I was originally intending on fishing hemp and sweetcorn but after missing several bites and then landing 3 skimmer bream to around 3lb I decided to try a 3 maggots on the 14 hook and after again missing a few indications I connected with my first tench of the season and after a spirited fight I slid the net under this 2lb 3oz specimen .
I carefully weighed and photographed it and gently slid it back into the lake I rebaited and cast out and quickly added another skimmer bream , there then followed a brief quiet period before the float disappeared and I was attached to what felt like alot better fish and it gave a good account of itself but eventually another tench succumbed and slid over the net and what a fabulously immaculate looking fish it was and pulled the scales round to a satisfying 4lb 10oz .
I was now happy with both my set up and with what I had caught already , my time was running out and despite adding 2 more skimmers no more tench showed and I packed up and left for home .
My next session was to be a short morning session on a new venue the Grantham Canal , I had previously only walked the venue once and had been given information about my prospects .
My first job was to drag the swim as had been warned about the weed and that it attracts the tench .
I had mixed a small amount of ground bait consisting of grilled hemp and Sensas Tench ground bait and put 4 tangerine size balls into the swim . My tactics again revolved around the float and laying on but switched to a smaller insert waggler . I spent a very frustrating 3 hours trying to avoid hordes of rudd between 4oz and topped with this 10oz sample .
As you can see in the picture it had escaped a pike attack which the canal is full of and I even had what looked a mid double laid in the margin at my feet for a few minutes before it startled as I moved and roared off . Suddenly the rudd vanished and my thoughts were the pike had spooked them but whatever had happened it allowed some skimmer bream to move in and I added half a dozen before again it went quiet . With my time running out I finally connected with what was obviously something a little better and my first canal tench slid over the rim of the landing net . On the scales a weight of 2lb 9oz was recorded .
Time for one last cast and the float disappeared and I was connected to another tench this time a smaller sample of 1lb 10oz
My last session for this blog was yesterday and after just completing my first set of 3 x 12 hour shifts I had decided on a dinnertime til teatime session again on the Grantham canal but a different section , however I was greeted with heavy rain and the forecast was for most of the day and the thought of driving for 35 mins to sit in the rain for only a few hours , I did a quick venue change and went back to the match lake , now I had over heard talk of an 8lb 7oz tench coming out since my last visit from only a few swims away from where I had been last time , however on arriving and walking the lake in the rain the strong gusting wind was going straight into those swims , now while I dont mind wind or rain together they are pain and so ended up in a area I had not previously fished . I got my gear to the swim and put the brolly up which seemed ok until the wind began swirling and the brolly looked in danger , oh well the rain had stopped and I felt it worth the risk so took the brolly down . Now the 3 pints of maggots I had left from my previous trip had now become 3 pints of casters but teamed with the 3 pints of hemp I had brought I felt this wouldnt be a problem . I set up the slider and off we went , now I was still unwinding from my shifts and so spent the first 3 hours or so fishing like a noddy , double caster was producing bite after bite , which I was missing and getting shelled . I eventually started connecting with the culprits and they turned out to be roach between 6oz and 1lb 3oz .
I upped the feed and finally got my head going and put a buoyant fake caster on the hook and then added a real one which meant if I missed a quick indications there would still be bait there , I added a couple more roach before they disappeared and I soon found out why as I pulled out of carp , oh bugger had hoped to avoid them again . Next cast and I'm in to a another fish but this time its my intended quarry and a tench is soon on the mat and weighs 3lb 6oz .
Within a few minutes I am attached to another carp with again sheds the hook which didnt bother me til I remembered I needed a mirror and common carp for the rod race . After a 15 minute period of nothing I add a 2nd tench of 3lb .
I then added a skimmer around 3lb before getting broke by a carp and so reluctantly upped my hooklink from 3lb 3oz to 5lb 14oz and promptly added a common carp of 3lb 1oz and the next cast a mirror 6lb 15oz
It suddenly started going dark and decided it was time to leave , within seconds of me beginning to start to pack up the heavens opened and by the time I made it to the van you couldnt see and I was drenched .
My next session is in 3 days and feel I must do the match lake again . I have also got the Tenchfishers fish in to look forward to at the end of April which is 2 days at Sywell Reservoir .
Well I decided to add a brief update to this as was out yesterday for my last session before Sywell . I decided to try an afternoon session and again fished a sliding windbeater rig . After getting a little bait in I had my first fish this lovely roach of 1lb 4oz
I then started suffering bites that I could connect with and so made various adjustments before landing a tench of 2lb 15oz
I quiet spell followed and I then hooked a carp which I managed to lose at the net but as anyone reading this will know is not a great loss to me . I then had a perch off 1lb 1oz but unfortunately didnt get a photo of it . With time running out I managed to add another tench of 2lb .
I am still hoping to catch one of the alleged bigger tench but have now been told that there aint as many in there as people are saying but will be back on there after my visit to Sywell for the Tenchfisher 60th anniversary fish in .
