Tricky Tench

Last year I was lucky enough to find a tarn in Cumbria that promises to become my tench paradise. I had a  visit on a day ticket basis and although not really successful- one hooked and lost fish followed by tentative bites that seemed impossible to hit- I found myself smitten with the water and the potential that it promised. Another angler visiting from North Wales was luckier (or more skillful) that day and managed five fish in the morning session. Two of these were over 6lbs and the other three around 4lbs. The biggest fish caught so far is a 10lb specimen and the consensus amongst anglers I've chatted with suggests that there may be fish as big as 15lb. However, as I have found out this lake does not give up it's fish easily.
Throughout the close season I meticulously planned a 24 hour plus visit to this lake with the hope of starting my season off with a possible personal best tench.

I arrived at around 7pm on the evening of June 18th. It had been a rare beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and no rain. The first sight of bubbles in the swim around 8.30pm had me on the edge of my seat. I had decided to float fish even though the lake is around 11 feet deep straight in front of you. I should probably have used a sliding float but as I was only fishing around a rod length out casting wasn't a problem. As you can see from the photograph the margins have an abundant growth of lillies so I used 6.6lb line on one of my trusty Mitchell 300As. To begin with I tried feeding a small amount of hemp and a few pieces of corn into the swim and fished a single grain on a size 14 hook. Bubbles continued to appear sporadically through the evening but aside from a couple of little touches that didn't really develop there was no sign of tench. I switched to double red maggot for a while and caught a couple of the lake's other inhabitants some splendidly striped perch. With darkness falling I switched to a leger outfit and set up my light and got myself organised for the night. A few minutes after my first cast the heavens opened and it poured with rain for an hour or more.By midnight I still hadn't had any sign of interest so I headed back to the car to get a few hours sleep.
It's not easy sleeping in the front passenger seat of a Ford Focus and after four hours of sliding around the seat and wedging my feet in strange places I gave up on sleep and went back down to the lake. I made some coffee and a bacon sandwich and by 4.30am I was fishing again. It had been a bit chilly in the night and I was certainly up before the tench as it was sometime before any bubbles began to surface in the swim. I persevered with sweetcorn, both natural and sometimes homemade red strawberry flavour but any signs of interest were few and far between.There were a couple of definite bites later in the morning but unlike the classic rising, dithering and finally sailing away type bites these were fast like a dace attacking a maggot and consequently almost impossible to hit. I tried all manner of baits from worm to prawn in an attempt to get a really positive bite but all to no avail. By lunchtime I was fishing for perch with maggots for a bit of light relief. I caught a few and have to say the perch in this lake give such a spirited fight that I almost forgot why I'd come here.
It's a wonderfully peaceful setting and the day drifted by in a very pleasant way. I watched a mother duck supervise her 10 little ducklings as they cruised around the lake time and time again, chirping and running across lily pads.. All it was really lacking was a tench.
 Around 7pm I finally saw one. It was a splendid fish of maybe four or five pounds and it swam slowly past me in the tiny shallow area in front of the platform I was fishing from.To tease me even more by 8pm my float was surrounded by bubbles and I was clutching the rod ready to strike at the slightest movement. Of course the bite never came and as 10pm approached I finally decided to head home.
Although it wasn't quite the trip I had planned throughout the close season I learnt a lot about the lake and it's inhabitants during the time I was there and it has left me eager for more. There is something fascinating and challenging about such a water and I'm sure that in the next couple of months I will finally get one of those tricky tench in the net.

First Day

It's 4.15am on Sunday 17th June and I'm on the bank at last. The first surprise of the day is that the lake is around two feet above its normal level. The endless rain that is blighting June means that all the fishing platforms are submerged and to fish my favourite spot in the channel I'm left balancing on my stool on the slope that leads down to the peg. At least I had the foresight to wear my wellies.




With the water level high I'm forced back up the bank.

 

I set up two outfits. On the Anon Shaw cane rod with a Mitchell 300A loaded with 6lb line I'm legering a chunk of meat near to the reeds on the far side of the channel. to the left of the bush.  I float fish in the margin to my right with my favourite float rod an old Bacchus and Rhone Matchman's Peg. This has 3lb line on my other Michell 300A. On this outfit I have a homemade balsa and cane tench float and a size 14 hook and I alternate baits (worm, bread,sweetcorn and maggots), until I find the one that works best today.

At 5.20am I get my first run on the legered meat as a carp takes off like a train. It's not big. just under 3lb but it gets the cane creaking for a few minutes before it's safely in the net. My first fish of the new season. I quickly photograph it and slide it back into the water. I have a celebratory cup of coffee and a roll-up - it's a good start.

