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The Flying Tench

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  1. The Flying Tench
    This is mainly to let you know I'm still around, though it's a while since I went fishing - mainly because of the state of the Thames, and then waiting for the lakes to warm up.
    Today I went to find a new lake at Standlake called Lincoln's Lake. Problem, I never found it! Doh! So I drove down to Grove Pond and had an enjoyable time float fishing maggot. Almost no bites from small roach, but a 2lb carp, 3.5lb tench, 11oz crucian.
    I'll let you know when I find LL!
  2. The Flying Tench
    Another 2 hour dusk raid on the Thames, and this time I took a lure rod along. I can't do normal roving lure fishing due to arthritis, but the plan was to fish the one swim alternatively with ledgered real worm and slightly shiny plastic worm on a jig head. I started with the lure rod and caught a couple of perch of about half a pound straight away, but then the bites from the lure rod dried up and the remaining 6 fish (all 4 to 12 oz) were all on real worm. I had hoped the lure (about 2.5 inches) would single out the better fish, but there was no obvious difference, so for this particular swim I think I'll leave the lure rod at home
  3. The Flying Tench

    Finding the Perch 14.10.22

    By The Flying Tench,


    general
    Last year about this time I came across a small shoal of 2lb perch in a local stretch of River Thames, and caught 3 of them. Then I'm not sure if they moved elsewhere or were less happy to feed with the colder weather, but I didn't have any more. So today I went to see if they were back. Yes, just about! After a dead hour or so on lobworm I put on a couple of maggots to see where the prey fish had gone to, and on my first cast the tip bent round, and I'm sure it was a big perch. But it soon shed my barbless 18 hook. I continued with maggot for a bit, but always it was small fry, so I returned to lobworm. They were very finnicky, but I got one of 1.5lbs, a long, slender and lovely fish. So I'll be back in the hope of some 'twos'.
  4. The Flying Tench

    River Thames Lechlade 21.9.22

    By The Flying Tench,


    general
    I was fishing hemp and tares, and hoping for busy action, though it wasn't to be. In fact, after being directed by the tackle shop to a stretch of river which I think they ran, but which I found unfishable, I only had 2 hours on my preferred stretch. Just 4 roach, but the best was 14oz and my Thames pb so I was very pleased. This fish was on caster, the others on tares, 6 feet deep in about 9 feet of river. An angler near me fished maggot on ledger and had a very good bag of roach, maybe I should have been deeper? Interesting he didn't attact the bleak. 
  5. The Flying Tench
    I've done a couple of entries on this and they've been lost, so will keep it very brief. I spent an afternoon at Bod Res trying for the roach. Midwater. Plenty of bites on maggot and also 6mm pellet, but I kept bumping them and only landed about 10 fish. The problem may have been that the rod, a trotting rod, wasn't soft enough. I've got another rod more like a match rod, and will try again with that.
  6. The Flying Tench

