The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.173 - Landmines and Laryngoscopes

It was not far off 5 years ago now and 144 canal sessions ticked off since the capture of my long standing PB canal Zander of 9lb and I'm still no closer to catching that rare double that has eluded me thus far.

Yes you heard right 144 sessions ago, however since that very good year where I also banked a 8lb 10oz fish which is the picture in my blogs title and until the discovery of the 'deep bit' which was home to a couple of 7lbers, to be honest my results have been rather mediocre. 

The numbers of fish seem to be down more recently too, the humdrum 2lb schoolie suspicious in their absence and I cannot remember the last time I needed to get the scales out to weigh a Zed. I've caught some 5lbers in the last 12 mths though, so not all bad, its just keeping up with what I'm doing. Cover has been removed in much of my stomping ground, from a lockdown hobo to a number one, that doesn't help not does it as cover holds fish.....

....all going a bit wrong isn't it....

This fish of 7lb 8oz's the last decent Zed I've had more recently ( 2 years ago ) which came from the 'deep bit' section which has now had ALL the cover removed by the over eager CRT contractors and sadly doesn't hold decent fish any more. 

So I need to tweak this and that to hopefully get back on track. So there will be some changes for this needle in a haystack campaign of mine starting with the bait size. 

For this continued effort I just fancy getting some bites and banking some zeds, often bites are missed because the bait is far too big for the fish that is attempting to engulf it and the bait is pulled out from the jaws and from their clamping pincers. 

So I'm going to fish with much smaller snacksize roach deadbaits this time where hopefully just that one change will lead to more bends in the carbon. Smelt will still feature as Zander seem to love smelt however again, the baits will again be smaller than I'd usually use. 

My PB came to an inch section of a 4 ounce roach, so smaller baits have form for sure. Apart from using smaller baits I intend to tread familiar towpaths initially then come the end of March when the travel restrictions have been eased, I'll try an area I've been told about recently where I've fished before admittedly, but certainly not in any vigour.  

Waiting, lots of waiting !!!!

The last change will be that I'll fish more sessions in to dusk and beyond. To be honest I've not had an issue catching nearly all the canals Zeds I've caught (hundreds I'd imagine) in the daylight hours especially in the usually turbid water I fish, but with the quest not going to plan maybe I've been missing a trick or three.

Deadbait approach as per the norm because it does seem to pick up the bigger fish there is no denying that, but Sam will be with me for the odd session so he will be manning the lure rod from time to time as I've more resolve than he has watching motionless floats. 

Now this first session which was two hours'ish I just couldn't settle at all, I'm lucky that I can fish two different canal networks in 5 to 10 minutes by car but nearly an hour in fishing a line of boats, not a jot.

I'd have stayed in to dusk but the water was ridiculously clear, well not what I'm used to anyway, so my confidence was low indeed.

I always fish turbid canals with little or no visibility at all but clear is usually a no go for Zeds, so I up-sticks and went to the exact swim where I had lots of fish in the past, a stretch that was one of my banker swims where I had an 8lber. The rods are made up and strapped to the car and the tackle whittled down the bare essentials its no drama at all.

I had an hour with the baits out next to some cover where the clarity was 6 inches rather than measured in feet. The lack of boat movement evident of both sets of canal network. Dusk went and gone and I left biteless where I couldn't see the floats. 

This is dicing with death on these poo riddled towpaths with these pungent landmines to try and avoid, luckily for me the battleships I played a kid meant I could easy make  a mental note of the places where not to tread when I hotfooted it to the swim, I think I'll bring a torch next time, still at least the new hat was comfortable. 

On to part 174....

Warwickshire Avon - Trespassers and Triskaidekaphobia

Ones bait fridge is probably the only place in the entire house that the Wife wouldn't go anywhere near. I've used for many purposes in the past but for this weekend it was home to a bottle of fizz and a card from the kids.

