Six Sessions, One Post- Close Season Catch Up

Recently it has been a bit of a struggle to find the time to fish and when I have managed to get bankside the results have been poor. I cannot find the motivation to write about fishless sessions or ones involving tiddlers so hence the blog has been quiet.

Several weeks ago I took some floaters to my favourite Carp venue. The avian life were extremely interested in my offerings, especially the goose and swan pictured and I struggled to get the same response from below the surface. One missed bite was all I could muster and I went home cursing our feathered friends.

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Session Two and some very inclement weather gave Tazzy and I a proper soaking.

The cold rain made the sport sporadic to say the least. I was targetting silver Bream but only managed a few small roach and a couple of Bronze Bream and nothing special to boot.

Session Three was good fun, got the fly rod out and chased the Carp in the local puddle. Two small battling Commons landed made for a pleasant evening distraction.

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Session Four was a blank chasing Tench, the weather was still quite chilly and I don't think the Tincas had woken up properly from their Winter slumber. Even Tazzy looked bored that day.

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Session Five and the fly rod came back into play. A social evening with the big man at the picturesque Lenches lakes chucking bits of fluff at rising Trout.

The warmer temperatures have made the fish more active and I managed a brace of Trout up to 2 1/2 pound. The first one fell for a black gnat type pattern with buoyant white wings (I must learn the proper names of these things!), the second a large grasshopper type thing, it was getting dark so needed something big that my old eyes could see in the gloom.

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Session Six saw me back Tenching but this time on a red hot day in glorious sunshine.

The Carp were thrashing around in the margins obviously starting to get amorous and they gave me a constant barrage of line bites making it difficult to tell if I was getting actual bites. The Tench were conspicuous by their absence and after five bite less hours I was beginning to get frustrated.

Finally I had an unmissable run and after a bit of trouble with a weed bed I slipped the net under by far the best fish I have caught this year. A stunning female Tench pulling the scales down to 9lb 3oz. All the frustrations of previous sessions forgotten with one fish- gotta love this sport!!

Tenching in the Sunshine

Thankfully I had packed the van and set up the rods the night before. A birthday party (with a free bar) at the local pub meant I over indulged and over slept and was nearly an hour late for the 7am rendezvous with Martin on the banks of an Oxfordshire gravel pit. He hadn't let me down though and had commandeered us a couple of great swims on a prominant point with an expanse of water to fish in.  

The ugly duckling should have been written about a coot not a swan!!

The previous preparation saw me fishing instantly while the big guy tackled up and before he could even wet a line I was playing one of the stunning Tench that reside in this beautiful part of the world. She had been unable to resist a worm and weighed in at 8lb on the nose in the glorious golden sunshine.

I thought this fish could be the prelude to a bumper day but instead a long period of inactivity followed until finally around lunchtime I managed to land a slightly smaller specimen.

The fish were getting smaller but at least I was catching as a little feisty male then took a liking to the worm and gave me a bit of a runaround. It took off up and down the margins taking my second line with it.

Three-nil to the northerner and the big guy was beginning to get a bit desperate, climbing trees in the vain hope of spotting a few fish. 'Can you see anything up there' I enquired. 'Yes' came the response 'water'. I kept the camera poised in case he went for an unplanned swim but his footing remained sure.

Salt was rubbed into the wound with a fourth fish before I headed off home and left him to the final hour in 'my' swim. Didn't get a text so am presuming the move wasn't successful!

What a Difference a Week Makes...

Fishing can be the cruelest of mistresses sometimes!
Following last weeks hugely successful Tench session I headed back to Linear this time with Martin in tow. Excitement was high with the prospect of a few big Tench pulling our strings and armed with worms we felt that we could not fail, but fail we did.
The conditions seemed perfect, Tench rolled in the swim most of the morning but the alarms stayed silent, deafeningly silent. We worked hard baiting up at regular intervals, tactics that have worked dozens of times for me in the past but the fish just hadn't read the script.
We were sent home with our tails firmly between our legs and my personal quest for a double figure Tench continues.....

The Little Tincas (and Big Ones!)

Three weeks ago I prematurely started my Tench campaign but that session ended with a big fat blank, the fish just hadn't switched on at all due to the cold water temperature. That previous session was preceded by a week of glorious sunshine but large gravel pits take more than just a few nice days to warm up such is their expanse and depth.
This week we have endured a kind of cold snap and I must admit I did think twice about going 'Tenching' but in the end I am extremely glad I took the chance. The Northeasterly gale was bitter for most of the day and necessitated three jumpers but when I put my hands in the water it actually warmed them up. Amazing the difference between the two worlds above and below the surface.
Linear fisheries is busy at the worst of times so with a bank holiday weekend approaching I knew I would have to get there early to secure a decent area. Having pulled up in the car park just after opening time I took a little meander to see what was available. A Carp angler was stood in the second swim, bucket in hand(they use these to save a swim, a tactic I abhor!) Never mind he was a friendly chap and when I told him I had come for the Tench he informed that two had rolled in a matter of minutes in that very swim.
"Are you gonna fish this spot then?" I tentatively enquired.
"No, I think I will keep looking further around".
Told you he was friendly. It is no exaggeration when I say I ran to the car and grabbed my tackle quicker than ever before.
The rods were already set up from the last session so within minutes I was fishing. My tactics for Tench are always the same, feeder fishing with regular casting dictated by the clock.
To begin with I recast every twenty minutes aiming at the same certain trees each time on the far horizon. This slows down to every thirty minutes after a while until the Tench arrive scenting a meal to their liking.
It is hard work but the rewards can be a lot of fun.
The buzzers gave the odd beep indicating line bites or finicky takes until finally at about 11.15am I hooked my first Tench. The fight was scrappy making me think it was a male. With the fish still about twenty yards out the other indicator burst into life. At first I thought I had crossed lines but the buzzer just kept going and going, double hook-up!
It is really off putting playing one fish know another is flying across the lake with no-one to stop its progress. I eventually bundled the male in the net, guessed it to weigh about six pounds and leapt across to the still beeping other rod. Amazingly the fish was still on, not snagged but it had swam somewhere beyond the horizon. The fight was much more laborious, obviously a female that had used most of its energy getting as far away from me as it could. I managed to net her alongside the other one and she completely dwarfed her male counterpart. I knew straight away it was a big fish.



