New Target

So it has been like for ever since I posted anything up on the blog, well sometime absence makes the heart grow fonder.

To be honest the fishing and the writing had become a tad boring and whilst I enjoyed being out, the lack of catching bar stunted fish was again getting boring. So I stopped, regrouped and went tench fishing for the last 2 months. But alas, this has to be the worst tench season I have ever had, so again I stopped and regrouped.

I couldn't decided what to do or where to go, so I looked back at last summer to look for inspiration to the lack of mojo. It was last September when after much deliberation that I was encouraged to go rudd fishing a few times and I kinda enjoyed it.

Whilst never specifically targeting them I had caught my far share of rudd to half a pound, but I never found that as a species that they grow to a size locally that could mean they were worth targeting as species. This was all to change after chatting to my good pal John W who is an out and out specimen hunter, but you'll never heard him call himself that. John is a man in the know, on the grape vine, in the inner circle of anglers who get put onto other species but other anglers in the know.
So when he put me onto a water that had down rudd to 3lb+ I had to have a go. Well last summer I caught a few to a 1lb 8oz within a few sessions, then the autumn came and toothy species then came back onto my radar so the rudd go put on the back burner.

Well with the tench fishing being a trifle pants and me being me and needing a new challenge, I decided that I ditch the tench fishing and target some rudd. So early on Saturday I drove for a hour and a bit to a lovely gravel pit where the rudd grow quite big.
On arrival there was a few cars parked up. Most of these are likely to be carp anglers as this water has a decent head of carp to 30lb+ plus some good silver fish numbers. I wasn't worried by the number of cars and I knew that the carp anglers would be in there favourite carpy swims, which would leave the rudd swim alone. Upon arriving on the bank I was right, the carpy swims were indeed taken and the rudd swims were vacant bar one.

I set up in the best swim and soon have the baits out by the lillies. After much deliberation the night before, I gone set up with running rigs rather than bolt rigs to see if this made much of a difference to the  finicky bite rudd can give. Baits were simple 10mm boillies on one rod and 2 grains of corn on the other.

With the baits in position and a few freebies scatter over the top, it was time to get the stove on for a morning brew.

The morning was warm and muggy, just they type of morning were you could expect some thunder and lightening, but the only rumbling was the sound of the mosquitos that were buzzing about my head. Every so often, one of these blood suckers would land on my neck or hand to see if they could get a free meal.

With the tea warming me, the sounder box bleeped and the bobbins jangled whilst being pulled to the rod. Upon setting the hook and fish could be felt at the other end. It was soon netted and a nice pound plus rudd to boot.

This was soon unhooked and returned.

The early morning rushed by and the rudd seemed to be on the feed, but not enough to trouble the angler to much. The bobbins would jangle, jump, pull and drop but this was most likely small fish trying to take the large baits.

The clock turned 9am and the rain started as I feared it would, so the brolly went up and this seem to make the mugginess even closer.

The rain didn't last long and as the last few drops feel the sounder box was bleeping again. Something was snaffling the corn. The bobbin did it usual dancing and then steadily rose to the rod. Upon setting the hook this felt a better fish and soon a nice 2lb+ rudd was in the folds of the net. What struck me was that this fish was a lot fatter than the other rudd I had previously caught from here and it felt like a monster fish.

I rest the fish in the net and went for the weigh sling and scales from the rucksack, but there was a issue. No scales! I searched the sac and found nothing so they had either been left behind at home or lost on the bank when I was last out roach fishing last autumn. I quickly nipped to see another angler and borrowed a set of scales, but I must admit to being abit weary of there ability to give me the right weight. They final weight was set as 2lb 6oz, but the rudd looked a lot bigger than a near 2.1/2lber. Anyway, it was a new pb and a first 2lb+ rudd for me, so the bar has been set for the coming summer.
The 2lb+ rudd was soon returned and I wish now that I had bothered to get a better snap of it with me, but with all the toing and froing with the scales I kind of wanted to get her back.

The bait was replaced back out and soon another fish was hooked, this was a small skimmer. This was followed less that 10 minutes later with a bigger slab of the 5lb mark. Good fun on light tackle, but they do mess up the braided hooklinks with the slime.

11:00 came and went and the day got hotter and brighter, this killed the rudd fishing and everything else. It wasn't until near on 16:00 that the bites started again, but this was getting late in the day and was time for me to venture back home.

But there is always next week....

Net Full

Its always a good thing to keep on learning at any age or at any level angling experience and with river fishing I constantly learning all the time from a good friend whom is a very good river angler.

So when the weekend came and I had the chance to put some of learning points gleaned into affect on my second trip to the river of the season. Whilst I have fished this river a bit on an off I have always felt like I'm not fishing it effectively and have not capitalised when I've found the fish.

