‘Not quite the’ Closed Season Zander Quest Pt.104 – Cannibals and Carrion Hunters

Is saw in the press the other days that the engineers from Greggs HQ had created a Vegan sausage roll to sit alongside their rather tasteless pork offering, ok they are kept in different cabinets, but you get the picture. There share price is up and they are flying off the shelves apparently and they are confident that you could serve the quid vegan version at a buffet and pass them off as the meat equivalent.

But this is the bit I don’t get, veganism is a movement that has animal welfare at its very core so I don’t understand why a vegan would want to eat something that tastes of cooked pork. I can’t imagine the pork in the meat version is free range for the price they charge, so the vegan sausage roll is a success I suppose for replicating the taste without the slaughter.

It's getting pretty good reviews apparently, no I'm not talking myself in to a vegan lifestyle, well not till next weekend anyway, I've got a huge piece of pork shoulder to get through first. Anyway back on track, talking about meat eaters with the river a little out of sorts art the minute and the fact my mind switched to turbid waters and things with teeth. 

The last trip out for Canal Zeds the couple of feeding spells I experienced was boarding on the ridiculous as I could hardly keep one of the two baits in the water without the float going on the move.Now schoolies and waspers delights are all very well but I want to hopefully bring my Zander quest to a close with the capture of a 10 lber.

There were encouraging signs for this years closed season though as not only were the stamp of schoolies bigger than the norm but that the Zander that had been elusive down here last year were back in numbers.
I’m sure a big girl is waiting in the wings, and you’re talking to a man with plenty of first-hand experience, a man to whisk her off her feet !!!!

The places I frequent are lightly fished, in-fact I rarely cross towpaths with other anglers , but the fish must be back for a reason. Maybe they are following the bait fish, or maybe they have switched to cannibal mode which fishy predators are known to do, yes they eat their young, well “they’ve eaten everything else haven’t they” (Bob my postie)

Now a bit of a revelation for me last season which was when I switched to almost exclusively fishing smelt deadbaits on river and cut, was not just how effective it was as bait for Zander but they seemingly preferred them over a roach deadbait when fished side by side.

The cucumber fishy smell, the texture ? a bait they’d not seen before ? who knows but it put plenty of Zander on the banks especially down at the ‘deep bit’ I discovered where the stamp of fish was a bit of an eye opener, rarely a fish was caught under 3lb, but having caught hundreds and hundreds of them now, it was a hot spot for sure.

So for this session it was out with the smelt and I planned to leapfrog another section of cover not far from the last visit. Predators thrive on neglect hence my concentration on this area and considering I eventually manage to land a couple of right lunkers here, it’s always remained on my quests radar.

It’s tubid, very turbid and I’m sure that’s why they are happy to call it home, on the whistle during a lure competition I know where I’d head to, dirtier the better, but then you already knew that didn’t you, well if you’ve followed my ill thought out quest from commencement that is.

Now where are the ageing undertakers, the old skool ravers ?

Only one way to find out?

The sky was pink when I got them, some decent cloud cover but I could tell from looking at the water colour it would be tough. This stretch of canal I've only done ok when it's been chocolate brown, this was a light green colour with around a foot of visibility. Now usually a boat helps matters but for the three and half hour session none came through to stir things up.

It didn't take long for the first fish to be fair, an odd looking thing, quite long with a pronounced bump on its flanks and soon after a small schoolie decided that it liked the smelt. After that despite leapfrogging some tasty looking swims and fishing a last gasp banker swim they were the only fish caught.

Conditions have to be right for canal Zed's on deads, so ok, not a blank but certainly a little tougher than I hoped.

Tomorrow is the start of another one of my Quests, I must me mad, this one has gone on long enough and seemingly just as far away of reaching a conclusion than when I started it.

"Is that wise Mick" ? To be fair, probably not, a glutton for punishment me thinks. 

Warwickshire Avon – Humdurgeon’s and Hugotontheonbiquiffinarians

Yes it is a word, you've got to love the English language, however upon a bit of searching it appears the first rule about Hugotontheonbiquiffinarians is that you don’t talk about Hugotontheonbiquiffinarians, which apparently was a society existing in 1748. I’m thinking the mystery surrounding this evidently secret society is the whole point.