Despite not wanting anything for Mothers Day, my life is made so much easier with the Wife doing what a Mother does, the household runs like clockwork, the school runs, the washing, the home schooling etc etc etc. so a token of appreciation in these surreal times. 

Those pork scratchings I don't want to share, the Christmas presents I want to keep secret, that bankside beer I have from time to time.

The problem was after a late night I fired up the Jimny and drove through  the centre of deserted Stratford-Upon-Avon and was bankside 11minutes later just as the sun was rising.

I'd even left myself a reminder on the phone to retrieve them from the fridge before I left, but I had the tackle already in the car so didn't even look at my phone on shutting of the front door. 

Luckily she was still in bed when I got back having a much needed lie-in and it was a nice surprise when I got back....

....now talking of nice surprises 

What an odd session this was, some much needed pondering turned in to poachers, PB pike and predators.

Now public rights of way are quite clearly marked on the OS map and yet an angler (one of the good ones apparently) not only travelled all the way from Coventry in these travel restricted times to trespass on private land, but even after seeing one of the signs on this syndicate stretch thought it was fine to fish it. 

Suppose you cannot blame him trying to escape from Coventry as you'd have done something really wrong to be 'Sent to Coventry'

Unbeknown to him I was upstream having picked up a Pike already a stones throw away and had stopped off on route home to not only make one of the pegs safer, but also have an hour with the rods see what was doing. 

I have caught Pike here before, nothing big but big pike thrive on neglect and with big dace shoals here there could well be a bulging female with a taste for smelt.  

I'm a roving angler generally and travel light so I can move swims quickly so his morning was disturbed and caught red-handed when I up-sticks to try and drop on a pike. 

During that biteless hour though I'd spotted two mink on the far bank initially but then realised they were just up from where I was fishing and had a good 15 minutes or so watching these two American Imports going about their business not bothered at all I was there.

The first mink I've spotted for a while to be fair, Otters yeah ten a penny, but these smaller furry things less so. The last time ( quick look at the blog ) was back in January 2018. 

As an angler though were are immersed in wildlife because of the nature of our pastime so still nice to see albeit another predator to add to the growing list.

Fishing seems to get tougher and tougher as the years go by, my blog is a testament to that, it's always good to peruse the archives to see what it used to be like. Barbel in particular I've struggled with, where I didn't before. 

Rock up half an hour before dusk, bosh a boilie out, a Barbel or two more often that not !!!!

Anyway back to the poacher, an "honest mistake" apparently before he reluctantly after a heated discussion packed up his gear and left, but NO being one of the "good guys" his words not mine doesn't wash with me, especially when the police and the farmer who I could contact easily enough, could have got involved.Hopefully by putting him right he will think twice next time. 

As I said earlier on, not only was he trespassing on private land but driving 20 odd miles (No good fishing in or local to Coventry it seems) just to go fishing is not in the spirit of angling in these COVID lockdown times where that would be difficult to justify. 

We are lucky to be able to still go and partake in our pastime unlike other pursuits such as Golf for example and the fact the Angling Trust did a great job lobbying for us, where certain conditions were agreed to to enable that to happen. Sadly rule breakers spoil if for the majority or try to do 'their bit'

He even admitted to seeing this sign because having accessed it by sneaking himself though a gap in the fence he'd missed the members only sign which is on the 'official entrance' with steps lovingly crafted by George B. 

Oh well not doing any harm was he, well till I turned up....

You can tell from the tone of this rambling my thoughts on the matter, let's hope he will think again before making that sort of 'mistake' and as I'm down the road I'll be keeping an eye on the stretch as I'm one of the bailiffs after all.  There are cheap clubs above and below this stretch do your research, all easily found via a Google search or like here, the bankside sineage .  

The streams I fish are always on a public right of way and Bing maps a good way of checking the OS detail for free, and speak with the land owner or farmer as it's surprising how amenable they are. 

On to better times for this session though, this the last day of the river season, because one bite one fish and actually a PB believe it or not. I don't fish for Pike that often especially a dedicated Pike session like this was but an hour after getting the rods out in a largely motionless bay all of a sudden the floats jumps in to the life and a fish is carting to the left scattering the bait fish in the process.

