21/10/2024 - Some Autumn Tench Fishing Sessions
Early morning mist over my tench swim
After two trips to the river, then finding it rather low, only catching some chub around the 2lb mark, I decided to try for the tench. Over the past few days I’ve been lucky to have the pool to myself. With a choice of swims. What puzzles me about this water, is I see lots of small fishing jumping clear of the water, as they are chased by the perch, I know they are perch, as on two occasions I’ve spotted part of a dorsal fin. I’ve tried my best to get these perch to take a bait, lobworms, prawns also small dead baits, fishing at all depths, many times dropping a bait among the jumping fish. Not a sign of interest.
On the first of three session the water temperature was 58 degrees F with cloudy conditions with a light wind, not enough to ruffle the water. I baited a swim with two thirds white crumb with a third of brown crumb, into the mix I added some sweetcorn, a dozen or so chopped lobs, hemp and shredded prawns. The swim I chose was fifteen foot wide gap between two beds of lilies, with a large over handing tree, if I could have designed a swim, this would be it. Having put in four golf balls size of mix, I left the swim to settle down, then went off to bailiff the other three pits. On returning about fifty minutes later, having had to deal with two East European anglers wo used the excuse of wanting a day ticket, when the notice states “No Day Tickets”. After explaining the Theft of fishing rights act, also it’s a criminal offence, I mentioned if they didn’t leave I was going to call the police. They departed quickly, I felt quite safe as there were several angles close by.
The Swim Was Fizzing
It didn’t take long for the fish to find the dining table, the water surface was covered with a mass of small bubbles. I had my usual set up my Edgar Sealey Rover, matched with a Richards Carter Avon Perfection centre pin holding 6lb bs line, I attached a sliding float, even though the depth was only about six feet, then tied on a size 8 barbless hook, checking the depth I found as I expected from previous experience, just over six feet of water, a foot from the hook I added an AA shot, then two feet further up the line I added two SSG.
I started off fishing a prawn bait, after an hour with no sign of interest, I switched to a lobworm, again no interest, I changed to half lob with a grain of corn, ten minutes later the float glided away, striking I felt a solid resistance. At last I thought “A fish” a few minutes later I netted a tench about 3lbs. taking out the barbless hook without even touching the fish, I walked about twenty yards then released it. In the next two hours I had five more fish between 2 and 3lbs. After putting in more ground bait, I put the jet boiler on for a brew, in less than five minutes, I am sitting contented with a fresh brew, along with a beef sandwich. An hour later without any more sign of action. I ended my session.
A Very Wet Session
Looking out of the window the sky was leaden grey, rain was sheeting down, not the best of conditions to go fishing, but go I would, I added a large bin liner to my tackle bag to keep everything dry. After a bowl of porridge, followed by two mugs of tea I was off. As Graham arrived I said “Not a good day to go tench fishing” he agreed, saying “How will you cope without a brolly” No problem “I have good waterproof gear” As expected we arrived to have the pool to ourselves, the other waters didn’t have a single angler. I put Graham in the swim I fished yesterday, after letting him know where and how to fish, I then gave him some of the ground bait mix left over from yesterday, also some prawns and lobworms, he had some corn and bread. I then checked the water temperature it had dropped to 56 degrees F, “Not a good sign” I told Graham. I then went further round the pool, where there were some Norfolk reeds, also a large area of lilies, with several white flowers. My tackle set up was as yesterday. I put in some ground bait, also free offering of corn, hemp and chopped lobs.
I got a message from Graham saying “Within minutes of casting out I had a tench about 2lbs, quickly followed by three more of similar size”. He was a happy angler, it was the first time he had caught from the pool, which can be extremely hard. I had quite a few visits before I got to understand the venue. I baited two swims with a mixture of crumb, chopped lobs, prawns and a scattering of corn and hemp. I baited one rod with a prawn, the other with a lobworm tipped off with a grain of corn. Then sat back at peace with the world despite the heavy rain and chilly wind. For two hours or more I didn’t see any interest in either of my baits, no fizzing, the only sign of life was a Moorhen, which made the day interesting. At the end of the day, I’d caught nothing, Graham had one more tench around 2lbs and that was our lot. On the way home Graham said “Thank you for helping me to catch some fish, that was a good days fishing”.
