sit on the iron throne at the conclusion, after the last episode I know who my money is on...

....can you see what I'm getting at !!!!

She would certainly have more success than I’m having with these canal Zeds, as fishing for them is off a little at the minute, because of their preoccupation in all things more exciting, they don't appear to be feeding. So I decided to fish an area very much forgotten, a stretch with potential as it was not 'that' far away from the ‘deep bit’ where some nice canal Zander have been caught, 3 or 4 fish over 5lb and one of 7lb 8oz, that’s rare I tell thee from such a small area.

This stretch has remained on ones radar for a while however despite only fishing it a couple of times, and those times to be fair, my usual regimented approach ended up being rather lackadaisical.

I blanked, both times !!!!

Results were therefore poor but there is no reason why there shouldn’t be here, because let’s face it, Zander are here to stay, and in numbers too, and when the waters are beginning to warm, the fish get on the move. Now I did think about visiting an area patrolled by a battle-axe harbouring under her bridge waiting for unscrupulous anglers to accost, but that would be put off for another week or so when ‘Nora ‘could be caught off guard and I could sneak unnoticed via the neighbours backdoor.

With the geriatrics and holidaymakers beginning their fair weather cut cruising the boat traffic will only ever increase from this moment forward, so my session apart from this one will be early mornings or post tea in to dusk jobbies.

Sometimes when it’s cold and the silt gets lifted from the bed by the boats propeller, that can shift a laying up leech covered Zed off the bottom, and it can often bring bites. However when it’s warmer and they are moving around more it can be more of a hindrance than a help.

There are stretches that I know that are quieter for sure, but for me I want sessions on my terms, having to move floats frequently can become a pain in the backside and I often cut sessions short because of it.

A boat moving at 7.20am, what’s all that about !!!!

Now a change for this short afterwork session as I’d leave one of the deadbait rods behind, and replace it with a lure rod equipped with a bright green shad.

The theory was a threat of from an aggressor might spur a fish to at least have a go, rather than dormant looking at a washed out piece of smelt waiting it to do something.

These are predators after all, they cannot but help acting on their inbuilt instinct. Green out of the all the colours I use when lure fishing for them, does seem to be the most consistent if a bite is required.

This area is nice and open as well, with cover on the far bank so the 400 metres or so could be covered nicely with a lure, whilst a deadbait tight against some cover would be used as a sleeper, with the weather about to turn to being cold again, it was just nice to be out.

Now the session didn't go too well, a dumped poo bag right where I wanted to fish, a small motorboat went through and caused a wake like no other. A small dog off the lead jumping up at me "Sorry, I've been trying to stop him doing that",it was raining as well so much of it was sheltered under a tree. Not long in to the session though I had a bite on the lure which ended up being a small jack which ended up dropping off as it was nearing the bank.

When two more boats went through I decided to up sticks and drive to an area which is a veritable banker. It's home to a fish of 8lb 10oz which is in my title banner but there are fish here in numbers more often than not. The float had been out for twenty minutes or so and sure enough after staring at a blank with a motionless float and a lure unhindered, the float bobbed, and bobbed again and it sailed under. Not a huge fish, probably not even 3lb, but most welcome all the same.

From this day forward and to project my sanity, early mornings and post dinner in to dusk sessions will be the order of the day.