Lower Severn Zander

Morning all,

dose anyone fish the Lower Severn for Zander?

I caught my first one a couple of weeks ago.
During a quiet spell, while Barbel fishing, I managed to catch a small Chub, so I decided to rig up a Zander/Pike rig (I always carry some trebles on a wire trace........"just in case")

I cast out at about 9pm, and had a run at 4.15 am.

The fish gave a steady run, which is not the norm from what others have told me since.

Is it correct that I should be looking to hit any small indications on the rod top?

How would you rig up a "livebait" to fish during the night?
I will probably have to sleep at some point, so it would probably be a ledger rig, or would you just ledger a deadbait?

Steve

I'd make sure you're geared up for fishing for them properly, with proper bite indication - alarm and drop-off indicator in a river - rather than just slinging out a livebait when the barbel aren't playing ball.

If you're not using the right rigs and fishing them sensibly, it's easy to deep hook fish, especially pike which also inhabit the Lower Severn.

A sunk float paternoster's probably the best rig for fishing a live close in, depending on the flow.

This is a fairly straightforward way of fishing but you need an uptrace so there's no risk of a bite-off caused by the line coming into contact with either the fish's teeth or it's gill covers.

You also need the right unhooking gear - at very least trace blades, pliers, long forceps and mini bolt croppers - and a mat.