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Zander fish-in - October


Anderoo

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I have FA with respect to jigs/lures (I lost 'em all in the great Pangbourne Robbery) so I'll need a bit of advice on that front!

 

I would recommend 30-40g jig heads. You can get the dragon ones here http://www.lure-world.com/speed-c-54_75.html in 30g and 35g, Fox ones here http://www.thefriendlyfisherman.co.uk/section17083/product25534/FOX-RAGE-ROUND-JIG-HEADS.html in 30g, and Spro ones here http://www.thefriendlyfisherman.co.uk/section17083/product29017/SPRO-FOOTBALL-JIG-HEADS.html in 30g and 40g.

 

In 'normal' conditions 30g is usually about right I find, but if the wind gets up the extra weight is suddenly quite important.

 

There are no snags, so don't worry that you have to buy lots of them in case you lose them.

 

The soft plastic lures have to be 13cm+ (about 5") but this includes the jig head. There are loads out there, below are a few options:

 

http://www.thefriendlyfisherman.co.uk/section17083/pike-and-predator-tackle/lures/soft-plastics.html

http://www.lure-world.com/shads-c-26_93.html

http://www.agmdiscountfishing.co.uk/soft-plastic-lures-c-39.html

http://www.harrissportsmail.com/en/Softbaits/c-2179.aspx

 

(The AGM stuff is very cheap and very good, and always delivers quickly.)

 

The two most used types are paddle tail shads and fork tail shads, but we've (well, mainly Rich!) caught on some pretty weird lures too.

 

You just thread the soft plastic onto the jig head. If you like you can also add a stinger (short length of wire with a small treble on the end, threaded through the soft bait with a loop at the other end looped over the jig head eye). But you don't have to. If you don't use stingers you will probably want to use jig heads with slightly larger hooks (say, 5/0) so they emerge further back down the lure. If you do use stingers, a smaller hook (say 3/0 or 4/0) is probably better.

 

Hope that made sense.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Important note about returning zander

 

Zander can't easily vent air from their swim bladders, which means when you bring them up from deep water they have difficulty dealing with the sudden change in pressure. (Sometimes they have bulging eyes or even visible swim bladder popping out of the throat.) It's really important to get them back to their comfortable depth quickly once you've landed them, so unhook them quickly and 'torpedo' them back into the water - hold them head down high above the water, and launch them back quite hard. They then power straight back down to the bottom where they're comfortable. This goes for all the zander we catch, whether they look 'blown up' or not.

 

If you return them gently and carefully they have real trouble getting back down, and could die.

 

It feels a bit weird the first few times but it's the only correct way to return them.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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I prefer white and silver but some days brighter colours work. I think it pays to have a few different colours to cover different situations.

 

I feel that in general the shallower bodied lures work better and for some reason the Kopyto shads don't work at all. I think those jointed shads just have too much movement. On that point the paddle tails seem to work best when the wind it light and the fork tails best when the wind (and drift) is quicker.

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Agreed, slim bodies that are unjointed seem best. As for colours I like whites, browns, greens, translucent, and any combinations of them. I'm not sure the fish mind too much but it makes me feel better to have a few choices!

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And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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OK that's done - 5 boats booked for Wed 8 Oct and Fri 24 Oct :)

Time booked off work so just need to sort accommodation. I’m wondering whether it would be better to stay over the night before and have a relaxed start to the day or to reflect on my PB double figure zander over beer/dinner after the event.

 

 

It’ll get light at about 7:30am at that time of year so I guess we won’t be fishing before then?

 

It's never a 'six', let's put it back

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