As soon as the float submerged I pulled in to a solid weight and knew instantly it was a half decent fish. I thought when is is going to fight as I was fully expecting a battle, but oddly, it never happened.

A nice fully belly on it though like its capture and it went 12lb 6 ounces on the scales to confirm it was indeed a good honest double and actually a PB.

A rather mediocre time on the river since Christmas but at least this was a good fish to end the season where I'll take stock and to try and pick up that double figure canal Zander I've been after for so long now.  

The Tiny River Alne - Mavericks and Mammothrepts

Where to go, what to do...?

A drink or two, that usually works, usually gives me better thinking time. 

Now the the Daring Duke is a cross-regional blend from Campo de Borja and Manchuela with each grape variety, chosen for their array of ripe fruit characteristics, adding an extra dimension to the wine, building the body of the blend layer by layer.

"The Daring Duke is here!" exclaimed a voice. There were gasps; then a hush descended in the hall. His appearance was even more splendid than they remembered, it was impossible not to be impressed by the Daring Duke's physical stature and opulent taste. And, yes...his power. Most definitely his power.

Then, a smile. A glint in those famous eyes. "Friends," The Daring Duke declared, in that soft, lustrous tone. "You are most welcome. Your pleasure is my privilege. Let us raise our glasses to fine companionship and all of life's sweet indulgences."

"Three cheers for The Daring Duke!" went up a cry. The company rose as one in honour of their host's generosity of spirit. But he was already riding away into the night. 

The grapes are hand-picked from the vines, crushed and de-stemmed before fermenting in stainless steel tanks to preserve the fresh fruit flavours. Oaked in American barrels for 8 months, adding depth, complexity and texture to the wine.

Enough of that guff, its £6 in Tesco at the minute, it's a decent drop, fill your boots

For this short morning session down at the walkable River Alne I fancied trying for a decent Dace. A session here recently they couldn't get enough of lobworms and in one swim in-particular it was a bite a chuck.

Some were proper clonkers too and despite a size 6 hook and half a lobworm meant for chub they didn't seem to mind at all. They spawn around this time of the year though where the move to the shallows but there Alne varies so much I'm sure I'll get a bite from a chub if the dace were preoccupied.

Small rivers like this fish show themselves rather quickly so when I got bankside where despite some rain the night before the river looked rather lifeless again.

I had fully expected to up-sticks and go somewhere else but no after having a much needed coffee the first bite came. I thought it was a dace at first but then another sharp pull developed in to a proper pull round and the first fish was on.

It was a chub, and quite a decent one too for this small river. I haven't caught huge ones here over the time I've been part of the small syndicate with my biggest probably not far off 4 pounds, but there are all school classes here and they all showed for this short session.

Chub soup, well ok one swim was, with 4 caught within fifteen minutes or so, all succumbing to half a lobworm on a size 10 hook.

You have to retain them in the Alne because put them back the bites tend to dry up but with the small landing net I use, I had to give them their freedom far sooner than I'd have liked.

I continued on though and managed one more fish from the same swim before the quivertip stopped quivering. I was using a small cage feeder with some pungent groundbait and I'm not sure if that made a difference to the frequency of the bites because I've never had so many in quick succession.

So with that swim done I went on the rove, in-fact walking the whole stretch to try and find a fish or two. The middle and upper reaches are much shallower and have more flow in but swim after swim I was biteless.

I'd thought I'd pick up a trout or at least a dace but no, oddly quiet. The water was clearing big time though so I would assume many of the fish might be in hiding.

So back to the lower swims again having already covered 8k steps where I managed to pick up another 2 fish and lost one to a hook pull that suspiciously felt like a trout.

The river felt rather lifeless again if I'm honest, but just goes to show find the right area you could be on to a winner. The swim again went quiet and with the wind picking up and blowing straight in my face I decided to call it a day, a memorable session for sure.