So with the car loaded I head up for a good hours drive to the river. I wanted to fish the opposite bank to last week, but after an hour walking the bank, I admitted defeat with 8ft of marginal reed hampering my efforts. Whilst I did have some tools that would help create a swim, I did have the tool that I needed aka a throw able reed cutter. So it was back to the layby swim for me because time was getting on.

The ground bait bucket was out and after consulting the book I mixed up a couple of kilo's of crumb and black Supercup laced with hemp, maggot, crushed caster and some pellets. Rather than balling out a load at the started, I put in five balls to get the fish going, the rest would go in via the feeders.

Next on the list was the rods, gone was the still water tip rod and out was the Avon rods with a 2oz tip. Both coupled with 400 reels and 6lb mainline. Rig wise it was to be a paternoster and a semi running rig nicked from a Nisa video on river feeder rigs.  In essence this was a sliding float stop, followed by a link swivel, I then formed a loop to connect the hook link to. Two size 6 shot was placed just above the loop knot to form stop and help pin the mainline to the bed of the river. A 14" hook link of 3lb material was added This rig can be used as either a bolt or running rig so is quite adaptable depending on the fish being finicky or not.

The big changes were the change of hook thickness and rod positioning. I opted for a thin gauge long shank 16's and 18's for the maggot/caster of The rods were how vertical beach caster style with the tips slightly under tension to form a shallow curve so that both pulls, taps and drop back would be shown.

I was all set up, feeders clipped on, hooks baited and out they went. The right hand rod had the big baits on, a corn and caster cocktail, the left hand rod had the standard double reds. I didn't have to wait to long for bites to start and soon a small roach was netted with after a confident bite on the tip which was easy to see. The small roach was soon followed by further roach and small perch too and bite continued nice a steady during the first 2 hours. A couple of 4lb bream took the corn/caster cocktail and I soon had 10lb weight of fish in the net. I took a break for a brew and head back to the rods, with a streaming mug of tea. The rod ere recast and action was resumed for another hour or so whereby a ten skimmers came along in quick succession. This was shaping up to be a good morning.

The action then slowed and I decided to mix up the hook bait, a small worm was hooked onto the left hand rod tipped of with a red and the bites started again. The big bait rod was slowing up, so this two was changed. This time it was double corn soaked in molasses and this started a run of a better stamp of bream self hooking them self which resulted in the rod being lifted off the back rest.
This problem was quickly solved with the baitrunner being engage to allow a hooked fish to run if hooked.

Morning was soon midday and I must have had near 20lb of fish in the net. Lunch was soon consumed with anther mug of tea and then back to the action. A large worm replaced the double corn and I continued with the worm/red cocktail on the other rod.
Now eels arnt my thing really and on light tackle they are a pain in the area, so imagine my job as the nodding tip was a sure sign one had been hooked. As it came in it dive and ducked, spun and coiled before I managed to get it to the edge unhook without it leaving the water. There was simply no way this snake was going to get its slime on the keepnet.

As soon as the small eel was away, I just had time to look up and see the big bait run being pulled off of the rests either with the baitrunner going. I clamped down and it was quickly apparent that another bigger, stronger eel had taken the lobworm. It completely flat rodded me and it took and age to get it under control and nearing the me, but every time I thought I had it beat it was off again. I was not looking forward to wrestling with this water snake and I was quite thankful then the critter finally bit through the light line in the margins. The rig was in a mess, so it had to be re rigged, but no further worms would be going on the hook.

The afternoon pushed on and further bream graced the
 net and added to the total. The rain started as a drizzle and this didn't put the fish off and for a further hour I had another 10lb of fish ranging from small skimmer to a couple of 4lb bream.

On the horizon the rain clouds gather and with the wind continuing to blow into my bank I decided enough was enough and this along with running very low on ground bait made my decision for me.

On loading the last bits on the gear into the car the heavens opened and it lashed the car as I drove off of the bank and onto the road.

The final net weight was near 30lb of roach, skimmer, perch and bream plus a slippery eel which didn't get into the net. This has to be my most successful day on any UK river with regard to overall weight and the constant action on the tip rods was a welcome change to sitting behind a bank of rods on alarms.

Back to the River

Well the tench fishing has been very slow due to the exceptionally high temperatures over the last month, which has prompted huge weed growth in the lake. So a change to the rivers was in order to feed the fix, but there was a real issue, I'm the worlds worst river angler.

I started with a short morning session on my local river, but bar the first two bites resulting in a single roach and perch, the rest of the morning was as dull as dishwater.

So Sunday came and a early morning run over to the Ouse was in order to try to tempt some river monsters. I decided that I wanted to fish either the tip or the float so one of each was packed into the car. I arrived nice and early and set my stall out on a car park swim and soon had the gear up packed, the ground bait mixed and the tea brewed.