    Grove Pond 23.5.22

    By The Flying Tench,


    general
    3-5pm mainly cloudy
    My first fishing session for three months, not being allowed to drive following heart surgery. It was good to be out!
    I float-fished double maggot, more than half the time up in the water.  1 tench (approx 3 lbs), 2 small crucians (both up in the water), one rudd, 2 roach.
    Nothing earth-shattering, but an enjoyable session, and somehow my brain is better able to plan future trips having had the first session of the season.
  7. The Flying Tench
    It must be about 6 trips now I've blanked, all on the Thames. All were short sessions of up to a couple of hours, so arguably they amount to just a couple of longer sessions by hardier anglers, but even so I'm starting to feel the need for some fish!  Mostly my trips have been casting cheese paste randomly into the river in the hope of a monster chub, or laboriously researching where the roach have shoaled up. As temperatures drop the chub ought to be a prime target, but the problem with the Thames chub in my opinion is that, while they certainly grow very big, there don't seem to be many of them. And there aren't the obvious chub swims of smaller rivers.
    Last session things seemed to be improving. I found a swim under a bridge where there was a steady flow that said to me 'roach'. I cast around with a maggot feeder and got not a touch till I tried this swim close to the bank and got instant bites, and landed a small (not micro) roach and a chublet. Alright, not quite a blank!  Then the bites stopped, and I decided I might have over fed them, but vowed to be back in the quest for more and bigger. Alas, when I arrived today the river had dropped a couple of inches, but more to the point it was very clear and I could see the bottom easily and realised the swim was not what I thought. It was only 2 ft deep, and littered with rocks and stone slabs. And the temperature was 6 deg C. Not promising! Needless to say I blanked in this shallow swim, and I blanked elsewhere with my roving maggot feeder.
    What next? Strangely, I'm not minding blanking as much as I expected, but my strategy seems to be running out of steam. I'll post a query on the forum about squats and pinkies, anathema to me till now. And when the river is up I might try the bridge swim again, because it intrigues me. I did get instant bites, and I wonder when the river is up whether some decent fish might come to shelter behind those rocks.
  8. The Flying Tench
    I booked myself a couple of nights in a B&B in Bewdley in the hope of catching some Severn roach and maybe beating my river roach pb, a modest 1lb 2oz. Alas, things didn't go to plan, but as with all failed angling trips I'm hoping I can learn from the experience!
    Wed: arrived at 2pm at a BAA water, Blackstone Farm where I'd been reliably informed I could drive along the bank, only to find BAA hadn't sent me the lock combination. Just past office hours so I couldn't phone them up. Grrr.  Hung around for an hour till a friendly BAA angler let me in. Oh dear, I'd forgotten how high the banks of the Severn tend to be! In light rain the overall impression was 'mud, mud, (in)glorious (very slippery) mud!'  With difficulty I somehow got down to a fishing point, but was at a loss how to approach the fishing. The river seemed to be belting through, even though the height was normal. Where on earth would the roach be? When dusk came I felt outclassed by the river, and had no idea how and where I would catch any roach.
    Thurs: The fishing shop manager cheered me up with the assurance people were catching a lot of good roach, and put me onto a couple of swims where the flow wasn't too fast and where, despite my dodgy back, I could handle climbing down the bank without falling in - just!  The first one, in the town centre, looked particularly promising. I fished feeder, trying both bread flake and pellets and started getting tentative bites, but never hooked a fish, despite fishing in this swim most of the day. One point of interest was that bites normally came after feeding liquidised bread, though, strangely, bread flake on the hook was ignored. In fact the best bites came on 6mm halibut pellet immediately after feeding liquidised bread! I was fishing an in-line feeder (is this the right term? I mean the line went through the swivel, not through the feeder itself.) I had sanded down the quiver tip so that it was, I thought, super sensitive.  So the question for me is how I could have converted some of those, mostly tentative, bites into hook-ups. Then I spent an hour exploring the other peg I'd been given to no avail.
    Friday: a partial answer that had come to me was that, as the pellets were attached by a hair, the roach were holding the pellets cautiously in their mouths without engulfing the hook. So I planned to spend the morning experimenting with sweetcorn. Alas, there had been heavy rain in the night, and I knew the banks would be more slippery than ever, so decided to call it a day.
    2 questions - I'd appreciate any thoughts
    1. How could I have converted some of those bites into hook-ups?
    2. What footwear do you use when the banks are very slippery?
    Thanks
    John
  9. The Flying Tench
    25th Oct
    Same approach (lobworms on straight lead and Liquid Worm attractant). 3 nice perch 2lb 6 oz, 2lb 8 oz and a smaller one approx 1lb.
    28th Oct and 1st Nov
    Just when I thought I'd got the perch sussed, 2 blanks. Today it felt very cold to me, I'll have to get the thermals out. I got several bites, though. In two cases they bit off the worm just below the hook!
  10. The Flying Tench
    Attractor groundbait dowsed with liquid worm, hook bait lobworms, straight lead.
    On Wednesday I found a new swim where I was getting bites from good perch. I would play them for 20 seconds or so and think they were securely hooked, and then they got off. I just landed one of about 1.5 lbs, but lost 4 or 5 good fish.
    Today, Friday, I tried again with the same approach.  4 small ones and a lovely 2 lb 9oz. It started well, but after the 2 pounder the swim went dead. I assume the fight spooked the rest, as I didn't think to draw him out of the swim asap. Will do so next time!
  11. The Flying Tench
    Three days in Swansea fishing as part of a week's family holiday on the Gower. It has to be said that this was salt water fishing (well, maybe a bit brackish), and my experience of such contests is that the fish normally come away with a 'clean sheet'!  Though on this occasion I had built up my courage by watching a youtube video by some local youngsters who made it all look rather easy, catching small fish of a wide range of species. So I was hoping to get plenty of bites and catch even if the fish were very small
    Day 1   I ledgered ragworm, and caught a decent fish!  A flounder of about 10 oz. I was well pleased. In addition I had three bites which I failed to connect with. Maybe the fish were too small for my ragworm?
    Day 2   I made the rash decision to switch to bread in the hope of a mullet. Slow to say the least, but towards the end of the day I saw lots of bubbles coming from a patch of water close to the edge. Then followed very tricky bites, with the float going down about an inch and staying still, just under the surface. BUT I did actually hook a small mullet which duly careered all round the swim before coming off the hook. Then a kindly local angler, who normally fishes for mullet, offered to show me the where and the how the next morning. Wow!
    Day 3   Of course I was full of expectation. Mullet are often found under boats where they feed off the weed growing on the hull. He had found one particular boat hosted a good shoal of fair sized mullet, but it was too far to float fish. Accurate casting of a ledger was needed. He predicted we would very soon have little knocks from mullet, and he was right. Normally, though, they didn't produce hittable bites, rather the reverse.   As if to mock the angler they would slowly remove the bread from the hook until the metal was showing, and then they would refuse to have any more to do with it!  But just occasionally they would get fed up and pull the tip round with a solid take!    I started to get the hang of the casting, and things looked good, but gradually it became clear the mullet were not in a bold mood, and neither of us caught.
    But, unlike yesterday, the smaller mullet started to show lots of interest in the bread crusts we were chucking in, and at one stage it was quite dramatic with silver flashes everywhere. And one  two of them were by no means small. After my friend had gone, and I'd had a nice lunch at the nearby sailing club, I returned with a float rod. Alas, the mullet had lost some of their enthusiasm. It may have been that the sun had moved so that the relevant area was now in shadow. They seemed to positively LIKE the bright light. In short, I didn't catch.
    So not much on the bank after 3 days, but an interesting and enjoyable time, of course with many questions. One thing I have wondered about is the use of groundbait. I used bread crumb, both in the feeder and balled in round the float, but it didn't seem to interest the mullet - whereas at times chucking in bits of bread (which sunk) or crust (which of course didn't) did. I've been wondering whether liquidised bread might have been more effective?
    Comments or advice from those who know more about sea fishing than I do would be welcome!
  12. The Flying Tench

