Weather for worms.

Saturday and a spot of Zedding on the canal again. With the babies birth being imminent my sessions are down to one a week so I'm trying to make them count and after loosing a good zed last week I thought I'd try the spot again to see if it was still in the area. Barry had been to this spot in the week and I was half expecting a phone call to say he'd recovered my trace with a double figure Zander attached to the end but he only managed the one small Zed after an eight hour stint. The weather at the start of our session was a little on the damp side but the forecast was dry for the afternoon.

After an hour Barry had the first take, we both thought it was a Zander but it turned out to be a Jack. I assisted in the netting and there started the confusion, I'd seen the Pike go over the cord but I couldn't work out what was going on, the fish wasn't in there, it had escaped through a hole, after another go it was on the bank. Barry's holy net just happened to have been the subject of conversation only moments before the Pike snaffled his bait, time for a new net me thinks.

Their not that clear in this picture but the scars on the Jack's flanks shows that there must be some good sized Pike in the area.

I missed an earlier take my bobbin startling me as it unexpectedly slammed against the bank and the baitrunner started to give line, there was nothing there when I struck! The bait was back in the water and it wasn't too long before I had the first Zander on the bank albeit a small one of around a pound, it was a start.

The rain eased off which was nice and it turned into a fairly mild day, very still and the water in the canal was the clearest I had ever seen it, I don't think there had been any boat traffic for a few days but typically the only boat of the day chugged passed and spoilt the water clarity. The earlier rain had made the towpath very sticky and I think we must have both grown by a couple of inches with the layer of mud on our boots, it was in this mud that we found a few worms trying to escape the water logged gloop of a path and I decided to chuck on of the larger snakes out to see if it would attract any interest, the presentation looked a tad crude, the worm impaled on a size two hook and fine wire trace but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. After casting out I was setting the rod on its rest and adjusting the bobbin when I started to receive a series of knocks and quivers in my rod, something had liked the look of the worm and had picked it up, I struck and was met with a headshake that gave away the fishes identity and a fairly good scrap ensued from a smallish Zed.

Yeee Haaa!

Two pound and four ounce of Zander was soon in the net and in front of the camera.

We continued to scratch around for a few more worms but the supply dried up and so had the bites, we stayed until it got dark but everything remained quiet..