Fished between hut peg and car park peg. Falling barometer and overcast.
Not much else to say, save that Plan B didn't email me and I spent another 11 hours at Lymmvale fishing every method imaginable and caught zip, nada, dim byd, rien, "F-all" if I need go on.
Blank 19.
I really am rubbish at Tench fishing.
Showing posts with label Tench. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tench. Show all posts
14/08/2013
03/08/2013
Big Tench - Attempt No 8 (Lymmvale)
Decided to work my way round Lymmvale on a hot day/evening with my highly technical anchored crust rig on one rod and a white chocolate shelf life boilie on the other rod to beat my Tench PB of 5lbs which has stood for 20 years and was on a pole to a caster rig on 1.5lb line. See recent salmon/chub on the Wye blog for the Mr Fish special rig.
Must admit these white choc boilies smell amazing, though I've never actually caught anything on them. No change today either with 7 hours invested for not one twitch.
Blank number 18, I'm afraid.
Back next week(ish) with Plan B - not the singer of course...unless he wants to email me and come!
Mr Fish
09/07/2013
Big Tench - Attempt No 7 (Lymmvale)
Quick session on Lymmvale on the Lymm AA card tonight starting at 5pm. It's a lovely sunny evening with lots of carp basking in the evening sun towards the south east corner of the lake.
I'm having 30-40 mins in a few swims with anchored crust and about the simplest setup imaginable ie. 8lbs straight through to a size 6 fine wire hook and a bit of plasticine moulded round the line 18-24 ins from the hook to anchor the bait and control the height it fishes.
There are fish coming in right to the peg boards on a few swims and I do remember reading that you cannot physically fish too close in for Tench, those these mostly look to be carp. There's a strong pick-up at the fox hole swim and the rod bangs round but there's nothing on the strike - liner?
No further action so yet another Tench fishing Terry Wogan/Les Dawson aka Blankety Blank, I'm afraid...
Mr Fish
I'm having 30-40 mins in a few swims with anchored crust and about the simplest setup imaginable ie. 8lbs straight through to a size 6 fine wire hook and a bit of plasticine moulded round the line 18-24 ins from the hook to anchor the bait and control the height it fishes.
There are fish coming in right to the peg boards on a few swims and I do remember reading that you cannot physically fish too close in for Tench, those these mostly look to be carp. There's a strong pick-up at the fox hole swim and the rod bangs round but there's nothing on the strike - liner?
No further action so yet another Tench fishing Terry Wogan/Les Dawson aka Blankety Blank, I'm afraid...
Mr Fish
27/06/2012
Big Tench - Attempt No 6 (Lymmvale)
Whilst I have started to enjoy some success on Lymmvale, I'm not sure the groundbait or method ball bombardment is truly the best way forward because the noise scares me let alone the fish!
There's also the fag of lugging all the gear and bait to the swim which tends to sub-consciously anchor me in a swim, even if the fish are clearly not there or not having it. So, after buying a new 1.5lb test curve Daiwa avon style rod the new tactic is a roving approach until I find a few of the red eyed rascals in a particular swim. Only 45 mins max in each swim and two casts, the first with a big lump of luncheon meat and the second with a chunk of bread crust anchored to the bottom with 2-3 swan shot lightly nipped on to a short paternoster tro enable the line to come free if fouled on weed during a fight.
Only a short session today but three swims tried (Pines; Steps and Trout Cage), with plucks quickly being generated by the meat in each swim before anchored crust delivers the goods in the form of a nice female tench of 3lbs 12 oz and a smaller male of about 3/4lb. Not a bad first off and very enjoyable way of fishing so can't wait to get back to try again.
Mr Fish
There's also the fag of lugging all the gear and bait to the swim which tends to sub-consciously anchor me in a swim, even if the fish are clearly not there or not having it. So, after buying a new 1.5lb test curve Daiwa avon style rod the new tactic is a roving approach until I find a few of the red eyed rascals in a particular swim. Only 45 mins max in each swim and two casts, the first with a big lump of luncheon meat and the second with a chunk of bread crust anchored to the bottom with 2-3 swan shot lightly nipped on to a short paternoster tro enable the line to come free if fouled on weed during a fight.
