A Staffordshire Tench at last!

[Catfish.017]

Since moving to Fradley I've enjoyed fishing virtually on my doorstep. However, increasingly I've been hankering after a Tench or two. They appear to be absent from the nearby reaches of the Coventry and Trent and Mersey Canals. I suspect the heavy boat traffic doesn't agree with them. Several of my favourite angling writers suggest weedy abandoned canals as haunts for Tench including Chris Yates and Clive Gammon whose Young Anglers Companion I recently bought having borrowed this frequently from the Library as a lad. The Wyrely and Essington canal at Brownhills fits the description perfectly and I have caught Tench there in the past. So Tuesday evening I found myself there on the towpath, but instead of turning right towards Cannock and my usual pitch, I turned left towards Chasewater and found a very 'fishy' looking stretch. Reeds, lilys and soft weed and four foot of gin clear water on a sweeping bend up to twenty yards wide. I walked up and down spotting several good sized Carp on the surface which was dotted with small Roach and Rudd enjoying the late sunshine. I found a clear spot alongside a lump of soft weed and fed some mash and maggots. After a while another angler came by carrying stalking gear. We chatted a while, me letting on that I was hoping for a Tench. He promptly suggested I should try the stretch nearer to Brownhills if I wanted Tench. I agonised for a few minutes, debating if I should go off in search of the spot he mentioned. Then suddenly there came a fizz of bubbles on the edge of the weed, obviously a signal that I should stay. More bubbles came at intervals but my bread flake remained untouched. I put a cast out with three maggots and within a minute the float laid flat and I was into a lively 'tussler'. A male Tench around two and a half pounds and a big smile from me. The camera has malfunctioned again so no pics sadly. Despite some impressive fizzing and lots of rig tweaking it was more than an hour before the second Tench came along, a female around three pounds. Both fish were deep green 'Spinach' colour, beautiful.
This morning I was back there by 4.30 am with worms and sweet corn added to the bait list . As always when one expects great things it didn't really happen although another two Tench came at long intervals along with a Br am and a few littl Rudd. At one point I had been sat motionless for quite some time when on stretching my arms, a big bow wave veered off from under my float! By 9.00 am the towpath became quite busy so I headed off for breakfast.

[Liphook]

Well done Catfish Sounds like you'll have a few other venues to explore. It's not a part of the country I've fished enough

[PershoreHarrier]

That's the ticket Catfish - a 2.5lb male Tench is a fine fish which can put an impressive bend in your rod.

[Catfish.017]

That's the ticket Catfish - a 2.5lb male Tench is a fine fish which can put an impressive bend in your rod.

It certainly did. Huge fins on it!