Whilst most experienced river anglers will have there various different setup for river feeder rigs, my is a simple paternoster feeder rig utilising 6lb mainline, 2 or 3lb 2-4ft hooklinks and think gauge size 14 to 18 hooks. the feeders are either Kamasan Black Caps or their open feeders. One thing I do change on their feeder is the plastic attachment. I hate it and I open up the lead and insert my open elastic loops made from power gum.

It took a good hour before the fish bite was registered on the tip rod and I hooked small roach to get me off the mark, this was soon followed by a small perch.

Now normally, I have fished the tip horizontally along the bank, but off the ground so that the tip points to the sky. To date it has always worked and I've not had a issue with hitting bites, but for some reason I started to miss quite a few bites. In fact, out of 20-30 decent bites from 8am to 11am I landed only 3 fish! So I consulted a very good friend who is a very good river angler and after a bit of messaging I changed the position of the tip so it was pointing out in front of me and at a higher angle like you would if beach fishing. This small change resulted in two things a) I could actually see the bite better, and b) I could connect to the bite.

Soon I had a further four roach into the net and my confidence started to grow a bit.

A quick lunch was had and the feeder went back out, this resulted in a couple of skimmers and a better single bream pulling the tip over. I must admit to be quite amazed that this change to the tip position actually made such a big difference to connecting with the bites. I did look to also fish the slider, but I realised that I had packed the wrong rod and reel, so that idea was soon quashed.

Soon it was time to call it a day and the net came in and a small mixed bag of around 10lb of roach, rudd, perch, skimmer and bream was returned to the river.

So this has wet the appetite for more river action, so I hope to get back to the Ouse with two tip rods and this time the slider rod.

Brenching

The alarm was off and I was up and out of the house like a mad march hare before daybreak.
Well the first part was true anyway.

I arrived at the lake later than planned due to a) not setting the alarm correctly and b) because of the slow old boy taking a early morning Sunday drive on a Saturday.
So it was not at day break that I got to the swim but about 40 minutes after, so I hastily set about getting the spombing due as quickly as possible. The spomb was put to good effect and in quick time two around some 3/4 rod lengths out was baited up. This was then left to rest while I had a quick chat with the overnight carpers. They'd not seen much action bar some mid doubles and I was soon back in the swim getting the rods out.

The first rod out was the reliable in line maggot feeder with a 3" hook link and the second was to be a in line lead baited with a sweet boilie and a PVA bag. Once out it was time for breakfast.
Breakfast has become a bit of a thing of late, gone is the gulping down a bowl of cereal at home, gone is the porridge bot on a winters morning and hello to the bank side butties!
After breakfast and only a hybrid to show for my endeavour, which had hung itself on the size 12 maggot bunch, I noticed that during the many retrieves, on a number of occasions the maggot had either been sucked or taken off of the hook.

The in line feeder rig consists of a in line maggot feeder taped up to reduce the flow of maggots, a quick link, 3" fluro hook link with hook sizes varying from 10-16 depending on whats on the hook or hair. To start with I had used a size 12 with the maggots bunched on to it, but due to the issue of bait being nicked off of the hook I decided to change to the fake baits.
So off with the hook rig and on with the hair rig. The hair had two fake bait red maggots hooked in a V shape rather than the T shape that a lot of other tenchers seem to favour. Whilst I've found the T shape effective, the V shape seem to deter the small silvers.

So with the rig change sorted, the feeder when back out and it brought a near instant result. The bobbin rose and the was pulled tight to the alarm before it dropped back. I connected with something, but it was soon evident that it wasn't a tench and the nodding of the tip signalled a bream had come into the margins.

The bream was soon netted and whilst not a monster by any means, it did show that something was feeding over the baited area.

It was soon returned and the feeder was back out and I settled back to enjoy the sights and sounds around the lake.
A  pair of Great Crested Grebe's were on the water courting in their normal head bobbing manner, three pair of buzzard were using the thermals to climb the thermos, a pair of kestrels were roosting on a branch on an Oak tree.
On the ground signs of plant life were spied and I took a couple of snaps of the wild flowers Primrose and cowslip, were taken around the lake.

Whilst enjoying these sight, it was noticeable that the insect life was not as abundant as previous springs, but this way to due more to the chill in the wind.

After an hour enjoying just being out there the maggot feeder rod was away again. This resulted in another bream taking a liking to the fake bait.

Fake baits are flooding the market and I've noted that with this there is a massive difference in the shape, appearance and feel of them. I'm in the mind that the fake bait needs to feel and look right to fool the fish or maybe its just to fool the anglers so I've stuck with the original and still the best in my opinion.

The morning drifted to midday and a few more bream took a liking to the rubber maggots and it was soon evident that a shoal had moved over the baited area and that they were hoovering it up every last piece of bait. Bream could be seen breaking surface and ever so often I get line bites too.