Only a short session today but three swims tried (Pines; Steps and Trout Cage), with plucks quickly being generated by the meat in each swim before anchored crust delivers the goods in the form of a nice female tench of 3lbs 12 oz and a smaller male of about 3/4lb. Not a bad first off and very enjoyable way of fishing so can't wait to get back to try again.
Mr Fish
14/06/2012
Big Tench - Attempt No 5 (Lymmvale)
Back at Lymmvale and it's Plan D or is it E (?) after three embarrasing failures so far.... Simple tactics today - lighter rigs and literally tons of maggots.
I kick off at 1.30pm with a heavy slider float set at about 12 ft and a lighter driftbeater at 7-8 ft ready to see if anything follows the maggot rain up the water column. I'm constantly firing the maggots out and after a dead hour on the slider a switch to the ligher rod produces a very shy bite straight away, which obviously happens while I'm pouring a cup of coffee.
More maggots, more maggots and more maggots until finally I hit another shy bite - a bream of about 3lbs fights surprisingly well. Thank gawd for that... At 5pm all hell breaks loose when I strike into something big and insanely quick which strips 30 yards off the reel. It's all action for 5 mins as it becomes clear that I'm not the one in control until the 2.5 lb hooklink gives up the goat. A hooked diving duck follows to totally goose the swim. Rats....
More maggots x10 later and it's a bigger bream of 4lbs in the net followed by another the same size at 8.30pm and a small tench of about a pound to finish off. No PB tench yet but much improved. Interestingly none on the bottom which makes me think fish are passing through but it's not a holding swim.
Despite a fire hose intensity bout of rain after arriving the air pressure has risen from 1014-1016 over the session - perhaps coincidence, or perhaps not... Another swim next time and hopefully I can snag a nice PB Tench before they turn their attention to making little Tench.
Mr Fish
I kick off at 1.30pm with a heavy slider float set at about 12 ft and a lighter driftbeater at 7-8 ft ready to see if anything follows the maggot rain up the water column. I'm constantly firing the maggots out and after a dead hour on the slider a switch to the ligher rod produces a very shy bite straight away, which obviously happens while I'm pouring a cup of coffee.
More maggots, more maggots and more maggots until finally I hit another shy bite - a bream of about 3lbs fights surprisingly well. Thank gawd for that... At 5pm all hell breaks loose when I strike into something big and insanely quick which strips 30 yards off the reel. It's all action for 5 mins as it becomes clear that I'm not the one in control until the 2.5 lb hooklink gives up the goat. A hooked diving duck follows to totally goose the swim. Rats....
More maggots x10 later and it's a bigger bream of 4lbs in the net followed by another the same size at 8.30pm and a small tench of about a pound to finish off. No PB tench yet but much improved. Interestingly none on the bottom which makes me think fish are passing through but it's not a holding swim.
Despite a fire hose intensity bout of rain after arriving the air pressure has risen from 1014-1016 over the session - perhaps coincidence, or perhaps not... Another swim next time and hopefully I can snag a nice PB Tench before they turn their attention to making little Tench.
Mr Fish
10/06/2012
Big Tench - Attempt No 4 (Lymmvale)
Back to Lymmvale but another part of the lake this time.
The Car Park swim which was taken on all previous visits was vacant when I arrived so only a short lug of the gear from car to peg. The plan today is method feeder again on one heavier rod and a lighter straight in-line lead bolt rig set up on a lighter rod. I'm going to thread the hooklength on this rod through a pva mesh stick and I've gone for a banana flavoured frozen boilie on the hair - smells fab to me anyway.
It's another early start and I do wince as the 3oz method feeder crashes into the flat calm swim. The rods are in at 6.30am and apart from seemingly half of the lake's carp population having a good sunbathe four swims to my right it's disappointingly quiet until lunchtime... 12.30 and the method rod roars off - I'm into a decent tench, which fights all the way to the net and just as I'm about to break my Lymmvale duck the hook pulls...you couldn't make this up - 2.5 days on the lake without a proper bite and then one falls off at the net. Some serious swearing later and I'm a bit more philosophical - it was 4-5 lbs so probably not a PB and at least one rig works. 3oz method feeeder (Expo and Sensas mix; short link of 9lbs fluoro hooklink and three hair rigged rubber casters) fooled the little red eyed monster.
