With just a week left of the predator fishing season on the mighty Grafham water, there’s still the chance to catch a fish of a lifetime.
Over the last few years the Cambridgeshire trout venue run by Anglian water has become one of, if not the best venue on the country or big zander.
Potentially record-breaking fish to over a reported 22lb have been boated on the huge reservoir, which regularly produces double figure fish.
Total Coarse Fishing asked some of the venues top experts who have put hundreds of hours in to Grafham for their tips on catching these impressive predators from the fishery.
Paul Garner
Paul Garner is one of a small but growing band of anglers who target the UK's rivers, lakes and reservoirs for zander. Having fished extensively in the Fens in the nineties, Paul now concentrates most of his zander fishing on the Anglian Water’s Grafham and Rutland (which also produces zander, albeit smaller examples) and has learnt a number of successful tactics for this most enigmatic of fish.
Boat control
Boat control is key for all forms of fishing afloat, but never more so than when vertical jigging for zander – a technique which deadly for the Grafham fish. Hold the boat as static as possible by back trolling, or using a drogue so that you can work the lure effectively. It is called vertical jigging for a reason and that’s because you want the lure to be working vertically under the boat. Even at very slow speeds your lure control will suffer, you will find it difficult to keep contact with the lake bed, drastically reducing your catch rate.
Look for cover
Although zander are normally thought to feed best at night, in reservoirs this isn't necessarily the case. The fish in the picture was caught just after noon with the temperature touching the eighties. Keep searching for the groups of fish, particularly around underwater structures that will give them cover, and you can catch at any time of the day.
Less is more
You only need to impart tiny movements in your lures and jigs to entice zander to bite. I rarely lift the jig more than a foot, and often find that movements of just a couple of inches are far more effective. In rough conditions you might just need to hold the rod as the rocking of the boat does most of the work for you!
You don’t have to be on the bottom
Whilst jig fishing is very effective, you can have some great sport using small deep diving crank baits and shads, and not just fished close to the lake bed either. When they are in a feeding move zander will often hit a lure several feet off the lake bed. Casting from a drifting boat is a much more effective way of searching big areas of water than jigging.
Stingers
Always use a small treble stinger hook as close to the tail of your jig as you can put it, as very often zander will nip at lures when they are not really in a feeding mood. Using a stinger will increase your catches by at least 200 percent.
Check out Paul's website here.
Sam Edmonds
Local specimen hunter and highly-successful zander angler, Sam Edmunds has had numerous double figure zeds from Grafham on a variety of tactics - including on the fly in the summer and lures in the winter. When the weather gets colder though, he rates jig fishing as the way to tempt the hefty predators from their deep-swimming shoals.
Sonar
Structures are key to finding the fish. Some are obvious like valve towers and boils but they are also the places that get the most pressure because they are visible. This is when a sonar comes in to it's own, finding underwater features not visible from the surface, for example tree stumps, pipe-lines, drop offs, riverbeds etc. Find them, and you will find the fish.
Vary your angle
When fishing around features try covering them from different angles as it would be unnatural for a prey fish to swim towards a predator, so covering all angles will give you more of a chance of a take.
Different retrieve
Experiment with different retrieves. Although I enjoy vertical jigging, my favourite way of jigging is hopping it whilst retrieving it along the bottom, or what Americans call 'Power Jigging'. I find it more enjoyable because it's a very active way of fishing, and very effective too - plus, you can fish the softbait as slowly or as fast as you like, depending on how active or lethargic the zander are.
Ring the changes
Try different types of softbaits. If you think the fish have seen lots of, for example, shad-type profiles, switch to something different, like split tails, curltail grubs, or creature baits. Also, It's not only the profile that can make a difference to triggering bites, it's the action too. Consider a change of colour as well, even if you're using the same soft bait.
Watch the clock
Generally, if we don't catch pretty soon at a certain spot, we tend to move on until we find fish. But we do often return to areas where we know there are fish. Sometimes hitting a spot at a different time of day can make all the difference.
Follow Sam’s fishing on his blog, here.
Predator fishing on Grafham Water runs until November 27, with prices for two anglers on a boat costing £48 per day.
For more details ring the lodge at Grafham on 01480 810531, or click here.