Talking about mystery’s in 1748 was the year that the forgotten fire of London happened. 1am on the 25th of March a small fire has started in a wig maker in the City and by lunchtime nearly 100 homes and two entire blocks in the heart of the city would lay in ruins. Quite what caused the fire is not known, but it is known to have started at Mr. Eldridge’s a Perriwig-Maker in Exchange-Alley, Cornhill, and would seem to have raced up the building, as a lodger living on the second floor leapt out of the building to escape.

Miraculously, no one else died in any of the other homes, and the spread of the fire was contained thanks to the wind direction blowing the flames towards some more solidly built buildings and a wide road that the flames couldn’t leap across.

Of course, some people took advantage of the fire to take possessions that didn’t belong to them, and a number of looters were arrested. Also arrested was a soldier who stabbed a man to death after, reportedly, the man refused to assist in containing the fire by carrying buckets of water.

That’s a pale shadow of the roughly 13,000 homes destroyed in 1666, which is probably why this fire of a mere hundred homes or so, which in any other city would be its founding myth, is in London, a forgotten footnote in its long history.

After the Cornhill fire, a series of building acts were passed to make buildings less susceptible to fire in the future, culminating in the act of 1774 which is often seen as a defining moment in building safety history.

Now if it wasn’t for me spending so much time down here waterside in all seasons, in all weathers you wouldn’t really know here is home to the headquarters of a secret society of Chunky Chevins. Year on year not only do they seem to be getting bigger and fatter but their habitat despite being at risk from all manner of hazards, meat eaters and back turners is tip top.

Their insurances payment have obviously been kept up to date as their abode seems to have been rebuilt back to a fortress like no other.

It’s one of a small amount of stretches of the Avon I fish where spotting Chub is possible in the summer months, however just when you think you’re getting on top of them, just when the topography is being mapped, a tree falls down, a bank collapses and you’re back to square one.

The loss of a big fish here last weekend that did me over good and proper only confirmed, that stout tackle is required if they are to be targeted. I’m sure the angle of dangle didn’t help prevent the hook pull, but without the high bank for cover these fish can easily see ones shadow cast over this very small waterway.

I’ve learnt that stealth and concealment is the key, these are shy creatures in their make-up after all. On one particular memorable morning a number of years ago now I witnessed the secret society 7 strong all around 5lb or over feeding up in the water with a big Barbel as minder. I watched for a good half an hour in amazement before getting anywhere near the water, where one broken branch sent them scarpering for cover. Despite the shy and cagey nature though, if you ever did get a hook in to one, they revel in conflict, shirt off, guns out,

"Come on Then !!!"

Now as a 'jobber' taking time off work cannot be taken lightly, no payroll imaginary illness to be seen here, however a Chub of that power and rod bending ability like the one of late that stuck two fingers up at me deserves a little more attention than the humdrum I usually catch. I’m sure my recent PB of 5LB (Yipppeeeeeeeee) could be bettered and after a bit of time juggling I had the whole of Friday morning back bankside for a second bite of the cherry.

So out went the 1.25TC River and Stream with centre-pin I used last time, and I dusted off my Prologic 10ft MP Detek Twin Tip. It would be fitted with the quiver section and conventional reel with drag wound-up to the max(ish) but still with some line taking ability. Now the rod has a nice parabolic action that gives power in the butt when required, but it still bends superbly well to resist the lunges of the snag bound noggin nodding Chub.

Remember I fish 6lb line straight through, these fish don’t mess around, you certainly know when you’ve got one on, they need to be bullied away from cover, you quickly need to get on top of them and to be fair usually I do, but despite having one at 5lb which ain’t bad for the Avon, there are bigger here, because I’ve hooked them and I’ve seen them.

I’m sure the two fish I’ve lost here were PB beaters for sure such their power so last time I’m not sure why I came so ill equipped, convenience I suppose because the rod was already made up for when I fished the Alne for its 3lbers. So bait, well bread flake again as hookbait and I’d have some whitebait if they were not playing ball, the river is very low and clear again you see, and sometimes something unnatural is the only way to get a bite. Whitebait I've used before and it certainly works for the gluttonous Chub

So 6 swims pre-baited with liquidised bread it is just a matter of fishing the swims in sequence once fed to at least try and catch a fish.

