A Late Change

I had no idea what to do ahead of my latest outing. Extra water earlier in the week had mostly dropped out, but fresh water was now heading in. Would it be enough to colour it up?

I hedged my bets, which basically meant doing bugger all preparation and heading out to the pub. I'd reassess it in the morning.

A tinge of despair set in when I got up and checked the internet. The level had barely moved overnight and another clear river beckoned. Feeling a little groggy I took my time and decided to go for predators again, with a midday start.

The plan was to head off to my main pike area to see if I could end the curse of the jacks. A rethink was in order when I passed my other water and saw just one familiar car in the car park. I was expecting more anglers. Suddenly it was all change and now I was thinking more about zander.

Mick appeared while I was swigging back my pre-walk coffee and after a quick catch up, I headed off to try a different area with deep water. Although I liked the peg, the sun's position was making life uncomfortable.

Rowing boats were also in close proximity. A megaphone wielding coach offering advice from his motor powered vessel. The cox following suit through the loudspeaker within the main craft. I wasn't in the mood to work around it, so I headed back downstream.

After another biteless hour on my next peg (usually a banker), half of the four hour session had gone. A blank was now on the cards. I still had one other banker to try, but a recently cleared peg grabbed my attention instead. With plenty of nearside cover, it just looked spot on.

It proved to be the right choice when the right hand float pulled under and held. A spirited fight kicked off and I could see it was a zander. After madness had subsided, it slipped into the net and I had my second ever zed by design. It was neatly hooked in the scissors with a single hook (as recommended by Mick!) to a decapitated roach deadbait.

A new pb, but only 4lb 6oz. Still, it edges me closer to my 6lb target for the season. I'm secretly getting a little greedy though. Knowing that double figure fish have been caught here in the past, I know that's the target I really want to hit. Patience and a lot more bank hours required - neither of which are in abundance for me.

A final move for the last hour threw up nothing but frustration. No fewer than six takes on the right hand rod and none converted! All in the same area and I suspect from the same fish. A canny, cagey or perhaps cunning one. Or, as Mick suggested, one with eyes bigger than belly!

Not a prolific session, but my late decision to switch venues at least paid off with a pb. With cooler conditions due and no sign of any weather that might add colour to the rivers, it's likely to be more of the same for me next week.

The latest scores for my 7 species river challenge are :

Barbel (11lb 1oz) - 110.63% - pb
Bream (8lb 2oz) - 101.36% - pb
Carp (8lb 0oz) - 80% - river pb
Perch (1lb 6oz) - 45.83%
Chub (3lb 4oz) - 65%
Zander (4lb 6oz) - 72.92% -pb
Pike (5lb 10oz) - 28.13%
Total - 504.07 (Target 700)