Then............jack diddly until packing up at 9.30pm. Air pressure has fallen a bit from 1005 to 1002 over the day but the weather's been mild and I'm sure fish are going through the swim judging by the regular liners I've been getting on both rods. I can get here again this week and the plan must be to fish match style to see just whats in there. In the meantime, an impressive third blank on the bounce. Magic.
Mr Fish
The Car Park swim which was taken on all previous visits was vacant when I arrived so only a short lug of the gear from car to peg. The plan today is method feeder again on one heavier rod and a lighter straight in-line lead bolt rig set up on a lighter rod. I'm going to thread the hooklength on this rod through a pva mesh stick and I've gone for a banana flavoured frozen boilie on the hair - smells fab to me anyway.
It's another early start and I do wince as the 3oz method feeder crashes into the flat calm swim. The rods are in at 6.30am and apart from seemingly half of the lake's carp population having a good sunbathe four swims to my right it's disappointingly quiet until lunchtime... 12.30 and the method rod roars off - I'm into a decent tench, which fights all the way to the net and just as I'm about to break my Lymmvale duck the hook pulls...you couldn't make this up - 2.5 days on the lake without a proper bite and then one falls off at the net. Some serious swearing later and I'm a bit more philosophical - it was 4-5 lbs so probably not a PB and at least one rig works. 3oz method feeeder (Expo and Sensas mix; short link of 9lbs fluoro hooklink and three hair rigged rubber casters) fooled the little red eyed monster.
Then............jack diddly until packing up at 9.30pm. Air pressure has fallen a bit from 1005 to 1002 over the day but the weather's been mild and I'm sure fish are going through the swim judging by the regular liners I've been getting on both rods. I can get here again this week and the plan must be to fish match style to see just whats in there. In the meantime, an impressive third blank on the bounce. Magic.
Mr Fish
05/06/2012
Big Tench - Attempt No 3 (Lymmvale)
Absolute shocker on Lymmvale...
Did the red eye shift by getting up and out at 5am. On the lake by 6am and fishing 6.30am ish. The place was unsurprisingly very busy given the extra bank holiday and so had to settle for one of the swims at the very far end of the lake. Bit of a schlep with the gear but this time I had a plan (!) - method feeder at medium distance and careful consitent baiting of the shelf with a secret ingredient and fishing over the top with a lift float rig and a back up medium feeder with small stick bolt rigs. It's never failed before.....
......until the big fat cold southerly westerly cranked up and the barometer dropped from 1013 Ha to under 1,000 Ha. About 8 hours and not one proper run. Gutted.
The most frustrating thing was I got the tench going at it periodically through the day with blows all over the near feeding area. Either I can no longer spot tench bubbles and it was small bream or my rigs are about as useful as a chocolate fire guard. Only "Half" runs came at range and close in on plastic corn which probably sat up just over the bottom weed. Two pints of casters; a loaf of bread; a kilo of method mix and two cans of corn 0 Fish 1 final score - back to the drawing board. The only crumb of comfort I can cling to is that I didn't see anyone else pick up a fish while I was there - pathetic I know but maybe they just weren't having it, grubbing about but not really feeding.
Need to do some serious plotting at home to sort this PB out but at least Madness were good on the Jubilee concert that night!
Cheers
Mr Fish
Did the red eye shift by getting up and out at 5am. On the lake by 6am and fishing 6.30am ish. The place was unsurprisingly very busy given the extra bank holiday and so had to settle for one of the swims at the very far end of the lake. Bit of a schlep with the gear but this time I had a plan (!) - method feeder at medium distance and careful consitent baiting of the shelf with a secret ingredient and fishing over the top with a lift float rig and a back up medium feeder with small stick bolt rigs. It's never failed before.....
......until the big fat cold southerly westerly cranked up and the barometer dropped from 1013 Ha to under 1,000 Ha. About 8 hours and not one proper run. Gutted.
