THE CUT OFF CHANNEL

This is by far one of the most prettiest drains i,ve fished with it being lined with poplars trees but in some section they,ve been cut down due to disease the drain also has a fair few bushes and in some area along the drain over hanging tree and bushes which are good area to explore.

This again has Lilly beds along the shelves and really does look a picture in the summer months.
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The drains runs from Denver sluice and continues through to the river lark sluice now not all the cut off can be fished and KLAA does not run all either.

KLAA actually runs the cut off channel from Denver sluice to Wretton fen drove.

Some part is controlled by LDAA (London and district angling association) how ever also the EA controls parts where the banks are very deep and because these are dangerous there is no fishing on these sections.

Its a fairly narrow drain being only about 30 yards wide but the depth do vary from 7ft to 16ft.

Unlike a lot of the other drains that run straight with maybe no bends or just one or two the cut off has considerable more bends and winds through the lush farmlands of the fens more like a river .

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You some time can be forgiven to thinking you are on a river than a drain but how ever the cut off is a drain and when its pulled during the winter like other drain you realise you are on a drain.

Also they do back the water up from the relief channel when we,ve had some wet winters and sometimes the lower banks to become flooded and i,ve actually had to pack up and move to higher ground when the water started to rise and entered my bivvy.

Construction of the cut of channel was finished 1969 and it main use is to transfer water to Essex's via various pump and a series of under ground pipes.

Again there is good access to this beautiful drain via the many bridges that cross it but the most popular ones are,s fordham bridge, roxham farm bridge and the most popular bridge is hilgay bridge this is probably due to the A10 given good access to the drain too and also this is where the winter matches are held and also the banks are flatter than other areas.

Now again on the zandering side of the cut off channel its a relatively easy drain and does seem to be the drain a lot of novice zedders start on.

As they can normally catch a lot of smaller zeds and get to know how to handle zeds quickly like this example below
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But on occasions and not surprisingly it does throw up some big zeds and zeds over 16lb have been caught from the drain and i once netted a 15lb plus zander for some one else on here so it can throw up some surprises if you are lucky enough.

My personal best zander from the cut off is just shy of 14lb so if you are prepared to also put the time in and investigate the drain you can be rewarded .

I rate this drain highly and i think is worth the price of a KLAA book (£34.00) on its own as it offers the general angler some excellent fishing for most species to specimen sizes.

That is a good looking place to fish. I wouldn't want to start moving my gear out of the flood. The last time I packed it all up it took my 1/2 an hour! I think I would be well under water by then.

trust me when it start to flood i think you would be quicker than a 1/2 hour

regards
kevin

I think I would be leaving some of the cheaper stuff. I could always pay one of the locals to paddle out for it!

done 4 days up there with a mate who is a big predator angler last october and we didnt have a thing for 3 of the 4 days,we moved to fordham end had a couple of jacks which was nowt amazing so we moved the opposite end up near the beet factory end and there they were,you could see them all hauled up from the bride,they was there for the prey fish,there was silver fish in their thousands so may wanna just have a gander Kevin if you choose this venue before you plot up.I have never seen so many pike and zander in one area in my life until that day.

last year was a funny year on the cut off most of it became devoid of fish and even the matches were cancelled due to the lack of fish the E.A even surveyed it to find where the fish had gone .
they were saying cause of the wet summer and the drain having to be pump unusually early the fish had move or were effect do to the wet summer .
i rarely fish it now but i,ve had some great ZANDER/PIKE catches on there in the past
its interesting to here where the mass of fish went to .

regards
kevin

yes the cutt off had a funny spell last year with all the fish suddenly left there and headed off else where as for the matches i remember 1 match a little perch won the whole match lol it was my first water where i caught first zed after 3 year of trying for them but i always fished it day time and till last year i fish night for them but i still get the odd day time zed but i must i have take great size pike from there and still my pb to date there

Nice read kev and i could look at those pictures all day mate, its a fantastic looking place to fish and im just gutted that we dont have anything like it up here, i would really like to make the zander social but its an awful long way for me travel i will give it some serious thought when we get a date arranged i would love to see you fish for these fabulous looking fish in your own environment and back yard. Keep it up mate very enjoyable reading as always.

ye to be honest the pictures are beautiful and still dont do it justice,I pass the cut off all the time when I'm off to some of my carp waters and it always looks so inviting and the banks are so accomodating with it's cut grass and flat banks making life with a bivvy very easy and comfortable for any angler,I just thought I would mention that the fish moved up to the beet factory end,if you head to stoke ferry and take the roundabout to the wissey beet factory the bridge is down that road,obviously they may not be there now because it was a while ago but I really have never seen so many fish in my life in one area,it was like a stocking pen,the bottom was alive with flashes of silver from rolling roach and the margins were bursting with predators,I doubt I will ever see a scene like that ever again,wish I had taken photo's now in some respects.