A mixed bag - of fish and weather

I was in two minds about this session. The rivers had opened the day before and were up and coloured. Barbel would be feeding. However I had one of those indefinable feelings telling me to go tenching again. The weather forecast was not great, with heavy showers and prolonged spells of rain forecast over the next couple of days, even though it was a glorious summer's afternoon as I headed south and remained pleasantly warm as I settled into my chosen swim.

Swim selection had also been the result of a hunch, it being one I hadn't fished before, but it felt right. A small roach/bream hybrid took a couple of plastic casters almost straight away, but by the time it went dark nothing else had happened. As night fell so did the forecast rain, which, although not heavy, lasted all night. The only action to the rods during darkness being an occasional line bite or tufty activity.

Dawn broke calm and dry but it wasn't until six o'clock that a positive bite registered. The method feeder rod tore off and a tench was hooked, only for it to fall off when it hit a patch of weed. The hook came back draped in Canadian pondweed and a small piece of plastic bag. After that bream started showing up, not large, the biggest being around the six pound mark, but they came along at intervals during the day. At quarter past ten, after a couple of bream had been landed on the double caster/maggot feeder rod the corn on the method rod was away again and a six pound tench safely landed.

Around one o'clock the first of the showers arrived right on cue after a few fish had rolled in my swim. I had switched to two method feeders by now, both fishing two grains of plastic corn, as that seemed to be the going method to catch the tench. For what it's worth the mix I was using consisted of hemp, molasses meal, assorted 4mm and 6mm halibut and Sonu feed pellets bound together with p.v.1 binder.

By two o'clock it was raining hard enough for me to be willing the bobbins to remain still when the one on the caster rod started doing its up-and-down going-nowhere bream dance. The rain was pounding on the brolly so hard I couldn't hear the Delkim! I threw on my jacket and landed the fish as quickly as possible, recasting an empty feeder just so I could dive back under cover. But as I reset the indicator I noticed that the bobbin on the middle method rod was up to the top and the line as taut as a bowstring. Again I had heard nothing. The bream had obviously moved in.

On picking the rod up the fish was weeded but steady pressure got it moving towards me. A couple of thumps told me the fish was still on and I wasn't just dragging a ball of weed in. Two more thumps and the 'bream' came free, took a bit of line and kited to my left. Ooops. It was a tench! Standing out in the lake in my waders with the rain lashing into me would not have made for the traditional tench fishing scene. Again the hook held, and after a good scrap my biggest fish off the water so far was in the net.

Such was the changeable nature of the weather that by the time I had the fish weighed and ready for the snaps the sun was shining, and as soon as the fish was returned it was hot enough to get my damp gear dried out!

The rest of the afternoon was quiet, apart from the unusual, to me at least, experience of catching two perch on fake casters. One weighed in at 1lb 12oz. The amount of fry to be seen in the margins explained the presence of the perch. Maybe I should have put a worm out to see if there were any bigger ones around.

The afternoon turned into a glorious evening and brought the bream which showed at intervals into dark. An hour or so before dark I had swapped the maggot feeder for a straight leger with two 10mm boilies, and just before 10 o'clock something made off with them at a rate of knots. How I failed to hook it was mystery. A little doubt crept in over this, was the hair too long? A bream shortly after and a roach/bream hybrid of 4lb 11oz at 1 o'clock set my mind at rest on that score.

The following dawn was more like you would expect at this time of year, flat calm with wisps of mist rolling over the surface of the water. Again the tench refused to roll and bubble to complete the picture. It wasn't until 5.40 am that the final tench of the session made an appearance, a five pounder that was in a rather sorry state around the vent. I caught up on some sleep and packed away my gear as the midday shipping forecast interrupted the commentary from the fourth test.

Method Feeder Rig

Without a doubt this rig, in various guises, has proved to be my most successful so far this spring. Various feeders have been tried and I have settled on the Drennan's for now. The only 'faults' with the feeders are that the tail rubbers are a bit of a slack fit, easily cured by a dab of super glue, and the hole through the tail rubber is very small - only a problem if you are visually handicapped!

All dead simple. Mould some groundbait laced with hemp and pellets around the feeder, chuck the lot out, set the bobbins, sit back and wait.

A larger swivel could be used for attaching the hooklink, but I like to make the link come out stiffly from the feeder using the silicone tubing to completely eliminate tangles. While I have mostly been using two grains of plastic corn the rig works equally well with other baits, popped up or on the bottom.

Maggot Feeder Rig

Last year I was using a helicopter variant as my maggot feeder rig, but changing hooklinks was a bit of a pain and I was never convinced that it was all that good a rig anyway. Although this one uses more components than I'd really like it is pretty simple, and easily converted to a straight leger rig. I don't like quick-change connectors between my main line and hooklink, preferring to retie the knot. It takes only a few seconds longer, ensures that the knot isn't neglected and makes the rig more streamlined. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

The feeder is a 30gm Kamasan Blackcap, and the backlead shoved inside it is around 30gm too. This makes for a feeder that flies well, is heavy enough to tighten up to without moving and which still sits horizontal on the lake bed. Using a sliding Powergum Stop Knot to trap the Run Ring between two beads makes the hooklink stand out from the main line on the cast, and gives me the option to quickly change to a free running rig should I so desire - by sliding the knot up the line a few feet.

