This weekend 30 years ago.....

[Fentiger01]

A great angler by the name of Ian Weatherall landed a lump of a Fenland Zander which weighed in at 16lb 9oz.

(A top 10 UK Zed at the time)

One of two very famous Zeds which used to inhabit the particular venue.

Them 90's, they were the days they were.....

[SmellySmelt]

It’s mad that when you refer to 30 years ago, its the 90s

[Fentiger01]

It’s mad that when you refer to 30 years ago, its the 90s

I know mate, seems only like yesterday.

[The great Gavino]

What a time to be fishing the fens. I used to race up the A10 straight from work on a Friday. I can still feel the anticipation as I approached the bridge, praying that it was empty with no cars/vans parked up. I still get that excitement when I pop back now and then. Of course, I never see anybody up there anymore

[Ratty46]

great fella Ian, had the pleasure of fishing with him.

[Neville Fickling]

Missed the nineties because of a reservoir near Sheffield!!! Had a few zander up to 13 from the Fens in the late 80s . Wonderful days those.

[Fentiger01]

Missed the nineties because of a reservoir near Sheffield!!! Had a few zander up to 13 from the Fens in the late 80s . Wonderful days those.

I'll bet they were Nev.

I started on the Fens in the mid-90's, a cracking period of my life. I loved it, it wasn't all known back then but still I wondered as I turned up to various spots (both hot or not), about who's footsteps might have been there before me?

I didn't do a huge lot of time on the 90's record venue but instead got stuck into some of the more 'unfashionable' waters. The Fens makes for an incredible environment, one that is truly burnt into my soul and the 90's were a wonderful time to be on it.

(seems like only yesterday )

[Mark Phillips]

What a time to be fishing the fens. I used to race up the A10 straight from work on a Friday. I can still feel the anticipation as I approached the bridge, praying that it was empty with no cars/vans parked up. I still get that excitement when I pop back now and then. Of course, I never see anybody up there anymore

I remember fishing on Ten Mile Bank back in the early 90's and a bad day was less than a dozen zander. Albeit they were all schoolies at the time, but great fun and that was just day sessions on small deads. If you wanted a better chance at a double, Roswell was always my go to water. Had a few good ones from there over the years.

[Fentiger01]

I had a favourite spot on the Great Ouse nearer to Ely Mark. I fished it mid-90's onwards for nearly 15 years, it was totally non-descript but prolific. Nothing really big but it did me and others a few doubles. It was a cracking place to fish though, I really miss the place mate.

(Many very happy memories)

[delboy]

What a time to be fishing the fens. I used to race up the A10 straight from work on a Friday. I can still feel the anticipation as I approached the bridge, praying that it was empty with no cars/vans parked up. I still get that excitement when I pop back now and then. Of course, I never see anybody up there anymore

Same as me boy, Friday night, the missues would meet me at work with the dogs and some food and we were on our way in me old transit to the fens, many is the time I nearly fell alseep, tell you what boy when it gets dark down there it is proper dark,I still get excited about going down there but it soon disappears , maybe different this winter, got a couple of new places to try , happy days

[Fentiger01]

Used to get the old 'fire in the belly' when travelling across to the Fens for a weekend in the 90's. Autumn time was ace for the Zeds.

[Mark Phillips]

I had a favourite spot on the Great Ouse nearer to Ely Mark. I fished it mid-90's onwards for nearly 15 years, it was totally non-descript but prolific. Nothing really big but it did me and others a few doubles. It was a cracking place to fish though, I really miss the place mate.

(Many very happy memories)

Yes, you're spot on, it was good back then. I think I know where you mean, as I had a 15.04 there - same fish a mate had at 15.01, but he caught it pike fishing on mackerel, so it didn't count I never told him I had it after him, just to avoid the usual ding dongs. When you say non-descript, if it is where I think it is - I fished it a lot in the boat and the bottom undulates every few yards, a bit like a ploughed field. You'd only see that on the sonar, fishing from the bank it would appear to just be a uniform in depth. The bream like that area, which is my theory behind why the zander liked it. There's another area further downstream that's very similar and I had several doubles there too. From the bank it just looks like a very boring long straight bit of river.

[Fentiger01]

If it's the same place folks used to just drive by it mate, not easy parking either.

I loved diving out of my bivvy in the early hours to strike into a screaming take and feel the weight of a good Zed holding its own in 15ft of water.

Had a lot of 9's and a sprinkling of doubles to 11.8 off there.

[The great Gavino]

What a time to be fishing the fens. I used to race up the A10 straight from work on a Friday. I can still feel the anticipation as I approached the bridge, praying that it was empty with no cars/vans parked up. I still get that excitement when I pop back now and then. Of course, I never see anybody up there anymore

I remember fishing on Ten Mile Bank back in the early 90's and a bad day was less than a dozen zander. Albeit they were all schoolies at the time, but great fun and that was just day sessions on small deads. If you wanted a better chance at a double, Roswell was always my go to water. Had a few good ones from there over the years.

They were certainly there in numbers back then. I fished the smaller bit of Roswell a few times and had a handful up to 8/9lb. Just off the rod tip. I think somebody told me that smaller pit is out of bounds now? On my old favourite very wide and very long drain I only saw one other angler from Oct to March. Not really surprised as it fished awful for me

[The great Gavino]

What a time to be fishing the fens. I used to race up the A10 straight from work on a Friday. I can still feel the anticipation as I approached the bridge, praying that it was empty with no cars/vans parked up. I still get that excitement when I pop back now and then. Of course, I never see anybody up there anymore

Same as me boy, Friday night, the missues would meet me at work with the dogs and some food and we were on our way in me old transit to the fens, many is the time I nearly fell alseep, tell you what boy when it gets dark down there it is proper dark,I still get excited about going down there but it soon disappears , maybe different this winter, got a couple of new places to try , happy days

Similar to me mate. Full of optimism. Only takes one fish though.. I had a two nighter last season and left on the first morning. Baits getting massacred all night, freezing cold and rain. Packed up and went home

[Fentiger01]

What a time to be fishing the fens.

Of course, I never see anybody up there anymore

I met some proper 'faces' during my visits there back in the day, there were always bivvies dotted up and down the drains and rivers each weekend. Great fishing too, I broke plenty of my PB's up on the Fen.

Great days indeed.

[delboy]

Back then you always caught, it was just how big or how many,I bumped into a few faces as well ,I met a young Mark barret, nice lad as it happens, met him a couple of times, another time on a friday night there were only 2 people on this drain, me and Phil Smith, I remember offering him a beer but he said he was tea total,I remember he went on to have a 26 as well , b********d, another time Nev was on this drain as were a lot of Lea valley boys, (hope my memory is not playing tricks on me), seem to remember fishing the same drain as John Watson at one time, I fished a couple of places that Dennis moules was on , I make no apologies for name dropping, it meant a lot to me at the time, I was not on any grapevine and had no mates living down there, it was all detective work, hear something , read something, cut bits out of the papers and investigate, so when you done all the homework and you saw faces on there you knew you were on the right track, happy days

[Fentiger01]

A great guy and definitely a 'Face' back in the days of big Fen Zander who I used to bump into here and there, was Dave Gaunt.

A really down to earth chap and a great angler. I used to really enjoy a good old chinwag with Dave, a cracking bloke with a wealth of knowledge.

I hope he's still at it now.