kevtaylor Posted January 24, 2020 Report Posted January 24, 2020 Well after 2 winters talking about zander fishing on Rutland we finally did it with just a week to go before close season. It was a very calm day which was good as it was my first time in a boat over very deep water, but you soon forget any nerves once the rods are out. For the first few hours we tried the vertical jigs, but with almost no drift it seemed a dead loss and I started feeling the cold and a bit like captain noddy! Late morning we travelled round a corner to a slight bay and tried the pike lures and vertical jigs again, no joy. We ate lunch then had another go before heading back to the initial area for the final couple of hours. This next go over the central ground was different as we had a light breeze and slight tow and straight away you knew that you had better presentation. On our 2nd drift I got a bang on the vertical jig whilst looking the other way, I couldn't believe it, then another bang so I hit it and slowly pulled it up, felt like a pike or decent zander and I was made up when a 5-6lb Zed hit the surface - that's a first for me! On the next drift my mate had a bang on his sleeper rod, then another and he lifted into another Zed, this one went 7 1/2 and was a PB - so a great day overall, brilliant to catch on a method you've not done before - can't wait to go again next year. chillfactor, snowmanstevo, elmoputney and 5 others 7 1 Quote
yonny Posted January 27, 2020 Report Posted January 27, 2020 Awesome, well done mate. kevtaylor 1 Quote
dayvid Posted January 27, 2020 Report Posted January 27, 2020 A fish id love to catch 👍 kevtaylor 1 Quote
kevtaylor Posted January 31, 2020 Author Report Posted January 31, 2020 16 hours ago, chillfactor said: Nice one Kev 😎 Thanks lads - what a great experience! chillfactor 1 Quote
chillfactor Posted February 2, 2020 Report Posted February 2, 2020 I first started catching them back in the 90's. Was fishing the Avon a few miles up stream from Tewkesbury, there were 3 of us that used to go fishing together & over a period of time made that stretch of river a great place to fish . We were feeder fishing most of the time & waggler , we started getting hits from preditors on a regular basis so stuck a lure on thinking it was pike or decent perch. First cast & what we all thought was going to be a big pike judging from the fight ended up being a 9lb zander . None of us even realised they were in the river . Was around the time that they were considered a pest & not to be put back. Turned out there were huge shoals of them out there . Started targeting them after this & a popped up dead bait was a great tactic wafting about 2ft off the bottom . kevtaylor 1 Quote
kevtaylor Posted February 3, 2020 Author Report Posted February 3, 2020 22 hours ago, chillfactor said: I first started catching them back in the 90's. Was fishing the Avon a few miles up stream from Tewkesbury, there were 3 of us that used to go fishing together & over a period of time made that stretch of river a great place to fish . We were feeder fishing most of the time & waggler , we started getting hits from preditors on a regular basis so stuck a lure on thinking it was pike or decent perch. First cast & what we all thought was going to be a big pike judging from the fight ended up being a 9lb zander . None of us even realised they were in the river . Was around the time that they were considered a pest & not to be put back. Turned out there were huge shoals of them out there . Started targeting them after this & a popped up dead bait was a great tactic wafting about 2ft off the bottom . Nice one Chill, think we will be trying the Trent next autumn. It's nice not knowing what species could be on the other end and always the chance of a monster Pike. A 9lb Zed is impressive 👍 chillfactor 1 Quote
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