Fenland Drains

If you want to discuss Catfish, Perch, Zander, Ferox Trout or Eels, this is the place for you
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Gaz Davies
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Fenland Drains

Post by Gaz Davies »

Hi everyone,

Im looking to take my young lad to target some pike and hopefully zander on the Fenland drains.

As we will be travelling from the Doncaster area our trips/sessions will be limited, so i was hoping on a bit of help regarding location etc.

I'm not looking for exact swims, but I would appreciate any advice on which of the drains/areas would be best for us to make a start!! Day ticket waters would be preferable.

Also any advice regarding zander would be great as we have not targeted them before.

Cheers Gaz.
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Duncan Holmes
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Duncan Holmes »

Gaz,

If you are planning on making more than a couple of trips before the end of the season, I would look at getting a kings lynn book http://www.klaa.co.uk/permits, it will give you access to plenty of waters all of which will give you pike and zander fishing.

If you invest in a couple of OS maps, 228 and 143 IIRC, you will be able to identify obvious features to target like bridges, sluices, bends, junctions etc which will hold bait fish. The predators generally wont be far away, use your normal watercraft and you wont go far wrong.

One tip, if you find zebra mussel beds then fish that area hard :wink:

Dependant on which waters you fish, be prepared to cope with fast flows, so have gripper or flat leads up to 3oz with you and long bank sticks to get the rod tips up in the air. I haven't fished the fens for a good few years but my best results came from being mobile, don't be afraid to move swims or even drains/rivers if nothing is happening. The fish can be packed very tight and I had many days when a blank day turned in to a multiple fish day in the last few hours, by getting in the car are driving a few miles up the road.

More so than anywhere I have ever fished, effort and miles meant more fish for me on the fens.

As for zander, you don't really need to change much from your pike set up and will catch both species in among each other, however if I was specifically targeting the zeds I would drop my treble size to a 6 and for deadbaiting change to a 47 strand wire.

Its a very opinionated topic, but I NEVER did any good for zander on sea baits, even when they were in the area and I was catching them on roach, eels or lamprey. So for me bait would be one of those three and a livebait option.

My default starting approach would be deadbait a rod length out, Paternoster lively just over the first shelf and a lump of eel or lamprey in the middle, and then as the runs came move two rods to the same distance. I recast very regularly when predator fishing, changing baits, distance and presentations, often with the zander a particular bait, presentation or distance out would be the only method I could catch on.

I have caught plenty of zander during the daylight in winter, but the first 3-4 hours of darkness was always zander time when I fished up there. Funnily enough clear nights always filled me with confidence, in fact shooting stars became a bit of lucky omen for me with the zander.

You should be ok in the winter, but I found zander much more fragile than pike and need to be handled with upmost care, but be warned they are very spikey and can get a good grip of your fingers when unhooking :laughs:

If you want good night time photos of zander, you need to get the flash to the side of the camera or use a tissue over the flash, they are very reflective and "white" out easily.

If you can get hold of a copy, Steve Younger's or Martin Barett's Zander books are good reference.

Good luck and don't forget to post a pic of your first Zed, :thumbs:
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Gaz Davies
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Gaz Davies »

Duncan,

Thanks for the reply, some good tips that will hopefully lead to our first zander.

Cheers Gaz.
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Rik W
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Rik W »

If it is Zander you are after and you enjoy boat fishing, then why not fish Rutland water using lures? The drains and rivers are a shadow of what they were. Rutland has plenty of Zander to fish for and it would be closer for a day trip.
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Dave Horton
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Dave Horton »

What comprehensive and helpful advice was that from Duncan - I can think of nowhere else on the internet you'd get that much help?

(BIG up Duncan and the Pit face)
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JonahJones
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by JonahJones »

Dave Horton wrote:
What comprehensive and helpful advice was that from Duncan - I can think of nowhere else on the internet you'd get that much help?

(BIG up Duncan and the Pit face)
Spot on Dave :thumbs: Duncan's the man!
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Fentiger01
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Fentiger01 »

He's a top guy for sure! Big up Duncan :thumbs:
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Mark Phillips
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Mark Phillips »

I think one of the more consistent places on the Fens to pick zander up on baits from the bank is the Ouse, north of Ely. If you go a little further towards Denver Sluice, it gets a little harder, but the propensity for bigger fish is much higher. I can recall catches of 20 zander in a day back in the late 90's when I fished the Ouse a lot, although doubles were hard to come by then. Now half a dozen is a good days work and doubles are far more common. PM me if you want some specific spots to fish, happy to share info privately of course :pirate:
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Gaz Davies
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Gaz Davies »

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Duncan, thanks again, that really is a great reply.

Rik, Rutland is not somewhere I had thought of, but I will have a look into this and maybe give it ago sometime.

Mark, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, as a newbie!! I'm unable to send PMs at the minute, but as soon as I have this available I will drop you a message and any help/advice you can send me will be appreciated.

Thanks again everyone.

Gaz
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Fentiger01
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Fentiger01 »

Mark Phillips wrote:
If you go a little further towards Denver Sluice, it gets a little harder
That was precisely my experience back in the day Mark. I loved fishing the Ouse, awesome river! :thumbs:
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Mark Phillips
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Mark Phillips »

Fentiger01 wrote:
Mark Phillips wrote:
If you go a little further towards Denver Sluice, it gets a little harder
That was precisely my experience back in the day Mark. I loved fishing the Ouse, awesome river! :thumbs:
Yep, I agree, lovely water to fish for zander :thumbs:

Gaz - I've sent you a PM mate with a few pointers on specific spots to try. Good luck buddy :cheers:
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by zodiac »

Dave Horton wrote:
What comprehensive and helpful advice was that from Duncan - I can think of nowhere else on the internet you'd get that much help?

(BIG up Duncan and the Pit face)
You're right dave, Duncan seems to really know his fishing- from boat or bank- and is always willing with advice from the most basic to the most technical, he's almost overtaken Emma (rob) as the pit member who's posts I look out for.

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Duncan Holmes
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Duncan Holmes »

zodiac wrote:
Dave Horton wrote:
What comprehensive and helpful advice was that from Duncan - I can think of nowhere else on the internet you'd get that much help?

(BIG up Duncan and the Pit face)
You're right dave, Duncan seems to really know his fishing- from boat or bank- and is always willing with advice from the most basic to the most technical, he's almost overtaken Emma (rob) as the pit member who's posts I look out for.

(But not quite yet face)
Appreciate the comments guys, Thanks :thumbs:
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Paddy
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Paddy »

Can anyone give me some details on the Trent as I think getting a good swim on the Ouse just got harder :laughs: :laughs: :evil:
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Steve D
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Re: Fenland Drains

Post by Steve D »

Paddy wrote:
Can anyone give me some details on the Trent as I think getting a good swim on the Ouse just got harder :laughs: :laughs: :evil:
No Zander in the Trent :laughs:
Theres one or two phoneys round here ..
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