    2.9.21 Jack-Attack!

    By The Flying Tench,


    general
    I returned to Swift Ditch where the swim had gone dead on maggot feeder, though my first experiment was to try float fishing with hemp'n tares in a slightly different swim. In an hour I had just 3 roach, all no more than 3 inches long. I don't know how the greedy little fish could eat such a large bait as a tare! I wasn't fishing well, partly because I had set up too log a rod for the various trees and bushes.
    So I switched to a ledger rod, and moved back to where the swim had died the day before. This time I was more circumspect and used a mixture of groundbait and maggot in a smaller feeder. The bites seemed more steady, though all the fish were small roach with just a couple of skimmers apart from 2 pike which I failed to land. One had taken a skimmer, and let go when it came to the net. It was a jack, 2 or three pounds. The other bit through the line. I never saw it, but it felt a fair bit bigger.
    So I must teach Esox some manners. Had a go the next day. Missed a bite, and another pike got off the hook, so no pike landed so far.
  13. The Flying Tench
    5.15 - 7.45pm weather cool and cloudy
    I've tended to dismiss maggot feeder for the Thames, particularly in summer, because my past experience has been that it just attracts very small fish. But I have met a couple of anglers recently who have done OK with it, which has made me wonder if I have given it a fair crack. Having joined a club that has a stretch of what is in effect a 'carrier' for the Thames, much narrower than the main river, I decided that I could concentrate the maggots in a limited area, which would hopefully build up a swim and really 'get them going'! I used a bigger feeder than normal, and my plan was to keep building a swim in the hope that it would attract some chub which would chase away the very small fish.
    It started well. First cast brought a skimmer, followed reasonably soon by some small dace and bleak, a chunky dace of 4 or 5 oz, a half pound jack pike and a small perch. But as so often, I find, the bites dried up. Why? Just when in theory the swim should have been starting to build. The modest tally was:
    1st half hour    5
    2nd half hour   3
    3rd half hour   1
    4th half hour    0
    5th half hour    2
    The only theories I can come up with are: a) a pike entered the swim (but there were no obvious signs of it;  b) I was over feeding (but I don't think I was, less than a pint of maggots in two and a half hours)
    I'd be grateful for any suggestions
  14. The Flying Tench

    Grove pond 20.8.21

    By The Flying Tench,


    general
    2.30 - 5.15pm
    I started off 'up in the water' with hemp and tares and casters hoping for some of the quality roach and rudd I've had in the last couple of months here. I had 6 roach in the first hour, but none were over about 5 ounces, so I switched to fishing on the deck practising the lift method. One nice bream about 3lbs, and 3 crucians all about 8 oz. Enjoyable fishing. 
  15. The Flying Tench
    4-5pm. I had two false starts in other swims so only left myself an hour in bright sunlight. Pleasantly surprised, though. About 10 roach up to half a pound up in the water on hemp and tares. To me it's a slight puzzle. My general impression is that the lock cuts are pretty well devoid of fish in the summer. Why is Sandford an exception? Maybe I'm wrong and there are more fish in the others than I suppose. I must give a couple of the ones nearer my home another try. To be fair, the only one I've tried hemp and tares in is Sandford.
  16. The Flying Tench

