The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.190 - Barbarity and Babeldoms

I looked out through the blinds of the office to see the windscreen needed a scraping and the heated seats would need to be switched on and did wonder whether I should bother or not. It's notable how the bites dry up when the cold blooded fish are kiboshed with another cold spell especially as they don't know which way to turn. 

For many the spawning put on hold for sure, there is no doubt about that....

So with the well deserved week of work though if I didn't get out to fish then I'd probably only regret it. 

As I said in a previous post there is a no better time to catch canal Zander, the problem is though at the minute is that overnight the temperatures really do plummet and the fish are not particularly moving around that much. 

Next week could well be the change I'm looking for because I'm sure their is a quest concluder here I've just not caught it yet. Apart from this hot spot I was put on to the only real way of finding the bigger fish is to drop a bait where they are laying up.

That's easier said than done because the canal network whatever one you are on is a rather large body of water. 

No F1's packed in to mud puddles to be seen here....!!!!

The more I fish for them though thick cover is certainly one of those fish holding areas so after a biteless hour in the swim that has brought nearly all the decent fish of late, it was time for a rove. It certainly didn't help that the skies were clear and the sun was illuminating the floats as soon as it rose. 

The swim is surprisingly shallow considering the size of the fish it holds but conditions like this will certainly out them off. The hard frost overnight wasn't ideal but still the fish will feed providing they are comfortable to do so and you can find them.

I caught a decent scraper pretty quickly that had been hiding under a boat hull but it was a waspers delight size and not exactly what I was after. 

Still a reasonable canal Zander though and when they are in such good condition like this one it was hard to complain about it.

What wasn't helping was that there was a tow on the canal which was bringing down the grass cutting from a recent No.1 from the CRT contractors and so much grass in-fact it was pulling the floats away from their position. I decided to get my walking head on and went up to an area of containment where the huge body of water put a rather large lump in my throat as there was far to much to go at. 

Fishing makes up some of my weekly exercise though and as the morning was very nice indeed catching fish is a byproduct of this pastime of ours. Enjoying the wildlife, the fresh air and countryside a big part of it and that on its own is a great wellbeing booster. 

You see I don't particularly enjoy fishing canals because the footfall as times can be a pain in the proverbials and this session was not different. By 10.00am dog walkers in numbers, bikers in abundance and joggers in groups. 

To be fair nothing to cause a major issue but not exactly solitude which you all know I need to seek. This quest is a means to an end though and despite having more fishing time at my disposal after blanking in the containment and catching a schoolie in a snag filled swim I called the sessions short.

I just wasn't feeling it and to be fair I don't think the fish were either. With my jab booked for Saturday afternoon that feeling could well be prolonged, maybe not a bad thing as it will be nice to give the swim a rest and also the improving weather could well get them feeding again. 

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.189 - Big Girls and Bidenticulate

After tennis and a spot of dinner Sam had the choice of some online gaming with his mates or joining his partner in crime Dada for yes another evening Zander session.

At the moment there is a no better time to catch canal Zander at their biggest so if I'm to bring this quest of mine to a conclusion, I've just got to knuckle-down and rack up the sessions as best I can.

The great thing about finding an area that has decent sized Zander in numbers is that sessions can be short and this was no different, so with a 20 minute drive we'd arrive for 7.00pm and have 2 hours to try and catch a decent fish.

Sam was better geared up for this trip out because when the sun set the evening before he was getting too cold, and a cold Sam ain't a happy Sam so his jeans swapped for his ski trousers and his LED hat he got from Santa helping keep the heat in. 

I fancied something different for this session so one rod would have a dyed smelt as bait the other a snack sized roach. The water here is clearing and cold, 8.6 degrees is still fine for Zander fishing especially as they have had a while to settle in to the conditions.

Whilst Sam was busy jigging the margins I had chucked out the smelt next to some cover and was baiting the other rod when I glanced over my shoulder so see a bait had already developed. The fish I'm sure must have picked up the bait as it fluttered down through the water column.

I knew instantly it was a half decent fish as it carted the right and I was following it down the towpath. It was soon under control after a couple of decent runs where it was taking line but no match for the set-up and Sam doing the landing net honours.

