Boring health problems prevented me from fishing last Autumn but today I had an impulse to catch some Tench. It felt very odd loading my gear into the car, such a lot of stuff. I decided to use my MkIV with a Mitchell 300, it just feels right.
I got to the lake at about 11:00am and decided to sit facing the sun, I thought it was going to be overcast all day. It wasn't. The sun beat down all afternoon and I had no food or drink. Mistake.
I took my black plastiscine (thanks Shaun) to experiment with. The lake is full of lilies and the tench live in the weeds. I used 6lb Fox Illusion fluorocarbon straight through to a barbless size 8 hook. I always use luncheon meat at this lake as the Tench love it. I had a take first cast and missed it. I was a bit out of practice. Second cast into the weeds resulted in a Tench of about 3lb. The Tench in this lake are very large, 6lb fish are common, 7lb fish are caught occasionally and this year I am hoping for an 8lb fish. I don't weigh anything unless I think its over 7lb.
The fish were taking the luncheon meat on the drop as it fell through the stems of the lily pads. The MkIV was powerful enough to get the fish out but I wish is was a little longer, 11 foot would be ideal.
After about an hour I had caught 10 Tench and one of the fish was particularly nice, it weighed about 3 lb, possibly more.
The afternoon was very hot. The Tench at the lake feed in bright sun, they cruise just under the pads and feed on snails and hatching flies. After a few more tench I hooked into a much bigger fish and I immediately thought '7lb Tench'. Unfortunately it was a carp.
I worked hard all afternoon and eventually ran out of bait. The final tally was 37 Tench between 3lb and 6lb and 1 carp.
Not bad for my first outing of 2015. When I got home, Her Ladyship had cake and wine waiting. A perfect end to a great afternoon.
(PS I forgot the pain killers and my right arm had a bit of a hammering)
What a cracking day ss, well done
