Late Season Tench

With just a few hours spare it was only going to be a quick visit, however it would be good to familiarise myself with the lake once again now the Autumn had arrived.  

I used my usual tactics, a spread of boilie, helicopter rigs and a critically balanced bait on the hair.  The day in question saw blazing sunshine, a real Indian summer few days were on the cards.  I climbed a nearby tree to hopefully spot a few fish, however I saw nothing moving and saw no movement in the shallows just to my right.  I decided to sit it out on my known spots that produced in the summer.

After a couple of hours just gone midday, with the sun at its highest and hottest my rod tore off and the alarm alerted me to a vicious take.  The weed at this time of year was very thick and twice the fish found sanctuary causing me to keep the pressure on and slowly pull the fish through, eventually a pretty tench around 4 1/2 pounds was safely in the net.

The fish was in great condition after spawning and obviously feeding again in preparation for the colder months ahead.  The tench was returned and I recast the rod.  I didnt have to wait long within 15 minutes I was into my second fish which turned out to be another lovely looking Tench in the 4lb bracket.  A brace of fours in the blazing heat, in the middle of the day, you just never know with this fishing lark!

The dragonflys were in abundance and I did manage to capture a courting couple that sat still for a few seconds.  

Time for Tench

This Spring and early Summer has seen me tackling a stillwater that sees very little angling pressure and because of this I started a baiting campaign a few weeks prior to fishing.  It is a very weedy venue and finding clear spots can be tricky however a few hours spent with the marker rod I soon had the venue mapped out.

My prebaiting consisted of boilies only, the reliable Charwood Baits MPP.  As the venue also holds perch and silver fish I wanted to create feeding areas for the tench.   I stuck with the helicopter rig as this venue has silt and soft mud on the bottom.  I have had a handful of sessions on the venue in the last month with reasonable success.

My first session I decided to target a shallower area of the lake and and with just an hour of my session left I hooked and landed the biggest tench to fall from the venue this season, at 6lb 8oz she was real plump beautiful tench.

The next time I visited the lake I targetted a different area however I didnt have to wait long for another take, this time a battered looking male around 4lb put in an appearance.

The best was yet to come and although a repeat capture and obviously preparing to spawn was a fish of 6lb 14oz.  It was part of a 5 fish haul in a few hours and was a very enjoyable session.  I also lost another tench to the weed that managed to shed the hook.

All the fish have fallen to Charwood MPP boilie and the helicopter rig and quite often during the middle of the day. 

 I felt I got the prebaiting tactics correct and it paid dividends on my short sessions.  Im sure the fish will be looking to spawn over the next few weeks as the weather warms which falls in nicely with the start of the river season.  I am hoping to improve on both my barbel and chub pbs this season with a couple of different stretches to target.  

Small fish attacking a discarded pop up

My lack of fishing sessions this year, have coincided with me finally completing the remaining chapters of my first ebook Fishing The Dream, which will be available to download in the next month.  It covers a 12 month period of my fishing some years ago when I managed several pbs including pike, tench, roach, bream, catfish, zander also dozens of big carp from some famous fisheries.  It will include tactics, characters I met along the way and my experiences of my time on the bank.  Keep an eye for it on Amazon shortly.