Just after lunch the boilie rod alarm was screaming and a fish was on the run, but there was one issue, the baitrunner was too slack and the running fish made a tangle mess of the mono before I even got to the rod. I lifted the rod and the fish was already gone. I was left untangling the spool before recasting.

By the time the session end, I had had seven bream and a small hybrid all from the margins, but not a sign of the tench that I had been targeting. With the weather turning milder, I'll soon be able to do short evening session on the pond so I'm hopeful of snagging a few over the coming months.

Back home and preparation are started for the next session and 2kg of hemp was bubbling on the stove.

Its meant to be relaxing!

For along time I been trying to get sorted for regular overnight session just so I don't have to get up at silly O'clock for the dawn feeding spell.

So after sorting out the venue, gear etc I head out to the lake for a 24hr session in the hope of catching a tench.

I arrived to find a couple of anglers already setup, luckily none in the swim that I wanted and I barrowed the gear into the swim and then took a walk around the lake for a chat to the other anglers. None had any news or sighting of tench rolling, so it was a case of getting some bait out.

I had decided to stick with my normal spod mix but added something abit different after reading online about an ingredients that I had been using for winter roach, but for summer tench.

With the 5kg of pink mix ready, three area's were baited up ready for the evening and night. After baiting up was done and I had removed the sticky mess from my hand the rods and brolly were setup to ensure everything was ready for the night.

First rod out was the usual inline feeder, baited with three fake maggots, this was placed in a weed bed straight out in front of me. The second rod was the 90 degree rig, baited with a double strawberry boilie with a PVA bag full of micro pellets and placed out along the margins just infront of a willow.

A familiar face was also on the bank and we had a good chat about the lake and what had been coming out over recent weeks and general stuff on angling and tackle etc.
 Whilst we were deep in chat, the boilie baited rod indicator was jangling and then rose to the rod before the bait runner ticked over. I lifted into the fish and it pulled back.
After a tussle, the fish was netted first time by my mate and a chunky tench was lifted up the bank and onto the unhooking mat.

It went just over 6lb and was in good nick barring a small amount of mouth damage and went off fighting it.
This was the best tench so far this season and I hope more or bigger will follow from this water.

The boilies were still ok, so the rig was placed back out to the willow and I could now enjoy the warm evening's sights and sounds.

Whilst tucking into my first evening cuppa, the maggot feeder rod was away at a brisk pace and the rod hooped over into a nice curve but it didn't feel like a tench or even carp. A long lean fish boiled at the surface and the culprit gave itself away. Another pike on the tench gear, soon this toothy critter was at the edge and whilst unhooking it it spat out a small roach whilst had been attached to the hook with the fake maggots.

Alas the roach was no more and it was left in the margins to likely be snaffled by another predator during the night.

The evening rolled out and before the sun set, I spodded out another couple of kg of mix over the area's to top them up for the night and hopefully some early morning tench action.

With evening meal cooking, the boilie rod was away again, but by the lack of fight it was evident it was a small bream which it was. This was soon unhooked, but it had crushed the boilies.

After the rod was rebaited and recast, the light over the lake was starting to fade, so I snuggled down into the bag for the night listening to the varied sound of around the countryside. A barn owl was hooting in the distance, foxes screeched at each other and evening chorus of small birds got quieter and quieter. The sounds were replaced with sights of bats chasing insects on the wing and carp leaping from the water.

By 11pm it was dark and I was asleep, but not for long. I could feel a presence even whilst asleep and I awoke letting my eye's adjust to the dark. A voice then echoed around the brolly. "Are you awake?" it said, it made me jump and I soon realised who it was, the "old woman" of the lake was at my brolly and settled on the wet grass for a yarn. After 1/2 hour, he went on his way and I drifted back to sleep.

12:30am, the boilie rod was away and I woke in a start so see the Delkim's light fully illuminated and a one tone from the sounder. Fighting the sleeping bag, I was up and down the bank to the rod. The baitrunner was spinning and I lifted into a lump. The rod hooped over and the fish had taken quite a bit of line from the spool. Could this be a monster tench, After a good scrap, the fish came into the light of the head torch and my hope faded and suspicions realised. The lump was a carp and was giving a good account of itself. Once safely in the net, a plumb mirror carp was soon unhooked and weight. At 14.1/2lb it wasn't a record breaker, but was the biggest fish that has taken a liking to my baits intended for tench. With the carp back in the lake and the bait back out I snuggled back into the bag and drifted off to sleep.

