Well this was to be my first visit to this drain of the year for me. On this occasion, it was just a quick evening session after work.
I arrived in darkness, just after 6pm, absolutely glorious night. I looked over the bridge, and was greeted by a sheet of duckweed, halfway across the drain. I instantly thought, it would be a change of venue. I tested it by dropping a stone into it, and luckily it was just a very thin layer. It had also moved a bit more to the opposite bank. Not to be given up, I set up a rod, and did a test cast/retrieve. Luckily it wasn’t a problem at all. The ledger stem setup also helped. Any way I setup the second rod and cast them out, with roach dead baits, and then relaxed taking it all in.
At about 9pm the fenland silence was broken by a screaming buzzer and bait runner, on the left hand rod. I jumped out of my seat (Knocking my freshly brewed cup of tea over!) and struck into the fish. The fish just shot across the drain and did a tail walk in the moonlit sky, and basically just went crazy. After a fantastic five minute fight, I was able to bring the fish in. Unfortunately the end treble was deeper than I hoped, so was unable to weigh, as was more interested in the welfare of the fish. But looking at the fish, it was easily not far off, or could of been a double. Will let you decide amongst yourselves, the weight.
After unhooking the fish, I let it recover in the sling and had another look and squeezed in a photo. Absolutely immaculate fish. Released the fish. After a quick sulk, it disappeared back into the depths. Very good start for me on one of my favourite drains.
The Cut Off is renowned for being a really hard water even classed as “fishless” but if you are patient with it, you could be rewarded with some lovely specimens and possibly a fish of a lifetime.
I am heading back there 7th November for a weekend session with a mate and hoping the roach shoals have moved in so I can catch a few, and maybe a few more pike and a zander.
However the zander seems to have eluded me so far this season, so not getting my hopes up just yet!