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Not a soul on the park lake today. I think an Environment Agency visit this week catching a few local anglers who thought it was worth the risk of not having a licence might have put them off.

Sorry I didn't reply when you first posted. To be honest March is when my pike fishing stops, they are usually spawning, followed by the water temperatures have risen enough to make catching pike very stressful for them, potentially resulting in fish that die after capture, especially so in the shallow waters of southern England. A lot of clubs only allow pike fishing from October to March. Zander I think are more hardy in summer, and for summer fishing I would be out with lures, with gear heavy enough to bring any accidentally hooked pike in quickly so they don't suffer oxygen deprivation, the cause of stress.

Doesn't stop a spod rod set up being useful. I sometimes use my spod rod for casting out large PVA bags of bait. Instead of spod, put on a lead and a spinlink or Solar did PVA bag link clip, and attach PVA bag or mesh, cast and allow to dissolve. Reel in, properly dry, fresh bag on, and go for it.