Quivertipping For Zander On The River Severn

On my way to my local tackle shop to pick up some supplies I was running low on, such as swivels, hooks, leads, beads, starlites and some more wire trace for the up and coming zander session I was planning, I had to pass the River Severn so I managed to have a proper look at the conditions of the river for later in the day. To my amazement it looked perfect for some big zander and the weather was in my favour! Once I got to the tackle shop and picked up what I needed for the next few sessions I made my way home to go and collect my gear and get ready for another session after zander, only this time I wasn’t going to start on the lure gear like I normally do. Instead I was going on deadbaits from the off. I made my way down to the Severn arriving at about 14:00pm to be greeted by my friend Mark who was already fishing. We had a quick chat and he told me to start setting up, however after seeing mark and a few others I fish with quiver-tipping for zander I thought I’d give it a try as zander seem to be finicky biters on the severn. For this reason I rigged up my 12ft 1.75lb test curve barbel rod with the 3oz tip, and screwed on my shimano 5000 baitrunner loaded with 12lb fox warrior XT line, which I slid my 1oz running grippa lead down followed by a rubber bead to buffer the lead and tied on a Drennan 7 strand green pike wire 20b trace with a size 6 swivel and a single size 2 Kamasan B980 hook which I had pre tied at home.

I then attached my bait, which was half a roach then at this point I was ready to cast out. Mark had his rods positioned downstream so I decided just to cast straight out into the crease on the edge of the flow, where a 1 ounce lead would happily hold bottom. Once I’d cast out I positioned my rod with the tip high in the air on my bank stick as you would barbel fishing. After about 45minutes I had a rattle on the tip, so I struck and was met with thin air which resulted in a missed bite, so I reeled in but as I did marks rod tip tapped and he landed a nice looking zander of about 8lb. He slipped her back, and I cast back out, but this time I cast just a little more upstream. After watching the tip for another hour it was getting dark pretty quick, so I reeled in and attached my starlite, which would aid bite indication in the darkness as I don’t use alarms as with these zander you don’t get many chances to hook into one. I cast back out straight back to the same spot as I had earlier, when marks rod went again and landed another nice zander of again around the 8lb mark, to which he added another 2 of 7lb in the space of 15minutes. I lay on my unhooking mat watching my rod tip when around 19:00pm I had a vicious tap on my rod tip, which caused the rod to bounce off the bank stick and hit me in a rather awkward place, however rather funny too. This sort of bite is usual for zander, as normally they pick up the bait and drop it without giving you a chance to strike, so I picked up the rod and struck which was met with solid resistance to which at 1^st I thought was a pike which had picked up my bait, however after about 5minutes I gained control of the fish. The fight went on and the fish was still trying to power off upstream. Mark had the landing net in his hands ready to land the fish and once I had her near the surface the water just exploded where the head of a big old angry zander broke the surface. Mark scooped her up in the landing net and carried her over to the awaiting unhooking mat. Once placed on the mat, we peeled away the mesh and I unhooked her while mark got the scales and sling zeroed ready for weighing. She was hooked nicely in the side of the mouth making easy unhooking, then placed in the weigh sling and lifted off the ground. “10lb 8oz” was soon read out, which was not only an elusive double figure zander, but my 2^nd ever zander and my 2^nd double in the space of 8 days! After a quick snap she was placed back in the water to return to the murky depths of the River Severn. After she was realised there was a few handshakes and definitely a few smiles as I was over the moon at landing my 2^nd double and being on a quivertip of all methods. I cast back out to the same spot, as with zander where there’s one zander, there’s always more. 20minutes passed with no more action when I had a fast tap on my rod tip which resulted in nothing on the strike, so at about 20:30pm I decided to call it a day and packed up my gear. I soon said goodbye to mark and made my way home with yet another big smile on my face as I’d gone and landed another double figure zander to which many anglers I know who have been angling for 10 years or more and not had the pleasure of landing one of these fine specimens. For this reason for me to land two doubles in the space of 8days was quite a personal achievement as I’d never thought after only fishing for 18 months that I’d land a double figure zander, let alone two, so it just goes to show if you put in the time and effort you’ll be rewarded with great rewards. So next time you go out, may your next fish be a monster!

Here is the end result 10lb 8oz River Severn Zander:

Here are a few quick tips I’ve found really useful when zander fishing lately:

1.      Search for deep holes and over hanging trees and features

2.      Ask around the local match anglers if they’ve had trouble with pike or zander as those spots will always be good to have a crack at

3.       finally use small baits and fresh as baits as possible as zander seem to prefer small baits if not chunks of fish to which both of my fish have fell to

A few people who read this are going to have their own opinions on me quivertipping for zander but all feedback is welcome positive or negative as it’ll all be took on board!

