Zander

[anglerpaul]

I believe the zander is a cross between the pike and perch, true?
Also, how long have they been going? I never heard of them until a couple of years ago.

[BUDGIE]

Sorry mate must have missed this one!

The Zander (Stizostedion lucioperca) is a species in its own right.Its other commonly used name "Pikeperch" refers to its apearance rather than it being a cross or hybrid.They are fairly common across Europe and a very similar fish,the Walleye is found in the USA.

If I remember right the first ones introduced in this country were put in to the lakes at Woburn Abbey some time ago (the 50's I believe) a bit of controversey over wether these were Walleye or Zander but as they came from Europe most likely Zeds! In the late 60's or early 70's they were introduced as an experiment by the then Water Authority into the Fens area (cant remember the exact water may have been the Relief Channel ) subsequent years saw the general fishing in this area decline and the blame was laid by many on the Zed.Time has shown this most likely wasnt the case but many still think that having Zeds in your water will ruin it for other fish.BWB still cull them heavily on the Midlands cannals.Since there initial introduction they have been spread both legally and illegally to many other waters.All the waters I have fished enough to comment on dont seem to be to badly effected as nature soon balances out the ratio of predators to prey.If anything suffers I would have to say that in areas where Zeds have become well established the piking suffers a bit.

Like Pike, Zander although looking fierce are quite a delicate fish and need to be handled with care.Unlike Pike Zedfs tend to shoal up in "packs" normally around 10 fish or so.These "pack"fish are often reffered to as "Schoolies" and average around 4lbs or so.The bigger fish seem to be a bit more solitary.

Dont want to go to heavily into them as a search on the net will give you far better info than my failing mind can!Hope that answers your initial question though and if you want any info on how/where to fish for them just ask.

[anglerpaul]

Cheers Budgie   better late than never.
So i was half right commonly used name Pikeperch.
But now i know differant.
One more question a friend says a few years back the B.A.A had a cull on zander, any caught had to be killed. they thought zander would wipe out fish stocks on the severn and avon.
how did the zander spread so quick to so many venues.

[BUDGIE]

Zander like most predators establish breeding populations very quickly.Rightly or wrongly nearly all of these other waters were stocked illegally by Zander enthusiasts moving a few in buckets!