1:30am and the same alarm was bleeping in short burst according to the receiver, I was out of the back and looked out into a sea of mist. I could just about make out the rods in the gloom and the air was very cold indeed. I got to the rod and lifted into a fish, I but the lines were crossed and after abit of picking, the fish was soon in the net. A bream of about 3lb was the culprit and I cursed it as the mess it had caused. The bream was slipped back whilst I mutter under my cold breath. Both rods were recast into the mist over the lake and a cold angler got back into his bag.


3:30am and dawn was beckoning and a hopefully the tench would be on the feed. I laid in the bag enjoying the start of the morning chorus. This blissful awakening was then disturbed by the bleeping of boilie rod for the four time and I begrudgingly got out of the bag and down to the rod. The spool was spinning and the line was heading along the margin. The rod hooped over and a weight was at the end of the line, but it didn't feel like a tench and felt more like another carp.
A tussle ensued and whilst I did enjoy the feel of a weight on the line, but I was some what disappointed at the end result of another carp in the net. The carp was soon unhooked and photographed. This one wasn't as pristine as the first and had damage to a couple of area, but they were healing.

Carp number two was slid back and I sat on the bedchair with the first brew of the day and reflected on the busy night.

The sun rose and the wind came with it. It was blowing in a different and cooler direction to the day before. This did have a dramatic affected on the fishing and only the roach were showing.
It did stick a float out over the edge of the weed and baited a spot with casters and hoped that I would snag a tench. Bites came steadily but again it was not from the target species and a mixed bag of roach, skimmer bream and hybrids came along.

By mid morning it was time to pack up and head from home.

Wrong Ratio

a

The Easter break was a chance to get the rods out for the early season tench and after the usual morning duties I was soon driving through the lane to get to the lake.

After loading the barrow and pushing it along the muddy path, I was soon next to the lake and contemplating the choice of swim. Alas, my favourite tinca swim was taken by another angler, so plan B was put into action, have a chat with another carper to see what joy they may have had before deciding on plan C

So, with plan C hatched, I pushed the barrow to last weekends spot.

First jobs first, mixing up the ground bait for rod one and spodding the particle mix out on rod two.

Once this messy task was done and the usual rigs were placed out over the top it was time for breakfast (porridge) and the cuppa to start off they day. The morning was mild for March and there was a real sense that spring was around the corner, the male pheasants were fighting on the hill, the buzzard was using the thermals to get to a heady height and the green woodpeckers were whooping at each other from opposing trees.

The blissful sound were then disturbed by the bleeping of an alarm and the bobbin rose to the rod before the baitrunner started to tick over. No need to strike a fish was on, but alas soon the plod, plod of a blank saving bream was felt on the end of the line.

This was soon netted,unhooked and returned.

The rod was swiftly rebaited and recast, but I struggle to attach the bobbin as it kept lifting to the rod and falling of. Errrh you muppet fish on and after a not so long tussle another slab came to the net.

The early morning drifted on with the feeder being recast frequently to top up the swim. This paid off and shortly after 9am the alarm single tone and the baitrunner was spinning. Certainly no slab and with a spirited fight an small tench came to the net.

Unfortunately this lovely tench had a damaged bottom jaw and whilst it seemed to be feeding, it did seem abit thin for its length. Otherwise it was in good health and was soon slipped back.

The rest of the morning was spent unhooking slabs in the 3-5lb bracket and by lunch I decided to switch to new area's and fish single baits with pva bags of offerings. Alas the photo summed up the afternoon.

Its been a case of, warm enough for fish to feed, but not the species I want to catch. So I do I carry on with this venue for another few weeks with similar ratios' or do I switch to the harder venues?

Will see what the weekend brings.

On the Up

 Its been a tough last month resulting in very little fishing, but lots of think of fishing.

At the beginning of the month I was struck down with Bronchial Pneumonia which had me off work and laid up for best part of ten days, even the thought of venturing out after  old esox was enough to give me the shivers and I hung up the pike rods three weeks earlier than planned. The pike season this year hadn't been kind to me and with a couple best part of a month taken away with trips abroad, the results were dismal and whilst I caught on nearly every trip, the best for a 14lb fish, but I did learn alot about new venues.

Last week I was feeling better and after sorting out some online trolls, I started to prep the tench gear for a early season trip. Must task was bait and whilst I can get god quality maggots, casters are a different matter. So I turn my own in the utility room. They turn within 2.1/2 days and were spot on.

So with maggot, casters, worm sorted, plus the usual change baits and ground bait sorted, the rods to and tackle were packed.

I decided that i just wake and go, well that was the plan. I woke, fell back sleep and final woke at 6am.
By 7ish I was on the water and settle into a new swim with the light wind coming across me. My usual reed swim was taken by an overnight carp angler, but I was in an area that I felt confident with and that is half the battle.

In order to ensure I didn't become to static, I only stuck two rods out on alarms, an inline bolt rigged maggot feeder with three plastic maggots on a hair and a worm on the 90 deg rig along the close margin. Each had a few expro balls laced with crushed casters, hemp and red added to give the tench something to crunch on. The maggot feeder was to be brought in and topped up ever half an hour only to be cast back to the baited area.

