The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.205 - Mudpuppies and Mythoclasts

Now fortune cookies became common in Chinese restaurants after World War II. While not traditionally part of Chinese cuisine, American customers expected some sort of dessert. So out of necessity, fortune cookies offered Americans something familiar with an exotic flair, while still being economical for the Chinese vendors.

Although some people actually like the texture and flavour of standard restaurant fortune cookies, most people consider the fortune to be the essence of the cookie. Early fortunes featured Biblical sayings, or aphorisms from Confucius, Aesop, or Ben Franklin. 

Later, fortunes included recommended lottery numbers, smiley faces, jokes, and sage, if hackneyed, advice. Politicians have used them in campaigns, and fortunes have been customized for weddings and birthday parties.

Now back in 2018 when out for a Chinese with the family for Sam's birthday, after filling my face with all manner of dumbed down westernised deep fried Chinese treats that bare no resemblance to the food I've eaten the times I've visited the Sleeping Giant there was a sign, a sign I tell you !!!!

You see out of the blue when removing the top button on my trousers, supping the last drop of tiger beer and cracking open a fortune cookie after burning my hands on the microwaved hot towels, this message revealed itself. 

Maybe that message is coming to fruition because of late this new stretch I've been fishing which has been completely off one radar those stars are starting to align. 

Now usually when an unexpected and nearly impossible event takes place its usually due to pure luck or the divine intervention of  the fishing Gods, but I've always been a believer it will happen when I least expect it.

Ok it's not gone to plan so far has it, but is there a plan ?

I'm not sure to be honest because do I really want the quest to conclude ?

I had a good think about this the other day when thinking about how long it took me to catch a Warwickshire Avon 5lb Chub, you see once that monkey was off my back and I've subsequently caught quite a few more fish over that mark now, a 6lber is now my target.

Catch a canal double figure Zander though, where do you go from there ? well to be honest you cannot really, they really are rare beasts at this size and once a double slips up, what next another double figure Zander ?

For me the quest would be concluded, finished, kaput and I'd have to move on to something else, what I don't know ? but the reality is as I rarely fish stillwaters preferring more natural venues where the fish are unknown, 

So answers on a postcard please, give me some ideas, if I conclude the quest, what should I do in the closed season ? !!!!

Having witnessed first hand over the last number of weeks just what cracking fish the canal can hold, maybe another specific species target might be up for grabs.

 
Then again I was shared a story recently about an alien invader that was caught and covered up quickly at Hatton Locks, when the captures post on his facebook page quickly was distributed to the angling masses.

It didn't quite go viral, but there is no smoke without fire, that has always been the case hasn't it. 

Now luckily I've managed to keep myself off social media over the years and I'm think I'm better off for it because I cannot be doing with what goes with it.

Take these large roach deadbaits I bought recently which would be cut up in to slices for this session, I'm sure these will be frowned upon in certain groups, but then its so easy get all sanctimonious over certain things as anglers, heck do what you enjoy, do your best as an angler for fish and fauna and ignore the finger pointers and keyboard bashers....  

I like mixing it up from time to time and although smelt has been my Zander bait choice of late, I've used chunks of roach in the past with success over the years, in-fact a decent fish of 8lb 10oz succumbed to this type of offering. 

But let's be honest here, much of fishing success is down to location and timing, this is where my scattergun approach sometimes is probably not the best idea when these larger canal Zander is like trying to pick out a needle in a haystack.

The fish in this stretch seem to be longer than the norm, well the ones I catch in my neck of the woods anyway. These are long and lean and if there is one that has been raiding the fridge at night-time it only takes one fish that has decided to have ones after-eight mint to conclude the quest.

I'd be trying a few swims in this short session and finish up at a fish holding area where there is plenty of cover for the fish to lay in wait. The first part I'd fish some new areas to see if there was anything doing there. 

The long walk puts people off but we know predators thrive on neglect and considering the amount of food here they probably have been going about their business with only boats and the resident otter to contend with. 

Well up till now that is....

....so anyway, enough of the ramblings, how did I get on ?

Well not a good start in the coloured containment I'd not fished before, you see a bobble or two on the float a bite never materialised however on the retrieve a crayfish was hanging on for dear life. Only a small one but this fish egg eater would regret his decision. 

The bait went back out and a bite came quicker than expected but this was a jack pike that snaffled the roach section. The fluro and circle hook doing the business but as I'd fish wire in the hallowed swim as I changed it there and then just incase there was another one about.

