Lands End Tench

Having not been able to fish for nearly six weeks (finally moved house!) I was itching to start my Spring Tench campaign. A dawn start with the weather decidedly unseasonal, windy showers drenching the countryside but as we arrived at Bishops Bowl fishery the sun was starting to break through and a dry day looked a possibility. The lake Martin and I had hoped to fish was home to a barrowload of bivvy boys having a 48 hour match however there was one secluded corner of this gravel pit that was free and the owner put us onto there informing us that it was a great spot for Tench. It was so secluded that the bailiff had to show us where it was, it was easy to understand why they called it 'Lands End'! I managed to get completely lost on the way out which Martin found hilarious!
Anyway it certainly looked fishy so we were happy. Tactics for both of us would be to fish two rods, Martin had maggots on one and worm on the other while went out for my usual all out chopped worm attack.
I had only managed to cast one rod out and was setting up the second when the buzzer indicated the first bite of the day. The strike connected and after a plodding battle I landed a small pretty Mirror Carp, not the target but never the less a good start to the day.

Probably about 7lb.

Martin was getting plenty of attention on the maggot rod but failed to connect with some really finicky bites and frustratingly he lost a Roach close to the net. I then missed a screaming run making a mess of the strike probably due to being rusty after my long lay off but made no mistakes with the next one as  I connected with a decent Roach and this time I landed it.

A young looking specimen weighing 1lb 6oz which showed the lake has potential as a big Roach fishery that could possible be home to 'twos'. My fishing buddy also landed one of his own around the one pound mark.

The bites dried up for a couple of hours but the variety of bird life (we counted 16 different types!) kept us amused. I tried to capture as many as I could on camera but the rarer ones were so quick it was not easy.
 I have recently completed an evening course in basic photography and am hoping this will help me take better pics for this blog amongst other things.

a Stone chat

Great Crested Grebe

A Crow trying to scare off a Buzzard

Early afternoon and the action restarted with me finally landed the target fish and an excellent beginning to a Tench campaign, a big female pulling the scales down to 6lb 9oz.

This fish was followed closely by another female weighing 5lb that sported a rather strange dark patch on it's gill which would make it instantly recognisable should it be captured again. At first glance it looked like a leaf but Martin assured me it was some sort of melanin birth mark.

Martin's tactics were now becoming more and more desperate and he bombarded his swim with all the pellets and maggots that he could find.

Bombs Away Captain Roberts

Splashdown!

But then he landed his first Tench of the day an immaculate chunky little female which fell to the worm rod!

4lb 3oz

This signalled a short flurry of activity as the Tench seemed to wake up and we actually had a double hook up, both landing small Tench of 3lb 4oz and 4lb 4oz respectively. For obvious reasons I posed for the brace shot!

We were getting close to the end of the day but there was still time for me to land a small male Tench, the only boy all day and a baby Pike that snaffled my worm as I wound in! A cracking days fishing in stunning surroundings and a great start to what will hopefully become a Tench-full Spring.