The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.203 - Fanimals and Fanfaronades

My canal mojo had fell off a cliff recently, ok the weather isn't helping is it especially when the forecasters seem to change their minds every few hours it seems. Sessions are hard to plan, even the short sessions I do. The wind that was predicated to be 20/25mph, barely a light breeze, and the light rain a full on monsoon. 

The garage had become a 2nd home, darts with competitive Sam, some weight training to keep ones exercise routine up and some much needed tackle sorting, whilst the elderly neighbours have been treated to some techno treats whilst I've been pounding the CAD machine working from home.

A bullseye required, now the peperami fanimal was 30cm tall, with a built-in sound generator and when the pressure became too much, you could chuck your fanimal against something hard to hear it scream a rather sharp-tongued football rant by none other than Ade Edmondson.

These included "Who's the sausage in the black", 

"Whose flaming side are you on?" and 

"The referees a veggie!" 

Adrian Edmondson provided the voice, by the way. He didn't come out with this though.

"Where are the double figure canal Zander ?" 

Its a question I've been asking myself for a good while as you know, but will it be answered before the new river season is here ?

Probably not I suppose because 5 or 6 years in to the quest the best time to catch them at their biggest has been and gone. 

There is a month and a bit left to go though however this session down at the new area I've been fishing there is potentially a fish here that will end the quest for sure. The reason ? well the bait fish are in here in good numbers, not just elastic stretching roach, rudd, bream and hybrids, but snacket sized aforementioned too.

The problem is unlike the Pike that live here too, these transient larger Zander are harder to track down. Do they have routines ?, do they have sections they patrol and ignore others ? Mick are you not fed up of all this now ? Well why the heck are you fishing this stretch Mick ? well Nic would be winkling out the silver fish and I'd be joining him bankside for a conflab and this stretch has past form, that's the reason....

....now Nic's fish that would have concluded the quest was caught at 10.00pm and we'd still be still towpath side at that time albeit at another stretch that I'd fished a few times now for only a few pike, and a schoolie or two. 

Now I've fished plenty of times for Zander in to dusk and beyond and never really thought it made any difference to ones catch rate.

In-fact the turbid canals I fish during the day has always been far more productive but here the water has a much different clarity, hence why there appears to be Pike in numbers. Not only that but the area is so full of bait fish that the predators don't really have to move much but can largely hand around the area and trough at their delight. 

The Liar of the Giant Zander ? 

Only one way to find out !!!!

With Nic already fishing I was in no desperate rush to get bankside as the light doesn't start to go till around 9.30pm or so I aimed to get there for 7.00pm or so and set my stall out. An over depth float set-up which when the light went would be illuminated by a focussing torch and then the other rod a running ledger set-up on an alarm. 

Bait well, one rod smelt, the other rod a roach, was the quest concluded with a fanfare and a trumpet blast ? !!!!

As I made my way up the canal I bumped in to another guy fishing deadbaits for Zander, he'd already caught a small Zander and had been chatting to Nic before settling in to a swim with lots of overhead cover. It turned out this blogger and Southeast escapee the Essex Scribbler Gale who was on a break from work who not only knew me from my blog escapades over the years but also watches Nic's videos too. 

Its always nice to bump in to blog readers on the towpath and after a long conversation whilst I was taking to him his bass float bobbed and moved and a fish was on. 

A small schoolie came in quickly but after we said our goodbyes and I went to join Nic, an hour or so later he wanted to borrow some scales to weigh the 7 or 8lb Zander he had caught. 

Sure thing, no problem as I love to see big Zander on the bank whoever the capture is. This was a long fish but not that fat, still it had a decent width to it over it's flanks and had been feeding well recently with some lumps in its stomach, after zeroing the scales attached to my landing net it went 6lb 14oz on the scales. 

A lovely fish indeed Gale !!!, we really are lucky in the Midlands where the varoety of fishing in the canals is really quite incredible. Now as long as I've been chasing canal Zander a >5lb fish don't come up that often but when they reach this size they really are impressive looking fish. 

So the hunch was right, well oh, not hunch because this stretch has done some nice fish in the past. Long fish are what you need because when this you catch one that is full of spawn or has been eating, the weight really can increase dramatically. 

I've caught 60cm fish that have varied as much as 3lb, 4.5lb and 7.5lb respectively. From slight hookers who couldn't stop a big in an alley to prop forwards built like brick out houses. 

