The Flying Tench's Blog

5.30 - 8pm An attempt for some roach in a commercial fishery.Someone was saying in the tackle shop that the canal temperature at the weekend had been 2degC, and only perch had been coming out, so I wasn't expecting too much. In fact the WT wasn't too bad - 8degC - and I had about 25 roach on float-fished maggot. Mostly small, the best about 6oz, but...

Court Farm, near Aldermaston 3.45 - 6.30pm
A.T. 8degC dropping, W.T. 5degC
After all that snow yesterday I wasn't too optimistic, specially when the only other anglers on the lake when I arrived said they hadn't had a touch all day. But I think they had been mainly targeting the normally very willing carp. My challenge, however, was how to avoid  said car...

.....as the great French mind-angler Rene Dust-carts once said. I wondered whether to report on my latest blank, and decided that, if I didn't, you might think I no longer exist. Well I haven't caught much this winter - a mixture of other commitments, minor back trouble, and of course downright (and totally undeserved) bad luck! I've chucke...

3-4.30pm. Family commitments meant I was very late on the water today, and didn't have much longer than an hour. I went to a crease close to the town centre where I caught some reasonable dace in the summer. Initial plan was to trot bread as the fish are used to it there as people throw it in for the swans a bit upstream. The main aim was just to find...

3-4.45pm Grey, cloudy day, reasonably mild, so I thought it would be a good fishing day, and decided to try for perch. Due to back problems I try to avoid walking too far, and it was a choice between the free stretch where, when I last looked, the EA hadn't destroyed all the perch swims, and a canal swim which I am fairly sure is where Rusty bagged up...

A cloudy day and as ever the question 'roach or perch?' I decided on roach and went to a section of canalised river . I've been told you can catch reasonable roach there on bread, and a monster was caught there last year as well. By the time I was tackled up it was 3.30pm, and with the clocks having gone back that only gave an hour and a half....

5.30-6.30pmAfter a few weeks 'off fishing' with a bad back I decided last Monday to find a swim where I could fish close to the car park. I heard that a couple of club members had caught some decent roach on maggot on BW, one of the local gravel pits, and decided to give it a try. Result - 'perched out.'Today I only had an hour available,...

Decided to have a bash at the roach in a nearby commercial. I'd been told you could bag up in the summer on small pieces of meat, and this was to be my main tactic; but I started on maggot to boost confidence, I guess. I started catching roach up to 8 oz, but when I switched to meat the bites stopped except for ... the carp.So back to maggot for most...

Family holiday near St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie on the west coast of France, but took a couple of rods for some not-too-serious fishing. Based on trawling the web (despite my poor French) I had hoped for 3 possibilities:1. Catch a black bass in lake Apremont. I tried a bit of lure chucking, but really didn't know what I was doing - no luck.2. Catch some de...

On the way back from my Wye trip I called on an old friend in Moreton-in-Marsh, and after an excellent lunch went to try Lemington Lakes, a commercial fishery only a mile away. If nothing else it would be an interesting contrast to the Wye! I had seen a feature on the roach fishing there in an angling mag, though I think a lot of the roach have since...