Its been a good spring across the whole despite the late start, we have had some good weather for Tench Fishing. A few weeks of prolonged cold winds slowed the sport to an extent, but now – late into June we are still experiencing some great fishing with chances of a true whopper.
This year, more than any other spring, I fished really hard. I didn’t catch a double figure tinca last season, and being my favourite species – its always nice to catch one, for me in which is the most enjoyable time of the year. So that was my target, and hard fishing for me, is a weekends angling after a grueling week in the office.
It is almost as if I have literally lived and breathed Tenching for the past two months. When I haven’t been actually fishing, I’ve been preparing bait, tinkering with my rig presentation and keeping an eye on the weather. My first session was Easter Weekend, and after two day session zipped in the Bivvy, although getting off the mark, thankfully those climates are now a distant memory.
With my girlfriends birthday, and Glastonbury both ‘penciled’ in the diary, this trip would be my last opportunity for the fish I had longed for. It would be the ultimate goal of 2 months of hard work, notching up over 40 Tench in the process. Until now though, a brace of 9lbers at 9.7 and 9.9 were the best I could manage, amongst many 7 and 8lb specimens. The week before now I was rudely awoken by a double take at 0430am, where over 65lb of carp lay defeated in the net made up of a 36.12 common and 28.3 Mirror. Great fun on the Brench rods, and it just goes to show you what can be landed on balanced tackle and size 14 Hooks!
As I arrived on the Sunday though, I had to put all that behind me and really focus on the job in hand. Everything I had learnt was to be put in practice, and I walked round the lake time after time whilst all the other weekenders packed up for home. It was an unfamiliar experience, I had the whole lake to myself, and as you can imagine, in that situation the biggest dilemma would be deciding where to fish.
Tossing a coin didn’t help matters, so I ended up in a favourite swim with most of the kit on the barrow other than 3 rods nestled in the reeds. The 3 carried a feeder full of maggots fished out to their usual spots. The weather was scorching, and as the sun beated down on me with no where to hide, something wasn’t quite right. I had spent a lot of time here in past weeks, I knew all the marks, but for some reason I had a feeling I should be elsewhere. And with that, I packed the rods back up and wheeled it round to another swim I had a good hit from earlier in the spring.
This swim was more of a gamble. If they were there you had a good catch, but I feel they very much move through here on their travels rather than frequent the area, so it could not happen at all. With the sun still shining brightly, and the feeding times still open, I opted to cast 3 feeders out to the dark areas between the bars that stood out like beacons in the crystal clear water. The marker rod and disturbance it brought with it, could wait till later.
After a couple of biteless hours spent up a tree, watching, waiting for a sign of their presence – a screaming run on the left hand rod brought me back to my senses. After a few moments the bent rod was now slack… as the culprit has shed the hook moments into the battle. I was gutted. When all the fish are swimming around at their peak weights, you can’t be losing fish. I could however, now know where to stay. And with that, I put up my house and sorted my kit for the night ahead.
When any chance of action had passed for the day, I set to work with the marker and spod rod. My favoured groundbait recipe of Dynamite mixed particle, hemp, marine halibut pellets, sprinkling of casters and pinch of corn, was prepared in a big bucket – ready to be deposited out via the spod. A dry mix of frenzied hemp groundbait would be used to cap the spod to avoid any spod spill. I chose 3 spots, all some distance apart in amongst the silt gullies between various bars that littered the swim. I was fishing into the mouth of a big bay, and was sure the fish patrolled along these on their way to and from the shallow water. I picked spots at varying distances, so I could intercept a shoal of them depending on what route they took.
After putting around a pint of particle on each spot, the traps were laid carefully for a fruitfully anticipating start the next day. Maggot feeders were fished helicopter style on 2 rods, and a inline lead was fished on the rod further out. All of them carried a supple braided hooklink, with 2 artificial casters for bait. The eels would hopefully leave me in peace until the Tench hopefully turned up the next day.
The night was quiet, but as the steam from my kettle flowed like the mist drawing off the calm lake – a few Tench porpoised not far from baited traps. For the first time this session, things felt good. I topped up each spot with 3 mini spods of feed, not too much, but enough to colour the water and catch the attention of any inquisitive tincas near by.