The next fish was a tiny schoolie that grabbed the bait tight to a lock gate, there is predators all along this stretch is seems and this huge body of water must contain some gems I'm sure.

Sadly the Zander action ended there and then, because 3 more pike later where the biggest was maybe a 5 lber I was wondering the heck have I been doing wrong. 

It's a lovely stretch though and I'll be back in the week to fish in to dusk and beyond. The water can turn in to a river almost when the boats move around, but often bites come when the float is dragged away from its position and the flow pulls the bait along the bottom.

Still, I'll keep plugging away on to the next one !!!!

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.204 - Ragged Robin and Ragmatical

Although of late the little Jimny has been getting more of a run out on this Zander quest of mine for this short post work session I wanted to revisit a stretch that is more local to me. In-fact so local in fact I could walk to it if need be. 

The stretch I refer to the Tefal Head (In plan view on Google Maps it looks like a large forehead) when I started the quest was home to two of my biggest ever Zeds.

In one particular year the Zander numbers were quite incredible really and I put that down to two things. 

The boat movement was considerable so the water was incredibly turbid with no visibility whatsoever, secondly the stretch was stocked before I started fishing it with 20,000 silver fish post size selective electrofishing, where the larger fish were removed the unaffected smaller fish left alone to thrive.

The numbers have been on the decline over the last couple of years, the lockdown in particular didn't help where boats were told to stay put unless the journey was essential, the water went remarkably clear. 

This is a shallow canal remember, the bottom of the track could be seen in many of the swims, so where the heck are the fish meant to hide ?

Well there was plenty of cover in many of the swims but not any more, it's very patchy now, those banker swims no longer banker swims. 

The CRT contractors have removed huge quantities of cover and also strimmed the banks to an inch of their lives so the fish holding areas are no longer fish holding areas. 

I've looked back at my blog over the years and the visual change is quite dramatic where a feature filled canal has changed to one of uniform drabness. 

The cover never hindered the boat movement so why was it extensively changed beyond recognition. I'm not just talking thicket and bushes but reeds, wild flowers such as purple loosestrife, rosebay willowherb, oxeye daisy and how could I forget ragged robin. 

Those butterflies in numbers I loved to see when trudging the towpaths now down in numbers for sure. Well why would they hang around when their nectar reserves have diminished ?.

Anyway back on track, luckily when on my mountain bike I found some cover was still remaining where there could well be a fish holding up. 

This section up at the Tefal is a good 250m's long. It is a little wider here and a harder underarm cast is required to get close to the cover. Maybe that's why it has been left alone, who knows. 

Anyway I didn't have long though for a fish to snaffle a deadbait.

Well what a session the water is very turbid as expected it was overcast and quite mild, muggy in-fact towards the end of the session but good fishing conditions.

The first bite came within minutes of positioning the deadbait close to some cover and whilst I was landing the fish the other float jumps in to life. The first fish was off down the canal when it realised it was hooked and when in the net and unhooking it very feisty indeed. I moved along the cover and almost all swims contained fish.

Not big fish admittedly but encouraging signs here because I largely neglected it because bites were few and far between recently.

I lost count of how many fish I caught but it was over double figures, it just goes to show doesn't it when conditions are perfect  bites can come thick and fast. I'll be back because this stretch as I said before is home to two of the biggest Zander that have graced my net, are there some bigger fish lurking in the murk?

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.203 - Fanimals and Fanfaronades

My canal mojo had fell off a cliff recently, ok the weather isn't helping is it especially when the forecasters seem to change their minds every few hours it seems. Sessions are hard to plan, even the short sessions I do. The wind that was predicated to be 20/25mph, barely a light breeze, and the light rain a full on monsoon. 

The garage had become a 2nd home, darts with competitive Sam, some weight training to keep ones exercise routine up and some much needed tackle sorting, whilst the elderly neighbours have been treated to some techno treats whilst I've been pounding the CAD machine working from home.

A bullseye required, now the peperami fanimal was 30cm tall, with a built-in sound generator and when the pressure became too much, you could chuck your fanimal against something hard to hear it scream a rather sharp-tongued football rant by none other than Ade Edmondson.

These included "Who's the sausage in the black", 

"Whose flaming side are you on?" and 

"The referees a veggie!" 

Adrian Edmondson provided the voice, by the way. He didn't come out with this though.