For what it's worth I have been using Daiwa Infinity Duo as mainline, in the 0.285 diameter. I quote the diameter because this line is IGFA rated at 12lb, so it will break below that. I have heard it said that Duo is bad for line twist, but I have actually found it to be less prone to twisting than Sensor. Maybe it's the fact that the two-tone colouration of the line that makest he line twist readily visible that has given Duo this reputation?

It was the limpness of Duo that attracted me to it in the first place, and it has proved good in that respect once loaded on the reels, and it seems pretty abrasion resistant too. Reflo Powerline has been a good reliable hooklink material so far, in both 0.19 for the casters and 0.21 for corn. It's maybe not as limp as it could be in short lengths, but it is very clear and I can't see the need to delve into the murky world of fluorocarbons when this stuff is avialable.

One thing I don't like about using plastic baits is trapping them on the hair using a bait stop. It looks kind of clumsy, although I know full well it doesn't put the fish off. Even so I have had problems with artificial baits falling off the hair, so when using casters and pellets I tie them on to the hair. That way they ain't going nowhere!

While I have read that Kamasan Animals are not particularly sharp hooks, my experience has been different. Even so, it's no great hardship to run a file over a hook if the point is not up to snuff. When I want to use a small hook the Animal is the one I go for.

So that's about it. Maybe not the most exciting rig, but it seems to work well enough.

It's not what you do, but where you do it.

This time last year I took up an offer of some tench fishing on a southern gravel pit, and came away with a new PB, beating the one I had caught a few days earlier on another water. They say you should never go back, but another invite was forthcoming and off I went - to discover the tench fishing had slowed down, but some decent bream had been showing up.

The swim I had been told to head for was taken but the carp anglers were helpful when they knew I was after tench and I headed for another swim at the same end of the lake. Tench started showing almost immediately and I had soon located a nice hard patch not too far out. Apparently a maggot feeder approach had been sorting the tench out, so I started out with one rod on that, with three red maggots on the hook, and a method feeder with my trusty grains of plastic corn on the other rod. Half a dozen small spodsfull of hemp went out and I sat back. The tench continued to show but the bobbins remained inactive.

As darkness fell an eel of about a pound took the maggots, so that rod was switched to another method feeder, but with a single plastic pellet on the hair. At half past eleven the corn rod tried to spring into life, but as it was a bream that had picked up the 'corn' it wasn't exactly hyper. The dead weight on the end of the line told it's story, a couple of tail slaps as it neared the net and I had my first double in the net. In the past I had scoffed at people fishing for bream, but now I could see the attraction. When they get to that sort of size they look like another species.

The next time an alarm sounded it was a proper screamer, and at two in the morning it was a bit of a shock. Unfortunately the hook point made contact with the pellet and I failed to hook the fish.

At dawn the tench were rolling and tail slapping again, so the maggot feeder went back out, this time with two plastic casters on the hair. I do like these plastic baits. However it was the corn that was off again, and a hard scrapping seven pounder, the deepest bodied tench I have ever seen, was netted and returned. I didn't bother with a photo as the way the tench were rolling in the area I was sure more would be following soon. Well, if more than twelve hours later is soon, one did!

Having a chat and a cup of tea with my host when he called to see me after work the casters headed for the hills. This tench fought harder than the first one, and I was concerned about the hold the size 16 hook had. Rightly so as it fell out in the net. In the sling and weighed it was a new personal best by two ounces.


As you can see above, I let some old bloke hold it for the photograph...

Despite more tench activity on the surface the infuriating fish would not pick up my baits. So, in preparation for some more bream activity I again rigged up two method feeders and lay back for some sleep. I was awoken around two by a very dodgy take to the corn rod, and it was like Groundhog Day as the perfect twin, to the ounce, of the first night's bream was netted. This time I made a slightly better job of the photos, though.


The final morning dawned damp, and again tench were everywhere. Only one small one deigned to pick up one of my artificial offerings, and picking a lull in the rain I packed up and headed for the water I have been fishing since April.

Talking to the anglers already there things had gone from bad to worse and very little action was being had - although one bloke I was talking to as he set up stall had fish rolling all over the place in front of him. I chose to head for a swim that, although usually popular, hadn't been fished for some weeks. As soon as I had my baits out a good tench rolled over them. More visual signs of tench followed before dark and at dawn, more so than usual on this venue, but take my baits they would not. A move was called for and a chat with other anglers to see what had been occurring. Not a lot. The guy who had a swim full of tench had not had a sniff! What to do? Pick a swim with no tench activity?

