bream angler made my decission

[baitmaster]

it was just after dinner yesterday when i was asked if i was going zedding last night and i actually was not sure but made a decision to go .
so with a quick gathering of my tackle it was soon Allin my car and i was on my way trying to think where i ought to go.
Barrie had told me where he was going to be and had suggested a social if i fancied it .
so first port of Call to where Barrie might be but i could not find him so i assumed he,d gone off some where else so i had a look round to find myself a likely spot ..
i spoke to some pleasure anglers trying to gather some Intel on what they had been catching and one word stuck in my mind "bream".
now with regards to bream, zander and bream go hand in hand not because the zander eat the bream cause they are to big ,but because as the bream graze along they stir the water up and make it coloured and zander like it cloured as they can sneak up and ambush there prey thats is in amongst the bream shoal feeding on the bits the bream throw up off the bottom while they them selfs feed ..
so now all as i had to do was decide how far from them i was going to fish so i thought about a hundred yards would do and as they were not going to be there to much longer i thought it would not be a problem .
i slowly got my rods set up and all in position but did not cast out straight away as i needed to clip up for distance to the far side slope this took a few minute to get it right and off i went to just have a chat again to the anglers as i walked up towards them i could see one of them was playing a decent fish as he rod quiver tip rod was bend over nicely .
i stood behind him quietly watching him play this fish and after a couple of minute to every one surprise pop up a zander it was not happy at being hooked by this angler and shook its head in defiance as it was slipped in the net .
i was asked kindly if i would unhook it and agree immediately and in seconds it was unhooked and i carefully handed it t the 4lb zed back and i asked if they wanted a pic of the fish but they declined and i went back .
now i just stayed a couple of more minutes just to see how far he was casting out to as this will tell me where hopefully what line the zeds where on but this doen,t mean if i cast out that far i,de naturally catch one but again its a observation to where they might be .
so i went back to my rods and cast them out to likely spots and as i went to put the bobbin on my third rod it was all ready been taken by a fish i played in a small spirited pike which wanted to show me it could to acrobatics this was soon in and i released it without a pic as it went about 3lb i recast the rod and sat back down for a little while after about 25 minutes recast all the rods as i felt to catch i was going to have to work at it .
it was just getting dark when one of my live baits got really active and i waited and watch the bobbin dancing then it just started to rise steaderly i pick up the rod and leaned into it i felt the head shake and knew it was a zed and it started to fight to my relief the hooks held and it was slipped into my waiting net and i could see the hooks right at the front infact it was only on one of them i unhooked it in the net and checked the camera and then took a couple of quick pics of this zed it weighed 9lb exactly

i place the fish back in the net but it did not look happy so for a further ten minutes i stayed with the fish and held it up right waiting for it to try and swim off and at this point i was thinking its going to take a bit longer so the decisions made to stake it out inside the landing this would mean putting to holes into the bottom of my net but the fish came first . with this done and the fish laying between the bank sticks i went back and recast the rod and then checked on him .
i also took the opportunity to take a picture or two of him staked out to add to the handling post which i thought might help others if they ever had this situation .

now with this being staked out recovering this left me with out a net to use so if i caught another zed during this time i would have to hand it out as long as it was not overly big .
i kepted checking the fish every few minutes and soon he was kicking to get out from between the stakes so i took them out and allowed him to swim around in the net just to make sure i was happy to release him .
i lowered the net down at the front and watch it swim away nicely and was happy it was ok .
my mate Gary turned up around 7./30 and had his lure rod and he worked the water either side of my swim but had no follows and i myself had no further action but was sure with working my baits i could make something happen but as the hours ticked by and multiples recast finally paid off and my left hand rod started to climb steadily then stopped as it moved back top it original position as the zed aborted his attack for what ever reason . .
i stood over the rod waiting for it to go but it didn,t so i wound in checked to bait and recast then my right hand rod burst into life and i was quickly onto it and lead into the fish i soon had it close in and released in my hast to get to the rod i had left my net over by the other rods so i kneeled down and grabbed it across the shoulder and carefully lifted it clear of the water i had my forceps there so i popped the hooks out as again it was lightly hooked it. i heard gary behind me say did i need the net ? and i told him i was ok and at this point it shook its head and i had not got a good grip on it and it fell back into the water and swam off but i estimated it to be about 5lb and i was not to dissapointed with it getting away .
i fished on for a further half an hour and chatted with Gary then decided it was getting on so packed up and made my way home .


tightlinnes
kevin

[Norfolkboy]

Well done Kev, the first picture is a cracker

[perch_king]

well done kev sound like you had a good night

[Rob M]

Smashing stuff mate, love the photos

Rob

[Twiddler]

Superb report/pics as ever Kev....doesn't only show your dedication on zandering but also your caring for the fish, not alot of ppl would have pierced holes into their net for the well being of the fish....respect!!!

Claudia

[ZED MAN DAN]

Nice report kev, maybe see you tonight.

[fishypaul]

well done kev,nice fish

[mithrandir]

Well done Kev, great report. And good tip with the stakes.

It is nice to see good handling of fish, especially Zander as there are still anglers out there who kill every zander they land as it is an alien species. Is it still Environment Agency advice to do this or have they relented and withdrawn that advice?

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Stop catching my zander

Well done mate

[Barrie C]

Great read kevin, sorry about the confusion over where I was going to be! Spoilt for choice,
I really like the bankstick idea - that is excellant, now I know about it, i'll use the method.

Cheers

Barrie