Well here we go my first entry into the blog.
March and April usually sees me having my annual break from the fishing, I tend to hit it pretty hard during the winter months chasing big pike and last winter was no exception so this break of late has allowed me to get other things done that have took a back seat during the last few months. Recently I've managed to get a few things done about the house, started working on restoring my friends 14ft Mayland boat and even started a new relationship in my life with a cracking woman...all things that take up plenty of your time! I've always fancied setting up a blog to record my catches but never really found the time to get round to starting it, it's here now though so hopefully I can keep on top of it regularly!
Anyway back to fishing matters...
During the last few weeks it has felt more like the middle of summer than the start of spring what with the unseasonal high temperatures we've been experiencing lately. It was only a few weeks ago I was packing the pike gear away at the end of February and now air temps are already hitting 18degrees! If there's one species of fish that goes hand in hand with warmer weather fishing it really has to be the Tench. I don't usually start my Tench fishing until about the middle of May but decided to give it a go today with the hope of maybe snagging one or two in the warm spring sunshine!
Armed with my trusty 8ft quiver tip rod, a 4000rb hyper loop reel loaded with 6lb braided mainline I headed off out with my daughter to a local pond.
Tactics for the day were simple...bait up a few different swims and see what happens. The rig and bait we were using was simplistically in itself too, a simple running maggot feeder rig with 4lb fluorocarbon hook link tied onto a size 10 Kamazan hook with a tub of maggots and bag of sweet corn for bait, it really doesn't get any simpler.
Into the first baited swim of the day...The feeder had just hit the bottom under some over hanging trees I had baited previously, half a turn of the reel handle got the rod tip set to detect a bite and straight away I had and interest in my corn and maggot cocktail! Short fast taps told me what the culprit was and as I thought this resulted in a small perch. On most of the waters I fish perch are usually always the first fish to react to a bit of bait going in the swim and it seemed this one was playing to the rule book perfectly.
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Ten minutes and a dozen or so perch later it became apparent to me that the Tench had moved in. Fizzing started everywhere, the perch bites dried up and instead I started to get a few slow pulls round on the rod tip, this was from the Tench brushing the line with there fins. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before one would slip up and take a bait with the hook attached. Sure enough just as the thought entered my mind the tip wrenched round and I was into the first Tench of the day, a spirited fish of around 1lb in weight, not the size I was after but it was a start none the less.
As always....what I do once that first fish comes out is I leave the swim for a few minutes and add in a bit more bait to get them competing a bit again and less spooky. That first few minutes after the first fish is hooked can often make or break the session. The secret to keep catching Tench all day long ive found is to keep the fish feeding in your area, baiting little and often is the key! If you do this then the chances of catching pretty much every fish in the swim are pretty good. I've found Tench to be notorious for moving into a swim eating a bit then moving on elsewhere, especially the bigger fish. So if you turn up to a water chuck a load of bait in and cast your rod(s) out in amongst it you really aren't doing yourself much favours, its much better to build up the fishes confidence get them competing amongst themselves then they are pretty much suicidial when it comes to taking a bait.
Anyway after that first Tench a dozen or so grains of corn were added into the swim and it soon became apparent that the resident perch had been bullied out of the swim because as soon as I casted out again straight away I was into another Tench, this action carried on for most of the day catching 21 Tench in total between 12oz and 5lb 2oz. I some how managed to pull the hook out of the best fish of the day that looked every bit of 7lb+ at the side of the net.
...never mind im back at them again on Monday
Craig Renwick
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