Zander.

[john step]

I have fished for pike for donkeys years. However any zander I have caught have been from the non tidal Trent and have been accidentals whilst Piking.

I have been on the zander anglers web site and read their two articles as I plan to target them on the Tidal and non tidal on club books I have.

In one article it appeared that the zander switch off after October yet I have had them with the ground frozen and thick snow. Was this unusual.

Am I right in presuming that smaller baits should be used.
Should I use twin trebles as in snap tackle or perhaps singles or even a hair as thats what I was using on a couple of occasions when I had an "accidental".

As an aside....has anyone heard of zander turning up in the Witham?
The Witham is joined to the Tidal by the lock at Torksey and the Fosdyke canal yet I fish the Witham regularly and have never caught one there or heard of one. Any ideas.

Rather a lot of questions here I know.

 

[binka]

Never heard of the zander switching off after October John, in fact my best ever day on the non-tidal was a couple of years ago in December (five banked and two missed in one morning).

Also, on that day I was fishing for pike (double trebles) and despite numerous previous sessions that were "tweaked" for zander eg. single hooks, ultra-low resistance rigs and small baits that produced little if any result, these zander were all caught on standard float deadbait tactics with a 2 - 3oz roach set against a baitrunner.

I find them frustrating, very localised in colder weather and very unpredictable but if there's heavy colour in the water you're already halfway there.

 

[flightliner]

John, last year a good friend of mine had the whole winter on the Trent fishing for Zander and tho there were long lean periods where fish were hard to come by he caught thro out the cold hard months .
I'm no expert where zeds are concerned by any means but from my limited experience I would be hard pressed to consider single hooks, others may disagree ,their choice but not mine.
I had one yesterday (see how did you get on thread) and will be out tomorrow hoping for another.
Sorry, but as for zeds in the Witham I cant say, can't even remember my specie angling friends in the area ever mentioning seeing or catching them , thats not to say they arnt presant but if as you say you fish the river for pike on a regular basis one could turn up anytime with the rivers connection to the Trent.
Good hunting.

 

[john step]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[pointngo]

Not sure who wrote that about October but they're definitely wrong about it. My biggest was caught at the beginning of January.

A good mate of mine fishes for zeds all the time and has done for years, and he goes through prolonged periods without any fish for him or the other regulars he shares notes with, then all of a sudden big fish start coming out, then they disappear again a few weeks later.

They're quite infuriating in that respect but I'd say start around structure.. locks, weirs etc. Don't ignore the fast water below weirs or lock overflows.. they like it in there, right on the bottom, especially if it's rocky/snaggy. Failing that, look for the deeper holes/stretches on the river.

I'd stick to about a 3" freshwater deadbait, or half of 4-5" bait, and use two smallish trebles, size 10ish but perhaps you could get away with, say, a roach head on a single.. dunno mate, never tried it as I generally lure fish for them. There's a way I rig eel deadbaits about that size on a single... picture's worth a thousand words...

The National Anguilla Club (NAC) - The Eel Specialist - Eel Fishing

Ultra low resistance is usually the accepted name of the game but perhaps Binka has found that they don't mind a steady resistance?.. it certainly applies to pike and I rarely use anything but semi-fixed leads for them nowadays.

The thing with zander is that a lot of the basic info is still what was thought 20 years ago, and some of isn't quite correct, as per them liking fast water. There's a lot to be learnt yet but it's tricky because you get very few clues apart from captures or missed takes. Very enigmatic fish though and their colours can be fantastic.. blues, purples, bright silver, and even fish that are almost all black (I think it's aggressive males that turn that colour around spawning time when protecting the nest), they're all different.