Not a long fish but over 60 cms and fit to burst, if it were 10cm's longer it would have concluded the quest for sure, especially with its girth in front view matched its side view. A cracking of a canal Zed though, a proper fish with a lovely dark back again.

The biggest I've had since the quest started up again when the rivers were out of bounds, 6lb and 2 ounces and a canal Zed not to be sniffed at. 

I love it when the fish get this size, a little like Big Perch I suppose a Zed over 5lb is very impressive indeed. 

The next bite came within minutes after this fish was put back and Sam this time waited for the bite to develop, struck in to the fish and played it extremely well in to the next. This one though was around 3.5 to 4 lb's and with fresh claw marks to mark its otherwise untouched flanks.

We fished in to dark and apart from another decent fish that dropped off once the light went the bites dried up. I've never felt the need to fish through the night for Zander because they do seem to have feeding spells and those can happen at anytime I've found.

In to dusk is certainly one of them because all of a sudden the bream start rolling and the roach topping. Here specifically they stick to that rigidly and it's mad to think all the fish I've been catching of late have all come from this one swim, this one specific bush. The returns nothing like I've experienced before, I just need to stumble on the lunker which I'm sure is here to be caught, I'm sure of it.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.188 - Camel Backs and Camisades

"Dad how much blood do you have to lose to die ?"

"What happens to Ben when you and Mummy go to Heaven ?"

"What does passive aggressive mean ?"

"I love pigs, can we have one as a pet rather than a dog because Ben won't be scared of it then"

"DADA TURN IT UP !!!!"

I love these random questions and whenever I take Sam fishing the father and son bonding is always most welcome especially when another fishing adventure we partake in means a much longer drive where the conversations often are random and couldn't be more varied. 

Drugs featured in the latest conversation and he'd be learning about them as school, 9 years old scary stuff but kids aren't kids these days.  It helps with a shared passion of repetitive beats the volume not controlled by the mouths of the other passengers who don't get the same enjoyment as we do from the same musical genre. 

The weather was much kinder for this evening session in to dusk and beyond and Sam would be working the lure and I'd be taking it easy watching the deadbait rods.

He can cast independently now and is making a cracking little lure angler. It's a method that he has taken to rather well as he is active all the time and not sitting back waiting for things to happen. Motionless floats test me let along a 9 year old 5 years in to his life as an angler.

He worked the lure for a good hour till he got it snagged for a break but in that time the clearish water provided a couple of aborted takes from Zander.

The deadbaits worked though and to fish caught the biggest above a >60cm fish but hollow and lean as anything and only going 4lb 2oz on the scales. The other fish was a spawn bound 3.5 lber,  and both not the scale of the fish I was after. The set-up I was using was very crude indeed but these bite activated floats would be invaluable when the light went. 

The Zander didn't seem to mind the resistance whatsoever happily dragging a heavy float and two drilled bullets all over the canal. I dread to think the overall weight but I've a dedicated set-up with this arrangement as my usual Zed rods don's feel man enough (can I say that in 2021 ?)

Some of the bites are ridiculous and the float will bury under the surface with the green illumination changing to flashing red to indicate a fish has taken the deadbait.

As the light went though Sam was starting to get cold. Despite a heavy hoody, his ski jacket and my hat he was feeling the chill.

You would think that the best change to catch to Zander is in low light but on the canal I've never found it an issue. In-fact I've fished in to dark plenty of times with mediocre returns. The river couldn't be any different, dusk is when things change and the Zander go on the hunt. 

The bites came though but I've been using larger baits the last couple of sessions and I'm sure it was small Zander with eyes bigger than their mouths. Larger Zander after initially messing around with the bait run off with the bait in a characteristic fashion. 

The float would jump in to life and then drag for a few seconds then stop. There must have been quite a few fish in the swim too because every few minutes the float began to flash.

It was now well past Sam's bedtime and after turning up bankside and having to take my jacket off as I was too warm the temperature had plummeted so even I felt cold. Sam by this time was hearing every sound and amplifying them to monstrous proportions. A fox howl was the straw that broke the camels back, we were back in the car before things might have well got interesting. 

I'm tempted to have another session on my own with my usual set-up and then illuminate the floats with a torch. Are they more cautious when the light goes ? or were they like my guess just small fish in the swim picking up the bait and dropping it ? Was it the lunker that I'm after that has seen it all before ?