Fishing this weekend

[Dunkield]

I went up to meet up with a couple of mates at the weekend, one of them has a house near the Avon, Pershore way.

He also has a boat on the Avon, which in that neck of the woods, is stuffed full of fish.

 

We were mainly after Pike, so started out as usual catching some smaller bait fish to use once we got up to the weir.

 

We all now just use 3 metre whips for hooking out large quanties of small fish in the shortest possible time, so very light float on about 9 foot of 1lb line. As we thought we had enough to get started i though, as usual, 'just one more' as the other 2 stowed their gear. I hooked yet another and went to lift it into the boat when a jack pike of about 1lb decided to chase it across the water and up into the air, not quite into the boat but not far off, so I am now playing a very angry pike on a rod with no reel, and no means of landing it - yes the net was back in the boot of my car Luckily he bit through the line and didn't smash my rod, but it was an exciting start to the day nontheless.

 

We fished about a bit not seeing too much and as the sun was beating down it looked like it may be a slow day, nevermind we had cold beer a plenty and were quite happy just bobbing about on the water in shorts and tee shirts

 

There were no real real pike to be had, just jacks and some fairy hefty perch, so we moved up a small back water that looked just the place.

 

Once we had settled in there we could not stop catching perch (the same one twice at on point) and small pike. We also a couple of decent Zander, this was a first for me, and I just couldn't believe how weird those fish look. We had the net by now luckily, but still managed to forget the scales or a tape measure, but I reckon one was 9 to 10lb and the other about 7 to 8lb - so both fine fish.

 

I have loads of video, that I need to find a way of editing down, and some stills at home, I will upload the pics if anyone is interested.

 

All in all we had a brilliant day out, and moored up at the back of pub to have a few beers and and a sarny to celebrate

[Cranfield]

It sounds like an idyllic day out.

 

I would like to see some pictures and you have one up on me, as I have never caught a zander, despite spending quite a few hours in the right places trying to.

[Dunkield]

Here you go Cranners, not the best of pictures but we wanted to get it back in the water asap.

 

They were fairly easy to catch, just like pike they were 'on' one minute and 'off' the next, unlike pike they seemed wuite happy in the fizz of the weir out where there wasn't much cover, just a rocky bottom.

 

I have since read that under 10lb's they shoal up and work together but once they get bigger they work alone and become harder to catch. I reckon this one is about 9 or 10lbs' but I would like one of the guys from Norfolk way, Whitebridges or Pav maybe have caught them to have a guess at the weight?

 

What you can't see from that picture are the translucent eyes, very spooky!

 

 

 

[henry d]

Superb fish,they are so maelevolent looking.If it was a tiddler I would have tried eating it as I`ve seen them canned at lidl`s so I imagine fresh and small would be tasty,Well done

[lurcherboy]

I would love to have a go a Zander as well. I guess all the panic has died down now after the initial panic that Zander would decimate the broads.

 

Well done stuart

 

 

 

LB

[luckytrigger]

Well done mate..I used to fish the fen drains regularly for pike and zander. Usually bivvying up for the weekend. Zander are a magic fish and i will always remember catching my first on the Middle Level drain it was only a 'schoolie' of around a couple of pounds but glittered in the beam of my headlamp like a bar of silver

I fished solid for around ten years for pike and zander up untill i got married then just couldnt find the time so turned more to shooting..Will have to root out some pics and post them on here

[Dunkield]

I would like to see some pictures of others with the weights just to get an idea of how big these were.

 

Here is the picture of my one, it was smaller than the other and unfortunately the picture is from a mobile so a bit ****. I am not that ugly btw, just not very photogenic

 

 

And of course the classic 'hold your hands out' to make it look bigger technique

 

[luckytrigger]

I will try and sort some pics out this evening Stuart. That 'zed' in the net pic looks a good 8-9lb. Cracking fish

[Whitebridges]

Stuart, sorry I'm a bit late picking this up. You fish a bit so will have a fair idea of the weight of the fish in the first picture. I hope you aren't disappointed but i'd guess 5-6 lb.

LB, we did have a scare about Zander getting into the broads. A few "spikey fish" were caught at Potter Heigham and were thought to be Zander. In fact they were Sea Bass that had made there way upsteam on a large tide and were caught on a worm by bream fishers.

 

Superb fish,they are so maelevolent looking.If it was a tiddler I would have tried eating it as I`ve seen them canned at lidl`s so I imagine fresh and small would be tasty,Well done

 

I've caught a few at Grafham and they are very good to eat. The best area to catch them is near the pump, the water is very clean there and I would say this is why they eat so well.