Big Dutch zanders in mid water

Vertical jigging for huge zanders in mid water is a method that has revolutionized zanderfishing in Sweden. In numbers traditional vertical jigging near – and on ­– the bottom can be just as productive, but once the zanders are pinpointed and targeted in mid water the average size is remarkably bigger.

Besides testing new tackle one of the main purposes, when Westin consultants Luc Coppens and Jörgens Larsson meet up for four days of fishing in Holland, was to test the Swedish methods in Dutch waters.

Due to a passing storm the first two days became more like one day of fishing in a larger river. The river is known for having short periods every year when large zanders are caught by traditional vertical jigging close to bottom structures. In total Luc and Jörgen caught around 30 zanders but the big ones didn’t cooperate and the sizes was from one kg to around three kg / 65 cm. The new 6” / 15.3 cm Westin TwinTeez mounted on 20 g Westin RoundUp jigheads worked really well in several different colors including Striped Lime, Striped Emergency, Slime, Baitfish and Old Gold.

For the remaining two days Luc and Jörgen were fishing a large lake, trying to find bigger zanders with pelagic hunting habits in mid water. They found the zanders hunting in the top part of the water column at 3 to 10 meters in areas that were 20-30 meters deep. Huge 8” / 20.4 cm Westin TwinTeez mounted on a 30 g Westin RoundUp jighead proved deadly. Several colors caught fish, but most of the takes were cautious until testing the Confused Tomato color and including one of the glass rattles found in the package. When using this combination the zanders got turned on and the bites were really aggressive. In total Luc and Jörgen caught 13 zanders in mid water. The size of them was impressive. Ten fish were above 74 cm and the biggest measured 89 cm and 7.02 kg.

Testing the method in Luc Coppens home waters was an eye opening experience. According to him the average size of the zanders made it some of the best quality-fishing he had experienced in these waters during the last ten years!