Next up was the usual breakfast brew and porridge, it was chilly, could have been a pike day, but with the birds singing, daffodils out and willow firmly budding up, spring was certainly here.

Neither rod saw much action for the first couple of hours, but I felt confident as a hardy matchman was catching roach, bream and a surprise rudd steadily in the corner swim on the waggler.

The maggot feeder rod alarm then sounded and the bobbin rose to the top and  with no fight what so ever a blank saving bream came to the net. This was soon followed by an other bream and it was soon evident by the numbers rolling that they had muscled their way in over the baited area. Now whilst I do like specimen bream, on this particular lake they don't grown much above 7lb, so they not a target species.

A new area was selected some 15 yards from the bank, this was within underarm casting range and soon the maggot feeder, plus four balls of laced groundbait was deposited on the money.

The morning drifted by and the wind changed direction, grew in strength and had a real chilly feel to it, the extra coat was required and I hunkered down in the chair. It certainly now was piking weather.

The worm bait was left untouched and got changed over to a 10mm strawberry boilie topped off with a piece of buoyant corn, plus a PVA sock of freebies was chucked along the margin.

I was eager for lunch time to come and the hot food was very welcome along with copious amounts of tea to keep the bones warm.

The mini boillie rod alarm "one toned" then ripped off with the baitrunner spinning, but I connected with nothing, by the speed, of the run, I reckon it was one of the carp taking a liken to the bait which is always a danger on this lake.

A few more casts of the maggot feeder and the alarm bleeped, the bobbin rose, baitrunner spun and the rod tip started to bounce. This was no bream, but could have been another carp lunching on the baited area in the margins.

The new Harrison Chimera 12ft, 1.3/4TC tinca rods built for me by Dave Lumb at D.L. Specialist Tackle as a birthday presented from my wife last year, whilst christened with a few bream and one carp last year hadn't had a tench on the other end. I was dearly hoping it was a tench and I wasn't disappointed.
The tench rolled on the surface before taking line and the rod took a lovely progressive curve along the blank. It absorbed the power of the tench via its paddle tail beautifully and I felt assured that the hook won't full.
With the net extended, the tench slid over the rim. Result, first tench of 2016 season and a nice conditioned one to boot.

It was hooked clearly in the corner of the mouth and was soon unhooked, weighted at 4lb 6oz, and released.

The tench was very pale, and not the usual spring coloured tench green, but the water was very coloured and I expect that when the water is clear and the lillys/weed have grown up it will darken up.

With the wind getting chillier, the pesky bream moving into the shallow baited around were the tench had been hooked, the bobbin was twitching and alarm beeping constantly. During the remainder of the day, a further three bream in the 3-5lb bracket decided the fake maggots too tempting and more wet sacks were played to the net.

The mainline was covered in slime, a sure sign that a large shoal of bream had descended onto the onto the dinner table and by 16:00 I'd had enough and headed for hope a happy tenchfisher.

Happiness

There is something nice about teaching others to enjoy the sport we love, and on a sunny Friday it was my nephew's chance to have a day out.

My nephew, who is now six has been asking for ages to go out and fish again after trips last year. We had tried to go out in March, but it was just too cold for him and the pole fishing trip was soon abandoned.

They only question today was little pond or big pond and he choose the latter as it held a larger variety of fish for him to catch. So after picking him and his lunch up we headed for a commercial club water to introduce him to rod and reel fishing.

We arrived mid morning and the there was a number of others on the water, so were catching and some weren't, but I was confident that I could get the roach and rudd on the feed on a short float line.

I picked a swim big enough for the both of us and I soon had him sat with with a 10ft float rod and fixed spool reel. I started feeding a short line with a mixture of hemp and maggots in order to get the silver fish on the feed. Once he was sat happily watching a float, I decided to set up a rod on an alarm with a 10mm boilie on a bolt rig with a pva bag.The rod was soon case out, placed on the alarm and attach the bobbin, but there was an issue. No bobbin. I rumaged around the rucksack and couldn't find the them and remembered that there were sat with the third alarm in the tackle room. Plan B, make a bobbin. I soon made make shift bobbin using a length of braid, 2 SSG and a bent out quick change clip. Bingo!

In the meantime, the nephew was starting to get bites on the waggler and after a few aborted strikes, he connected with a small roach. Mission accomplished.

Once he had started catching perch, rudd and more roach with uncle help, he wanted to do catch more himself, but that involved more teaching around casting, baiting the hook and baiting the swim. The first few casts where a dual effort, but he soon grasped the idea, just the timing was out and we had a few short casts due to releasing the line to early or to late. Luckily we only had one cast to retrieve the float set up from the tree and he was happy catching steadily.

