Early autumn zander fishing

How come the clock does not seem to move when you are waiting to go fishing?

After a month of hardly any fishing, and with reports that the zander fishing is on the way, it is with shivering hands that I leave the office and head for the lake. 40 minutes later, after meeting up with my friend David, we are in the boat and on the move. We know the place well, the area is rather limited, fish seems to stock up on a special spot - this is where we will focus.

One can't helt to be amazed of how lucky we are in Sweden. In 40 minutes, from a busy city office, I can be out in the total wilderness where it seems no man has ever fished. And this is in the southern part of Sweden!

When we finally get the boat on the perfect spot, the shads hardly land in the water when David strikes - FISH ON! Aggressive action in the water, the rod bends heavily and there is no doubt, our target fish has bitten immedeately. In this shallow water the zander fights strongly, one can not believe that it is the same "lazy" fish that often just follows the lure to the surface on deeper water.  When the fight ends, we gently release it after a couple of photos. it is game time!

My turn? Yes, I thought so, but I missed the strike and therefor missed the fish. David,the other hand does, not miss the strike and soon lands another zander. When we release it from the hook for a photosession, David drops the jig in the water. The zander is released, he lifts the jig and - BAM! Another fish has attacked the jig just under the boat... I do feel that the luck is not on my side today. This time it is a rather small pike (~70cm) and it is quickly released.

Four minutes later I finally catch something, this time a perch, so just under ten minutes we managed to land a predatory grand slam, not bad for an afterwork fishing trip.

 

In the next hour we catch two more zander, and miss four or five more. After that the fish seems to loose interest, and we decide to head home. For an afterwork fishing it is definately a good result, and the best part is that we have the autumn in front of us, definately the best period for predator fishing in the south of Sweden!

//Kristian