Reports from the Tench lake have been pretty poor to say the least of late, the lake seems to have properly switched off for some reason. With this in mind i headed out with the float rod to a club water with a reputation for being quite tough. Its a mature and very deep lake with clear water and lots of marginal cover. The Tench arnt huge but they dont give themselves up very easily at all and seeing as ive never caught one from the lake i decided to take up the challenge and do so.
I arrived lakeside at around 4ish, there was only one other angler on the lake and the secluded corner i fancied was free and the wind was pushing into it. I placed a bolt feedered corn hookbait along the margin to my right and floatfished corn along the left hand margin. I had about seven feet of water tight to the reeds and after feeding some groundbait, corn and pellets as i setup it wasnt long before i was fishing.
Within five minutes of casting out the float dipped and being caught somewhat off-guard i promptly missed it. Next cast the same thing happened and i hit a skimmer of about 2lb, an encouraging start.
The swim went a bit dead after that but within half an hour a patch of pinhead bubbles appeared next to the float and i hovered over the rod in anticipation. Nothing happened however, despite my swim beginning to resemble a jacuzzi my float never even dipped! i tried going overdepth and also tried maggots and pellet to no avail. I had a think and setup an ultra sensitive rig which involved the use of a tiny 1/8oz free-running lead and a pole float .
I gently lowered it in amongst the fizzing bubbles and began to recieve tiny knocks almost imediately and within a few minutes the float slid away proper. I hit into a heavy fish which powered off along the bank before heading out to open water whereupon it bent the size 14 hook straight! At least the new rig seemed to do the trick.
The bubbles started up again after a while and i missed another couple of bites . I tried maggots but everytime i did i just got a small Perch so i decided to stick with the corn. The feeder rod was a bit quiet although i did bump a fish off and catch a nice Rudd of about 12oz on it.
I love Rudd and its nice to see them showing in the pool because i didnt even realise there was any in there. Lots of fish began to show on the surface as the light started to fade so, with no further Tench activity, i decided to shallow up the float and fish maggot to see what they were. I was pleased to catch three more Rudd before it got too dark to see the float. Id love to see them get a real foothold in there because they are few and far between in these parts and they are a delighful fish to catch.
An enjoyable trip i thought, although i caught no Tench on this occasion i did get a few bites and learned a bit more about the water, it will give up one of its emerald prizes sooner or later!
Sunday 29th May
The plan for todays trip was to target Bream and Tench on another club water, my mate Keith accompanied me and it was his first time on the place. The weather was overcast and windy with an ever present threat of rain although thankfully the rain managed to hold off for most of the session as it turned out.
Due to some overindulgence the night before it was around 11oclock by the time we got to the lake and even though it was a Sunday there wasnt a soul there so we had our pick of the swims. We opted for a large double swim overlooking the main body of the lake and hopefully some big shoals of Bream!
We fished four feeders along the same line at around 60yards and it wasnt long before the first fish of the day was landed, a Perch of about 12oz. We were getting lots of tugs and pulls on the maggots which indicated there was a lot of small fish about and this was confirmed as a succession of Perch, Roach and Rudd were caught. At one point Keith had what looked to be a good sized Roach but it turned out to be a Roach/Bream hybrid unfortunately.
It was about 2 hours before the first Tench of the day made an appearance, a scrappy male of about 3lb to my rod. As i landed it i noticed a large shadow close behind which turned away at the last minute, the Tench had a lucky escape! A while later Keith had an even smaller Tench which was grabbed by what i assume was the same Pike, it spat it out though but still followed it right up to the rim of the net. It wasnt a huge croc but certainly a nice double.
On the Bream front it proved to be pretty slow for me with only one fish landed, Keith on the other hand managed to find a few and went on to land 5 of them for a total weight of over 35lb. I did manage a last gasp Tench of 5lb on the nose prior to packing up just before Dark.
Another enjoyable trip out then, plenty of bites, good company and the rain held off , what more could we ask for? heres some pics from the day .........
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