With them both on the mat the hooks were removed and because of her size she saved her boyfriend from having a weigh-in. The friendly Carp angler had now rejoined me in the swim and seemed a bit jealous when the needle pulled down to 9lb 5oz. Not only had I (sort of) nabbed his swim but I then cajoled him into taking the photos. I owe him a pint or two whoever he is!

A rare opportunity for a 15lb brace shot but they were too slippery for me to do it properly.
What followed next was a mad hour when I couldn't keep all the rods in the water at the same time.
Next up was a big 8lb 10oz Male....

Closely followed by a 'seven'....

Then an 8lb 8oz female...

and a 7lb 6oz.

It was almost a relief when a period of inactivity followed. I still worked hard keeping the feed going in just in case I could entice one or two more fish to the bank, I am glad I did. A screaming run followed by a decent battle saw me land the biggest fish of the day all 9lb 7oz of stunning female Tench. In a few weeks this fish will fulfil my holy grail, weighing well into double figures. I have now caught thirty Tench over nine pounds without a single double! Surely it is just a matter of time(or timing).

There was still time for two more smaller males and I left at 3.30pm satisfied with a great days fishing. Nine Tench for over 70lb and as a bonus it was free because the bailiff never came to see me. Doesn't get much better than that!

Plenty of time left to walk the dog!

Too Early for Tench?

The recent spell of warm weather turned my thoughts to Tench, my favourite species to target in the Spring. I think I was a bit premature though. It takes a long time for a huge deep body of water like Hardwick gravel pit to rise in temperature and awaken from its Winter slumber and the crystal clear water was still very cold to the touch.

I worked hard all day but could not manage to generate a bite, the alarms staying silent apart from one line bite mid-afternoon. Give it a couple of weeks and those big Tench will be on the munch, filling up as much as they can before spawning time.
The wildlife was interesting though, I love watching funny looking tufties....

the Red-Crested Pochard

Linear Tench (and Carp)

Not really what you would call a Spring morning!

Following last weekends successful Tench session I had a hankering for more of the same. Linear fisheries, a favourite haunt of mine when chasing Tincas, was the venue. Quite a risk on a bank holiday weekend being as popular as it is but I was relieved to see several vacant swims upon my arrival. I set up in a nice quiet corner on the road bank and within ten minutes of casting out had the first screaming bite of the day. When Tench run it is normally fairly easy to slow them down within about ten yards but this take kept on going and there was little I could do with eight pound line and my barbel rod. There could only be one culprit, a Carp. Eventually I managed to slow it down, gain some line back and within ten minutes there was a pretty little Common laying in the folds of the net.
There are some anglers who would class this fish as a nuisance when targeting Tench but that thought never crossed my mind, catching fish no matter what the species is always a pleasure in my book.

12lb 9oz

It wasn't a shock that there was no further action until mid-morning as I knew the colder overnight temperature would put pay to sport until then and the only sign of life in the swim was a slight drop back on the left hand rod around 10am. I left it well alone thinking there were fish milling around the area and reeling in and risking spooking them would foolish and thankfully ten minutes later a typical stuttering Tench bite led to 'fish on'.
A mostly uneventful battle ensued until I got the fish close in when it proceeded to power around taking the other two lines with it. I managed to net both it and the tangle and was pleased to have a quality female Tench in the bag.

8lb 8oz

Once again worm hook bait had done the trick in fooling an immaculate well proportioned specimen.
Nearly an hour later the same rod signalled another run and similar to the first fish it ran and ran. By the time I managed to gain control it was probably forty yards further away from where I hooked it but unlike the first Carp (by now it was obvious that this fish was a Carp) the fight was much more deliberate and powerful. The nerves started to kick in as I realised this was a large fish and on light tackle with line whistling in the wind, I trod carefully and constantly prayed for the hook to hold. A large tail broke the surface some thirty yards out which didn't help my disposition one iota! Eventually after what seemed like an age I bundled it into the net, let out a sigh of relief and lifted the fish onto the mat.

A stunning chunky Mirror with apple-slice scales weighing 24lb 12oz. My biggest Carp for three years which is not surprising as I don't ever target them. Daft really as I so enjoy catching them!
At that point I could have gone home a happy angler but there was still a chance for some more action. By now the complex was filling up with other fishermen making the most of the three day weekend and spods were flying about all over the place which usually scares the fish off but there was one Tench who remained and he took the middle rod's worm. An uneventful scrap ended with me being victorious.

7lb 1oz

I played with the camera whilst waiting for some more action but that was the lot. A pretty good day's work and I still got home in time for dinner.