A Tale of Two Zander

 Back blogging now, you'll be fed up with the explosion of creativity very quickly.

There is undoubtedly an element of luck or chance in fishing, but some people are consistently more “lucky” than others. Which obviously tells you it’s not really luck. You make your own luck, good or bad.

I’ve spent a bit of time recently fishing the Grand Union Canal for zander and have had some pleasing results.

Firstly, thanks to Mark Bevan-Powell, local zander fisherman and all round good bloke who has helped in putting me on good areas. More than that, he took me fishing one day and passed on all manner of tips and hints. And to top it off, he hates Man Utd too.

Zander No 1

Anyway, I’d spent a couple of hours lure fishing, only had one small fish, no other takes and had reached the stage when I was going through the motions. Although I’d been put on the stretch, it’s about three miles between locks so didn’t know the exact swims or areas.

I spotted a dead roach floating mid stream. That’ll do. I cast over it with the lure several times and eventually fished it out, cut it in half, cobbled together a deadbait rig, cast it out and sat back and relaxed.

I didn’t relax for long because about two minutes later the float bobbed and slid away. I wound into the fish on the ridiculously light five gram lure rod, which folded over. A long flash of silver and I saw what looked like a decent pike, getting towards double figures. After keeping deep it came up and thrashed on the surface, not a pike, a zander and a good one too. “ Don’t come off. don’t come off ”. It didn’t and there it lay in the net. No scales but no less than 8lb I reckoned. Was I pleased ? Just a bit.

Now, you could say that was a lucky capture. I didn’t pick the swim, I cast out where I found the roach, pure chance. But, there was also a bit of opportunism at work, if I hadn’t bothered to hook the roach out and change methods I wouldn’t have caught it.

 

Zander No 2

I was fishing an area that looked good, but I’d not previously had any indication of fish present. I was speaking to Mick Newey, fellow blogger, who’d come to fish with his mate for the evening. Whilst we were speaking, the float gently bobbed and slowly moved off. I wound down and a small zander came to the net. Mick wandered off, I re cast to the same spot and within a few minutes I was in again. Another small one.

I again re cast to the same spot, but after twenty minutes or so it was time for a move, just sixty or seventy yards along the bank. I picked up the other rod and being a lazy git, didn’t bother to secure the hook in the rod ring, so the bait was swinging around, ready to tangle anything in it’s way, which it did….. the other rod, that was still out there fishing. Excellent.

The braid and hook had gone round the other line about a million times, an unholy mess. Braid does my head in sometimes. Well, quite often actually.

I stood there muttering and cursing, trying to untangle it all for three or four minutes when I felt a hard pull on the braid. I don’t believe it, a bloody take whilst I’m in a mess. There was no way I could strike or pull in to the fish until I’d sorted it out.

A minute later with it all resolved I wound into the fish and the rod hooped round in a satisfying curve. It felt like a decent one and it was, an ounce short of 7lb. Luckily the fish was not deep hooked, the circle hook nicely secured in the scissors. Again, well pleased.

So, luck ? Yes, if I hadn’t tangled the other rod due to my cretinous incompetence, I would have wound the rod in and moved swims and it’s highly likely I wouldn’t have caught that fish.

 

Serendipidy ( spellcheck please ) is the word to describe it I think. Whatever, you can’t beat a bit of good old fashioned “luck”.