Spring tenching continued..

Whilst waiting for my syndicate ticket to start and with other venues shut due to the close season I was lost on what to fish for and where to fish. There's a lovely estate lake on my club ticket which held some tench. The tench stock is pretty un known as is there size. With 90% of anglers who fish there being carp anglers it's always hard to gauge the size of tench as you always get.. How big was the tench you had mate "easssyyy 10lb the thing was massive! I didn't weigh it but it was massive" classic carpy's always the way! Still I had no real plans or venues I wanted to fish so I decided to drop onto the venue for a couple of nights. I arrived at the lake and was amazed by its beauty! Only a few acres in size but so beautiful! Every swim closed in by pads so no one can cast over you! Just what I like! It didn't take me long to see some tench rolling in a corner bay away from all the pressure from the carp anglers. I dropped in the swim and set up base. 

I had a quick lead about to find the bottom pretty uniform. Mainly soft silt with a couple of harder areas. I chose my spots which were tight against the pads and introduced a few balls of my ground bait mix which consisted of sticky baits krill active mix, maggot, hemp and sticky baits pure krill liquid. As the bottom was silty and there were a lot of nusance fish I decided to fish two Drennan 2oz open end feeders. I fished these helicopter style with two 8" 15lb supple hook links with size 10 specimen barbel hooks. For the hook baits I used two sticky baits krill Wafters perfect for tench! With the rods deployed I could sit back and take it all in. Sadly nothing happened through the night but at first light the dawn chorus was interrupted by one of my alarms and I was into my first fish from the venue. It felt like a good sized tench and I wasn't half wrong. After steering the red eyed tinca clear from the pads she was soon in the back of my net! What a beautiful specimen to! 

I was soaking in the moment when the second rod disrupted the silence once again! I was on a roll here! Again the fish felt good and it felt like a tench, this time this tench put up a very good account of itself nearly snagging me up a few times! But luckily it wasn't long before I was sweeping the net under her! Another beautiful tench lay in the net awaiting pics! The other tench was still in the net resting up! It all happened so quick! After a few special shots both tench were released and I sat back with a tea with a cheeky grin on my face! 

I was buzzing! It's always good when a plan comes together especially a last minute one! My times very limited so it's always a extra bonus when I catch. The morning was slow with no signs of tench showing in my swim. I'm not one for sitting on my hands and waiting for a bite so I was looking to move, with it being a weekend and the lake being busy I didn't have to many options. I know that tench are classic first light feeders so I thought to myself I could just sit it out.. Before I had the chance to pack up and move another bite fell to the right rod and again I was playing a tench! And it felt a lot better to! At one point I thought it was a carp! After a hairy fight the tench was in the net! I unhooked the tench and got the rod straight back out onto the spot. 

I prepared the scales and the sling and had a quick tea before doing the shots. This tench was a lot bigger than the first two! 

I was over the moon! A lovely plump long female! Elated with the session so far! 

After a few shots I returned the lovely tench back to her home and got some more bait out onto the spots. With bait out and the rods re positioned I sat it out and waited. Sadly no more bites fell that session but I was over the moon with the three beauty's I caught! I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. Thank you