The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.138 – Ingordigious and Ichthyarchy

The Zander I've caught of late have been very small indeed, not my usual stamp where the fish generally exceed 2.5lb and over. Then again the fish seemingly off the feed, the warm weather certainly doesn't help because if I look at my blog, many of the fish over 5lb I have caught from the canal, are caught when a warm jacket and woolly hat is required.

What it has shown me though, is just how many youngsters are thriving in these turbid waters and are here to stay in waterways they now call their home.

They are very much established and despite their misfortune of being persecuted years gone by for no fault of their own, they really are here to stay.

Now the day before I had been at the Monster Jam monster truck show at the Ricoh arena in Coventry and they rain in the morning was proper rain, you know the rain that Great Britain is famous for, and the type that keeps this great country of ours a lush green.

Remember the heatwave last year when the ground was literally parched ? when this recent rainfall, there is no chance of that.

The rain had really dropped the air temperature as well and it was only 10 degrees or so when we made our way to the ground Coventry City will no longer play at having to now sadly slum it in Small Heath. Luckily the rain abated and we had a brilliant day watching these ridiculously powerful machines performing in the arena.

So the session, well convenience and a bite was required so an early start to an area that is home to my PB of 9lb and another fish of 8lb 10oz. Here it is a matter of roving around, fishing sections of cover and usually you drop on to fish.

The water temperature had dropped 4 degrees to 14 degrees or so, so they could either put the fish off the feed or put them on it.

Yeap you guessed it, they were off today !!!!

Three lure fisherman who came for a reccy where biteless and vowed never to come here again, but I know otherwise. A tiny fish was caught quite early on, and two smaller fish followed at the tail end of the session. I persevered though and eventually something that gave a bit of a fight turned up, less than 3lb but at least it put a bend in the rod.

Now the fish came when the boat activity was at its greatest, sometimes this can shift the fish off the bottom where they have been laying up, and also the baits can be dragged off their position giving the predator no choice but to show him who is boss.

The carp were suspicious in their absence, in-fact I only spotted the back of one when I know that in certain spots they are always home. Not a good sign however though was when walking back to the car the towpath was littered with large scales. I couldn't see the carcass but I suspect it didn't have a very good ending.

Quite an enjoyable session to be honest, the weather was nice and fresh after the previous nights rain and by the end of the day, having also visited the local village fete I was nearly twice my daily step target having covered nearly 5 miles in the morning, who says fishing is a lazy mans game.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.137 – Slagroom and Stroopwafels

Whilst I was enjoying the remainder of  evening sun with a nice cup of tea and a Stroopwafel I was looking at ones sorry looking Gnome without his hook, when thoughts turned to where I should continue on one’s quest for a canal double.

The last number of weeks have been very tough indeed though with lots of lean fish, with the odd chunk, but if I look at the fish caught during this year’s sessions I’ve not done ‘that’ bad. A fish of 7lb 8oz the best, but 4 other fish over 5lb if I look back at my blog.

Now if you didn’t know Stroopwafels are one of the world's best, and most sorely underrated biscuits. These Dutch concoctions consist of a thin layer of caramel-like syrup sandwiched between two wafers. They originated from Gouda in the Netherlands (better known for its eponymous cheese).

The stiff dough for the waffles is made from flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs. Medium-sized balls of dough are put into a heated waffle iron and pressed into the required uniformly thin, round shape.

After the waffle has been baked, and while it is still warm, it is split into thin layered halves. The warm filling, made from syrup, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon, is spread between the waffle halves, gluing them together.

I haven’t much of a sweet tooth but as these Stroopwafels are meant to be eaten with coffee or tea, and that’s where it appealed to me you see.

After making a brew, the traditional way of eating them is to put the round disc on top of your mug and let the steam soften it for a couple of minutes and jobs a good’un. If you wan't something even more indulgent, whack on some whipped cream.

Having being introduced to them, they are very moreish indeed, give them a go !!!!

The steam heats the biscuit and melts the inside layer so that it's warm and gooey. If you can't wait that long, stroopwafels are great from straight from the package, too, oh and by the way, you can get them in your local Tesco.

What you cannot get in your local Tesco though is smelt, another delicacy for the Dutch in times gone by, but also for the Zander, as both fish inhabit their waters legitimately. The smelt is a tiny fish which can be found in the coastal waters from the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay. The fish is also known by its Latin name, which is Osmerus eperlanus.

The last one I caught, very lean indeed, and seems to be more the norm.

Smelt used to swim in and out of the Zuiderzee to spawn, the Zuiderzee was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 60 miles inland and at most 30 miles wide. However, since the construction of the Closure Dike the fish are no longer able to swim back and forth. As a result there are now two types of smelt. The first type is called ‘inland smelt’, which does not go to the sea anymore, and the second type is called ‘marine smelt’.

I buy smelt deads in bulk, separate them out in to session bags and they have proved a reliable bait in my armoury to catch Zander.

The weather has been a mixed bag of late with plenty of rain showers, however I saw a window of opportunity to go and fish a big body of water where a good double had been caught from in the past.

This would be a session in to dusk and as its deep here I’d also fish a big enticing lure to try and get a waiting fish to act on his aggression, if it wasn’t up for a deadbait. So a sleeper rod with a smelt would be moved in and around the swim to try and drop it on a fish.

I could well be spreading myself too thin because this area is the furthest I travel to fish for Zander. The reality is though, a quest concluder has been caught here and my local waters have been a little off of late, so I’d nothing to lose.

Best laid plans and all that, how did it go ?