Anyway to cut a long story short Nic was doing really well fishing the pole in the margins and in the track and after the odd dry spell he was getting plenty of bites. From some nice fish too, some big roach bream hybrids giving him the run around. The predators on the other hand were suspicious in their absence. 

There wasn't any boats that stirred up the motionless canal at all and apart from one spell where a pack might have gone through where we both had drop runs on smelt, nothing materialised even after dusk had been and gone.

 Nic was still catching fish well in to dark with illuminating his pole float in the murk but my alarm and float were unhindered and hour and a half in to dark.

So another decent session for Nic on the pole but a big fat blank for me, still it was nice to see a decent Zander come out this evening and I'll be back most likely however next time I'll have a roving session I think as there is quite a bit still to go at here. 

It helps is a quiet stretch too, in-fact so quiet if I didn't have a 7.30am teams meeting to attend the following morning I'd have stayed longer, there was not a breath of wind and it was very pleasant to be out indeed. Rain, that held off too despite the forecast. 

(Not Quite) The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.170 - Knee-Tremblers and Knissomancy

With the weather getting colder this week and the rain abating hopefully river conditions will be a little improved because I fancy trying for not only Pike but also some Chub. I finished work last week you see so intend to stack the sessions up.

Now with the Wife getting her nails done and some last minute shopping, that left me to look after the two tearaways. I was eager to go fishing but I'd have plenty of time in the coming days, so a fancy breakfast rustled up for me, a couple of buttered pikelets for Ben, a bacon sarnie on THICK bread for Sam.

Hog's pudding is a traditional sausage-like meat product from Devon and Cornwall. A spicy kick and contains flavourings such as basil, garlic, cumin, and black pepper. The sausage is typically prepared with pork meat or offal, pork fat, bread, suet, and either pearl barley or oatmeal. 

So on topic with all this recent doom and gloom and scaremongering over the 'mutant' strain, Dover now a carpark, the French shutting their boarders to UK travellers and incoming freight, countless other countries following suit. A political own goal for BoJo after scaring his wage payers and the world witless, seems that way doesn't it. Luckily as I type this Freight will start moving again and the FTSE starting to recover again from the big hit it had when initially the markets opened. 

Project Fear most certainly, just look at my elderly Mum and Dad, who after being comfortable again walking up the road to get the local paper, are back peering from behind the curtains and now won't be visiting my Sister for their Christmas dinner. Ben's routine out of sync and now he has been asking "Can we go home now !!! " after a short while outside which is not like him, even he know something not right with the world.

All this because of the 'The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group' (NERVTAG), those that advise the government on the threat posed by new and emerging respiratory viruses. 

By the way one on the panel paid for by the public purse is Professor Neil Ferguson, yeap that bloke who resigned from the Government after heeding his own advice in the lockdown and visited his mistress for a knee trembler, how is that even possible with his track record ?

Still this is a diary, as well as a blog, got to say what I think haven't I....

Anyway I've had enough of it all to be honest, so where to go fishing to get away from it all where 3G is, well if you're lucky. So it was back to where my Zander challenge really took off big-time. You see after a 9lber turned up out of the blue, and then not long after a 8lb and 10oz lump this 2 mile stretch really showed some form. 

The problem was that after plundering it for a good while, nothing of note turned up again and it largely had fallen off ones radar. Before I join another club on the commencement of the quest again, I fancied one last look again to see if it was worth another look. 

Bites used to be regular, blanks rare but then it went off big time, so much so, I wrote off the whole canal network and moved ones overdepth float rods lock-stock to an entirely different one. This change paid off especially when I discovered the 'deep bit' where before the cover was hacked back to nothing after the CRT's clippers were set to number one. 

Again back to catching half decent Zander, a few 5lbers and the best over 7lb if I recall. Now anything over 5lb is a good'un on the canal, the humdrum schoolie being the norm. 

There are no secrets to this canal Zander lark, you need to do the miles, put the work in. When the canals are muddy like there were for this session, the banks are quieter too. 

It was the lifting of some of the restrictions after the first lockdown where some of those family walks and bike rides in the good weather, highlighted just how many baitfish were still here. 

Shoals and shoals of small snack sized roach and also perch of similar number and statue. Zander need to feed and there was plenty here because I could see them. It's those transient big'uns that may well be lurking here it's a stretch that will always hold dear. 

