Closed Season Canal Zander Quest PT88 – Chuff and Chunder

The classic onomatopoeia, this ‘chuffing’ and majorly perspiring, red faced jogger looked so out of shape and struggling I was in fear of possibly giving mouth to mouth after I had visions he might have collapsed right in front of me. He’d already go by once with Sam asking, “what’s up with him Daddy” but upon his return he’d propped himself up against a tree with one hand, had his face down and looked like he was about to chuck his guts up whilst sounding like he’d swallowed the ‘Flying Scotsman'.

Now I’m always up for helping a damsel in distress but a middle aged man who should know better testing his body beyond his limits I’d have to mull it over before phoning a friend and then maybe going in with a 50/50.

A reckon he might have over done the pulled pork and short ribs the night before, and was suffering with the meat sweats, basically a variation on the food coma.

A medically unsubstantiated phenomenon in which, after eating a ridiculous amount of animal flesh, one’s body is overtaken by a severe bout of protein-based perspiration.

The supposed premise behind the meat sweats is that by ingesting an abnormal abundance of protein, your gut would have to burn a ridiculous amount of energy on digestion. This, in turn, would raise your core temperature by such a significant margin that your body would have to resort to sweating which is usually reserved for fevers and vigorous exercise just to get it back down to normal.

Try and combine the two, well game over !!!!….

Luckily for me he seemed to make a pretty good recovery like a nut allergy sufferer had been given an EpiPen and had just been given that much needed dose of epinephrine. I doubt he’d attempt to try that again in a hurry, not in my presence anyway, and he certainly wasn’t selling me that strenuous exercise is good for you, I’d stick to plenty of low impact walking ta very much.

So this session was at pastures new, with birthday boy Sam who turned 7 on Wednesday in tow I wanted to fish an area that has been on my radar for a while, mainly as apparently this area of canal contained Chub, yes you heard right Chub. With the Zander at the tail end and preoccupation with spawning and the fact they don’t in my experience feed particularly well when the water is the temperature it is, I wanted to at least have an exploratory session here out of intrigue.

Sam would man the float rod for this morning trip out and I’d be manning the float deadbait rods.

The location looked superb which is a hop over the paddles to a peninsula and you could see why Chub would like it here, reeds and lots of them and cover in abundance, I'd fed a few swims and fished them in rotation throughout the session but it proved very tough indeed. A dropped take on the smelt within the first half an hour was the best we could muster up after a couple of hours. With Sam getting bored we couldn't buy a bite, all very off because the area looked ideal for fish holding areas.

Eventually after casting the deadbait rod close to some reeds within seconds the float was off on its travels. I struck in to the fish but knew it was a Pike as soon as I felt the resistance. The jack pike was landed and released and headed back to the car with tail between ones legs it got me wondering what I'd done wrong. Where had all the fish gone, maybe I should have moved ?

Oh well on the next one !!!

Closed Season Canal Zander Quest PT87 – Foolocracy and Freeloaders

I saw something in the press the other day that raised ones eyebrows, apparently a Government think tank proposed that millennials and generation Z’ers should receive a one-time £10,000 ‘citizen’s inheritance’ at age 25 to boost young people’s economic prospects and mend their ‘broken’ link with aging baby boomers.

The findings will be seized on by millennials (born 1981-2000) who believe they have been miscast as spendthrift hedonists who would rather splash out on artisan coffee and slices of avocado on toast than save for a house deposit.

There were ways to try to recover it, but as one never had any financial support and would expect any inheritance from my parents, I hope they have some good way of doing it, because a windfall later in life was one of them.

Now as someone that falls within the generation X, I certainly didn’t have it easy buying my first house, sacrifices were made.

Findus crispy pancakes and Bernard Matthews turkey twizzlers were not consumed out of choice let me tell you.What is shocking, Findus still make them, yes really.

Also the £600 car at the time to get me to work and back that needed to be tinkered with could have easily be replaced by something nicer if I chose to spend the decent deposit ‘I’ managed to save up to get out in to the real world and stand on my own two feet.

When I eventually moved in, a cheapo Argos sofa bed was used for sitting and sleeping and home starter kits of pot, pans and utensils did me for quite a few months before they could be replaced.

£3 quid a day for a Costa coffee, £700 nicker for the latest phone, 2k for that much need holiday in Thailand, and the weekend break in New York and the daily M&S lunch, oh and that £250 quid a month for a new car and £150 quid a night on a night out, yeap times are hard these days.

Just wouldn’t happen when I was in my early 20’s, if you really wanted to get on the housing ladder, you’d quit the whinging, put your head down and just get on with it. It’s surprising just how quick saving will mount up too if you’re spend careful.

So take that plate with your expectations and put down that cap in hand....

Anyway what’s up with renting, ok not for me, but it works for some and especially those who cannot live without their cinnamon dolce lattes and want to maintain their all consuming lifestyles. Luckily my expendable income situation changed for the better so money was a little easier to come by, but I certainly had to make do and be close-fisted for a good while.

Now talking of things on a plate, those probing emails I get asking where I catch my Zander from seem to be more prevalent these days, I’ve said before, errr it ain’t rocket science fishing for Zed’s on the canal. Find canals where they call home and spend the time trudging the poo riddled towpaths like I do. It’s pure bank time and as I spend an obscene amount of time on them, it’s only when you start ploughing through the endless schoolies eventually something half decent will turn up. It takes time too and considering the amount of hours I’ve put in now, I’m still only a gnat’s nadger closer to a 10lber.

