Coventry canal, Sunday morning, 6.30am. Meeting with my mate Steve. Target species - Zander. For me, never seen one before, or even purposefully fished for one for that matter. Technique, deadbait tails on the float. The morning was very bright with the odd cloud occasionally blocking out the sun, not ideal. However, plenty of barges churning up the silt left us fishing in a brown soup, perfect for zander?
It has been years since I fished the canals, the last time was when I had a barge, pre-baiting for a week with tins of sweetcorn, me and my mate filled a keep net with bream that day.
Today though, it was fishing for Zander, my first take came as a surprise to me - it was very gentle, the float bobbed up and down a couple of times, then slowly drifted off to my right. It was tempting to strike too soon, but my mate Stebe said leave it a few seconds just to make sure it had taken the bait. We were after all fishing a single hook. I gave a slow retrieve and then sank my hook - he was on. Not a big fish, but gave a small fight – Steve had him in the net and on the bank quicker than I could say 'bloody barges!' There it was, my first Zander. Approximately 2lbs of lean mean munching machine - and a nasty pair of nashers on him too. I was delighted! Although the fishing was a little slow I did manage a second take about an hour or so later - he felt about the same size as before, however, he had the better of me and threw my hook and bait.
An interesting looking fish - definitely a predator in appearance. Long and slender like the Pike, a very small mouth by comparison - but a set of nashers designed for making light work of anything offering itself as lunch!
A great mornings fishing - thanks Steve!