This left his uncle to muse over the other rod and why were weren't getting any positive takes. I decided to have a change on the rigs hook length and the length of the hair. The hook length was lengthened by 4" and the hair increased to 2". The pva bags were left off and a scattering of whole boilies were thrown out around the baited are near the pads.

15 mintures latter and the first positive take on the bolt rig resulted in a bream with the hook neatly in the edge of the mouth.
Bait was still ok,so it was recast back out and another half a dozen freebie scatter around it. This resulted in a near instant take.This was not a bream and after a short fight a small common carp came to the net. Uncle was happy too.

The nephew continued to fish with my guidance and we soon had him tackling the baiting of the hook with the wiggly maggots. He was a happy lad and was soon doing most of the fishing himself and relishing the challenge of catching a fish all on his own.

Another short run on the bolt rig and another bream came to the net, abit bigger than the first, but this was unhooked at the edge.

The bream had mashed the boilie, so it was rebaited and recast. This time to the edge of the lillies where I spied some slightly bigger carp moving the pads. in the afternoon sun.
We continued to fish the float and the nephew continued to cast roach, rudd, perch and the odd hybrid.
He was started to want to catch bigger and bigger fish, but ever time a larger fish took the bait, he either slacken the line letting his prize escape or pull the hook (must remember to slacken the clutch) and his monster evaded him.

Late afternoon was soon upon us and we were in the process of sorting out a float muddle in the margins when the alarm sounded a single bleep. Then the alarm screamed and the tightened bait runner churned slowly as a hooked fish powered into the lilies.
The float rod and muddled rig was left in the water as I grabbed the rod with the muscular fish attached and the rod hooped over nicely. With full pressure on the fish, I managed to convince the hooked fish to head out into open water and the battle continued. We had it at the net only for it to power off and with 10lb mainline and a 8lb braided hooklink there wasn't much I could do apart for let it tire itself out.

After a epic (nephews word) battle the carp came to the net, but as I slid the net underneath it it powered to the left and into the float gear muddle in the edge. Oh Sh*t, thought, what a pickle.
Bail arm was soon opened on the float rod and we'd sort the tangle of lines out if we managed to land it.

After much heaving and huffing we slid the net under our prize, along with a tangle of float and bolt rig to boot.

We'd won the day and our mid double specimen was on the mat being admired by its captors. After a couple of snaps, our prize was released with a flick of its tail.

We packed up soon after and within ten minutes of leaving the lake, two weary anglers were on their way home. One asleep in the back of the car and one luckily not asleep at the wheel as we heading for home happy for so many different reasons.

TL

Quickie!

A small window of nice weather saw me getting out with the feeder rod at the weekend for a few hours.

After lobbing in a few balls of groundbait, I set about the task of enjoy just being out for a few hours next to the river.

Bites came quickly but most were just rattles of the tip by small roach and even with the 1oz tip and size 18 hook I was struggling to connect.

The wise old river owl next to me came over to offer some advice rig and soon have me changing from my standard paternoster feeder rig to running ledger rig. Rattles became bites and I soon had a handful of small roach and skimmers.

With only and an hour of my session left, I decided to change the double bronzer to a small worm to see if I could increase size of the fish.

Bite came less frequently, but the stamp of fish increased and I finished up with a nice mixed bag.

Sadly no camera was packed, so I only took one shot on the phone.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Woke up later than planned and rushed out of the house to the lake. Arrived to find now one there, which wasn't surprising considering it was a Monday.

Decided to fish a different swim for a change and soon had the ground bait mixed up and started to catapult ten balls out for starters.

Brought the dedicated method feeder rods in stead of the new tench rod, which whilst can lob a loaded feeders out, they not really designed for that.

Soon three rods were out and I was enjoying the sights sounds and cornflakes with a cuppa.

The morning was coo, dull and the breeze was into my face with a hint of rain in the air so the brolly went up just in case. It wasn't just me having brekkie, but also the grebes and terns. The ground bait has started to break down and had the roach fizzing over the baited area. The grebes and terns were using this to their advantage and soon I have about half a dozen diving around the baited area and disturbing the Delkims.

It was good to see the volume of fry and small fish the grebes and terns were catching and soon they had their fill and drifted off.

After and hour, the baits needed freshening up and in turn they were retrieved, re baited and cast back out.

The roach then started to nibble at the baits and the bobbins started to dance, nothing really worth hitting and soon they lost interest. The first fish to roll in front of me wasn't a tench or bream however, but a pike. Explains the roach doing a fast exist.

Another hour passed and the corn baited rod was away, but I fumbled with the baitrunner and struck into thin air.

The real corn had been sucked off of the hair and there was slim up the line, good sign, but would I get another chance.