I've made some adjustments to ones set-ups of late, mainly reducing the gear down to the bare minimum, 2 short'ish rods and compact reels, a small bag with only the essentials and this time on its first outing a rucksack to remove. 

A few tweaks here and there really can make or break an enjoyable session, and when you ankle deep in mud, a bag that can be easily cleaned is a Godsend for example. The mud seemed to get worse and worse the saving grace I didn't see a soul, well tell a lie, a dog walker as I was walking back to the car at the end of the session.

So anyway lets get the smelt out, a proven Zed attractor if there ever was one !!!!

I got there at dawn and when the light lifted the gloom one look of the colour of the water I thought I'd be in for a good morning. After 4 usually productive swims the floats were motionless and me scratching my chin what was wrong.

Ok it can be a waiting game this canal Zander lark with deadbaits but if you do drop on the fish you tend to get a bite quite quick. I think I spotted 2 topping fish throughout the 4.5 hour session when I covered 12k steps. Even the banker swim didn't produce and one that I dropped in some bait and set it to rest.

It was one of those days I think, the water seemed a decent colour but it did change from 6inches of visibility to next to nothing. With heavy wellies traipsing through the thick mud it wasn't exactly an easy session either because moving from cover to cover can mean a good ten minute walk to the next spot. 

Still it was nice to be about despite the loads of dumped cider cans and also the randomly placed dog poo. I'm going to enjoy the quest in March especially when there will be new water to cover and maybe a pub open to enjoy a hand pulled pint in. 

'Not Quite' The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.146 – Woke'rs and Welsh Ejectments

After the Christmas break with the nippers back in school the Wife and I back in to the eating out on a Friday afternoon routine, so a Turkish restaurant for the first meal out in 2020, the prawn starter which was lovely, with some flatbreads and various tips. then a meat feast lamb shish, chicken shish, and minced lamb adana,

Vegan's please look away !!!!

The simple things in life can often be the most pleasurable, a shared good meal, bellies full. I'll save the homemade Baklava till the next time we visit. We'll be back. Fishing gives me similar pleasures as does a large rum swigged with a film.

The local rivers in turmoil again, storm Brendan bringing lots of rain with him to top up the already full water-table, the ground sodden, rivers chocolate, yeap, you guessed it, having to scrat around to get that much needed fishing fix. To be honest I thought about not having a dangle this week, but after a nice chilled weekend only a few days in to the working week, in one way and another I really needed to get out bankside.

One option for sure, yeap you guessed it, canal Zander, so with tackle cobbled together a sheltered swim of convenience. Only a couple of hours this session but enough to re-align the cogs, reset the dials. Now this may be a swim of convenience but there are some good fish that swim in these turbid waters.

'The Deep Bit'  I discovered, which isn't far from here I'd managed  fish to over 7lb, but I'd also caught quite a few fish over 5lb, which believe you me, stretches like this don't come up that often. Now I lost a big Zed here sometime ago so it's always been on ones radar, and there is a good reason for that, away from the 'Deep Bit' it's still feature bound.

Thick cover, marginal and overhead it provides some sanctuary where predators like to hang out and the more I fish for canal Zander, these are the areas I like to target.

I rarely fish dusk and beyond for canal Zander but maybe I'm missing a trick ?

In my experience there is no need to, the stretches I fish are very turbid and all you need to do is find the fish and they will feed. When the water is cold though they tend to hold up and things do get tougher, they often lay on the bottom hence why, when you catch them they are covered in leeches. When they are like this you need to put a bait right on the top of their head, they don't seem to budge much these fish.

Smelt as pictured above is the main stay of my Zander fishing, they seem to love it. The bait looks bigger than it actually is, because the float is only around 7cm's or so. If it's a small smelt use it whole, if it's a big bait, lop the tail off.

So anyway back to the session, the floats when out at dusk. Now Nic from Avon Angling UK put me on to this torch off of Ebay. You can focus the beam so the beam of light is really narrow, so for illuminating rod tips or floats without much disturbance it's ideal. When focusing on floats in the dark even with a light on them they can be difficult to focus on, unlike in daylight there is less references to focus on, so bites are less obvious.

