A cracking tench session

A near 1 pound rudd

For years I have been trying to find a reliable tench venue. Unfortunately, they are thin on the ground in these parts. You either have to be content with temperamental venues or head for the large Cotswold pits and sit it out. I had been planning a tench trip for a few weeks but as ever the choice of venue was the sticking point. A few inquiries had been made but nothing was definite. I had pretty much decided to travel to Leicestershire in search of tench but I have to be honest, upon waking up I just couldn't summon the motivation for the almost 2 hour drive. Instead I chose a pool a bit closer to home. It's one of several at the venue but it's a pool with very little information and was not one I had fished before. The owner had emailed me to say it was worth a go with tench in mind so I thought I'd go for it.

I arrived just after lunch to find the pool empty but for a father and son. They soon packed up leaving me alone. The pool itself was reed lined but a walk around its perimeter showed no signs of feeding tench. A few rudd broke the surface and by now the sun was beaming down and the day was becoming pretty warm. With no obvious area to target I chose a small bay. It was about 4ft deep just off the rod tip and seemed as likely as anywhere. I set up a light waggler and shotted it so just a dimple was on show. Tench can be finicky biters so I wanted to reduce resistance to a minimum. With the pool's inhabitants unknown, I started cautiously feeding a few maggots regularly to build the

One of the 5 pounders

swim up. It was a quiet start but eventually a bite came and a small rudd was swung to hand. With the bright conditions, sport was slow but punctuated by the rudd to keep things ticking over. Some of these rudd were chunky specimens, the best went 1oz shy of a pound and as always, their colours are stunning. As late afternoon approached the first tench was finally landed. It wasn't huge at approximately 2lb but it was a start. I began to up the feed and it appeared to work as bites became more regular and with it the size of the tench increased to 4lb+.

You cannot beat the anticipation of a traditional tench bite. The float rises. It then returns to its starting position before inching one way then another. This can continue for what seems an age until eventually it slides from view and a tench is hooked. Then that paddle-like tail propels the fish on several powerful runs before it it can be safely netted. Then you are able to admire the olive green flanks and red eyes. They are a great fish to catch and the next two hours of my session was no stop. I ended with ten tench, three of which were over 5lb with the biggest weighing in at 5lb 10oz. It was easily the best tench session I had experienced for a long time and all from a pool that had promised little upon arrival. I am already plotting a return visit.

A 5lb 10oz tench

In search of specimen perch

The best carp was around 4lb

After blanking on a perfect looking Warwickshire Avon at the weekend, a change of plan was the order of the day. So a return to the pool that gave me a personal best perch a few weeks ago beckoned [here] and with a cloudy albeit a very windy day, conditions looked promising.

Tench in December!

A mixed bag

The first job was to set up and catch some live bait. As my last visit proved, this was not easy as a string of lovely roach, some of which were around the pound mark, came to the net. I did manage a handful of suitable baits so set up a perch rig and continued to fish maggots for whatever turned up. Apart from the roach, a few skimmers, a rudd, three inevitable carp and a December tench all put in an appearance in the mild conditions. However my target, a specimen perch, proved elusive. I did manage a few on large lobworms, the biggest going 1lb 3oz but with fish over 3lb present I fished on in hope as the light began to fade. As dark fast approached, I had no choice but to call an end to the day. The big perch had not been tempted and my live bait was no doubt please about that as it swam away. It was an enjoyable few hours spent catching several species with the only negative being I clumsily managed to step on a pole section.

It will probably be after Christmas before I am out again so Merry Christmas and thank you to all those that have visited this year.

Perch to 1lb 3oz but no biggie this time

Lower Seven Barbel and some good news

After managing two double figure barbel in my last two Avon sessions, I was keen to see if I could complete the hat-trick. However, although it would be tempting to return to scene of my recent success I do like a challenge. With that in mind, the enigma that is the lower Severn was my chosen venue.

I arrived just after 6pm with the plan to stay out until midnight or when I got too tired, whichever came first. Tactics were an upstream groundbait feeder with pellet together with the downstream meat rod over some droppered pellet and hemp. About 60 minutes in, the upstream rod started nodding with a 4lb bream banked. With the blank averted, it was a case of plodding on. As 9pm approached, the downstream rod showed some signs of life. By 9pm, it had wrapped around and I was into a barbel. It started slowly but woke up as it came closer to the bank. Was it going to be my third double in a row? Well, it was a decent fish as it lay in the net. I had doubts however that it would be double and so it proved. The scales read 9lb 4oz of pristinely conditioned barbel. Whilst it wasn't the double I had hoped, it was hard to be disappointed at such a great looking fish. I added a bream of between 5-6lb at around 10pm but it then went very quiet so I ended the session twenty minutes earlier than planned.

