Canal Zander - Dusk Session On A New Stretch - 31/5/19 - 8pm

During late April and the whole of May things became very busy for me, both at home and at work.  So mush so that I found getting onto the bank, or should I say towpath, increasingly difficult...and often impossible.

I did manage a few short sessions, with mixed fortunes, but had no time to edit the footage I had shot for my youtube channel or even get my experiences down here in my blog.

However, over the last week or so things have calmed and I have had a little more time on my hands which equated to a few more sessions and editing time.  My latest video served as a catch-up and for those who are interested it can be found here.

For this short session, which was originally intended to be at a reservoir, things conspired against that plan so the couple of hours available were spent at dusk on the canal, once again after zander.   

I was to be joined by my friend James and we decided to try a stretch new to me and one which he had not fished since he was a nipper.

How did things go?  Well,  not too great for starters.  We covered a good half mile of canal, dropping the deadbaits into every likely looking area of cover but all to no avail.  As dusk fell we were contemplating making tracks for home when there was a bob one one of James's floats which he'd cast near an overhanging willow.  It came to nothing but a couple of minutes later it bobbed again and chugged along the surface.  The strike failed to connect so the bait was re-positioned.  I took the opportunity of casting one of my rods to the other side of the tree (with James's consent) and we awaited developments.

After only a few more minutes James's float was on the move again, this time submerging a few times before he lent into the fish...once again to be met with nothing.  The air turned blue for a few seconds as James expressed his displeasure and frustration.  As I chuckled and looked back to my float, now becoming tricky to see in the gloom, it twitched, cocked and moved sideways a foot.  I grabbed the rod and started to wind down to the fish but the float dropped flat on the surface.  Damn, they are being finicky tonight.  After a leaving it for a few moments I reeled in and put on a small section of smelt, figuring the zander were small but I'd rather catch something than nothing.

A few minutes more had elapsed when my float was on the move again, this time submerging fully and I took the opportunity of winding down to the fish (circle hooks so no striking) and I was met with decent resistance.  Great, this was no schoolie,  I could tell that straight away but how big was it?  That I couldn't tell.  No leviathan but certainly a fish I would love to bank.

After a dogged scuffle a decent zander was resting in the folds of the landing net, James doing the honours.  Fantastic.

I left James with the landing net, ensuring that the fish was recovering satisfactorily as I prepared the camera equipment.  Seconds later James shouted "my floats away!".  I ran to take the net from him so he could attend to his rod, float now completely submerged.  He grabbed his rod and struck but as he did so the float resurfaced, the fish gone.   "Argh!  No! Not again" he cried.  I felt for him.  As anglers I'm sure we have all been in this position.  Where seemingly nothing you do will connect you with your quarry.

With that the light faded and my zander was filmed and safely returned.  We fished on into darkness and even tried another perfect looking snag but to no avail.  Nothing further was forthcoming.

With this we decided enough was enough and made our way back to the cars and home, with another section now on the radar and with no sign of furry fish eaters.  That can only bode well.

Tight lines.