So back to the session, well, I thought I had a bite quite quick when it was dark as the far float drifted out of the beam quite quickly, sadly a struck in to thin air, a lock must have been opened as the water was flowing from right to left. If there isn't a bite in fifteen or twenty minutes then it's time to move on, easily said than done in the dark, so I stuck it out for an hour before I moved.

The next swim 'the banker' I've caught multiple fish a few times, the most 10 or 12 in a short mornings session all from the same swim. So a trudge up the spooky muddy towpath I settled down for the last half an hour. Floats went out, wait for that bite. I waited and waited and waited a little more, nothing. Heading up to dusk I'd have expected some fish moving, some fish topping but after the session finished on a blank, that played on my mind, for some reason the fish were off big time.

Yeap, another blank to add to the list !!!!

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.120 – Jobbernoles and Jumbleguts

I've never been great with altitude or even heights, I was persuaded to take a trip up the Aiguille du Midi cable car in Chamonix. Now that features the worlds highest vertical ascent cable, which when you reach the top provides some unbelievable panoramic scenes of the Alps and at 12,605ft, literally takes your breath away.

Once ones body and mind got used to just how high I was, I could navigate around the Central Piton terraces without issue but, but the reality is heights are not for me, unlike these fruit loops that scaled the Shanghai Tower like they were scaling a playground climbing frame.

Now the last time I went to Shanghai and went up the World Financial Center Skyscraper  (looks like a bottle opener) they had nearly completed the larger towers construction which was another hundred odd meters higher still. It is beyond my comprehension just how the human mind can accept what you are about to put yourself through is a good idea and allow you to do it.

You only have to look at YouTube though to see similar videos though. People get off on this stuff, whatever floats your boat I suppose, unless you die on the job of cause,as that will certainly put a stop to your subscribers. then again life is about experiences, not just sitting on ones derriere watching TV, drinking beer and eating bags of chips.

Luckily I've got both ones feet firmly on the ground for this quest of mine. You see the reality is, it's a challenge that I took on that, I began to realise it might not be that easy to bring it to a conclusion. I've continued on with it though because every now and them the humdrum shoolie turns in to something remarkable, something that's gets me reaching for the scales.

An area sheltered from the biting wind with Zed’s tucked up tight against the cover, one fish caught, one lost, and 2 further bites. Out of nowhere this area appeared on one’s radar. To be honest it screamed Zander but with an area further up also producing it was a stretch largely forgotten till I was staring at a blank, and I needed to act fast.

It deserved another go before the waters would warm, the fish up off the bottom….

So I back once more for this short after work session to cover the whole section of thick cover, not just the aforementioned swim . Now with the evenings getting lighter my Zander Quest will be stepped up a gear if that was possible. You see I will soon start fishing evenings in to dark after having ones tea first. Last time I was here I had to leave to appease the clock-watchers despite stumbling on the blank saver at the last minute, me cursing what could have been.

To be fair after getting back the Wife said “You could have stayed you know, you could have got yourself a bag of chips on the way home “

I don’t need to worry about that if I’d already eaten now do I !!!!

So anyway back on track, I’ve a whole section of cover to well yeah, cover .

I love this sort of fishing for Zander, it’s a relatively narrow bit of canal here, so a dainty underarm cast the deadbait is hugging the overgrown, the float easy to see.

Close quarters fishing and when fishing with a sensitive float set-up you can see every little murmur, every little nibble.

It’s a great way to fish for canal Zeds and when that bite eventually comes, can it get any more exciting. You could be attached to a 1lber or a 9lber, it’s only when you’ve felt the first pull, you’ll know.

What amazes me how shallow the canal is on the most part and yet with the surface still, the surface covered in crud, you wouldn’t know beneath the waterline there are beasts (it’s all relative) to be had.

The bigger fish can turn up anywhere as well, my biggest came from some shallow open water, the second biggest in a deeper swim with thick cover. Cover is always a good place to start if you’re a novice and want some tips.

Bait as tight as possible to it as well, the closer the better in my experience !!!!

If you’ve not had a bite within ten or fifteen minutes, it’s time to leapfrog to the next bit of cover.

….and repeat over and over again till you find the fish.

It’s been cold of late hence why Sam hasn't been that interested in tagging along on my usual morning sessions. Despite the milder afternoons and evenings, I'm penning this, up till now I’ve not seen any signs of spawning.