A Day Of Warmth and Sunshine
Since the day with Graham, I’ve been doing some work in the garden, also the garage, I did think about having a session on the river, but decided to give it a miss. Choosing to visit two waters where I’d got permission to fish, when I arrived I could see they were both over grown waters, where I needed to make some small openings in the undergrowth, in areas where I felt could make suitable swims to fish, having cleared a gap in the first, I plumbed the depth finding four feet of water going out some ten to twelve feet then a drop off to around ten feet of water with some lily patch with white flowers. Further to my left was a big skeleton of a tree probably fifty sixty feet in length, that crashed into the water many years ago, if there were perch in the water this could be a good target area, as these fish like structure. In the swim I’d cleared, I threw in several handfuls of corn, also scattered some bits of crust on the surface. Then moved on repeating the process of clearing a spot some twenty yards along the bank. As I quietly worked away the Gamekeeper turned up. Asking “Who has given you permission to be on the estate, and what are you doing”? I explained “Who had given me permission, handing him a letter I had” He said “So you are Martin, the boss has told me a lot about you, but he didn’t mention you were coming to fish” I‘m pleased to meet you, as we shook hands. I then gave him one of my cards, from then on it was a different relationship. He told me the water contained rudd, roach, perch, some bream, tench and carp. He said the only disturbance you might have is on shoot days, from what the Boss said “It wouldn’t bother you as you had both been on shoots together over the years” With that we shook hands, again his parting words were “Any help you need please let me know” I then went back to the first swim, were I planned to have lunch and watch the water for any fish activity. As I sat in the warm sunshine “I thought how lucky I was to have plenty of fishing venues” After an hours break during which I seen rudd and carp taking the crust, I thought I will come back next week for a couple of sessions. It was time to meet my taxi driver.
Tench And Sunshine
I arrived at the tench pool to discover I had the water to myself, the venue looked great in the bright sunshine, as occasional fish could be seen swirling on the surface. There were lots of damsel flies darters and emperors, flying around or settling on the reed in the warm sunshine. Several moorhens were around as were some duck, behind me I could hear a wren, high in the sky were a pair of buzzards often creating mewing like sound.
I was soon in my chosen swim, having put together two float rods, my Sealey Rover and a Kennet Perfection, nothing like the sloppy B James model this was made by Andrew Davis using the design of Ted Oliver’s excellent Kennet Perfection which was also a very capable barbel rod, it certainly makes a good chub and tench rod, the last time I used this rod was on the Suffolk Stour where I used to fish a lot with the late Len Head who is still sorely missed. I will be fishing the Suffolk Stour again in November on the at Pitmire fishery with Paul Elliott and others. Today I matched the rod with a Leszek centre pin reel, holding fifty odd yards of 8lb line. Both rods had sliding quill floats, with size 8 hooks. After baiting two swims, one with prawns, the other with a mix of brown and white crumb, containing corn, hemp and chopped worms. I then checked the water temperature getting a reading of 60 degrees F an amazing water temperature for mid-October.
I then rested the area while I walked around the water, then made a brew. As I sat at the waterside I noticed some patches of bubbles coming for the swim baited with crumb etc, “That’s an encouraging sight” I thought. Soon I was fishing, an hour had passed before, I had my first fish on worm and corn cocktail, a tench around 2lbs, I then had two other fish of similar size on worm and corn cocktail. Half an hour later I had a fish on prawn about 3lbs, followed by several more 2lb size fish on the cocktail bait. By now I’m in shirt sleeve order, so warm was the sunshine, the water was smooth as glass. It was just like a June day. I fished on until dusk catching a few more tench mainly around the 2lbs mark. My target is a 5lb fish, but sadly it didn’t happen but I was a happy angler as I walked across the field for my lift home.

Ground bait mix

One of several tench

A new tench swim

Another nice tench
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