I set up away from the rolling fish, but not too far away,and put out some bait again. Felt confident. Saw tench over the bait. And blanked. The following morning dawned foggy, and when it lifted and the chill went from the air I called it quits. Just goes to show that you have to be on feeding fish to catch them.

Bump - back down to earth

Armed with my successful new tactics, brimming with confidence and encouraged by the weather I was back again for three, maybe four nights of tench packed fishing. The wind direction suggested that the tench should still be in the same place as last week, and although I actually hoped to get a different swim the one I fancied was already occupied and I settled into the one I had fished last week. Baits out by five o'clock and it was only a matter of time before the tench would start crawling up the rods.

Despite an almost perfect sunset it was dark by the time a five pound male tried to eat my fake corn at 10.25. As it was bound to be the first of many more tench I didn't bother with a photo, and I didn't bother taking a picture of the small roach/bream hybrid that picked the same bait up at four am, nor the tufty that had expressed a liking for a fake pellet half an hour earlier. Something was bound to happen during the morning, and it did. A pike snaffled the corn on the way in, and nearly made it to the net before it bit through the hooklink. Nothing else showed any interest in my baits until I decided on a move at eight the following morning when a pike of four or five pounds nailed a 10mm boilie as I began to wind it in. This one was hooked in the scissors and was safely landed and returned.

I had two areas in mind for the move, and despite expecting a late arrival to have nabbed my first choice swim it was still free. The angler was fishing twenty or thirty yards from it and had just returned a tench as I approached. My mind made up I set up in swim choice one. After a few hours someone in the area I had marked down as choice number two landed a fish. Not to worry, things were still looking good. The afternoon was pleasant and it felt like a take could be imminent at any time. In area choice two it was, as I saw another fish landed... Dusk arrived, a tench rolled, and the wind swung round into the brolly, bringing a little drizzle with it, so I turned it round. Cosy again, I settled in for the night staring at the motionless isotopes.

Then the wind swung back where it had started from and brought more drizzle of a heavier nature. I moved the brolly back just before the drizzle became rain. Just after midnight, during a dry spell, I got a drop back that was the result of a liner. On recasting there was a tentative take on the corn and I lifted into an obvious bream.

For once it wasn't a skimmer, and although it wasn't a monster it was the biggest I had ever hooked so it got it's photo taken in the dark - in more rain. Shortly after recasting I had another line bite which I ignored. Every so often until dawn I would be woken by yet another liner on the same rod. Somehow I rather suspected that a smallish bream had hung itself - so it proved when I decided to rebait and recast the rods in daylight when the rain had cleared.

A nice ripple on the water as the sun rose and the day warmed up should surely have heralded tench activity. But no. Not a sniff. Deciding to call it quits I was on the road home by half past twelve. A few days of work will ensue to reappraise the situation and plan the next part of the campaign after this minor setback.

Nothing succeeds like success

When you are blanking it's all too easy to stay at home when you really should be out there doing it. Conversely when you have had a good session you will move heaven and earth to get back and do it again. After my last session I was definitely in the latter mode. I had hoped to get away on Wednesday and return home on Friday as I had to be somewhere on Saturday morning, but Wednesday didn't pan out. Either I could do an overnighter Thursday-to-Friday or fish through until early Saturday morning. I decided to push my luck.

There was fairly strong north-westerly pushing down the lake, and fish had been caught close to where I had caught last time. So I set up on the downwind side of the willow and fished baits on the edge of the mudline being created off the point to my right. It didn't take long before tench number one made off with a couple of grains of fake corn on the method feeder rod. A male with a rather tatty tail.


Before dark two more fish were landed including a seven pounder which picked up two fake casters on the maggot feeder.

For some reason this rig is proving my least effective, although it does catch an occasional fish. The night was pretty quiet, apart from the obligatory two o'clock four pound bream. Then just as daylight was starting to make an appearance the boilie rod was away resulting in another seven pounder, and as I was rebaiting the hair something made off with the method fished corn. Two fish in ten minutes and then nothing until half nine when I suffered a hook pull after playing a fish for a reasonable length of time. Having only just changed the hook (because a pike had bitten off the original hooklink) I was cursing the different pattern I had used.


I needn't have worried as two more fish were successfully landed on it later in the day, although the afternoon was quiet, a last fish of the day took a boilie at quarter to ten. Around noon the wind had swung round to the west and intensified producing far from traditional tench conditions.

I like a decent wave when I'm tench fishing, but this westerly was cold and so was the ensuing night - certainly compared to Thursday night which was positively balmy. In truth I wasn't too confident, and sure enough only one bleep from the alarms troubled my slumber. Despite Saturday dawning with a lighter wind and sunshine no early morning feeders made their presence known, and as I left for home another angler reported that sport had dried up for him when the wind had picked up, having had only one run (which slipped the hook) in almost 24 hours.

Having ended the session with nine tench you can bet that I'll be trying to get through my work early this week so I can head back for another session while they are feeding. The females are starting to fill out, and a big fish could be on the cards over the next couple of weeks.