The zander loves turbid, deep, moving water which is not too cold. He is not
too keen on hiding places except to stay in the shade because he hates too much
light. That's why a water has to be deep or muddy to make him feel at home. You
can find them all over Europe, allthough it's origin is in the eastern part up
to the Danube. He will also come in to the brackish water of the Baltic sea like
the bodden or skerries.
Behaviour
Zander often move around, especially when they are looking for food. They are
often found in large groups but you will also find single individuals. In low
light conditions they are often active throughout the day but in clear water the
won't be active until its dark,
then they will go into quite shallow water.
Fishing
When you're after Zander you can fish quite stationary.
But when you use lures you will still move
around,
be it because the bite slows down or just to find a good place. The zander
has much more pronounced activity periods than other predators. That means that
often you just will not catch them "in between meals". Only in very muddy water
you'll often have action throughout the day.
Lures
Soft bait (shads,
grubs, worms,
crayfish)
are referred to as the lures for zander and often they are very successful.
Probably the important factor of their success is, that they are almost
inevitably presented near the bottom. Especially well suited or zander is shad
which is not mounted on a jig head but to rig
similar to the drachkovitsch rig. Plugs ( Wally
Diver, Shad Rap, Risto
Rap, Frenzy Diver), deep
diving ones are ideally suited for trolling
depths of
5-10 m in search of zander hiding near the bottom but also suspended ones. When
you're fishing from the boat a plug whose dive curve follows the bottom profile
when you cast it towards the shore can be very good. Spinners ( Aglia,
Aglia Long) will also readily be taken by active zander but it takes a bit of
experience and feeling to present them near the bottom without snagging.
Tackle
You can fish with light to heavy for zander, dependent on the lures you're using
and the current. For soft bait you use a stiff rod with a fast action, for plugs
a softer rod is better. If you have to expect pike (almost always), a steel
leader is a must and also protects the line from abrasion on the hard ground
that the zander likes.
