Taming Tincas

Friday 22nd/Saturday23rd April

Even though it was good Friday and pretty much everybody else was enjoying a nice sunny bank holiday, i was one of the unfortunate few who found themselves at work. Fortunately i was able to finish at lunchtime and head straight down to the lake for an overnighter. My old pal Rob was also down and seeing as hed been there since early morning i already had a pretty good idea of how people were on and what had been out before i even arrived.
It was very busy anglerwise by all accounts but Rob had managed to bag a couple of plumb swims and had already caught a couple before i arrived. I settled in the swim to his left, a spot id never fished before which gave me command of quite a bit of water well away from Robs swim. My chosen tactics were to fish small method feeders over a bed of groundbait which was balled in at about 60 yards range with a catapult. 
The session didnt take long to get going and turned out to be really productive. Seeing i was catching a few i jotted down a running total as i caught them, below is how the session panned out.


2.00pm - Arrive at lake and get set up
3.30pm - Lose fish
4.00pm - Bream 4-5lb
4.45pm - Lose fish
6.30pm - Mirror Carp 18lb6oz
7.00pm - Tench 4lb14oz
7.45pm - Tench 7lb11oz
8.15pm - Lose fish
9.00pm - Tench 5lb4oz
9.30pm - Bream 5-6lb
10.15pm-Tench 4lb8oz
10.30pm-Bream 6lb12oz
10.45pm-Tench 5lb7oz
11.15pm-Bream 5-6lb
12.00pm-Tench 5lb8oz -after this i wound in to get some kip!
5.00am - woke up and cast back out
5.30am - Tench 5lb6oz
5.45am - Tench 4lb12oz
7.00am - Tench 7lb11oz -this was a recapture of last nights biggy
7.45am - Lose fish
8.00am - Tench 5lb9oz
8.15am - Lose fish
8.45am - Tench 4lb
10.00am-Packed up


As you can see i certainly had some action! I was particularly pleased with the Carp because they are a relative rarity in the water and i landed it on a 5lb bottom. The 7lb Tench was a beaut and i was amazed to catch it again less than 12 hours later and i swear it actually fought harder second time around too! Rob also did pretty well landing 9 Tench, most of which averaged 5-6lb, plus a couple of Bream.
Below is some pics to remember the session by ............

7lb11oz

Action shot!

Nice carp, shame about my lily white legs!

First and smallest bream of the trip

5lb+

Something different

Monday 18th April

Just a quick update tonight cos im short on time. I had the urgent need to go fishing today for some reason and, feeling a bit adventurous, i decided to have an evening on a local pool i know in pursuit of a Catfish or two. As expected i had the whole lake to myself so i headed to an area where ive caught Cats from in the past and commenced fishing. Within 20 minutes of casting out my right hander rattled off and a chunky Carp was soon banked.

I was fishing big pellets and was getting bangs and pulls every few minutes so there was clearly quite a lot of carp activity around them. I wasnt there for an evening of mudpig action however so i switched both rods over to deadbaits.

After a quiet couple of hours i had a scorching take and hit into what felt like a juggernaut that was determined to make it to the far end of the lake. There was no mistaking what this could be, nothing can flat-rod you quite like a Catfish! After a short but thoroughly brutal scrap the fish was finally netted and it looked quite decent.......

At 18lb 4oz it was decent enough to be a new pb for me anyway!  Quality stuff, another short session pays off!

Park life

Saturday 16th April

Todays trip was back on the same pool as last week, a few fish had been caught during the week so it looked quite promising. I arrived in the dark at 5am and was surprised to find i had the entire lake to myself so I headed for the going area where the fish had been coming from of late. Its a public access lake and my chosen swim had the added bonus of being in a wooded area which meant that hopefully i wouldnt be getting bothered by people quite so badly as is often the case in other areas of the lake, not that im an unsociable sod of course!
Out went the feeders just as it was getting light and i was full of anticipation especially as one or two Tench were starting to show out in front of me. The lake was flat calm and the shiny black backs of the rolling fish glistened in the halflight. The resident birdlife was waking up too and the cacophany of noise, especially from the Geese, was unbelievable.

After about half an hour i recieved a slow take on the left-hander, i hit dogged resistance and it felt like a decent fish but unfortunately it came adrift after a few moments. Never mind, it was an encouraging start anyway and an hour later i was in action again. This one felt  a lot smaller and so it proved as a chunky 4lb male Tench was soon lying on the mat. It had a severely deformed bottom lip which left me wondering how the hell it managed to feed properly, it certainly wasnt a photogenic creature anyway so i put it back without one.

