Cut Zedding

On the cut again and it was a tad milder than last weekend but blowing a little. I'd put float gear on this week as I fancied a break from watching the bobbins and I do like to see the float bob around and slide away when a predator takes but they weren't to stay on for long, the wind kept pulling a bow into the line and dragging the bait from it's position, so I quickly changed back to a bottom rig.

 

It was a new stretch for us and a slow start, Barry's rod was first to show interest but it faded to nothing as quickly as it started, we moved around a few likely looking spots but it took an age to get the first fish on the bank. I had one rod on a spot that screamed 'Zander hole' and another of to the front of some dead reeds, this was the rod to be first off, not a big fish but I was off the board, a cast back to the same spot and within minutes had a take and lost a second. The rod was put straight back and I had another take as soon as the bait was on the bottom, three takes in fifteen minutes and I was two up. Barry was the next to find a sweet spot and had two fish in fairly quick succession, one of them a decent size.

Show us yer teeth!!

 

We were level pegging at the half way mark and after I made a fruitless leapfrog along a stretch of reeds and grasses on the far bank and worked my way to a spot I liked the look of, it was a slight narrowing of the canal but when I arrived it didn't look any narrower. The wind was a bit stronger on this bit with no cover on the far bank and my rod tips were bouncing all over the place in the gusts and the bobbins were having a good dance around, bite indication was very difficult but I noticed the line drop slack from the rod tip then pull tight, the bait hadn't been on the spot for long and I was into my third fish and a reasonable size too.

 

 

I had another, smaller Zed off the same spot before we called it a day.

CCCold SSStart.

A very cold start to the session at the weekend, minus three degree's in the car park and ice everywhere. We did a quick hike up the canal through the mist to see what was available in terms of liquid water as there was ice over most of the stretch we planned to fish, one of our favourite spots was ice free and also another spot we both liked the look of but had never fished, this was a few hundred yards up the bank so we chose to start there and work down if everything melted later in the day. Just after we arrived at our first spot and started setting up, a boat passed through and made the whole stretch fishable, well done that man!

 

Zander were the target and it didn't take long to get the first tentative drop on one of the bobbin's followed by a couple of slow steady pulls. Not a big fish but it saved a blank, this was soon followed by a second much smaller fish, had the bait not been cut in half it would have been bigger than the Zed.

 

We fished our way back to our favourite swim, arriving first I cast out and was sitting down nursing my burning frost bitten fingers, it was only a short walk carrying a metal pod in one hand and holding metal chair legs in the other but metal is not good to hold in freezing conditions, (Gloves will be in the bag for the next session) I had a take straight away, this was the full on head shake rattle of the rod tip with the odd drop or pull on the bobbin, a better fish this one. A lovely plump bellied fish of around three to four pounds, I was taking the pictures when Barry arrived and cast out his first rod, he picked up the second and noticed the bobbin move on his first rod, that bait must have landed right in front of a fish, after a quick tussle a fine Jack Pike was in the net.
 

 

A quick end to a cold session but temperatures must have risen as the frost started to rain down from the tree's, back at the car it was confirmed at zero degree's.

 

 

First Fish of 2015

First day of the new year and a spot of Zandering was on the cards, I headed for one of my favourite spots that always throws up a fish or two and the weather was a bit kinder than it has been over the last week. The wind was a tad stronger than I would have prefered but a row of tree's on the opposite bank kept the gusts at bay. I had takes almost straight away but they were either dropped or failed to connect and the seems to be very typical of the Zandering of late, I put it down to small immature fish playing with more than a gob full!

 

After a quick move I did manage to connect but only after letting the fish take enough line to hang itself, an average sized Zed for this stretch of canal, it was also my first fish of 2015 so very welcome indeed.

 

Crap photo alert!
 

Zedlet or Zanderling?

 

I had another fish from the same spot on the next cast but this was less than average in terms of size.

 

 

The end of last year saw both the fishing and blogging suffer, I even went without fishing for over a month so had nothing to blog about. The fishing was mostly for Zander with the odd attempt at a Pike thrown in.

 

 

Boxing Day

 

Still, one plus point is that I was not the keeper of the little 'quacker' at the end of 2014!!