We chose to fish a lake which contains just tench and nothing else besides a few small perch. How weird it is to cast and know that every bite will result in a tench and every sign of fish movement seen is always from tench too. That's just not normal on any other fishery I know of where a bite on say worm or maggot can be from any one of ten or more species, and could result in anything from a one ounce gudgeon to a forty pound carp.
The day was windy and overcast with the air threatening to bring rain at any moment. It wasn't cold but constant wind has a way of wearing you down whatever its temperature, doesn't it? Martin chose the most sheltered swim on the lake in the far corner where he had a variety of features to cast a float to and I set up in the next peg along where I chose to fish two method feeders on bobbins and alarms tight to a central lily bed.
Martin fished a pellet on his sleeper rod and worm on the float but my bait choice was prawn, a bait that is fast becoming a favourite with me as I find that it works just about everywhere and instantly too, even if the fish have never seen or eaten one before in their lives. My method mix was brown breadcrumb mixed with crushed pellets, sweetcorn, mashed prawn, a little fresh white bread introduced as a binder and all mixed with a little lake water to a consistency that would break down over half an hour or so.
I had a run and hooked the first fish about three quarters of an hour in, a plump buttery tench (what else!) of about two and a half pounds
The next run came just a short while later and I thought I was in for a red letter day but the fish threw the hook, as did the next, and then the missed bites came and more lost fish and on and on till I was left scratching my head in bewilderment. Martin hadn't had a touch in all this time but when he eventually did he landed a fish and then proceeded to bank one after the other for the remainder of the day whilst my fishing deteriorated to the point where I was hard pressed to get even a bite.
By mid-day I had landed three fish, but Martin at least twelve and to both worm and pellet in equal numbers. I effected rig changes but as the fishing out front had tailed off to the point where bites were coming on the hour rather than every few minutes, it was now impossible to ascertain if any of my changes made much of a difference.
I tried a move to the other side of the lake but this was a mistake as I then had to sit in the teeth of the wind totally exposed to it force. I lasted an hour here and then moved into the opposite corner where I found some calm water near a lily bed where I could float fish the remainder of the afternoon away in relative comfort.
I had another tench at last knockings, one with an extraordinary red mouth colouration that made it appear to be wearing lipstick!
We packed up soon after with Martin having landed well over twenty fish but not one over four pounds and with an average weight of just two which across such a large sample is not especially encouraging if you are after a specimen, and they do go to specimen sizes in that lake, topping out at over nine pounds. I'd guess you'd have to be extremely lucky to ever catch such a fish though, the numbers are stacked against you.
so you don't want to go again then.
ReplyDeleteHow about the bream and roach pool then ? martin
Commercials seem so, well, so very wrong.
ReplyDeleteA bit of background: I haven't fished since childhood - mid-teens and mid-80s - but have found a mild addiction in a number of very good blogs (this being one of the best of course!). Way back when, glass fibre had only just given way to carbon (at least in the affordability stakes); the local tackle shop was an Aladdin's Cave (at least to a 13 year old); and everything was a bit of an adventure.
Park lakes, ponds in farmers fields, canals and the occasional river trip but always into the unknown. You'd bike it, grab the bus or take the train - sometimes the bus the train - often every day during the holidays. Kirkby ringed hooks gave way to spade-ends once you'd taught yourself how to tie them, the float that was 'free' from the front page of the AT got replaced with one that was far more suitable and, above all, you watched and you learned.
Practice brought progress. From chucking out a swimfeeder on your first trip to the Trent (how wide it seemed) and catching only a few gudgeon, you started to understand how to fish the stick (and found that, you too could make the weigh-in on those early morning coach trips). You never really stopped learning because there was so much that was unknown. Fishing was challenging and mysteries abounded: the 2lb Tench, the 'big' Chub (3lb+) that make you shake and that very first carp (tiny but with the hardest of fights).
I guess commercials serve a purpose but at what price? Guaranteed 'bagging' from what are effectively stock ponds, a power point at your peg and deliveries from the local takeaway isn't fishing. Untrammelled consumerism has a very awkward fit.
G, were you striking the runs or just tightening onto the fish?
ReplyDelete9lbs Tench I very much doubt it.If there was where are the 5-6-7-8lbers.If there is a top to the pyramid there has to be something in between.I would suggest its bailiff/owner talk
ReplyDeleteMartin, the bottom lake looks pretty good.
ReplyDeleteKB, I think 'guaranteed' fish should be the sole reserve of expert anglers who have served their time and even they should struggle some of the time! Everyone else needs to struggle half of the time or else angling becomes just another facet of consumerism - a kind of fast food fishing?
JAA, yes at first and no in the end
And Mervin, I agree.