Wingham Tenching 2011
Entry posted by Rob Ward
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This is my first attempt at a blog entry so please bear with me, it's pretty much cobbled together from forum posts but I wanted somewhere to record everything in one place as I'm hopeless at keeping records and hopefully this will improve that.
Session One - Royal Wedding Weekend
I was hoping for a swim known as Eggbox Platform but was going to leave the choice until I got there as the weather forecast was for strong north easterly winds which wasn't a good one!
I was hoping to leave at 09:00 Friday morning but wasn't organised, my first trip of the year is always like this. I wasn't feeling too well either so was debating whether to give it a miss altogether or maybe just come down on Saturday for a shorter session of two nights, in the end that's what I did.
After seeing the Lake I opted to fish middle wood which with hindsight was a mistake, things looked promising Sunday morning I'd had two Tench by 07:30 best going 8lb 1oz. In the afternoon that north easterly wind really started to pick up and had a bit of a cold bite to it which (I think) killed the swim dead as the others fishing in the lea of the wind in more sheltered spots continued catching.
Some very good Tench came out over the weekend though (no less than four Nine's!!!!) so I'd say we're in for some good fishing this year!
Session Two 12th -15th May
Strange weekend, slow fishing with four 'little' ones from Thursday through to Saturday night. It speaks volumes about how good a water Wingham is when you refer to 6-7lb Tench as little ones 
Then at 5AM Sunday morning a whopper of 9lb 13oz (one ounce short of my PB!) which reinforces the big loner theory. It carried little if any spawn and again ran out of girth towards the tail.
I also caught a Perch of 2lb 12oz.
I don't think there's a set formula in baiting for Tench.
The amount of feed I'll use will be determined by whether or not they're really getting their heads down and conditions.
Over the weekend I think I got the baiting spot on and tbh used less than usual. The fish all came from two rods fished on the same channel of silt, I didn't spod at all on the first day and started off fishing over seven balls of groundbait laced with free offerings and was recasting method feeders periodically to top up. I felt this was enough to establish whether they were there and feeding. Second afternoon the first two Tench came in quick succession after recasting both rods so I kept recasting until it went quiet again at which point I was confident the spots I was fishing would produce so put around 14 small spods of loose feed out so that any Tench coming through the swim would have something to browse on. After that I was just recasting the feeders periodically and dripping boilies in in an attempt to get them onto the hook baits.
I'm not sure on the minimalistic theory though, this may pick off big loners but I'd also be worried that they may also pass it bye unaware there's food to be had. I think the big loners move through the swim away from the groups of smaller fish so if the little ones have been through and mopped up what little bait you've put out then the loners may pass through thinking there's nothing there or get preoccupied on naturals.
Session Three - Specimen Group Bream Fish In
My plan was that if I draw the swim I'm after (Island Platform) then I'm planning on Tenching at short/medium range during the day and Breaming at distance overnight. Although designated as a 'Bream' fish in it wasn't compulsory and I just can't ignore the Tinca's at this time of year.
As luck would have it Island Platform was still in the hat when my name was pulled out.
When I arrived on Friday I couldn't reach either of the bailiffs on site initially for the 'taxi' service round to the swim, so having unloaded the car and stashed what I needed to in the fridge and freezer in the clubhouse I took a walk up to have a quick chat with Anderoo Walker who was fishing in the Y swim, Budgie Burgess joined us soon after and the planned twenty minutes turned into two hours On arrival back at the car to collect my gear I found that I'd managed to kill four pints of maggots by leaving them in direct sunlight, schoolboy error! The Fishing over the weekend proved slow although I did manage a 2lb 12oz Perch on hair rigged fake maggots.
Sunday saw the usual BBQ and meeting. The Bream picture is starting to come together for me now, I found the discussion regarding location really informative so I'm thinking of having a proper crack at them now. The thing with the location method for me is that it makes fishing for them a realistic option on limited time but it's not entirely selective either, all it will tell you is if there are big fish in the swim and there's no way of distinguishing between species. My sessions are usually three nights so I reckon a night of mooching and trying to find them would be worthwhile. I won't get down there enough to be able to put in serious rod hours so the way I see it is it improves my chances.
After getting back to my swim after the BBQ the Tench seemed to switch on as the barometric pressure dropped. I recast my rods around 17:00 and caught two and lost two in quick succession. The two I landed were both female with the best going 8lb 1oz. The feeding spell was short lived however, once the rain started coming down that was it for me other than a Pike that went ballistic under the rod tips and wiped my other rods out at around 23:00. It wouldn't be Wingham without catching a Pike
Session Four - Specimen Group Tench Fish In
This time I was second out the hat in the draw and again chose Island Platform which is the swim I'd hoped to concentrate on this season.
The weather conditions in terms of wind, temperature and cloud cover look quite promising but the barometric pressure is set to rise from Friday which made it a bit of a lottery. They could go potty but then again they could switch off completely, my money was on slow fishing but some big fish coming out, hopefully someones first double!
Something I'm going to predict is extensive mosquito activity, haven't even seen one there this season they must be ravenous 
As it turned out my predictions weren't far off the mark, the fishing was very slow with a fair few blanks recorded however I did manage to winkle out a couple of Tench and lost another. Both were females one 6lb 2 and the other 7lb 11 and carrying some spawn although I think they had definitely shed some as the vents on both fish were very distended. The one I lost looked like it was still carrying a fair bit though. Stephen 'Dales' Daley managed the best fish of the event with a 9lb+ Tench and even after liberally dousing myself with Deet on Sunday night the bloody mossies still bit me through my socks! 
It did however turn out to be a decent weekend for the Perch fishing and I had an endless stream of smaller ones between 10 and 12oz's with a couple over a pound and one better fish at 2lb 2.
As always the company of the other members and bailiffs makes the fish-in weekends and I do enjoy them. I think though that as I live so far away and can only really get away with four trips early summer then attending the two events did limit my fishing somewhat so I think if it's the same plan for next year I'll just be attending the one at this time of year. Looking forward to getting down there late summer/early autumn now for a couple of Bream sessions.
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