Recent article by Mark Barratt, suggests an increase in numbers of small zander on the fens any body else witnessed this??.
This was partly in reply somewhat of Mark's pretty scathing comment on Dave Maclachlan's piece on people taking fish, not taking fish on the fens etc, with the commnet of, "As rare as a world war two bomber found on the moon"!
I agree with Mark in the respect the drains/rivers are full of baitfish, i have spent considerable time walking the dog in the height of this summer covering miles of water armed with just a pair of polaroids, witnessing shoals of roach/rudd in huge numbers.
Regarding the zeds, there's plenty of small ones in Rutland for stocking the fens.
Last edited by nigel savage on Wed Oct 23 2013 09:53, edited 1 time in total.
Hi Nigel. I have not read the article you're referencing, but would be interested what Dave has said and then what Mark's saying. I'll have to have a chat with Dave as I know him quite well. Anyway, to comment from my own experiences over the last couple of seasons that I've seen no discernible increase in the numbers of small zander on the Fenland waters I have fished, both in Cambs and Lincolnshire. If anything, less zander, but bigger average size Of course I'm not targeting zander anywhere near as much as others, but that's my experience of the zander fishing. Back in the early 90's I was catching up to 20 zander in a day or night from waters like the Ouse, 16ft and Cam; most were below 4lb. In the space of a few years that all changed and it does seem to have settled into fairly consistent situation where there's less fish, but they're bigger. Which is what I know I prefer! Be interested what other people think?
last season, ely town centre was full of schoolies. to the extent that i cut a small roach in half, and had a laugh seeing how many i could catch on the same bait....6 in an hour or so.
outside of that area- ive not seen so many, and i havent seen a schoolie zander on the cam in a while, but then i fish that a lot less.
I had 12 trips out with my mate earlier on in the season after zeds, mainly fishing from dusk till midnight, we fished various stretches of the ouse, relief channel, mid level, well creek and cut off channel and neither of us caught a single zander, there where plenty of eels around though
Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. YNWA
Possibly Mark, but fished both lives and deads on various methods but the zeds just did not show, didnt help that you couldnt keep a bait on the bottom for more then 10 minutes without it getting destroyed by eels, thats life though, and zeds dont interest me to that degree so wasnt to bothered about blanking, prefer me piking
Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. YNWA
Possibly Mark, but fished both lives and deads on various methods but the zeds just did not show, didnt help that you couldnt keep a bait on the bottom for more then 10 minutes without it getting destroyed by eels, thats life though, and zeds dont interest me to that degree so wasnt to bothered about blanking, prefer me piking
Oh I just love nights like those when those slimey bar stewards are running !!!
Possibly Mark, but fished both lives and deads on various methods but the zeds just did not show, didnt help that you couldnt keep a bait on the bottom for more then 10 minutes without it getting destroyed by eels, thats life though, and zeds dont interest me to that degree so wasnt to bothered about blanking, prefer me piking
Oh I just love nights like those when those slimey bar stewards are running !!!
It seemed they where about every time I went out this season, 40-50 "runs" from them in 5 hours fishing wasnt uncommon, only hooked one though and it came off and felt quite big
Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. YNWA
same, I like my eel fishing, but on lakes where you get less runs, still hurting from an eel I lost back in May that if it wasnt a double wasnt far off
ChristopherH wrote:
A run on average every six minutes for five hours solid. Jeez I could do with some eel fishing like that!
problem was Chris, they where just boot laces, just grabbing hold of the bait, giving you a couple of beeps and then letting go of it again, as I wasnt fishing for them I tried all I could to avoid them, in the end I just gave up with the zedding
Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. YNWA
same, I like my eel fishing, but on lakes where you get less runs, still hurting from an eel I lost back in May that if it wasnt a double wasnt far off
ChristopherH wrote:
A run on average every six minutes for five hours solid. Jeez I could do with some eel fishing like that!
problem was Chris, they where just boot laces, just grabbing hold of the bait, giving you a couple of beeps and then letting go of it again, as I wasnt fishing for them I tried all I could to avoid them, in the end I just gave up with the zedding
I haven't seen a bootlace for the best part of thirty years David. It's a good sign for the future.
...especially for specialist eel munchers like the Otter.
same, I like my eel fishing, but on lakes where you get less runs, still hurting from an eel I lost back in May that if it wasnt a double wasnt far off
ChristopherH wrote:
A run on average every six minutes for five hours solid. Jeez I could do with some eel fishing like that!
problem was Chris, they where just boot laces, just grabbing hold of the bait, giving you a couple of beeps and then letting go of it again, as I wasnt fishing for them I tried all I could to avoid them, in the end I just gave up with the zedding
I haven't seen a bootlace for the best part of thirty years David. It's a good sign for the future.
...especially for specialist eel munchers like the Otter.
The pike are munching through them as well, unhooked several pike this season with an eel sticking out of their throats, glad I have several packs of eel in the freezer
Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. YNWA
Of course I'm not targeting zander anywhere near as much as others, but that's my experience of the zander fishing. Back in the early 90's I was catching up to 20 zander in a day or night from waters like the Ouse, 16ft and Cam; most were below 4lb. In the space of a few years that all changed and it does seem to have settled into fairly consistent situation where there's less fish, but they're bigger. Which is what I know I prefer! Be interested what other people think?
