Pike and zander fish-in

[Anderoo]

I'll be fishing next to a friend Rob, so we should have a spare one between us

 

The forecast still looks excellent and the latest news from Steve Younger is that the Level zeds have finally awoken and started to feed...

 

See you all later!

[Dick Dastardly]

Andrew is all ready there (he got down first thing this morning) Its pulling a bit and only one small pike so far.Apparently catching baits is hard going.

 

Im off to bed now as Im leaving around 0300 to get a dawn start in.

[Brian Carragher]

Any news or updates, who's catching what?, no venues though

[gozzer]

Any news or updates, who's catching what?, no venues though

 

I heard that Anderoo tried catching livebait and landed a 20lb bream!

 

 

John.

[Anderoo]

I'd really love to report zander all round, but it wasn't to be. Conditions in general were pretty good, but the fish weren't there in any numbers and it was tough going! A few pike were caught in the daytime and me, Wayne and Alex all experienced dropped runs in the night, almost certainly from zander (I had the same margin bait picked up and dropped 3 times in an hour!). Very frustrating, but that's how it goes! Zander fishing in the fens is about as wild and unpredictable as it gets, which is why I love it so much. Things were looking good for last night, with a big blanket of cloud coming over at dusk, but it then turned around and buggered off, leaving a clear sky and very cold temperatures.

 

I have to say that I really enjoyed the weekend, it was great to meet new and old ANers, Budgie's pike teach-in was really excellent and certainly made me rethink a few things, and I am surprised that no zander were caught. I hope those who came enjoyed it despite not catching and got something from it. If there's enough interest we can have another bash next year Thanks again for those who made the effort, especially those who came from long distances.

 

Tricky fish, those zander!

Edited March 1, 2009 by Anderoo

[Guerilla]

I was going to post an interim report but figured I'd best wait until one of the guys was able to comment on Saturday nights haul, hopefully yielding a more positive account! How disappointing it was to hear that no Zeds were landed given the high optimism.

 

Despite only being there for the daylight hours of Saturday, I had a great time meeting some of the guys and trying to catch something.

 

MASSIVE thanks to Anderoo for sorting it all out, Budgie for the excellent Pike Teach-in and for patiently answering all my persistent questions, and to everyone else for the great company.

[Anderoo]

I heard that Anderoo tried catching livebait and landed a 20lb bream!

 

 

John.

 

Which was useful as I needed some bait

 

Aside from good company and being back in the fens (which I just love) I also got to try out my 'new' home-made drop-offs, which are absolutely brilliant, and tried out one of my Drennan tench and bream rods, which could ping out a 2oz lead and eel section 40 yards with no problem at all. Even had a pike on it! It was the biggest of all 3 I caught, at a whopping 3lb One was so tiny I only got it under the rod tip because it refused to let go of the eel section - both trebles were either side of its mouth When it became clear he wasn't going to win, he spat it out and saved me the bother of unhooking him.

 

Another little anecdote - after Budgie's pike teach-in I went back to my swim, caught a pike and sod's law, for the first time in my life, managed to get a treble stuck in my finger with an angry mini-pike twisting and flapping on the other end. It still hurts now! I obviously wasn't listening hard enough...

 

Oh, and 1-piece wind- and water-proof suits keep you warm in the fens in February, I was very glad of that!

[Dick Dastardly]

Well it goes to show how much any of us know about Zeds! Conditions looked spot on for this time of year but not a sausage! The piking was never going to be up to much in the same conditions but Longshanks mate Dave managed a couple of jacks so fair play to him.

 

The venue we fished is well known as a hard Zed one but it does do biggies! My own PB wasnt caught a million miles away from where we were. Were a few small ones about though as a couple of us had near misses.Dissapointing that we didnt bank at least one between us though.

 

But as always it was good to meet up with AN'ers old and new.Good fun and great company.I certainly enjoyed it even if it has worn me out for the next few days!

 

Got to thank Anderoo for organising it as if it wasnt for people putting themselves out these things just wouldnt happen.Well AN lost this battle but not the war! we will return!

[Anderoo]

Like we were saying at the weekend, I'm not sure if there is an 'easy' zander vnue in the fens any more! I'm pretty out of touch but my mate Wayne is still a local, and the zander in the fens seem to have gone full circle. It is very interesting. I for one would rather be not catching big ones than small ones though! If any of us had caught one, it could have been a lump...

 

A few years ago we could have all rolled up to the Cut-off and banged out zed after zed all night, but no more. The pike seem to have beaten them back. Yes, we shall return and our demands will be met!

[Andrew Burgess]

A massive thanks for Anderoo for sorting it all out and hopefully this will start my zander career!

 

I arrive near the venue after my other two mates from Bolton got lost in the area and i got them back on the right track along the A47 towards Kings Lynn ......again we got a bit lost by taking a wrong turn too soon!( My fault) But, I know it now if I ever go back again!

 

I wish now that I have brought a few more selection of bait with me despite the Budgie "zedsmeister" advice to buy some small dead roach! It was very hard going through out the weekend. I didn't attend Budgie pike teach in as I heard it so many time in the past!

 

It was a nice for me to get out of the house for a change to do some fishing at last.

 

I am even attempted to go back in the summer for a week when in between fishing at Wingham but I will see how it goes then.