This morning I left home at 5.45 a.m. bound for the South Lake at Shepperton Marina hoping for one of the bigger tench that this lake is known for. I had decided to try a little ground bait instead of just loose feeding hemp and pellet as I had done on my two previous visits. I used a special mix that I have found effective for tench in the past, it contains a commercial ground bait called Expo which is marketed by Van Den Eynde. The rest of the mix is made up with brown crumb, powdered trout and bloodworm pellet and cooked hemp seed. To this I add sweetcorn, frozen maggots, small pellets and chopped worms. I keep the liquid from cooking the hemp, to which I add a little molasses, allow it to ferment for a couple of days and use it to mix the dry ingredients with.
This is a very effective groudbait but only on some waters, others I have found it to be “the kiss of death” hence my reluctance to use it at South Lake.
Today it produced one bite, which has been my average on this lake so far, not a conclusive result. The fish was a female tench of 5lbs 1oz taken on float fished bloodworm pellet paste in ten feet of water next to some lilly pads.
This is my best tench this season and was taken on my Harrison Interceptor float rod and six pound line. The reel of course was a centrepin (Young’s Purist).
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