Zealous Zandering
by Steve "Zed-Head" Aitken
(with some extra photos from our library)

HOOKED ON ZANDER?
I certainly am! Zander are pretty strange fish ... they're elusive, nomadic, fussy, wary, super-sighted, and the big ones aren't easy to catch even on fresh-freshwater fish baits. So why bother using lures for these ultra-finiky fish? ... you may well ask! ... because once bitten (the lure that is!!) you'll almost certainly become a zed-head like me!

Lure Madness
This lure fishing madness of mine started off one evening several years ago when I was out on the Fens after pike (using baits for most of the day), and having blanked, I decided to stick on a lure, you know how you do sometimes, in desperation...! The light was fading fast, it was cold, I was hungry and fed-up, and wasn't really into fishing for much longer that day except for that faint hope that a lure could save me from an almost certain blank: "Come on! any fish will do!!" I muttered to myself.

Bringing the lure back just before that ritual "last cast", (& packing up & picking up a 6-pack...), I stopped the retrieve for a split second, when something grabbed my Creek Chub Pikie plug, and proceeded to tear off downstream like a lunatic into the darkness. My first thought was that it was a pike, as I wasn't really sure what else it could be - a giant mutant perch perhaps? In fact, in a funny kind of way that's exactly what it turned out to be!

A geat big Zander
After a hell of a tussle and finally getting the beast under control, I slipped my net into the water and switched on my head torch. I could hardly believe my eyes as there, lying in the net was a truly amazing fish with beautiful translucent fins glowing in the torch-light .... it was a great big zander !
With those tell-tale ferocious-looking pairs of inter-locking teeth and a huge spiny dorsal fin glistening in the half light, there was no mistaking this beast: "Stone me!" I said to myself "It's a great big zed !" And indeed it was; it weighed 11 lb 7 oz - not bad for my first ever zed on a lure!

After that it was whirrring through my head....."these zeds will take lures after all"... "I've gotta have some more of this!" But Lady Luck's ration ran out for me that evening! So that was it, a double-figure zed on my first attempt with a lure ... not bad eh? OK, it was a pure fluke, I know!

Not suprisingly I was back on the water the next day, but this time the baits were left at home. Typical! Not a zed in sight! Just a couple of small pike to keep me company. Maybe zander are more nomadic than pike and perhaps they'd gone off elsewhere in search of prey fish. Despite this I was firmly hooked on fishing for zeds (on lures!!!). Zander are particularily fond and well adapted to feeding in low light, so although daytime fishing can be good, early mornings, late evenings and even nightime lure fishing can be very productive. Also zander will move around quite a bit in search of prey, but equally they also hang around regular spots as prey fish often do. So when fishing a hotspot, even though they may not seem to be there, they probably are - just not feeding ... yet!!

Fact Finding
I dug out some books and back issues of magazines about lure fishing to see if I could find anything about catching zander on lures and luckily a few articles popped up by Barrie Rickards, John Worzencraft and a couple of other lure angling zed heads. Also after talking to a few of mates, who also ocassionally fish for zeds with lures, the general feedback was that spinnerbaits and spoons do the business as well as suspending plugs.

Armed with this information, a week later my luck changed again with four zander on the bank in quick succession, in the same place where I caught the big one; OK nothing very big, between 3 & 4 lb, but great fun anyway. It was quickly becoming clear though that they seemed to like to hit the lure when it was slowing up or stationary. So altering my retrieve by stopping the lure more frequently seemed to be turning them on and improving my hook up rate. Great! but the only problem was that most of my lures were either sinking or floating up as soon as they were stationary, so the advice about suspending lures seemed to ring true and to be the natural sensible way to go.

I like Suspenders !
The problem was that the only half-decent commercial suspending plug around at the time was the Smithwick's Suspending Rattling Rogues, which were quite hard to get hold of. Instead I decided to add some lead wire to the hooks of some of my floating plugs to make them less buoyant and hopefully achieve the same result. Quite simply my aim was to carefully adjust the lure's buoyancy until it floated up very slowly to the surface from a stationary submerged position. Starting with a selection of floating shallow-diving Abu, Rapala and Creek Chub lures in the kitchen sink (!) plus a standard trace attached (extra weight), I soon had an array of custom zed head suspending lures ready for my river trial.

Good News
It was great  news when Rapala launched its new suspending plug, the Husky Jerk, as it's been a top catcher for me and a lot of my lure fishing buddies since. It's also a great lure for pike which heavily out-number zander where I fish. Other top lures include small jerk and glidebaits which are ideal for 'stopping' and 'twitching'.... plus Bucher's Baby Shallow and Depth Raiders are also pretty handy for enticing those bigger zeds!

To sum up, during warm weather I favour suspending plugs and in winter I go for weedless spoons, although spinnerbaits seem to be good all round lures for zeds. I'm no expert when it comes to lure colours as I find myself constantly chopping and changing throughout each session; perhaps this is the best thing to do in any case. As a very general guide though spotted or striped colours have been reliable patterns for me.

Winter Zeds
When the weather turns cold my hit rate notably drops right off, with the most success coming from deep water. Some of the best lures at this time included those weedless spoons and spinnerbaits, which can be fished slowly along the bottom... although generally its pretty tough fishing. In our favour though, zeds don't give a monkey's about the wind, rain, water colour or low light conditions, quite the opposite in fact; their super vision helps them locate prey/lures in even the most coloured water. For example there's a fair bit of boat traffic along one of my favourite stretches and I'll often take a tidy few zeds by casting straight into the wake of the passing boats; perhaps the zander move in and target any small disorientated fish in the murky froth. During cold weather this can provide an additional and much welcomed opportunity to bank a zed or two, however big or small.

I find it amazing how many ways Zander will hit a lure; one classic sort of take occurs when my lure is stationary so when I start winding in theres a zed simply holding on at the other end! .. while other times they'll will hit my lure at 90 m.p.h. and keep going, as if they're feeding on the move - two very contrasting types of take and both very exciting and subtly different from pike.

Venues
You can easily be forgiven for never having caught a zander as they are not all over the place in the UK. Fortunately I live within striking distance of all of the main hotspots, including the Fen drains, River Severn, and Warwickshire Avon. I've also fished at Woburn lake (which I've just heard may have now been netted, so best to double-check first), Roswell near Ely, Old Bury Hill in Surrey, and various canals up and down the country — by the way Old Bury Hill's more than a tad over-commercialised these days though, sadly, and you really need to use a boat which costs and arm and a leg.

In particular I've yet to catch a decent zander from the Gloucester Canal - it's very hard going and hence it's become my wrist-slashing venue! Match anglers are always reporting big zander attacks but I've not yet managed to see one there, let alone catch one. I tend to prefer the fens and rivers because they can throw up new big'un at any time, and there's usually miles of water to yourself.

The Fens are generally accessible and relatively cheap day tickets can be obtained on the bank, on the day at a variety of well known locations. A good place to start would be the 60 & 40ft drains, or Great Ouse Relief channel ... although regarding exact access & club boundaries etc., it's best to check with a local tackle shop first.

The Last Word
If you're planning to go lure fishing for zander then be warned! you'll almost certainly become a dedicated zed-head like me! Steve "Zed-Head" Aitken

Editorial Comment
Interesting stuff, Steve. I've caught a few half-decent zeds on baits myself, but none on lures. Got to be worth a bash from what you say. Thanks again for the article - Nick Caine (Editor)

Please e-mail any comments or feedback to us,
Nick Caine (Editor), or Brian Barwell (Deputy Editor)
NickCaine @ Talk21.com

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