Brilliant first article

Excellent first write up mate, I'm almost looking forward to autumn now!

I really must try my hand at writing a piece, one of thoses things you promise yourself and never seem to have time to do.

Great article!

Very enjoyable; must try and catch a zander one day but not many around these parts.....yet!

Paul,

It doesn't take that long to write an article, three hours for a draft, plus same again to polish it up and sort out the pics. Give it a go.

Really, really good to have some more predator based articles on the site.

Keep 'em coming I say !!!

Excellent article mate. The zander is on my list of fish to catch and one day i will make the trip south for them. Keep the article coming mate and by autum i will be gagging for a zed.

Was an interesting article until I read the tackle being used.

I would agree totaly that there is a lot more sport to be had with small zander on light wilson avon rods but the article mentions snags, pike to mid double figures and using 2/3 oz leads.
A 1 1/4 tc rod is not a suitable tool for controlling pike, period let alone suitable for three ounces of lead plus 3ounce plus of bait.
The article starts with the way pike are killed by many on the avon then it is suggested that these rods are suitable. Regardles to the fact that zander are the target, pike WILL be caught and no way are avon rods appropriate for pike.
If everyone fished like this, how many snagged up/lost pike are we going to have?

This is my first post on here but I have to say that I think it's a disgrace that innapropriate tackle is being promoted for predator fishing.

Oh Boy, do I know a few of those places.

In fact I only lived within a stones throw of that bridge - the Emscote Bridge in fact which devides the plebs of Leamington from us upper class types of Warwick.

The Monk will know that bridge. He nearly got chucked into the Avon there for bringing some of his bad Manc driving habits (no pun intended) to Leafy Warwickshire.

I've had loads of pike from that stretch of the Avon, mainly on plugs and spinnerbaits but no zander, but this was in 1997 and 1998.

Some good chub can be found where the Leam enters the Avon by the way.

Nice read mate good to see a Zander atricle let alone one not on the drains round here!I really enjoyed it!I am sure Zander will become more popular in time as they become better established over their now quite large range.I do have to say however I agree with Gilby about the rods. I would never use below 2.25lb TC.Always have pike in the back of your mind as well as that big zeds can put up a good scrap when they want to,especially with deep water close in.One look at the massive fins hints at their fighting ability even if they dont always use it!

One question, when using braid have you ofund many drop of when they go nuts under the rod tip?I still use mono for a lot of my fishing zeds included, I have always wondered if it would be a problem.

First class read whether you agree with him on rod choice or not.

nice article mate, its nice to see a bit more on zeds from other anglers, but like the others i think your choice of rod is wrong. a stiffer rod is a much better bet to get the fish in quickly, zeds are very fragile fish, especially in warmer water and a soft rod is not a good option.
also zeds have very boney mouths and a stiffer rod sets the hooks better.

Wow, thanks everyone for all the feedback! A debut article is nail-biting stuff?

I should answer your worries first, please feel free to disagree.

I should probably have written an extra paragraph explaining my views on particular tackle for particular swims, I?ll remember for the next one.

The Avon around Leamington and Warwick, where I do most of zandering is a narrow, sluggish and demure madam. In most circumstances, in my favourite haunts, my leger rigs are placed less than 12ft from the bank in snag-free swims.

In this scenario I favour my Avons. I will cut down the size of the lead to 2oz and with only short pendulum cast to negotiate, I get maximum bite indication and enough oomph to get a 5-8lb Z quickly to the net.

The Wilson?s can excerpt a good deal of power, I have landed carp to nearly 19 from the Severn and Teme barbel to 9 on them. I can honestly say that I have not lost a zander or pike with a rig attached using my Avons under these circumstances.

As to the question of pike, sadly between the two towns it is rare to find a pike that is bigger than the average Z (5-6lb) and believe me I?ve tried.

I have fished this area for three years now and pike-wise in urban areas around Warwick/ Leamington, my best pike (confluence with Leam to the castle bridge) is only 7lb whereas the tiny Leam has given me countless doubles to 15lb.

I suspect on this stretch there are no big pike. The area is heavily fished by kids in the holidays with sh*t tackle and it is not rare to find yourself removing multiple rigs from jacks. Also I suspect that the scenario on match peg 12 is repeated more often than I?d like to imagine in this area.

Further out of town, or in areas that I haven?t fished before, or with snags present I step up to a heavier curve (2lb plus) and 30z lead (and bigger bait?I love pike!)

Once again thanks for the great response

Matt,

I changed to braid very recently (last three weeks or so of this season)and have been impressed so far with the increased sensitivity, no problems yet but I'm new to this braided lines lark.

Chris will know the answer...