"Where are the double figure canal Zander ?" 

Its a question I've been asking myself for a good while as you know, but will it be answered before the new river season is here ?

Probably not I suppose because 5 or 6 years in to the quest the best time to catch them at their biggest has been and gone. 

There is a month and a bit left to go though however this session down at the new area I've been fishing there is potentially a fish here that will end the quest for sure. The reason ? well the bait fish are in here in good numbers, not just elastic stretching roach, rudd, bream and hybrids, but snacket sized aforementioned too.

The problem is unlike the Pike that live here too, these transient larger Zander are harder to track down. Do they have routines ?, do they have sections they patrol and ignore others ? Mick are you not fed up of all this now ? Well why the heck are you fishing this stretch Mick ? well Nic would be winkling out the silver fish and I'd be joining him bankside for a conflab and this stretch has past form, that's the reason....

....now Nic's fish that would have concluded the quest was caught at 10.00pm and we'd still be still towpath side at that time albeit at another stretch that I'd fished a few times now for only a few pike, and a schoolie or two. 

Now I've fished plenty of times for Zander in to dusk and beyond and never really thought it made any difference to ones catch rate.

In-fact the turbid canals I fish during the day has always been far more productive but here the water has a much different clarity, hence why there appears to be Pike in numbers. Not only that but the area is so full of bait fish that the predators don't really have to move much but can largely hand around the area and trough at their delight. 

The Liar of the Giant Zander ? 

Only one way to find out !!!!

With Nic already fishing I was in no desperate rush to get bankside as the light doesn't start to go till around 9.30pm or so I aimed to get there for 7.00pm or so and set my stall out. An over depth float set-up which when the light went would be illuminated by a focussing torch and then the other rod a running ledger set-up on an alarm. 

Bait well, one rod smelt, the other rod a roach, was the quest concluded with a fanfare and a trumpet blast ? !!!!

As I made my way up the canal I bumped in to another guy fishing deadbaits for Zander, he'd already caught a small Zander and had been chatting to Nic before settling in to a swim with lots of overhead cover. It turned out this blogger and Southeast escapee the Essex Scribbler Gale who was on a break from work who not only knew me from my blog escapades over the years but also watches Nic's videos too. 

Its always nice to bump in to blog readers on the towpath and after a long conversation whilst I was taking to him his bass float bobbed and moved and a fish was on. 

A small schoolie came in quickly but after we said our goodbyes and I went to join Nic, an hour or so later he wanted to borrow some scales to weigh the 7 or 8lb Zander he had caught. 

Sure thing, no problem as I love to see big Zander on the bank whoever the capture is. This was a long fish but not that fat, still it had a decent width to it over it's flanks and had been feeding well recently with some lumps in its stomach, after zeroing the scales attached to my landing net it went 6lb 14oz on the scales. 

A lovely fish indeed Gale !!!, we really are lucky in the Midlands where the varoety of fishing in the canals is really quite incredible. Now as long as I've been chasing canal Zander a >5lb fish don't come up that often but when they reach this size they really are impressive looking fish. 

So the hunch was right, well oh, not hunch because this stretch has done some nice fish in the past. Long fish are what you need because when this you catch one that is full of spawn or has been eating, the weight really can increase dramatically. 

I've caught 60cm fish that have varied as much as 3lb, 4.5lb and 7.5lb respectively. From slight hookers who couldn't stop a big in an alley to prop forwards built like brick out houses. 

Anyway to cut a long story short Nic was doing really well fishing the pole in the margins and in the track and after the odd dry spell he was getting plenty of bites. From some nice fish too, some big roach bream hybrids giving him the run around. The predators on the other hand were suspicious in their absence. 

There wasn't any boats that stirred up the motionless canal at all and apart from one spell where a pack might have gone through where we both had drop runs on smelt, nothing materialised even after dusk had been and gone.

 Nic was still catching fish well in to dark with illuminating his pole float in the murk but my alarm and float were unhindered and hour and a half in to dark.

So another decent session for Nic on the pole but a big fat blank for me, still it was nice to see a decent Zander come out this evening and I'll be back most likely however next time I'll have a roving session I think as there is quite a bit still to go at here. 

It helps is a quiet stretch too, in-fact so quiet if I didn't have a 7.30am teams meeting to attend the following morning I'd have stayed longer, there was not a breath of wind and it was very pleasant to be out indeed. Rain, that held off too despite the forecast.