Zander Fishing, Old Bury Hill Lake

Zander Play Ball

Bury Hill Fisheries, Dorking, Surrey.

Bury Hill Fisheries

It's been a while since catching anything of note worth blogging about, but when my cousin Richard invited me to go Bury Hill Fisheries with him and his friend Wayne. I didn't hesitate, although our target fish was Carp, I kind of knew that due to the recent cold snap that it was going to be a tall order, where 1 fish would of been good. But with three rods, I was always going to use one for Pike/Zander during the day,  it's the season for them at the moment and a better chance of catching. The weather looked quite good for the time of year, mild at 10 degrees Celsius during the day and about 5 at night, no rain forecast, with a wee bit of wind here and there, and with the gear ready I arrived at Bury Hill at lunch time with a boot crammed full of gear. It amazes me how much gear you need for these overnight Carp trips, and with out the help of a barrow or 2 getting the gear to our swims would of been a major task, But all that aside it's nice to have a warm cosy camp to snuggle up in for the night.

A very natural baiting table

With 3 rods baited with boilees and a sprinkling of loose bait fished close to the island under trees the night went past fast, even though a few fished crashed giving us hope, with 9 carp rods between the 3 of us, not even a run. With a good nights sleep, and a clear head, a change of tactics was needed. I changed one of my rods over to a dead bait rod, to target Pike or Zander, the rig was a simple running leger with a 1oz lead and a single size 6 barbless hook on a 20lb soft trace, with a long hair rig, which I used a gate latch needle to thread a small section of mackerel tail on to. I cast this out about 10 meters to the left well out the way of the carp rods. with the other 2 rods, I scaled one down to a size 10, use a single pop up corn and fished over stick mix in the deepest water at about 3/4 of the way to the island, the other rod I kept on the boilee rig and left it tight against the island. It was wasn't long before the dead bait rod had a run, I lifted into the the fish as it was taking line off the baitrunner, but didn't connect. At least it was action and with fresh bait on I recast it too the same spot.

A very welcome fish breaking the blank

An hour later the dead bait rod alarm sounded, the baitrunner started to click faster and faster, I picked up the rod and struck into a fish, It was not a big fight and when the fish surfaced I knew it was a Zander, a small one at 4lb 14oz, but none the less, it was a fish, and only my second ever Zander that I've caught. I was on a roll, after another missed bite on the dead bait rod, it tore off again with in the hour, and this time what was on the end was putting up a much better fight, i though maybe a pike this time, but no another Zander drifted into the net. This was a lot bigger, and weight 7lb 2oz, yes! my third ever Zander and a new PB. As I examined its mouth I was impressed at the set of teeth they have on them and how none of the runs that I missed or hooked the fish the mackerel tail bait was perfectly intact indicating these fish were just swallowing the bait whole rather than what a Pike does and grabs the bait with its teeth and swimming off before turning and swallowing the bait.

Happy me with a new PB Zander of 7lb 2oz

That was it for the dead bait rod, with a sense of accomplishment, all my thoughts now turned at getting a Carp, none of us had a had a run yet. although I'd had a small finicky bite on the single corn which was most likely a small Roach or Bream, I failed to connect with it, but I was sure one of us would get a Carp that night, as it got dark the wind picked up and I set the dead bait rod back to a Carp rig with a boilee and and PVA bag of stick mix, I cast it next to the sweetcorn rod and tucked myself in the bivey to get out of the gusty wind  After dark, as if by a switch, the wind stopped, and the lake went flat as a mill pond giving me hope of a run, and really good view of the lake in the full moon whilst we ate toasted cheese sandwiches. It never happened, my rod alarms were silent all night, not even a bleep from the wind or a liner. But at least Wayne managed to winkle one out, and the only Carp of the trip at about 5lb. I had gone for Carp but they proved too hard at this time of year for myself, luckily my second plan came through and the Zander played ball saving a blank and even giving me a new PB.