Had a few hours on Wick this evening. I alternated 14mm halibut pellets and worm on the hook over 2mm pellets and hemp. I fished most of the evening using a lift rig but just couldn't get the presentation right. There were plenty of fish feeding in and around the swim, but I had only two fast bites, which I missed. Really frustrating. I like the lift method, it lets you fish a large bait under a float with sensitive presentation, and helps to differentiate line bites, but for some reason it just wasn't working tonight. I later moved the shot around to fish a more conventional waggler style and had a lean tench of 5lb on a pellet just before it got too dark to see the float.

I think there might be a sinking-into-the-weed issue going on here. I'm wondering how well either an adapted lift rig or a float-leger setup would work with a popped-up bait. I think it could possibly work very well, even with a greater length of line between the hook and shot than is usual. I know I'm being stubborn fishing the float for these fish, but I enjoy it so much more. Also, the tench must take a hammering from the carp boys who are almost all whacking their sea leads out into the middle of the lake. They're feeding freely in the margins though, and I don't see any point in legering when I can see tench bubbling violently under the rod tip. I reckon they hardly ever see a baited hook fished close in, so if I can get the presentation right I should do well.

It's a shame that bloke showed me his photos of double figure tench. I should have been really happy with the five pounder tonight, but was ashamed to be a little disappointed that it was "only" 5lb. That's still a nice fish, when all is said and done.