finishing in style

[baitmaster]

we this last week has seen me watching the weather and the drains in the hope that i could get out for one last session before the season ended and on Friday evening after becoming poorly i thought well i,m not going to get out for a session before the season ended .but at around 8pm the phone rang and it was Barrie telling me he had been given a golden pass but sadly had no bait and was thinking of pulling a all night after pike i said not to worry about baits i,ll get some for the session .
after a while Barrie told me he,d seen plenty of anglers on a couple of the drains and we started to a hatched a plan which would see us fishing one more time on the drains after the wander this made me feel much better and in the morning i was getting my gear together for the final assault on the drains knowing that it would be a good 5 to 6 month before i could seriously chase the zander again .
we had arranged to meet up late Saturday after afternoon to firstly check the state of the drains and make the all important decision on to where we were going to fish i was actually surprised to see the drain we had picked in as good as condition as it was i fully expected to see it still unfinishable so this got me more excited for the coming session a quick walk along the bank saw us choosing the swims for that night i was also pleased to see the grebes feeding just to my left .
we soon had the gear out of the car and set up for the final time in no time at all .
i,de decided to fish all three rods on the fixed paternoster rig but have each weak link set at different depth i felt this was going to be the right choice with the baits we had .soon we had our rods out and were fishing so it was time for the kettle to go on for the first of many brews that evening and before the kettle had time to boil Barrie was in to a fish i was soon next to him with net in hand to Gilly the fish a nice pike around 8lb to 9lb surface in front of me and i netted to quickly and it decided to do a crocodile roll and rap it self around the net ,we soon had it unrolled and unhooked sadly we took no picture and at this point i also had my first run of the evening but on striking saw me miss it in fine style .
we both put the rods back out and settled down with our coffee,s we fished on into the evening and not to much was happening except us putting the world to rights and having a good laugh and reminissing over the past seasons fishing when suddenly one of my indicators sounded that one of my baits was getting some attention of a predator, i again struck into the fish and got it up to the surface where it swirled shock its head and threw the hooks i#we both were unsure whether it was a zed or a pike but i expected it was a zed but it does not matter as it escaped , i redecorated the hooks with a fresh bait and cast it out into the darkness i took the opportunity to do all three rods at around 9pm Barrie got the frying pan out and it was time for the bacon rolls which i,de been looking forward to all evening as i was by now very hungry i sat watching Barrie when one of my indicators sounded i went over to investigate and it developed into a run so i struck and was soon playing a good zander the first Barrie knew was when i called him to do the pictures of the zander , rolls were put on hold while the photo,s were done it was a cracking fish and at 10lb 120z i was very happy indeed

we watched it swim away back into the depth of the drain wishing it all the best .
as we sat back down to eat the bacon rolls i was well made up and now did not mind what happened for the rest of the evening after yet another double figure zander what a fitting end to the season .
we carried on fishing but no more action came our way so before we packed up we decided to take a picture of two silly fenland wanderers who have enjoyed the season and company looking at it Barrie i think we better lay of the coffee mate
( its been a great season ) i hope next year goes the same


we started a slow pack up and Barrie called me over and on reaching him i could see he had caught a fish i got down to the waters edge to help land and it was a nice looking pike which right a the draw chord of the net declined to come any further and threw the hooks out but we where not to bothered . soon we had the barrows loaded and headed back to the car and we got a another surprise as just before we got back to the cars we found a live lamprey on the ground, we could only think it was took out of the water by a mink or something and it must have dropped it as it heard us coming , i placed it in a bucket and we both were intrigued and watched it for a few minutes before leaving to go home
i i drove home very happy indeed and had thoroughly enjoyed the session with Barrie and i was over the moon with my capture and to finish with a double what a way to finish i know in a week or two i,ll feel sad that i can,t go chasing my favourite fish for a while but the time will go by quickly but until then .
thank you fens you,ve been kind to me again this year

tightlines
Kevin

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Brill read and a great way to end the session fishing with a mate

[gullyworm]

Cracking report and pics as ever Kev.
Are you sure its coffee your drinking Barrie?
That Zed was deffinatly worth putting the bacon banjos on hold

[fishypaul]

nice way to end the season kev, well done mate,nice zed

[wellyfish]

nice one kev,cracking zander mate

[Norfolkboy]

Great finish to the season mate, well done.

[upnorth1]

Well done Kevin mate, brilliant session and read...
Paul

[Barrie C]

Great Read Kev,

really enjoyable evening - once again experience pays off and a cracking Zander on the bank! Well done

Cant wait to start all over again in September!

Cheers

Barrie

[Banana Steve]

Well done kev, It wont be long until you are into the Zander again, the Months will fly by Great report as well

[Greenheart]

Top report & pics as ever Kev. That's a cracking Zed too mate. I'm glad your Zed season ended on a high note. Those Lampry are weird looking creatures. The only time that I usually see them is when I buy frozen one's for Pike bait. I did see a load of live ones a few years back when I was fly fishing a Loch near Fort William in Scotland. There were dozens of em in a small strean that flowed into the Loch. They were all writhing together in a mass & I assume they were mating.