Piscatorial Quagswagging

...the diary of a specialist angler in around the Warwickshire Avon and its tributaries.

Wednesday 14 April 2021

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.188 - Camel Backs and Camisades

"Dad how much blood do you have to lose to die ?"

"What happens to Ben when you and Mummy go to Heaven ?"

"What does passive aggressive mean ?"

"I love pigs, can we have one as a pet rather than a dog because Ben won't be scared of it then"

"DADA TURN IT UP !!!!"


I love these random questions and whenever I take Sam fishing the father and son bonding is always most welcome especially when another fishing adventure we partake in means a much longer drive where the conversations often are random and couldn't be more varied. 

Drugs featured in the latest conversation and he'd be learning about them as school, 9 years old scary stuff but kids aren't kids these days.  It helps with a shared passion of repetitive beats the volume not controlled by the mouths of the other passengers who don't get the same enjoyment as we do from the same musical genre. 



The weather was much kinder for this evening session in to dusk and beyond and Sam would be working the lure and I'd be taking it easy watching the deadbait rods.

He can cast independently now and is making a cracking little lure angler. It's a method that he has taken to rather well as he is active all the time and not sitting back waiting for things to happen. Motionless floats test me let along a 9 year old 5 years in to his life as an angler.


He worked the lure for a good hour till he got it snagged for a break but in that time the clearish water provided a couple of aborted takes from Zander.

The deadbaits worked though and to fish caught the biggest above a >60cm fish but hollow and lean as anything and only going 4lb 2oz on the scales. The other fish was a spawn bound 3.5 lber,  and both not the scale of the fish I was after. The set-up I was using was very crude indeed but these bite activated floats would be invaluable when the light went. 


The Zander didn't seem to mind the resistance whatsoever happily dragging a heavy float and two drilled bullets all over the canal. I dread to think the overall weight but I've a dedicated set-up with this arrangement as my usual Zed rods don's feel man enough (can I say that in 2021 ?)

Some of the bites are ridiculous and the float will bury under the surface with the green illumination changing to flashing red to indicate a fish has taken the deadbait.


As the light went though Sam was starting to get cold. Despite a heavy hoody, his ski jacket and my hat he was feeling the chill.

You would think that the best change to catch to Zander is in low light but on the canal I've never found it an issue. In-fact I've fished in to dark plenty of times with mediocre returns. The river couldn't be any different, dusk is when things change and the Zander go on the hunt. 


The bites came though but I've been using larger baits the last couple of sessions and I'm sure it was small Zander with eyes bigger than their mouths. Larger Zander after initially messing around with the bait run off with the bait in a characteristic fashion. 

The float would jump in to life and then drag for a few seconds then stop. There must have been quite a few fish in the swim too because every few minutes the float began to flash.


It was now well past Sam's bedtime and after turning up bankside and having to take my jacket off as I was too warm the temperature had plummeted so even I felt cold. Sam by this time was hearing every sound and amplifying them to monstrous proportions. A fox howl was the straw that broke the camels back, we were back in the car before things might have well got interesting. 

I'm tempted to have another session on my own with my usual set-up and then illuminate the floats with a torch. Are they more cautious when the light goes ? or were they like my guess just small fish in the swim picking up the bait and dropping it ? Was it the lunker that I'm after that has seen it all before ?

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