So for this session having had average results for this closed season thus far I decided to fish an area I'd only fished a couple of times but I despite it's potential it didn't quite live up to it expectations .My original usual stomping grounds where I’d only fished a few times since the start of the 2018 quest, this area was where my PB of 9lb came from and although the schoolies were on the smaller side, when a large fish would eventually turn it, it was usually a fish over 5lb.

The problem is judging by the catch rate this year and last you could fish 10 or 15 sessions without even a sniff of a 3lber and that’s enough to defeat even the most determined Zed head and last seasons results didn't throw up anything bigger than 4lb if I recall, with its heyday seemingly a distance memory. I'm sure those original lunkers I caught though are still hanging around somewhere, maybe wiser with age and may well be difficult to catch. I need to cast ones net wider hence this session.

If a 10lber doesn't crop up till the rivers open I might for 2019 closed season fish exclusively in this bit of water where I know blanks will be on the cards but a biggy my well be still here, I'm sure of it.

With the water as warm as it is, I’ve certainly found the catch rate decreases as the fish for some reason go off from feeding, so the probability of a decent fish also decreases, doesn't bode well for conclusion of the quest now does it.

The first thing I noticed was just how clear it was here, hmmm, that usually means it will be tough especially with the sun quite bright. It took quite a considerable time to find the first fish, the margins were lacking in features but eventually the float moved and a fish was on. A small skinny schoolie that took a liking to the smelt offering.

Some more roving around and with 3 miles covered, again tight to cover another fish was on, this gave a better scrap and sure enough it was a better fish, still not the stamp I was after but at least not a blank. One more schoolie followed quite quick and after spotting a few carp milling around it was time to call time. I'm getting to know areas that are worth spending more time on, and this probably isn't one of them. However if I do catch a double then certainly carp seem to be calling home here which is encouraging, and canal carp could well be my next challenge.

Closed Season Canal Zander Quest PT86 – Tragematopolists and Tangerines

A doddering tractor, impatient drivers, one makes the move, unsighted, blind bend, another car follows as does a van, then the fourth car decides to chance it just before a learner driver appears over the hill where he is now faced with a situation he should have never been put in. All ridiculous manoeuvres and some of the worst driving I’ve seen on the road for a long time. Utter madness the lot of them.

Accident avoided luckily, more luck than judgement mind you, a second or two delay there would have been a different situation altogether. 5 or 10 seconds later there was a sighted straight, chill people for God’s sake, what’s the f’ing rush.

Maybe they should take up fishing, you see, whatever your pace of life, it could certainly be of benefit. Certainly for me it is an avenue or departure from my busy schedule that puts oneself on the right track and keeps me straying off it. Now Sam had been a little disinterested in fishing of late as the Wife stupidly allowed him to play a game called Fortnite on the PS4 which he has actually become obsessed with, so much so he had a time constraint now, an hour a day and that’s your lot much to his annoyance.

So to keep Sam interested for this morning session down at the deep bit where he would be fishing a maggot rod whilst the float rods would be doing their thing, so a quick stop off at the shop on-route it was out with the tangfastics as the hush money . You see last time we fished together at the secret pool he was becoming a little restless after 2 hours without a bite on maggot.

Now having fished a friendly match at Packington Little Geary’s recently where I managed third place with 46lb of F1’s, (winner had 59lb) it’s not the sort of venue I want to take him to. Ok if you’re a seat box frequenter and carbon molesterer,but the fishing was ridiculously easy and after a while I was bored as biteless Sam found himself the other weekend.

When we went on search of fish though, that was more his thing, on my shoulders to avoid the wet grass he eventually spotted a couple of carp mooching around in the margins and sure enough, after tempting one to feed on maggots he was in to a hard fighting carp that powered off down the lake. His attention span went from a couple of minutes to being back in the room again and as it was the first carp he had ever caught it really made his morning and I was glad I was there to share the experience.

Got to keep him interested as I want the next generation of anglers to be likeminded not lazy, which seems much the norm these days, then again I ain’t a follower of fashion generally.

There were fish other than Zander here last time and feeding a few maggots every few minutes or so to detract me from the motionless zepplers, eventually the float dipped and perch and bream were caught. I rarely fish canals for fish other than Zed’s so after receiving some tips from those in the know for this session we also had some groundbait where a tangerine size ball would be used to try and attract fish in to the swim this time and maggots would be used sparingly. I’m always intrigued to see what else other than Zander turn up on the canal stretches I fish because I very rarely bump in to other fisherman. They are a rare breed indeed, bit like all the gudgeon that used to call home here apparently.

It was a hot one as well, when we left at 11.30am it was well over 20 degrees with 27 degrees the hottest during the day. I should have brought some more groundbait with me because certainly the first were up for feeding. A sprinkling of maggots and a ball of crumb the bites came frequently and Sam's float was dipping most of the morning.  Well until the boats started coming that is, the first turned up at 7.30am and then at around 9.00am they were quite frequent, so much so, Sam was shrugging his shoulders everytime one appeared.

Still it was a decent morning, the first fish was a hard fighting hybrid and then the rest were bream or skimmers, all of a decent size too. We fished two swims and the Zander floats remained motionless throughout the session despite catching Zander from there before. So not quite ready to go to a commercial fishery just yet, there are some nice fish to be had here. Next time I'll bring more bait.

So with the deep area not producing and the Zander off their feed, I might do some double dipping, there is an area that has produced some decent Zed's in the past but also there are some carp around too, so hopefully I'll manage a session after work this week.