I wouldn't necessarily say that ****y, you seem to have got well to grips with the river zed-wise.

One of the best features on the site for ages.

They kick off like mad under the rod sometimes, esp when you catch one in daylight.

I use 2.75 test curve rods on the rivers up here with 50lbs braid on the rare occasions I now fish for them.

These have soft-ish tips (Marvics) but a very steely middle.

Bazza's right about bony gobs, braid gives a far cleaner hook-set.

I don't strike, just wind down fast and bend in hard when I feel the fish.

You'll always bounce some off, they take a bait differently to pike in that they'll sometimes just grab it and try and get away from their mates with it, so you get a fast take where there fish hasn't even got the hooks in its gob.

I also lost a lot more of them when I used barbless hooks.

Don't know if you've tried the sunk pat rig but it can be very good fishing over the near shelf.

Very popular up here.

I use soft rods for any fish Im using braid for and get no problems at all.

I enjoyed reading your piece as Ive been considering trying the Avon for Zeds myself.As for rod choice most of the stretches Ive looked at 2lbTC ish would suffice.Dont think a 1 1/4 would cast my rigs/baits or set the hooks to well.Most of my Zedding has been done for big fish and Ive always used my Pike gear (and pike sized baits too) In fact the only difference is that I tend to not use any non free running rigs for Zeds where Im quite happy using fixed pat rigs in most piking situations.That and I dont use sea deads for them.Also use a front alarm for Zeds rather than my normal Backbiters.

That said my first Zeds were caught in Germany using size 4 singles, nylon(!)hooklengths,8lb line and a 1 1/2lb carp rod.They were only around 3lb on average though and I knew no different.BUT had no problems.

I reckon (from the research Ive done) that there is a very good chance of the Avon doing some good fish in the near future.They recive very little atention on some of the areas Ive looked into.

Looking forward to any other stuff you write on the subject mate.

Great first article ****y. Good to see someone writing about my 'home turf'. Perhaps we will meet one day, roving the banks.
By the way, the canal is producing zander out towards Offchurch. Guy's at my place of work fish during the lunch break and catch them on maggots! Only small, but the potential is there.

Well done ****y ,a great article and for me ,a bloke who has never seen a live zander let alone fished for one ( I live in the south east ),your article made me very envious but its swings and roundabouts ,we do have good pike fishing down here .

Sometimes .

Ditto,nice write up mate.Any time you fancy a trip to the Fens let me know.Cheers.

Well done with the article and well done with the rods.....
All too often these days we see fishermen seriously overgunned for the fish they are targetting. Lets not forget the charismatic zander is not particularly known for its fighting capabilities or is the fact that 2.5lb / 3lb test rods and 30lb / 50lb braid make them seem easy.
Many fishermen on this site will use 1.25lb test rods for summer barble which pound for pound are a more powerfull fish and are more suscepable to gassing up than zander without batting an eye.
Don't forget that the 'avon' rods were designed as an all round all purpose big fish rod used by some serious anglers who caught serious fish in the not too distant past.

I totally agree with you about the over gunning of most fish these days but the main problem people are raising here is that when you are fishing for Zeds you are also effectively fishing for Pike.

My main concern though is simply that when ever you are using treble hooks you have to use over the top tackle because you simply cannot aford to leave a treble in a fish.Forget safe rigs as in non fixed set ups as preached by the carp world the only safe rig with trebles is one that garantees they are landed and safely unhooked.

It really is brilliant to hear so much encouragement from fellow FM zed-heads ;-) and some very constructive technical criticism.

Please keep it coming; my love affair with Z?s is still in its infancy so I?d really appreciate advice/ tweeks/ safety tips.

Gilby, welcome to FM. I hope I?ve answered your points but if not let me know. This is a cracking forum for the predator fanatic and questions/ queries are always welcome, taken on board and answered respectfully.

One thing I have to disagree with though (J) is Mark?s estimation of how long it takes to write an article. I have to admit to being scared sh*tless at the prospect of sharing my experiences with guys with many more years of zedding under their belts, so it took me nearly four months to get this one readable!

Fortunately, the writing does get easier, my next one is nearly written. I?m just waiting for the season to kick off to get some nice pics (I?m very new to the digital revolution!)

That said Mark, if you fancy a trip to zander country I know some cracking spots on the Severn and Avon, so anytime you fancy a go at pikeperch let me know.

Rob, give me a pm after the first few frosts and we could meet up on the Avon for some spikey sport, same goes to Budgie.

Yoggy, thanks for the kind offer, I may be able to fit a trip in this Autumn, I?ve never fished the Fens before but Dave and Chris?s articles and Ron?s comments on the tench potential have pushed it way to the top of my dream venues list.