Well I got there around 7.30pm and a boat came through soon after. The water going from pedestrian to turbulent within a few seconds. A few nips on the lure I knew the swim had some small fish in situ and soon after the boat went through the first bite came.

This time though on a small roach at the bottom of the smelt deadbait bag. The bite really confident despite the fishing underneath it being live bait material. This area seems to produce by far the smallest Zander I catch, the stamp ridiculously small, but there are lunkers here I've seen the pictures.

Then nothing much happened, a lull in the feeding pattern, fish not topping, bites hard to come by. Eventually though a small fish took a liking to the lure and soon after another small schoolie took a proper gob full of the lure and two more on the deadbaits in quick succession.

Heading towards dusk this was now the witching hour and after a missed bite when the fish let go of the smelt I thought things would only get better.

Sadly it went the other way, with the sun setting in a cracking visual treat, that was as exciting as it got. I stopped a little longer that I thought I would to maximise the session, because after all this is an area I don't drive if there wasn't a chance of something half decent, the reality is, it appears it's as good on ones door step.

So when I couldn't see the floats it was time to head off. On the way back a shadowy figure frequenting the same towpath as me. After some pleasantries it was a lure angler who knew who I was and had been a reader of my blog since not far off its conception.  Glutton for punishment I'd say, but always nice to get some nice feedback especially when they'd wished me luck in my Zander quest.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.136 – Black Spy’s and Billy Goats

Once upon a time there were a Zed Head in need of a double and a friend joining him for his quest, and the name of the Zed Head was Mick, his mate was Martin.

Now one day Mick and Martin set off to the hills where the sweet grass grew. Where the Zander could eat and eat until they were fat. However on the way was a bridge over a canal, and under this bridge there lived a troll. Her eyes were round as saucers, and her nose was long as a poker.

First of all came Mick with rods in hand to cross the bridge.

"Trip trap! Trip trap. Trip trap! Trip trap!" went the bridge.

"Who’s that tripping over my bridge?" roared the Troll.

"Oh, it’s only me, Mick, I’m an angler can’t you see, and I’m going off to the hills to catch a big Zander," said he

"now I’m coming to gobble you up!" said the Troll.

"Oh no, please don’t take me. I’m far too old," said Mick. "Wait until the angler comes along – he’s got more to offer."

"Very well – be off with you," said the Troll.

Just then, along came Martin.

"TRIP TRAP! TRIP TRAP! TRIP TRAP! TRIP TRAP!" went the bridge, for Martin was heavier than Mick so much so the bridge groaned and creaked beneath him.

"Who’s that trapping over my bridge?"roared the Troll.

"IT’S ME! Martin!!!" said the angler, who had a great hoarse voice of his own.

"Now I’m coming to gobble you up!" roared the Troll 

“Oye Nora, I had intended to buy a couple of pints before I could get a word in edgeways, Happy Now ?” Said Mick as he just finishing closing his boot

"Snip, snap, snout.
This tale’s told out."

Luckily the unapproachable landlady with a car park always empty could be bypassed via a backdoor. Not a bad thing as someone who eats out a lot in this area and frequents many of the public houses, how this place still trades is beyond me. To be fair I should have known better as this place has past form and I vowed never to give them anymore of my hard earned money.

A few months before when trying to get a quick bite to eat for the kids, we couldn’t just order two kids meals and the Wife and I, just drinks. We HAD to order at least one adult meal with one of the kids meal or they wouldn’t serve us, yes you couldn’t make it up.

As the kids were hungry, and Ben in his routine we reluctantly coughed up, the food as expected mediocre, pub food from the 70’s with sticky floors and decor to match, it’s only because its canal side and it gets passing trade it’s probably still going. It needs someone worthy of customer facing ability to take it over, gut it and start again.

Fingers and toes crossed !!!

Heck if I ran this place I’d want to attract custom, I’d offer to bring food and refreshments bankside if there was an angler present so he or she wouldn’t have to leave their rods. Now the problem with this venue is not only that anglers are unwelcome but that it’s quite identifiable which is its downfall, you see quite a few YouTube videos had surfaced which obviously leads to a splurge of anglers fishing it, especially from those that want quick results without the pain that more dedicated canal anglers have gone through to find some nice fishing areas.

The problem is that those that filmed catching some Zander are here today gone tomorrow leaving the locals to pick up the pieces. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve not fished it for a while as I wanted to avoid the melee. I was back for the first of maybe a couple or three sessions to fish a couple of hours headed in to dusk to try and tempt something that could put a bend in one’s rod and put this quest to bed.

I wouldn’t say it getting tiresome, because I love catching canal Zander, but it would be nice to catch a double and move on to something else to target.

An early start this one, the water temperature over 18 degrees doesn't bode well for my task in hand ,however having moved from the area of containment without an indication whatsoever, to an area more my liking a bite came on the left hand rod very quick indeed.

Drop a dead on a fish laying up they generally don't mess around, they will have it. Sadly though that was as exciting as it got. Some roving around to try and drop on a fish never worked and despite fishing some tasty looking sections of cover I was finding it very tough indeed.

So for the last hour back to where I started to fish in and around the moored boats, again nothing doing. My suspicions are they might have moved on to an area that fisherman cannot frequent, fins up without hinderance, without a chance of getting hooked. A nice morning to be out though, if a little muggy wildlife in abundance and lots of steps covered.

Now evening and night fishing hasn't featured like I thought it should do to conclude this quest of mine, trying to fit around work and family life can be hard to be fair, but maybe a couple of sessions before the river season commences is worth doing to see if I'm missing anything.