A few minutes later I pick up a half pound bream on the float outfit and another similar sized one on the legered meat. It's a calm morning and there is a short shower that has me sheltering under my brolley for ten minutes or so. A procession of small perch and a little dace fall to my float fished maggots. In all of last season I think I only caught a single perch so it is good to see them thriving in the lake. Eventually I get one that's a good quarter of a pound,
I'm enjoying myself now as it is always good to catch. However, it's summer and I have been dreaming of tench for weeks now, and so far the new stocking have been conspicuous by their absence. I decide to be a bit more Mr Crabtree in my approach and stick a big worm on the float tackle.Of course I catch another perch but I'm determined ( or desparate ) to stick it out for a tench. At just after 10.30am my dreams come true and finally get my first tench of the season. It's one of the new stocking and is a pristine fish of around ten inches long. I'm ecstatic. It also reminds me of the first one I ever caught back when I was just starting on my fishing adventure. That one also fell to a worm float fished in the margins. It doesn't seem to matter how old you get there is still that same thrill and excitement when you catch a tench. It's a fish that somehow seems to represent everything about fishing in the summer.The mist rising from the lake, the eerie silence of early morning, broken only by birdsong as the natural world wakes up and human kind sleeps in. This one fish makes the opening day for me.


I fish on for an hour or so and catch another carp on the meat. It's been a really good first trip out and I'm pleased with the mixed bag that I have caught. As it's Father's Day I promised to be back around noon so I pack up. I walk back to the car and I'm already thinking about the next trip out to my favourite tench lake.

Ready For The Off

So the waiting is almost over and the anticipation is reaching a  feverish high. My tackle is ready and I've just some bait to purchase on Saturday. I aim to be up around 3.30am and on the bank by 4am on Sunday morning.The only worry now is the weather. It doesn't look as though it will be the idyllic summers morning I'd hoped for so waterproofs and wellies will be the order of the day. You can't let a bit of unsettled weather get in the way of your opening day and the first chance to fish in three months. With any luck I'll get a fish or two. A tench and a crucian carp would be the perfect start.
If you are heading out this weekend I wish you the best of luck and my all your fishy dreams come true.

Along the Towpath to Wigan Pier (Part One)

I have little experience of canal fishing as my formative fishing years were spent on the ponds and lakes of the Forest of Dean. When my wife and I first moved to Lancashire we lived in the pretty little village of Parbold which has the Leeds Liverpool canal running through it. At that time I was quite obsessed with playing golf and so my free time was consumed by it. With the arrival of our son I had a new responsibility and free time became parent-time. It was then that I started regularly walking along the canal. I would talk to my son about canals and how the locks worked, point out the wildlife that we saw and tell him of the mysterious creatures that lived below the surface.I loved being by the canal. The soothing power that water seems to have on me was still there and I suppose it began to remind me of what I didn't know I missed.

Seven years later and my son is my occasional fishing partner. He's a bit short on patience so we need full on exciting fish a cast fishing- which we all know doesn't happen that much so I often go alone.
With roach in mind I thought I would give some of the often overlooked industrial sections of the canal a try When I say industrial sections I mean the stretch that leads up to Wigan Pier. Of course it's a post industrial landscape of retail parks and small industrial units now. The days when the canal was a vital artery for the transport of coal from the Wigan coalfields are long gone and what remains is a quiet corridor that allows the wildness of nature to sit close to the everyday trials and tribulations of a northern town fighting to keep it's head above the economic gloom of our current times.

The towpath to Wigan Pier

On a mild February afternoon I managed to snatch a couple of hours and find out what this stretch of canal had to offer. I found an inviting spot where the canal narrows with some overhanging trees on the far bank. I fed a few handfuls of hemp and loose maggots into the swim and set up a simple rig with a aged cork body antenna through to a size 20 hook on 2lb line. There was a bit of a swell due to a westerly wind and to be honest I didn't see the first bite. I picked up the rod to reel in and a roach of a few ounces was attached to my hook. Over the next two hours I caught 10 roach. All in prime condition with four of them pushing the half pound mark.
A week later I had another two hour session in the same stretch. However, in the intervening time someone had cleared the far bank of all the trees and bushes. I'm not sure why or what benefit it is supposed to bring. Thankfully I could still find the the same swim and I followed the same approach as before with nigh on identical results. Another 10 roach but this time only three pushing the half pound mark
I'm convinced that there are some bigger specimens lurking in this stretch so I intend to invest some time later in the summer and in to Autumn this season. Then I will try larger baits such as bread flake or sweetcorn on a larger hook and see if that produces a larger fish.
In the meantime I'm beginning to wonder about the opportunities for tench on the canal so I will be heading out to the Gathurst area once the season starts as there's an inviting looking spot that I've found.

Away from Wigan Pier where  the DW stadium dominates the landscape

Broadcasting Again

After numerous interruptions to the service Between Two Rivers is back.
It's been a long closed season but finally we are within weeks of opening day. Tackle has been cleaned, rods re-varnished, new floats constructed and detailed plans made for the first trip of the season.I shall be missing opening day due to work commitments but will be up before dawn on Father's Day and heading to the Figure of Eight. The lake was stocked with more fish at the start of December following the pollution incident in the previous season. This included some 500 tench  of around 8"-10" so I can think of no better first trip than giving myself a chance to catch a few of  those olive beauties.

In the meantime it's time to finish a few more bits of tackle preparation and to dream of a perfect June morning ,when if I'm lucky.....

