Spring has finally dragged herself from the icy grip of winter and whilst it is still far from warm I decided to have my first tench fishing session. The venue had to be quite shallow as the deep gravel pits that occur locally warm up slowly and a high stocking density of tench would improve my chances. It was not yet time to try for the big fish, I wanted quantity rather than quality, lots of bites rather than a long wait. It had been a long time since I had done anything except pike fish and I expected to find my skills a little rusty especially with my wrists still not being fully healed.
The venue I chose was a small private lake in Surrey that is managed by a friend of mine Les (known here previously as “Weller of the Yard”). This fishery is only accessible to a carefully selected group of anglers by request of the new owner. Some of these anglers are not very chatty, this miserable bloke sat in the next swim and never said a word all day!
Scarecrow to frighten off the cormorants
On my arrival on Thursday morning the sky was overcast with a strong breeze from the West. I fished the swim Les had recommended near South East corner of the lake and set up a long rod (twenty feet) with a centrepin. With a pole float and a plummet I searched for the remains of last summer’s weed beds and located a gap between them about seven metres from the bank. I fed this area with a mixture of hemp and trout and bloodworm pellets. By this time the wind was increasing and I was finding it difficult to handle the long rod but did manage my first tench on a soft bloodworm pellet.
This fish was far from the biggest tench I have ever caught but after that dreadful long winter it was one of the most welcome.
By the time I had finished taking the photograph and had returned the fish, the wind had increased further and the long rod became impossible to use. I set up my Harrison Stepped Up Match rod but had to use a fixed spool reel as I would have to cast into the teeth of what was rapidly becomming a gale force wind. I first tried a 2 swan shot Drennan Tench float as can be seen in the photograph and with six pound mainline and a five pound hook length was just able to cast to the baited area. The casting technique I was having to use caused the soft pellets to come off the hook so I switched to bloodworm paste and I started to catch fish. I soon had caught ten tench and a small common carp, the biggest tench was about four pounds and the carp was the same weight. Bites were difficult to spot with the waves on the water and eventually became impossible.
I had to change to a heavier float with a bulbous and therefore more bouyant tip with a “BB” shot on the hook length to anchor the float in place. I finished the day with fourteen tench and the carp and felt better than I had all winter. A good result under appalling conditions.
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