Golden Tench

Now that the winter frosts and snow have disappeared the desire to fish has started to grow the hunt for the next PB just seems much more exiting. It was in my last trip out that I caught my best fish so far and here is my view on that great day.

It was a fairly mild weekend and it was decided that we would all attend, what has become a favorite at fishingfools, Turfcroft farm in the new forest. The night before was the usual double checking of  rigs, bait, equipment and documents.  That night I had decided I would be trying something slightly different from the maggots on the hook and I spent a good hour making a number of hook lengths with hair rigs. The process of making the hair rigs is fairly straight forward but the thinner the line the harder it becomes.

Anyway the morning broke and I arrived at the lake at around 8am and the day was already looking great, even though there was no sign or rain as per norm I setup the bivvy and prepared my base camp. I decided that today I  would send out 2 rods which is something I had not yet done.  My first setup was a 13ft float rod with size 16 hooks and on these I placed maggots.  The second rod was going to be a slow rod something I could just leave for a while. I attached a 6lb main line with a 3lb hook length with size 16 hooks and a hair rig for good measure, which is where I place 2 pieces of sweet corn.  Attaching the corn to the hair rigs is actually rather easy all that was needed was the hair rig needle to pull the line through the sweet corn.  Also on this rod was a half ounce weight and a Polaris float which is actually something I am starting to like, The Polaris is basically a sliding float that locks in place when the line is tightened.

With both rods in the water I started to catch lots of little Roach and Perch as was the normal routine. All catches had been on the float rod and I did eventually catch a small tench. Whilst looking out towards the Polaris float it suddenly went under and  I was able to hook something as I was reeling the fish in my friends gathered around with excitement but then at a moment's notice the line broke and the fish was gone, and as your all probably aware this is the most frustrating part of fishing.

After setting the rod up again two gentlemen approached the group and asked to see our licenses, now this was the first time I have been checked by the EA and it was a little scary, did we have the correct license were the details correct, but after a look through our details the EA guys were gone.  I think this was a gentle reminder that the licenses expire soon and we need to renew.

After a short while fishing I decided to chat to some friends when suddenly  the Polaris float raced under  and the line starting firing off the reel, good job the clutch was set correctly or the rod may have been lost.  I took the rod in hand and I could feel the fish fighting I was not going to let this one go.  The fish pulled left and right and fought like a trooper when I thought I had it beaten and the fish was under my feet it started to pull again and this when the action started first off  the fish decided to head towards my other rod but fortunately a friend had already started to reel that in. Secondly the head of the landing net decided to fall in the water but after fishing that out and swapping nets I was ready to land the monster.

All the time the fish had been deep underwater and I was still unaware of its type or size, but after a lot of fighting it reached the top layer of water, and we all shouted Carp, Tench, minnow.  After a few more minutes the fish was in the net ready for the photo session.  I had managed to catch my Personal best Tench of 4.2 lb (cough cough how heavy do slings weigh anyway). After a couple of photos the fish went back in the lake and I sat back ready for more.

Thinking back to that day I can not believe the fight a 4lb Tench gave Its going to be a funny day when I get one of those huge Carp you seen littered across all those fishing magazines, I just hope the landing net will be big enough and not fall into the lake. Hopefully this little article has shown how much fun fishing can be and may be you'll try different methods out, like the hair rig or the Polaris float.

Anyway see you soon

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