Come lunchtime I had two Tench to my name, an ‘8’ mid morning, and a ‘7’ come lunchtime. It wasn’t the amazing start I had hoped for, but as the wind swung round and started howling into the bay mid afternoon, things took a turn for the better…
The wind was so strong that I had to resurrect the infil panel to my bivvy, to try and shelter myself away from the strong breeze. I had often had activity in sessions past, as the sun cast a shadow on the swim as it crept below the trees behind me in the distance. Much to my surprise, one rod produced fish after fish from 6.30pm till nearly 10pm that night, a pva bag of casters fished on the smooth silt 60 yards out proved too good to resist for 7 male Tench up to 8.10. It was a great end to an otherwise quiet day, and I slept anxiously at the thought of what tomorrow might bring.
The wind was relentless, it didn’t lay up the whole night, but I managed to top the swim at first light and recast all 3 rods with pin point precession which gave me extra confidence.
The first fish made an appearance at 7.30 am and it fought like its life depended on it, at 8.5 it was a good fish, but I was slightly disappointed to see that it already spawned.
I recast the feeder full of red maggots out towards the marker on the skyline, and set the rod ready for more action. All three pole elastic markers were sitting just infront of the butt ring on all 3 rods, everything was just perfect.
It was another hour, when the rod that had remained quiet for nearly a day, let out a high pitched tone as the culprit took off at great speed. By the time I had reached the rod, it was powering away into the distance. I was scared to strike, but I leant into the fish to set the hook, as the rod took on an inspiring curve and the clutch purred away as the fish kited out into the lakes depths.
The fish was now over two bars, so I had the job of trying to coax it around and over them without getting cut off on the sharp gravel. It seemed like an age, and my legs were shaking, but the fish was not giving up – it wanted to evade capture at all costs. The wind had been so bad that the usual gin clear water had coloured up with the sediment, so despite the leadcore coming up to the surface during the fight – I never saw the fish at all.
I steadily steered the fish into the margins, where it swam deep with viguor and authority, I pretended it was boss, but I knew deep down that the hard work was done and I just needed to entice her into my waiting net. Three feet of leadcore was viable, so it was just under the surface but still I had no idea of its size. Its thick set characteristic shoulders broke the surface as I engulfed the beaten specimen, and whilst I had seen a fish before of magical proportions with similar attributes, I thought perhaps that it would be 9lb+ without seeing it in full.
The rod was put down as I regained my composure after such a dogged fight. I parted the net in the margin, and it seemed that I had to move quite a lot of mesh to see the fish in full. It just kept growing and growing – I couldn’t believe it – it was monstrous – as deep as it was long – I knew straight away it was over the target weight, miles infront, but how much?!
I let out a cheer of emotion – it seemed that all the hard work in spring had finally paid off – but a fish of this size? It beat any of my expectations for the water, a potential pb was resting in the margin. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me round to a carp angler a few hundred yards away, and before long, we were both admiring her beauty as we hoisted her up onto the zeroed scale. At just under 13lb the needle hovered, and as we held the rueben still, the needle settled on 12lb 14oz. Unbelievable!
A few snaps of both sides in the sunshine before she was back waddling off to where she came from. I was over the moon, and thankful that such a tremendous specimen decided to pay me a visit at the end of my campaign.
I floated around the swim for the rest of the morning, it was surreal, I was absolutely blown away, and somehow managed to steady myself and carry on catching, a spawned out 9lb 10oz showed how fine the line was with catching her at her top weight. Further fish succumbed to the casters, and the last fish was caught with the kit packed with just the rods resting on the grass.
I grinned from ear to ear as I pushed the laden barrow back to the car. It was time to go home now, but thankfully the memories of such a session will stay with me much longer than the journey back to reality will take.
Rod : Shimano Purist Brench 1.75lb
Reel : Shimano 10,000 xtea Baitrunner
Line : 8lb Catana
ESP leadcore fished to a 1.5oz Drennan Blockend Feeder
10lb of Sinklink
Size 14 Drennan barbel hook
2 Drennan Artificial Casters
Jar Of Dynamite Mixed Particle, 2 Jars of Hemp, Bag of 3mm Pellets, Bag of 6mm Pellets, Tin Of Corn, Gallon of Red Maggots and 4 pints of Casters.
5 Top Tench Tips
1.Don’t be afraid to use a small spod to top up the swim when its quiet, or when you’ve had fish. The Tench home in on the dinner bell.
2. If you don’t have confidence in using plastic baits, hair rig those, and nick a couple of real ones on the shank, it also disguises the hook.
3. Keep an eye on the weather and watch the water. If the wind is due to change, it might be worth investing in one of the swims it will blow into.
4. Tape up some of the holes on your feeder. It slows the maggots released and also breaks up the shape of the feeder on the lakebed.
5. If the going gets tough, a micro bag of casters on the hook along with the feeder might induce some action.
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