Not quite the double but a great fish anyway

An enjoyable afternoon

Before my Severn trip, my 3 year old son had asked to go fishing. I explained he couldn't come on this occasion due to it being a late night and promised him a trip another day. He replied stating it had to be 'fishing with maggots'. So the following, we visited the B'ham-Worcs canal with 'the maggots' and a 2m whip to fish the inside. A string of perch, with a smattering of gudgeon and a rudd kept us busy throughout the afternoon. It was a pleasure to share a fishing session with my son. We even lost two better fish, one to a snap so perhaps I need to return with some stouter tackle.

Finally, the reason this blog is a little late being published is because of the eventful weekend. Early Sunday morning saw the arrival of my second child, a little girl. So we are all back at home with the family complete. I'm guessing my big fish sessions may be a little thin on the ground whilst the dust settles but please continue to visit and look at the other posts that I've published since my blog started. Thanks.

First tench session of the year

With the warmer weather finally here I thought it was time to tackle a tench or two. My choice of venue was a pool reputed to be hard going but with some reasonable tench and chance of carp or bream putting in an appearance. 

With it being bank holiday weekend coupled with fine weather it was hardly surprising to see a number of anglers already fishing when I arrived at around 4pm. With the sun bearing down, fishing appeared to have been slow all day with no fish being reported by the anglers I spoke to. I had never fished or even visited the venue before so I had a dilemma as to where I should fish. With this in mind I decided to have a walk to see if I could find any sign of life. The centre of the lake showed vigorous growth of lily pads all

A stunning sunset

reaching for the water’s surface. I noticed a couple of small carp cruising amongst them. I finally settled at the top of the lake in a quiet corner littered with sunken branches with a gentle breeze pushing towards me. Immediately, I was aware of a couple of reasonable sized carp present amongst the trees. One of them seemed to have a sizeable wound behind its dorsal fin but it seemed unperturbed. I threw a few dog biscuits in their direction. I always carry a few as I see myself as something of an opportunist and don't want to be sat there regretting my inability to snare a feeding carp. However, these carp were not feeding. The largest did cautiously take one biscuit while the remainder were nibbled by small fish. In fact I saw these carp several times through the session but they never seemed settled or catchable.

Anyway, I decided to get myself back on track and commence my tench fishing. The idea was to fish the float and maggot close in and then set up a groundbait feeder rigged helicopter style baited with boilies or sweetcorn. This rod would be set up with a bobbin and alarm but I was keen to recast every 10 minutes to get some bait down. The hours passed in the blazing sun and both rigs remained untouched. I tinkered with the feeder rig as it was picking up weed so I tried to balance the hookbaits to ensure they did not disappear amongst the debris. I figured my best hope would come with sunset. 

A lovely rudd, but where were the tench?

As the sun dipped behind the trees my float finally started to show some signs of fish. It rose, it swayed, it sank. Strike! Frustratingly, it met with thin air but my maggot hookbait had been damaged. Had some tench finally moved in on my bed of hemp and maggot? A recast saw my float back in position. Again my float dipped but this time I made contact; however this fish was not taking line. Seconds later a small rudd was swung to hand, a beautiful little specimen of a few ounces. I continued to feed and it soon became apparent that all the fish in my swim were rudd, and unfortunately all of a similar size. It was no longer difficult to muster bites and I took further fish of a similar size. With darkness fast approaching I knew my best bet of a bigger fish would be via my boilie bait. Although I had a few bleeps on my alarm nothing developed and my session ended.

It would have been nice to have recorded a tench of course, but it was a beautiful evening as the sun set on the lake. The rudd, although small, were perfectly formed and they are undoubtedly one of our most stunning species of course fish. Fishing a venue for the first time is always a learning curve and never beaten I will be sure to return with amended tactics. Next time I will change my location slightly and also I'm going to investigate using the 'naked chod' rig to enable me to sit a bait just above the weed. It's not a rig I've used before as I'm not really into carp fishing too much apart from surface fishing. I will of course scale it down a little to target tench but I think it could be effective at this venue. Only time will tell so if anyone has any ideas or tips then let me know.