Thank you for reading,

Jay

Zander hunt on the River Severn

I was sat at home sorting through my lure gear in the late afternoon, when all of a sudden I had a gut feeling that for some reason I should be on the River Severn. Even with the rain hammering down outside and showing no signs of slowing, I set off and made my way down to my local stretch of the river. I arrived just after 16:00 hours and was greeted with a very coloured river, which was carrying a bit of extra water, making conditions against me. But  after the last few sessions I had had down there losing a few big fish, I wasn’t to be defeated and set up as I normally would with my 9ft lure rod and open face reel. The reel was loaded with 28lb power pro braid which I attached a 20lb trace to and clipped on a salmo boxer lure in the fire tiger colour, which when cranked hard on the impact with the river I knew would get me down to the bottom of the Severn. I thought was a perfect choice on a session like this. On the retrieve I let it float up a little before cranking back down to the depths, and after 3 or 4 casts I felt a thump on the rod tip which at 1^st I thought must of been a floating log or some other debris that was floating down stream, however when I pulled the rod sharply up I could feel that it was in fact a fish. I continued to reel it in I could feel the fish start to fight, but just has it broke the surface my possible first ever zander unfortunately dropped off as I reached for the landing net. I reeled back in feeling once again disappointed and changed over to a bright orange Savage Gear soft lure on a 15gram jig head, which I thought would be brilliant in the coloured water, but after 5 or 6 casts with no success I changed the lure to another colour, however again with no success. After going through 3 boxes of lures I had not had another take. It’s always important to take a good selection with you to see what the fish want as this will often be the difference between catching and not catching.

 

 I thought about packing up and looked up to the sky in the pouring rain and thought to myself “ is this zander ever going to come?” It was becoming a bit dark at this point to continue using the lures, but as I was de-rigging a voice said through the darkness “caught anything jay?”
 I recognised it to be mark and 2 mates who I fish with normally on short evening sessions when time allows, and as I was telling mark I’d lost a small zander earlier on in the session, he suggested I stay on longer, but stick a dead bait out. However, not having any dead bait gear on me I had to improvise and use my lure rod. I rigged up like I would when I was lure fishing, but this time I connected a size 2 single hook to the trace via a swivel and bead to buffer the free running 1ounce lead I had on the braided mainline. I put half of a dead bleak on, which mark had kindly given me, and this is where it got interesting! I cast out and realised I had no bank sticks or anything with me, so I was forced to touch ledger while mark and the other 2 set up and cast out on their zander set up’s. Holding the braided mainline in my left hand and the rod in my right hand I felt for any bites. After about 15 minutes, one of the lads had caught 2 zander, the biggest being about 5lb. All of a sudden I felt a sharp tap on the line and rod tip, so I struck and as I did my rod arched into a full on battle curve as a fish made a break up stream for freedom. After a short, but hard fight the fish broke the surface and mark said “there’s your 1^st zander Jay,” but I chose to ignore this until the fish was safely in the waiting landing net. As I slipped the fish over the net I peered into the net with my head torch, and I could in fact see my 1^st ever zander defeated in the net! As mark had her in the net I got the unhooking mat, tools, sling and scales ready, then we lifted her on to the mat and peeled away the mesh of the net to unhook her. Once the hook was out I slipped her into the sling which one of the other lads had zeroed and had waiting for me, then mark lifted her off the ground.When he read out 10lb 10oz, I was amazed and over the moon as it was my 1^st zander and indeed an impressive looking fish. A few snaps later I placed her back in the river with her head held in the flow until she powered away out of my hands. After mark and the 2 others gave me a few handshakes and a few ‘well done’s I called it a day, packed away my gear and said thanks and bye to mark and the 2 others. I made my way home cold, muddy, and so wet that it had looked like I’d actually been swimming and not fishing, but had a huge smile on my face. I couldn’t help but think what the next session would bring…

Here is the end result, all 10lb 10oz of her:

I would just like to point out that when fishing for predators such as pike, zander and even perch it’s important to have the correct unhooking tools with you such as, forceps, long nose pliers and cutters in case you have to cut the hooks to help with unhooking. Also a decent unhooking mat is essential to cater for the impressive size some of the fish can go to. Plus to protect it from the ground if the banks are gravelly or concrete. Lastly, if you’re not confident at unhooking predators make sure you go fishing with someone who knows what they’re doing for a few sessions until you get the confidence yourself.


Thank you for taking the time to read my 1^st article feedback welcome!