i went to aycliffe lake for a quick after work session tonite using a light 15ft match rod with 3lb line.Expecting to catch rudd and roach i was very suprised to swing a 5inch barble to hand a few mins in.After an hour i was getting a lot of nudges and was thinking of scaling down a bit to a 16 hook,just then the nudge turned into a lift bite so i hit it,wow, my rod nearly snapped.It just ambled about as if it knew i couldnt pull at it .5 mins later , after taking me through a lot of lillies,its head came up and into the net it went.It weighed in at 4lb 4oz,my best tench yet,all that on 3lb line a size 14 hook and a single red maggot.

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Originally posted by thornabyangler:

after taking me through a lot of lilies, its head came up and into the net it went.It weighed-in at 4lb 4oz, my best tench yet,all that on 3 lb line a size 14 hook and a single red maggot.

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Nice one! Of course you only ever really need medium/high BS lines because of exactly the snags you mention; a 4 lb tench in water, with its swim-bladder to keep it in neutral buoyancy weighs nothing, of course. What you fight against are its muscles, and tench are strong.

I once witnessed and have never forgotten a Match angler in Norwich using a pole and 2 lb elastic and a single maggot of a size 22 hook ... safely tussle-with and net a .... 21 lb pike. I wish I had that skill!

Nice tench of yours ... now to put a 1 in front of that 4 lb

Well done!

DG

[ 22. April 2004, 08:25 AM: Message edited by: The Diamond Geezer ]

Single maggot on a 14 hook?!

Wow, im surprised you got any bites at all.

i feel 'guilty' when i put a single maggot on an 18.

Dizidave is right aboout your choice of hook use size 20-16 depending on the bait you want to use to catch the roach and rudd. keep your 14 hooks or bigger for the tench and you should catch a lot more fish.why not set up two rigs and swop from one to the other then catch both roach and tench. good luck next time you go worm dangling.

it was a barbless only venue and my 20 18 16 were barbed

I watched a 10 yr old, with his dad, play in a 22 lb carp, with a 4 lb bottom and a size 18 hook on some bread.....that is patience.

No. This is patience.

Is this the lake by the cemetery? If so I seem to remember it has some decent carp in it ten years ago, and it was run by a rule oriented club. My mate was asked to leave because some of the carp he hooked went into the reeds near a club members bait, he didn't lose any fish though. Probably a case of sour grapes.

Hope it is more angler friendly now.

Mark