Bream & Zander - Why are they found together?

[Steve Walker]

OK, it's more difficult with zander on a fenland drain, but you get my drift ?

 

Absolutely - what you need is evidence additional to the failure to catch on rod and line. There's nothing like fishing for fish that you can see or failing that, fish that betray their presence and behaviour by other means. If only they all bubbled like tench!

[Vagabond]

Absolutely - what you need is evidence additional to the failure to catch on rod and line.

 

 

..and by difficult I didn't mean impossible. I used to fish the Romney Marshes with the late Roger Standen, and he was a wizard at picking up evidence of the presence of fish in an apparently featureless drain.

 

A twitch of the reed, even on a windy day, that was not due to wind

A subtle change in water colour

A change to the ripple pattern

 

Wish he were still here.......

[Worms]

Phone, your forum needs you to organise a Fish-In. Looks like you have at least two definites.

 

John what are your bow skills like?

I'm in too, and I've got 4 or 5 longbows that people can use

[gozzer]

Taken on a pellet John.I believe the guy was after barbel?

 

Thanks Budgie, I couldn't remember which it was.

 

But, it begs the question, (in my mind at least ), with barbel being another bottom feeder, I wonder if anyone has noticed a correlation between shoals of feeding barbel and zander, on such as the Severn? If so, then it would add more weight to the 'prey fish feeding on dislodged food stuff theory'.

 

John.

Edited August 31, 2011 by gozzer

[Dales]

Thanks Budgie, I couldn't remember which it was.

 

But, it begs the question, (in my mind at least ), with barbel being another bottom feeder, I wonder if anyone has noticed a correlation between shoals of feeding barbel and zander, on such as the Severn? If so, then it would add more weight to the 'prey fish feeding on dislodged food stuff theory'.

 

John.

 

 

I do wonder if it is caused by Zander liking coloured water is it that the Fens have large shoals of bream and so they are likely to be the ones ploughing up the bottom, on other water could it be another species. I have fished Bury Hill for Zander over the last few seasons and always keep an eye out for dirty muddy areas and cast a bait in to them and sometimes it has worked and I have had a Zed. I'm convinced these very muddy parts are caused by other fish grubbing about. Bury Hill does have plenty of Bream but also Carp and Tench, but on a water with say lots of Carp or Tench would the same phenomena happen.

 

I wonder if it's easier to associate with Bream as they can be found in huge shoals and so could churn up more then smaller groups of Tench or Carp.

[Phone]

Dales,

 

I wish I knew more, but I don't.

 

I don't believe carnivores and omnivores feed in anywhere near the same pattern. In fact, I don't believe carnivores like zander have a pattern.

 

The presents of "food fish" seem to be the only useful benefit to zander following shoals of feeding barbel. I could by way wrong?

 

Phone