So instead, I went out with the tench rods again on another chilly April hopeful of more tinca action.
I arrived at lunchtime with a lightened load and trudged along to the reed swim which was thankfully vacant.
The midday sun was shining and I was sweating buckets as I set down the gear to take a walk about and chat with a couple of carpers. Both had seen early morning action from nuisance fish aka tench and I was feeling quite positive about my chances of snaring a fish or too.
After being pestered by bream during my other visits to this particular water I decided to go with a full on particle approach rather than my prefer ground bait. So I baited up an area with a hemp, maple and corn mix which I'd fish over using mini boilies and a maggot feeder.
It wasn't long before I was cooking lunch whilst enjoying a mug of team and enjoying the sights of Black caps, Long Tailed Tits and the resident Robin in the willows.
The bobbin on the maggot feeder rod was the first to rise and soon the baitrunner was spooling with a hooked fish. Nothing massive and a 8oz roach came to hand.
The roach was soon unhooked and returned, only to be followed by a similar sized roach, then a rudd before the feeder had even hit the bottom!
Lunch was cooked and the maggot feeder was attracting alot of attention so was reeled in so I could eat the curry and rice.
After lunch the maggot feeder was put back out, but I changed from a bunch of maggots to a single worm tipped off with a single maggot, hopefully this will entice the bigger fish in the shoal and stop the smaller ones from gobbling the bait.
The inclusion of the worm had the desired affect and the bites dropped off.
The sun was beating down and it was proving to be a pleasant day on the banks, but alas on the horizon was a dirty big black cloud and I was soon erecting the brolly to shelter under from the rain, hail and snow fall.
The hail stones were pinging onto the line and the sensitive Delkims were going nuts.
The storm passed after an hour and I returned back to the sun and with the change in the weather the fish began to feed again. The mini boilie rod was off and with the bait runner churning I was hopeful of a tench, but alas it wasn't to be and the the third species of the day, a bream, was soon netted and unhooked in the water.
The boilie rod was rebaited and another bag of freebie's attached before it was swung out over the baited area, but it found its way over the margin shelf and I could feel it descending into the deeper water. It could stay there fore a while, while I had another cuppa.
The stove was bubbling away and the worm rod bobbin was dancing up and down like a whores draws, before the fish moved off and gave a positive run. Not a roach, but a better rudd was hooked and netted. At a scapper 1lb it was the first rudd of this size I've seen for a long time.The rudd was slipped back and I noticed a disturbance in the reeds to my left, something was lurching.
The afternoon started to pass and the bites dwindled, but for a scraggy perch (species number 4) that decided that the worm was just too juicy to leave alone. It was a washed out old warrior and looked to be in not to good a state.
Afternoon turned to evening and there was s nip in the area as the sun started to fall, the rain started again and I was wondering when the dash for the car would occur. As the last few drops it the brolly, the worm rod was off again and a nice plump roach was hooked. As the fish came up in the water the reeds rattled and the roach disappeared into the jaws of a predator. The rod hooped over and the 10lb line was stretched before I loosened the clutch a tad and let it sing. I played the the pike for a while fearing that the hooklink would be severed by this toothy predator, but as the pike spotted me, it let go of it price and I was left with a wounded roach.
The roach was full of spawn and bleeding from the a slash across its tail, but it was still alive.
All I had managed to do was bring in both the prey and the predators, but not the intended tench
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