Whilst i was waiting for another bite i had a bit of a play with my new camera. There was a Heron in some treetops about 150yards away and after a bit of trial and error i managed to get a half decent shot (i think anyway) of it. Considering the distance i was quite impressed, ill be keeping my eye out for various wildlife photo opportunities now i know i can take useable pics at range.

Back to the fishing and it was approaching mid morning before i had any more indications. The bobbin slowly rose towards the rod in a very deliberate fashion and as i struck i felt the culprit bump off the hook. Probably a Bream? judging by the way the take developed it had to be.

I recast and within minutes i had an identical take on the same rod, sure enough the fish came to the surface imediately and surrendered in typical Bream fashion. A couple of minutes later and a Bream of about 5-6lb which looked as old as the hills was banked.

After that i couldnt buy another bite despite stopping well into the afternoon. The water clarity was very much clearer than last week and the bottom was clearly visible for a good way out. This was proved by the sheer number of Coot pickups i had over the course of the morning! The clear water combined with the bright sunshine probably didnt help my cause a great deal. Neither did the kids who ploughed through my swim in a rowing boat, the mega-annoying Swans that repeatedly swam through my lines, the 50th person of the day to ask me if id caught owt, the youths on bmxs racing up and down shouting to each other or the Ducks,Coots and Geese that seemed hell-bent on attacking each other right over my baited area all morning. Park life eh!

Ill definately be back for more next week.............

Cut Short!

Sunday 10th April

Firstly, apologies for no updates over the last couple of weeks, a combination of a nasty cold and the fitting of a new bathroom put paid to any chances i had of getting out last weekend. Thankfully however ive had the oportunity to get out a few times in recent days and although its been somewhat tough and slightly lacking on the fish front ive still enjoyed myself.
Thursday evening on a local club pool saw me targetting some Tench with little success. Id never fished it before but my old pal Phil had a bit of a result there earlier in the week and i figured it was worth a bash. Other than one missed chance i blanked but it gave me a good taster of the place and i will be back.
On Friday afternoon i headed for another local club lake, this one being a decent sized gravel pit. I didnt even see any sign of a fish let alone get any bites, another blank!
My next session was to be on Sunday and i needed somewhere which would give me a good chance of catching something in order to restore some confidence. As i racked my brains, one lake in particular kept popping into my head and after a quick recce on Saturday afternoon my mind was made up. With the bright daytime conditions of Saturday being predicted to continue into Sunday i figured an early morning start would give me the best chance of catching something.
I arrived at about 5.30 and setup in the half-light, out went two bolt-feeders baited with maggots and half a pint of maggots was then spodded on top of each. Once settled i sat back to soak up the atmosphere of the place, the dawn chorus was in full swing, mist was rising off the lakes surface and the sun looked pink as it tried to burn through it.

Nothing happened for a good while until around 8.30 when my right hander signalled a steady run. The fish had me backwinding from the off as it headed towards a large tree on the far bank. A bit of steady pressure saw it turn but unfortunately it began to kite to my left which wouldnt have been too bad exept that it went behind some nasty looking branches which were sticking up out of the water in the margin. I could feel the line grating and was just waiting for it to part. Amazingly, despite much tugging it all held together but now the line had looped around a solitary branch and the Tench was well and truly stuck about 15 yards out from the edge. I could clearly see it and had no option but to go in the lake to rescue it. I waded out and eventually managed to scoop it at full stretch with the net. At 6lb it was a nice fish and provided some consolation for getting wet!

After returning it my swim resembled a bomb site, my shoes were full of silt and i had a distinct aroma of wet dog about me. I packed up somewhat beaten but certainly not out of the game and i left with a mind to return for the evening stint.
I re-arrived at the lake for about 4.30 and setup in a different area to the morning. The action was surprisingly slow but i eventually managed to pull a small Tench of around 3lb out of the hat as the sun went down. That was the only bite i had but at least id managed to catch a couple over the course of the day.
The warm weather over the last week or so certainly seems to have got nature kick-started and summer only seems just around the corner. The Koi in my garden pond havent been as hungry as what they are now for several months, i darent put my fingers near the water in case i dont get them back!