THE RISE OF ZANDER IN THE UK

THE first records of zander being stocked in this country date back to 1878, when a couple of dozen small fish from Germany were introduced into Woburn Abbey Lakes by the Duke of Bedford.

Over the following 80 years, further small-scale stockings were undertaken on stillwaters, rivers, canals and drains, mainly in the South East and East Anglia. The last of these took place in the 1960s, since when the species has spread of its own accord, moving gradually further west.

There are now more zander in more UK waters than ever before, and while East Anglian venues such as the Relief Channel, the Great Ouse and the Fenland drains were once a hotbed for the species, in recent years it’s been the rivers Severn, Trent and Warwickshire Avon – along with vast reservoirs such as Grafham Water and Rutland Water – that have played host to the biggest zander and the largest populations. The 21lb 5oz British record came from the Severn. A larger fish was claimed from Grafham in 2009, but not formally