The first chuck of a whitebait I could see it drift and flutter down the swim and no sooner than the tip settled a Chub was right on to it, It was giving a decent fight as well although not the big fish I was after. After a spirited fight it was soon in the net and went just over 3lbs on the scales.

The swims dies once one is caught down here so you have to move on, to cut a long story short, another 4 fish I think, all but one on the whitebait, the last fish on the bread, All over 3lb but none over 3lb 8oz, they were certainly peas in a pod.

Once the sun came out the fishing went off altogether but certainly an enjoyable session despite no big ones showing, so whitebait give it a go.

I did manage to get some Chub feeding off the top but they wouldn't budge behind an overhanging tree and there was no way to reach them. Shame as looked like there were some good ones there as well, Oh well, at least I know they are still there.

The rod was probably a little overgunned but I'm sure if a 5lber took it then it would be ideal, it's not quite a Barbel rod stiffness which is what I didn't want but it doesn't bend as nicely as the TFG River and Stream which at the minute is still my preferred Chub rod. This will do for here though, when the fish need to be bullied. We desperately need some water and some colour, I'm surprised I caught  conditions were against me.

Warwickshire Avon – Feeders and Flash Panney’s

My last trip down this stretch of the Warwickshire Avon was quite an unproductive one initially, not only were bites hard to come by, but even after catching a couple of Pike I quickly realised just how little I know about this new to me water. So what better way to find out what’s lurking than by fishing a maggot feeder for anything that swims.

There are obviously bait fish here in abundance, hence the Pike and Zander presence, but also the depth, which was around 5 or 6 feet in many of the swims appeared on the face of it ideal for a good roach or two. You see not a million miles away I found a bit of a hot spot on the Avon with similar depth, that basically was chock full of roach. They were always there when I fished it and despite not being down to the stretch for a couple or three years I assume they are still there now to be caught.

This would also be a bit of a double dipping session as a predator would also be fished for from time to time using the same tactics as I used to save a blank which was on the cards here last time. Yeap, a deadbait tantalisingly suspended under a float to try and attract the attention of a waiting Pike or Zander. In one swim the river swirls and twirls and sort of creates a bit of a back eddy so one drift of the bait through the swim is never the same.

There was certainly no need for livebait given the two Pike caught and one lost in such a short period of time. At least I’d try and manage a Pike if the maggot feeding fish were not forthcoming, and I was hoping they would, as the plan was to try and map out what exactly is going on here. I’ve not taken the deeper down yet to scan the depths and bottom because I’m sure there are some fish holding areas I didn’t know about yet.

I’ve been caught out recently being undergunned for Pike so I decided to make up a dedicated Pike set-up rather than manage with my Zander rods. Ok the Zander rods might be fine for a double figure fish, but something bigger could well be too much of a tackle tester. I prefer single hooks for Pike so those stayed, but the rod was beefier and the wire gauge increased. Also the potentially weak part of the set-up which was the large quick stop I usually use, was ditched for a large Gardner Kwik Lok Swivel.

You’ve got to be confident landing a fish whatever your target or whatever the fish potential and I wasn’t, hence the change that I made for this session.

Mick, back on track please, how did the session go?

My God, I don't think I've ever fished the Avon so tough, there was a match upstream of me and I could hear the occasional shouts from the seat box frequenters,

"Hey Dave, you had a bite yet ?"

"Nah, nothing doing, not even a sucked maggot"

After an hour in the same swim where I'd caught Pike from last time and without a bite on maggot feeder even after balling in a couple of balls of groundbait I decided to go and have a wander on the stretch and fish a deadbait in likely looking predator holding spots and do a bit of leapfrogging. Again not even a nudge or an enquiry.

The bit of the Stour I can fish looked very low indeed but a good walk up the stretch gave me an idea of some nice swims I can fish in the future. Certainly lots to explore.

So lots of walking and not a huge amount of fishing, so the last hour was spent in the same swim to where I started, again nothing doing, no fish topping or moving. The river was certainly in a mood.

"Dave, anything ?"

"Nah, not a sausage, I might pack up early"

So a rare blank. but I like to keep a record anyway, despite the post of nothingness.