Painful at Pickmere!
Top drawer grueller today. Decided to switch swims this time, in a move to land a decent Tench - my PB is only 5lbs from Summer Hill in North Wales, probably 15 years ago.
Targetting the cattle drink swim, which sits at the end of a long line of bull rushes, I gave it the full pre-bait treatment the night before for about two hours to bring home the bacon on a 5am start. Lots of particles and a nice bit of cloud groundbait to waft off the bottom as the anticipated vast Tench shoal mulls around the target bait patch. No worms or maggots this time in order to avoid the swarms of small Perch, which were even swimming around my feet Saturday evening.
Early start and I'm fishing at very first light in a surprisingly cold fog. Two rods both set up with effectively bolt rigged feeder rigs, but importantly one a much lighter rig than the other in case the Tench prove a bit line shy. There's a couple of early knocks on the corn rod and then suddenly..................nothing at all for 6 hours!
Not one bite, despite trying every conceivable non Perchy bait, fining down to match fishing hooklengths on one rod and finally some serious swearing at the water in frustration. No liners, nothing. I try to explain it away by the cold fog not clearing till 10-10.30 am; but surely a few Roach would still have put in an appearance. All I can think of looking back is that either the weather killed fishing stone dead; or the cattle drink which I've never fished before is just a duff swim with a very barren gravelly bottom, where the Pickmere residents are just not accustomed to finding food. It's also getting late in the season for Tench but to be fair the weather has been roasting for a week...
So, another blank and still no Tench. My first baby is due in two days so a short fishing sabbitical seems likely, but I may squeeze one more assault on Pickmere in the muddier top of the lake swims before switching my attentions elsewhere, as the temperature starts to drop.
Mr Fish
Early start and I'm fishing at very first light in a surprisingly cold fog. Two rods both set up with effectively bolt rigged feeder rigs, but importantly one a much lighter rig than the other in case the Tench prove a bit line shy. There's a couple of early knocks on the corn rod and then suddenly..................nothing at all for 6 hours!
Not one bite, despite trying every conceivable non Perchy bait, fining down to match fishing hooklengths on one rod and finally some serious swearing at the water in frustration. No liners, nothing. I try to explain it away by the cold fog not clearing till 10-10.30 am; but surely a few Roach would still have put in an appearance. All I can think of looking back is that either the weather killed fishing stone dead; or the cattle drink which I've never fished before is just a duff swim with a very barren gravelly bottom, where the Pickmere residents are just not accustomed to finding food. It's also getting late in the season for Tench but to be fair the weather has been roasting for a week...
So, another blank and still no Tench. My first baby is due in two days so a short fishing sabbitical seems likely, but I may squeeze one more assault on Pickmere in the muddier top of the lake swims before switching my attentions elsewhere, as the temperature starts to drop.
Mr Fish
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