Luckily, I did, and the corn was away again and soon a musculur bream was in the net.

The day was warm and humid and I found myself unsettle and pacing the swim, I was eager to get he bream to feed hard but with the conditions getting warmer, I was starting to feel that I should have arrived even earlier than I did.

Midday came and went and the day got warmer, alas this had a dire affect on the fishing and even the roach bites disappeared.

I struggle to keep my attention on the task at hand, and started to tinker with rigs etc when I didn't really need to. As the afternoon pasted, even the slightest feeling that the bream would feed faded away, and I packed up and headed for home.

Rod Porn

Fishing has been crap of late with no tench gracing my net for well over a month, but with the arrival of new rods for a big birthday, I needed to get out.

The new rod were built by Dave Lumb of D.L Specilist Tackle to my specification primarily for tench fishing on gravel pits and estate lakes.

Blanks are a coloured (burgundy) Harrison Chimera, 12ft in length and 1.3/4tc with fuji rings and reel seat, full slim cork handle, stainless steel collars and butt cap, plus a little inscription and gold finish to the whipping.

The rods have a old feel or classic feel about them, I suppose its the colour scheme which reminds me of some of the old Dawia Cavalier match rods of the late 80's early 90's. They have been paired up with some old school Aero GT 5010 baitrunners.

I've managed to get out twice now to use them and they are lovely rods and so far they been tested using 28-50g maggot feeders, 1oz inline lead and pva bags to distance of around 50 yards.

On the second trip, I targeted a large still water which has started to produce a few fish. So with an early morning start to beat the rain, I got to the water for the crack of dawn.

With the barrow loaded I trudged along the path to fish an area that has been kind to me over the years and I was soon in position and mixing up the ground bait ingredients.

Whilst the ground bait settled in the bucket and absorbed the lake water, the the rods, buzzers etc were set up whilst taking in the sights and sounds of the bird life.

With the gear setup, the baiting process began and I soon had ten tennis ball sized baits out to around 40 yards. This would be in easy reach for the new rods and should allow me to see any rolling tench or bream. The wind was abit of an issue to start with as it was blowing straight across the swim, not ideal, but it was due to shift during the day and blow staight into the bank I was fishing by midday.

The rods were tackled up, with a helicopter rigged open feeder, with caster/corn on a size 12 hook and a inline maggot feeder, double red on a size 10 on the other.

With the rods out and set up on the buzzers, it was time for a brew and breakfast, but with the wind brought the rain and time for the brolly.

With breakfast cooked, tea drank, baits needed freshening up, so the rigs were retrieved, reloaded and recast. The first effort was abit off due to the cross wind, but the second attempted was bang on the money.

I'm not one for sheltering behind the brolly on a chair, it frustrates me as I like to see what's going on, so for a while I stood in the rain and wind whilst watching Common Terns dancing in the air and Great Crested Grebes facing off each other with puffed out crests. When the wind dropped, the rain stopped and I could see a few bream porpoising over the baited area. With the sighted of the rolling bream, came the indication on the buzzers that they had certainly moved into the area.
But after an hour of rolling and line bites, all went quiet. Perhaps the hatching Mayflies had preoccupied them from feeding on the baited area.

I rebaited the area with five balls of ground bait, just in case those rolling bream seen earlier had infact cleared up.

Midday came and I started to get bored, seven hours without a proper bites make the old grey cells tick and I thought about rig/bait changes for the afternoon session.

The heli was replaced with a paternoster open-end feeder rig, with a 4ft hook link, 4lb line and size 16 hook loaded up with double reds. The second rod was changed to a method feeder with a short braided link, but with a size 14 hook and corn/caster combo.

Five more balls of bait went out over the revamped rigs and I turned towards the stove in order to started the process of getting another brew, but with the bobbin still settling, the alarm on the paternoster rig bleeped.
Soon the bobbin was rising, and I lifted into a fish before it had chance to hit the vanish.

The fish felt reasonable and for a short while, I was unsure what was on the end until the tale tail nod gave the game away.

This bream had a large frame to it, so a quick weight show her to be over 6lb, just.

 She was soon unhooked, quick snap for the blog and released. Rod christened, monkey off of back.

The feeder was reloaded, hook bait replaced and recast, just in time as the kettle and boiled. Time for tea.

With the brew warming the hands, the same rod was away and another bream was attached to to the line.

This time it was a male, similar in size to the first, but a bit more feisty and it gave a good account of itself.

Upon unhooking, the rig was in a tangle, which can be an issue with paternosters, so instead of unraving the mess of mono, it was cut above the knot and retired.

I half expected the bobbin not to settle, but it did. I had a few twitches and late in the day a third and final male Abramis Bramas came to the net.

With a impending storm on the horizon, and with everything just about dried out, I packed up and head for home.