Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt. 2

As an experienced canal zander targetter those fish holding spots always remain in ones memory and Steve's Bush is one of those that will always stay with me to the grave.

You see this nondescript piece of thicket I'd have walked by if it wasn't for the likeminded putting me on to this exact spot and the rest is history. 

I remember one session where I managed to catch 8 fish from the tangled mess of Steve's Bush and even when Manscaped got hold of it, the bites never let up and it was one of those banker swims where if you want the float to bob, a run to develop, Steve's Bush was a no brainer.

The problem is like any hotspot if you overfish it like I did, the fish wise up and decided to up fins and relocate to somewhere a little more peaceful. I hadn't fished it for a good while though so for this morning session I was back to see if the Zander had returned to their comfortable sofa and the overly plump pouffe's.

A lure angler had beaten me to the stretch and it looked like he was making his way up the canal so I assume he had dropped the lure in Steve Bush before I got there.

Smelt on one rod and a chunk of roach on the other but 40 minutes in with the deadbaits tight to the cover nothing materialised and sadly I had to go on the rove.

I took myself to an area of thick cover where I've also caught pike hence why for this session I was fishing wire. The frost had cleared by this time but it was still pretty nippy as I was sheltered from the sun. Zander bites some quick usually when you drop in on fish but 4 or 5 bits of cover nothing doing at all.

I returned to the first swim and gave it another 20 minutes but again biteless. It's clear here so I might have faired better at dusk or when the canal had been churned up a little by the boats.

So I decided to move stretches completely and was back to turbid canal that sees plenty of boat traffic. One missed run where I assume a schoolie had eyes bigger than its mouth and I pulled the bait out of its gob. Another 5 swims fished, 12k steps covered, tough going indeed and I ended the session on a blank. The sun was lovely though, that's something !!!! I need a rethink