Winter Blues

At the end of December I was thinking about how much I have enjoyed this season's fishing. I had caught by far and away more fish than ever before including an all time personal best biggest fish- a lovely common carp of 11.5lbs. Not huge, but a beautiful fish nonetheless and it certainly had my heart racing.
 As the year drew to a close I felt like setting myself a new challenge for the rest of the season. I suddenly had the urge to catch a big roach. Many years ago I caught a splendid one of just over one pound. Could I catch one of that size,or bigger, between the first of January and the end of the season in March?
My first trip out was on New Year's Day. As I arrived at the Figure of Eight the heavens opened. This was not how it was supposed to be. The next two and a half hours were bite less as I occupied myself solely with keeping dry and moving backwards away from the water as the level rose. With two streams running into the lake and the overflow stream running out into an already high River Douglas it was no surprise that the level of the lake rose around 18 inches in just a couple of hours. By 3 o'clock the rain had finally stopped and I needed to move to a new spot as I was now backed up against a steep slope and sat with my feet in couple of inches of water. About 30 yards down the channel there was a peg that was still above the water level so I collected my gear together and moved.
I threw in a handful of hemp next to some overhanging tree branches to my left and swung my float out into position. In the sky to the west the faintest glimmer of sunshine broke through. This was more like it. Ten minutes later the float dipped, I struck and brought in a small roach of around an ounce. I re-baited with a single white maggot and cast out again. At least I wasn't going to blank.As the light was fading I caught my final fish, the best of the day - a 3ounce roach.
So not really the day I had in mind but at least I had caught some roach albeit ones that were at least a pound smaller than I'd hoped for.
Two weeks later I had the chance to try again. However, conditions were not ideal. It was a bright sunny day but the temperature had dropped to around five degrees with overnight frosts. The water was so clear that I knew it was likely to be a bad day. I persevered for a couple of hours trying a range of baits and a couple of different spots all to no avail. My first blank of the season.





 The cold snap had well and truly arrived with parts of the country plunged into that all familiar winter chaos. Luckily for me the North West didn't suffer too much to begin with so I got the chance of a few hours pike fishing on the Lancaster canal. It was a bitterly cold day with much of the canal frozen over but I found a spot where a feeder stream ran in and this seemed to have created just enough movement in the water to stop it from icing up. Fishing my usual sprat dead bait I tried the slow retrieve next to every bit of dead weed bed I could find without the slightest bit of interest. With numb fingers and freezing toes I gave up after a couple of hours.
My only other trip out in January was to a Cumbrian tarn renowned for its perch. I had high hopes but the thermometer dipped sharply the night before and the bright day that followed left me feeling that it may be another difficult trip. I wasn't wrong. Three hours in the afternoon up until dusk without the slightest hint of a bite. The water holds some big tench so I spent a bit of time exploring the lake  looking for some suitable swims that I can fish come June 16th.
Not a great month but there's still another six weeks until the end of the season. Hope springs eternal.

The Wonder of Woolies

As a fishing mad 13 year old boy Woolworths was a fishing mecca for me. Most Saturdays I would be dragged off to some local town or city with my parents and brother for a shopping expedition. This was the mid 1970's a pre personal computer age with no internet or even cash machines. If you wanted to buy something it was the shops or the Empire stores catalogue.
Like many other children of the 'winfield age' I bought my first record from them, gorged myself on pick and mix and chose my Christmas presents from their shelves. However, what really fired my imagination, and became almost as big an obsession as fishing itself was the fishing tackle they sold. I even had my own favourite branch of Woolies. Monmouth didn't have the biggest shop but I loved its polished wooden floor and the range of tackle was sufficient for my  meagre purse. After all my paper round only paid £1.40 a week but it was enough for those essential odds and ends you always need and floats of course!
I loved the way the floats were packaged in the trademark winfield plastic wrapping and hung in a tantalising way from the hooks. In fact the uniform packaging seemed to be part of the appeal. I still have some of their 'River' floats and some wire traces knocking around in my tackle bag to this day.

The orange tipped balsa float on the left was a favourite of mine when we fished the River Lugg at Marden in Herefordshire. A pinch of bread flake trotted down the far bank under some over-hanging bushes produced numerous dace and small greedy chub on almost every occasion I fished. But it wasn't just the floats that I coveted. They made rods and reels too.
My first ever fishing outfit came form Woolies. A 6 foot solid fibreglass rod finished in white with green whippings and beautiful cork handle with an integrated reel seat, The reel itself - also green -was a winfield Newcomer, a neat little fixed-spool reel ideal for a beginner . However, it wasn't long before I had my eye on a new rod. The object of my affections was a winfield Roach Fisher. I longed for this rod. It was an 11 foot green hollow glass rod that I was sure would improve my fishing no end.  I would go as often as possible to look at it and if I was feeling daring actually hold it. Of course I never bought one. It was too expensive for me at the time and then as so often happens events took over and I really didn't need it anymore as my great uncle Jack gave me a Sportex Mambo 12 foot match rod.

I still have the Gone Fishing book that was part of the Winfield Leisure series of publications. Chapter 8 is two  pages of the Winfield rods and reels. To be honest the photo of the coarse rods does little justice to the splendour that was the Roach Fisher but it's there as a reminder to me of that whole era.