They will be not far off mind you as the weather is starting to get milder, the water likely to be going 12 degrees and beyond in the week following this blog post. I've got a weeks family break planned which may scupper my plans for a proper big one, but I will keep plugging away when I'm back.

Now these Zeds, even the small'uns can cram more food in than you'd imagine, a little like Sam with a bolognese, eyes bigger then their bellies, so even when they are full, they'd give it another go. But then you can also get dainty bites and pinky in the air efforts like older brother Ben when trying to make his ice-cream last.

I feel that time is running out for a proper lunker, but I suspect they are still laying up waiting to be found. One’s carpet bombing approach having rewarded me with plenty of canal Zander over 5lb now, two 7's, an 8 and the best going 9 lb. The 10lber has eluded me thus far, but they are there to be caught, that I know for a fact hence why I'm continuing on with this needle in a haystack quest of mine.

So why are canals largely forgotten about I wonder, I rarely bump in to any other anglers. The Zander may be top dog but there are still plenty of fish to be caught if things with teeth are not your thing. But then look at the fishing weekly’s, pages given over to match fisherman harbouring too many post match fried breakfasts and pictures of bulging keepnets appeasing those that like it easy and given to on a plate.

Canals are not like that for sure, and have changed from days gone by, but come on,they have lots going for them, at least they have character in abundance. There is the intrigue too, what will be on the end of the line, a hot-spot that only you know about, those carp swims you’ve found for next time, that bream swim that was a bite a chuck. Heck, you might even get a bit of exercise as well, and you can even leave your trolley at home.

Banks deserted, waters to myself, yeah, better keep ones mouth shut hadn't I. Anyway way to the session, I just couldn't get settled properly for this session. The length of cover looked great for Zander but after a boat went through quite early on, the water was moving and bouncing all over the shop. The floats were often dragged out of position because of the amount of crud and debris on the surface that was being collected on the line.

Even elevating the rods to keep the line off the surface didn't really help, nor did trying to sink the link and putting the rod tips under the water. Eventually I had a small fish which actually took the bait as it was being dragged along the bottom. To be honest I'd not really experienced the water movement as bad as this before. Even a good 2 hours after the boat went through initially it was still 'flowing'

I decided in the end to finish the session early and give the Zander sessions a rest for a bit. The water temperature was 10.2 degrees and that will rise significantly from next week onward, so with other things on their mind than eating ones deadbaits, I'll have a think about where and when I'm going to start my post tea in to dusk sessions.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.115 – Hectors and Hanktelos's

A bite required....

A long walk, a forgotten area, fish left to roam in peace.

Two Roe Deer stop in their tracks, eyes fixated.

An angler here rare....

Despite the barrier, despite the footfall required, I had a job to do.

A Zander to be caught....

And what Zander wouldn't like it here, a tangled mass of roots, a hideout for its predatory pursuits.

Floats in place, smelt on both, a bite within five....

A small one comes first, a better one second.

That will do, a blank avoided, sanity restored....

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.107 – Blue Devils and Bog Landers

If you’ve been following my on-going quest for a Canal double figure Zander you’ve probably wondering “why the heck he is bothering!! “ again and to be fair I’ve had the same thoughts. Until that is, I’d stumbled upon more and more areas that not only contain decent Zander, but an ever increasing stamp of better’uns.

The schoolies sprouting hairs, balls dropping….!!

Now the areas I fish are certainly the Zander make up much of the biomass such their naturalisation in to the Midlands canal network, so much so when you stumble upon a feeding pack like I did back in December, the shoals moving around must be that big come a hard BREXIT if the politicians ever get their backsides in to gear I know what I could feed ones family on if the scaremongers would have us believe.

A veritable conveyor belt of food right on ones doorstep….!!

To be honest they are not particularly hard to catch but if you want to get beyond a waspers delight then you need to be a little more selective in your approach. They become lazy you see and they cannot be bothered to compete with the whippersnappers attending their first gig wanting to be part of the mosh pit. That session back in December mind you, only emphasized that I love fishing for canal Zeds under a float.

The float fished overdepth and sat quietly on its side on the surface all of a sudden springs in to life, a slight knock, a tiny ripple creating bob, a graceful drift or a full on submarine, that visual bite indication only a set-up like this can give, showing you exactly what’s going on under the surface.

