Olympic medal fish and photo finish Tench

I managed to fish two sessions this Bank holiday weekend, firstly a short Saturday morning foray to Willow Farm and secondly an all day visit to Hardwick, Linear chasing big Tench.

Willow farm Silver pool.

Willow Farm: I am still certain it holds a big Silver Bream and my obsession with catching it continues. As per Wednesday night I floatfished small pellets and I caught an excellent mixed bag of Roach, Silver Bream, Tench and ornamentals.

 I was only interested in Silver Bream and therefore I only weighed the biggest, coming in at 10oz. With the Olympics coming soon I put it with it's Gold and Bronze mates to create this pertinent photo.

Bronze, Silver and Gold but no World Record

Hardwick Linear:
I am purposefully late starting my Tench campaign this year, with good reason.  May and June are when they are at their biggest weights and also the recent cold weather has not been conducive to Tench feeding hard. I think this session was evidence of exactly that.

View from my corner of Hardwick

The photo above does not show how cold it was. There was a freezing northerly wind and the temperature did not hit double figures all day. The sun must have had an effect eventually and just as I was beginning to pack away I had a screaming run. The Tench battled very hard, kiting a long way left across the neighbouring swim. I was lucky that the carpers in there had not set up yet so I could play the fish without worrying about catching their lines. They were a couple of big lads! I eventually netted it and whilst it rested in the net I unpacked the unhooking mat and scales etc.
She weighed in at 7lb 14oz. I took a quick self-pic and put her back.
I felt that the water temperature must have risen enough to instigate a feeding spell and should I have stayed I would have been confident of catching more but it was late afternoon and sunday roast was being cooked, next time.
Normally the Tench at this time of year will feed all day but also normally May is a lot warmer. It's going to be a tough campaign trying to get my double this year.

7lb 14oz