The most frustrating thing was I got the tench going at it periodically through the day with blows all over the near feeding area. Either I can no longer spot tench bubbles and it was small bream or my rigs are about as useful as a chocolate fire guard. Only "Half" runs came at range and close in on plastic corn which probably sat up just over the bottom weed. Two pints of casters; a loaf of bread; a kilo of method mix and two cans of corn 0 Fish 1 final score - back to the drawing board. The only crumb of comfort I can cling to is that I didn't see anyone else pick up a fish while I was there - pathetic I know but maybe they just weren't having it, grubbing about but not really feeding.
Need to do some serious plotting at home to sort this PB out but at least Madness were good on the Jubilee concert that night!
Cheers
Mr Fish
27/05/2012
Big Tench - Attempt No 2 (Lymmvale)
I'm going to have a proper go at beating my modest Tench record of 5lbs and after a bit of digging round the internet on various forums Lymmvale seems to be a good bet with a decent head of 5-7lb fish and a nice place to boot!
I've had a reccy and a few casts with the depthometer. The place was alive a week ago with spawning carp - it was like The Blue Planet aquarium had moved 20 miles for the day with at least 15 15-25lb carp swimming 10-15 ft from the eastern bank in little groups. I even dropped the depthometer on one by mistake after emptying it with no spooking by the fish. Fascinating stuff to take in for 30 mins on the way in to work and I could happily testify in court that there is one huge Ghost Carp in there...
Not having a clue where to start on the first day of fishing it's the usual plan - all out bait assault in the north east corner of the lake. I've been a bit shoddy and not really sorted out tench rigs and am blagging it with two river barbel set-ups. Not too clever but at least I know they have the oompf to tame a bigger specimen even if it makes for the weed that appears to ring the shoreline of the whole lake.
Two mashed loves; 2 pints of hemp and 3 pints of red maggots go in and then sit and wait on a Source Boilie snowman rig (carp or monster tench) and triple red maggot on a size 10. A nice carp cruises under the rods about 40 mins later but the action only starts after 2.5-3 hrs with liners and dropped runs driving me mad. The closest rod is only 10 yards out at the bottom of the shelf so the fish seem to be working the weedy shelf itself. I fish till dark without success - I can get back next week so lighter rigs, gentler baiting and possibly a bait popped up on the ledge are the plan.
Why o why has google updated Blogspot and deleted the spellcheck tool for posts by the way? Either plain dumb or a plan to get some cash out of me...
Moving on - another blankety blank though and a more refined plan required.
Mr Fish
I've had a reccy and a few casts with the depthometer. The place was alive a week ago with spawning carp - it was like The Blue Planet aquarium had moved 20 miles for the day with at least 15 15-25lb carp swimming 10-15 ft from the eastern bank in little groups. I even dropped the depthometer on one by mistake after emptying it with no spooking by the fish. Fascinating stuff to take in for 30 mins on the way in to work and I could happily testify in court that there is one huge Ghost Carp in there...
Not having a clue where to start on the first day of fishing it's the usual plan - all out bait assault in the north east corner of the lake. I've been a bit shoddy and not really sorted out tench rigs and am blagging it with two river barbel set-ups. Not too clever but at least I know they have the oompf to tame a bigger specimen even if it makes for the weed that appears to ring the shoreline of the whole lake.
Two mashed loves; 2 pints of hemp and 3 pints of red maggots go in and then sit and wait on a Source Boilie snowman rig (carp or monster tench) and triple red maggot on a size 10. A nice carp cruises under the rods about 40 mins later but the action only starts after 2.5-3 hrs with liners and dropped runs driving me mad. The closest rod is only 10 yards out at the bottom of the shelf so the fish seem to be working the weedy shelf itself. I fish till dark without success - I can get back next week so lighter rigs, gentler baiting and possibly a bait popped up on the ledge are the plan.
Why o why has google updated Blogspot and deleted the spellcheck tool for posts by the way? Either plain dumb or a plan to get some cash out of me...
Moving on - another blankety blank though and a more refined plan required.
Mr Fish
12/09/2009
Big Tench - Attempt No.1 (Pickmere)
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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