I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got the rig spot on now, ridiculously sensitive, a good hook up rate and rarely a lost fish. The inline coffin leads, also help with preventing the float being pulled off line if the water is bouncing off the locks.

For the continuation of the quest though, a few changes, for starters I’m planning on more dusk in to dark sessions, so I’ve some simple chemical light floats sorted which came all the way from

The People’s Republic of China. I fish turbid coloured canals in the main, in-fact if the water is on the clear side, I head on down to where it isn’t, but I’ve had a few in to dark sessions and I would say a little like the river, I’m sure that’s when the bigger fish could possibly get on the move.

Maybe I’ve been missing a trick….?

New areas will also be looked for and explored because it’s a canal network after all, miles and miles of water to go at and like the ’deep bit’ I found late on in the last quest, there are certainly holding hotspots for a bigger stamp off fish.

Having stumbled upon the area by chance that produced a couple of nice Zander much bigger than the humdrum , a veritable Abraham’s bosom, an area where the adults wanting a bit of rest, contentment, and peace could lay up their fins and their sanctuary could remain just that and would unlikely see an Isham Baggs derived anode or two up the jacksie from the CRT or one of their contractors.

My best thus far, a canal 9lber

Now thirdly, on my travels last year the amount of carp I saw was an eye opener, as someone who spends an obscene amount of time trudging the towpath , you realise just how many of these mud sifters are in the dirty local waterways.

They can be out in the open when it’s warm and sunny but they are perfectly happy tucking themselves away out from view and it’s only me and the likeminded that they occasionally reveal their location to.

In order to capitalise on that I’ve invested in a small Nash scope black-ops sawn-off rod that can be packed away in my rucksack and be unpacked when a carp is spotted where I can quickly get a bait out to try and capitalise on the situation.

Double dipping for sure, but what right-minded person doesn’t like a bit of that….?

Well I've not missed this, back to dog poo alley

Bait again a smelt, roach and lamprey mix, you know my opinions of smelt as a Zander bait if you’ve kept up with my blog.

It matches roach for sure and maybe for hook-ups certainly it offer a better percentage ratio. 

The soft flesh allowing the hook to pass through the flesh easier and any hindrance helper is a benefit in canal Zed fishing because initially they can be difficult to hook properly, such the boniness of their mouths, and the way they pincer grab the bait.

So for this first morning session of what is likely be another >30 or so sessions to add to my quest challenge over the next coming weeks, I decided to visit the ‘deep bit’ to see if there were still some decent Zander in-situ.

Now this challenge is effectively the proverbial needle in a haystack,but what’s fishing without targets, if you think about it, there are no many pastimes that offer as much variety that fishing can do and it’s what you make of it, you’re the chieftain and puller of the strings.

Anyway, enough of the ramblings, I need to beat my PB of 9lb and catch that double….!!

How did I get on…?

Well to be honest I knew it would be tough looking at the clarity of the water, the cold water and bright sunshine. I wanted to try out my new floats though that will accept a chemical light. A bite came quickly but it was back to reality as a small schoolie decided it would like the small whole roach. And that is where the action stopped, no more bites sadly despite fishing the usual productive spots.

The schoolie caught was covered in leeches so they are laying up probably before getting on the move when the water warms up and their minds go on to other things.

The floats performed ok, but when debris collected on the line the float went from lying on the surface to upright. That wouldn't happen with the inline set-up, so maybe back to the drawing-board, I'm sure a heavier version of the same float would perform differently.

So back to dog poo riddled towpaths and small Zander, it can only get better, glad to be back on the canal though, I've missed it.

‘Not quite’ The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.106 – Mud Larks and Muckworms

Battered chips a ‘Game Changer’ according to someone in work who is a partaker in all things bad. Now the use of 'Game Changer' doesn't usually come without merit attached. Apparently these orange chips are to the Black Country what jellied eels are to London or pasties to Cornwall. These distinctly coloured chips are an authentic style of chip dipped in an orange coloured batter before they are fried.

Believed to have been a delicacy of the war years, they were made to break the monotony of wartime fare.

The fried potatoes are so orange, non locals would be forgiven for thinking that it was the oil that needed changing, sometimes with a hint of paprika for an extra orange glow, these chips are a black country favourite, and to some, considered the best in the world.

But which chippy can stake its claim as the pioneer?

A quick Google, everyone and their granny by the looks of it….

So how come I’ve not come across a chippy’s that serves these artery cloggers, I’ve certainly visited enough of them in my time, they look great.

Then again thankfully I cannot remember the last time I frequented where the coal seam comes to the surface, probably 20 years ago, back then it was like entering a land that time forgot so I can only imagine what it’s like now, then again probably not a bad thing for me as someone who struggles with the pressure of the modern world.

I'm now wondering if the over consumption of these chips are adding to the Oompa Loompa'esk orange 'glow' that many of the females that live in these provenances seem to have. Hmmmmmm I think the secret recipe it out, beta-carotene ?, you know the substance that gives carrots their orange colour. 

Anyway back on track, ta’ra for now !! 

Talking of 'game changers' with a thumbs up bait addition recommendation from Nic from Avon Angling UK as he’s being doing well with predators of late, could this simple addition to ones armoury be the edge I needed ?

….back to that in a moment

As I was typing the title out it dawned on my just how many hours I’ve dedicated to catching a double figure canal Zander. I’m sure if the path I was treading was the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, which at one time the broadest and deepest in the world, I’d have concluded the quest some time ago. Its sheer scale and impressive engineering give way to a huge volume of water….

….big waters, big fish

You only have to see the stamp of fish coming out of the Lower Severn now, some right old lumps.

But hang on Mick, you’ve had some decent Zander from the canal, in-fact some right old lumps considering most of it you can stand up in, don’t chuck in the towel just yet. Now up at the 'Tefal Head' recently I backtracked quite quickly on the area I largely discounted because of the mediocre results over the last couple of years. It was now back on one’s radar, because a short morning session where in two short feeding periods I couldn’t keep a deadbait in the water long enough, it was run galore.

The fish in my title banner came from this area and a bigger fish a couple of bridges away so maybe the bait fish have returned in numbers and the zeds have followed, who knows but something had changed for sure. I've said before this location sees little or no angling pressure, footfall limited and it's the fact that you feel away from it all, literally here, like you're the whole area to yourself, and I'm sure out finned friends feels that way too, it's one of the places that I've enjoyed solitude on many occasions.

Was there a lump waiting in the wings, only one way to find out…?

So for this afternoon session where I’d hoped the boats had stirred it up a bit to decrease the waters clarity I’d fish two rods like I usually do with, roach on one and smelt on the other, but for something new and the possible game changer, is I’d inject some winterised smelt oil in to the deadbaits for added attraction because of the heads-up from Nic.

As you know if you’ve followed my quest that smelt worked so well for Canal Zander that given the choice of a bait to use exclusively, smelt would be my choice. The fishy cucumber pungency ,who knows but it certainly works well. I fish dirty looking and turbid canals in the main and maybe smellier the better despite the ridiculously good eyesight these fish possess. A winterised oil to leak extra attraction off, surely has to work Shirley ?

So a smelt on smelt combo, any good ?

Well, errrrr no, what a tough session, I've never seen the canal here so clear, in-fact I was in two minds to go home or another canal altogether. I didn't have that long though so best try and make the most of it. No boats either throughout the session and they despite being a pain for some, I've never found them an issue, they stir the bottom up nicely to go about their business with a smoke screen.

So lots of roving, lots of swims fished to try and drop a bait on a Zed's noggin, even in the usual productive oxygenated swim the floats remained motionless. The session wasn't all lost though as I could check out the oil leakage by dropping the bait in the margin, the picture above is not far off a couple of feet as it drops off, so you can see how clear it was, but it seemed that the oil created a nice big scent trail.

So back up to where I started, biteless after a couple of hours I decided to fish one of my banker swims headed in to dusk. A smelt to the left a roach to the right. As the light was starting to go, out of the blue the left hand rods float jumps in to life and within seconds is submerging under the water. It's carted nearly a couple of meters in as long as it's taken me to type this. I lean in to the fish and a Zed is on. I can clearly see its flanks as it's tried to escape, but after a short fight it's in the net.

Not a big fish, but a welcome blank saver and very recognisable with a big chunk out it's back, it's certainly been in the wars, what a tough session....

I fished for another 20 minutes till I could just about see the float but no one bites were forthcoming. I should have gone with what my head was telling me and maybe fish the 'deep bit' a ten minute drive down the road, because experience told me, I'd be lucky to catch anything, the fishing Gods were looking after me today, they must have been.