    Thames bream 2.8.21

    By The Flying Tench,


    general
    Fished a new stretch of the Thames for a couple of hours this morning. Spent most of the time fishing feeder with double caster on  the hook, just 3 rod lengths out. Just caught gudgeon plus a couple of very small roach. Then I switched to 4mm carp pellet and, for the last 10 minutes or so, cast out into the flow and had a 3lb 7oz bream. Not big by Thames  standards, but it was actually the best Thames bream I have had, so I was very pleased.
  17. The Flying Tench
    Despite much planning and useful advice from people on AN, tackle shop managers and anglers I met, my long awaited trip to the Bournemouth/Christchurch area yielded little in terms of fish.
    Tuesday evening: Royalty Fishery on the Avon. Wow, what a lovely river!  Trotting wasn't possible because the flow required being able to see the float further than my eyes will manage, but I tried double caster with a feeder. Several nice dace of about 5 oz, and then BANG!  At first I thought it was a massive barbel, but on reflection it was clearly a pike. It was certainly a double, and could have been a high double. I had him on for about 10 minutes before inevitably he broke me. Still, an exciting start, though I didn't have any more dace after that.
    Wednesday: Top end of tidal Stour. Went for a recce late morning/early afternoon. This was a stretch recommended by some anglers I met, and was supposed to be good for roach, but it didn't work out for me. Access was tricky for someone with a dicey back. Weed was a bigger problem. I went back to the tackle shop to get a ticket elsewhere for the evening, but alas it was his half day. Doh!
    Thursday. Visited Mudeford Quay. Took the ferry across to the sandbanks for old times sake, which allowed the tidal flow to drop enough for a quick sea-fish with frozen sand eels. Bass were the target for all the anglers there, and I suppose that included me. Apparently the bacon used by the children crab fishing attracts the bass. But i didn't catch and nor did anyone else while I was there. In the afternoon and evening I fished Christchurch Quay, which is at the bottom end of the tidal Stour. Apparently there are good roach and bream as well as estuary fish such as sea trout and mullet. There are many boats moored, making it a kind of flowing marina. No-one else was fishing. On maggot or caster I just got tiny dace. When I switched to bread an a size 10 hook I got some 'nibbles.' Could these be some un-hittable mullet bites?  In the end I decided small dace were more likely culprits.
    Friday: I planned to pay another visit to the Royalty before driving back, but then the morning proved so hot and sunny I decided there was no point and headed home.
    An enjoyable break, but if I try the Christchurch area again I think I'll leave it till autumn. 
  18. The Flying Tench
    This was an experimental session, feeding hemp but trying different hook baits up in the water to see which worked best. My conclusion, at least today, was maggot for the rudd and double caster for the roach. My best fish were a rudd of 13oz on maggot and a roach of 14oz on double caster. The casters were dark red, and would therefore have floated except for the weight of the hook, and so would have sunk very slowly which may have appealed to the roach.
    As well as tares I also tried artificial hemp, sweetcorn and soft pellets, none of which did well.
  19. The Flying Tench
    5.15 - 7.15pm. I'd had a crack at the roach with hemp and tares a couple of days ago, but was frustrated by very few hook-ups. This time I did much better. I wondered if the tare was sliding round the hook and masking the point. Switching from size 16 to 14 helped a lot. They were still very fast, tricky bites but I managed 23 roach and one rudd up to half a pound or just over.
  20. The Flying Tench

    1lb Rudd 14.5.21

    By The Flying Tench,


    general
    Grove Pond 3.30-5.30pm
    My original plan was to catch roach on meat up in the water, but the roach weren't in evidence, except a few very small ones, and for a time the rudd were. My rudd pb is a hefty 2lb 2oz, but after that I think my best was a mere 9oz. So I was very pleased to catch a second best rudd at 1lb 0 oz. I had 5 rudd in all, a couple in the 6-7oz mark.
  21. The Flying Tench
    Grove Pond 3.30-5.30pm
    I'd been told this lake holds roach up to about a pound, so the aim of today was to start a quest for these (also rudd and crucians) by experimenting with a new bait, meat. I've used big chunks of luncheon meat ledgering for chub and barbel, but only once tried smaller pieces on the float for smaller fish.
    I started with maggot to build confidence. Quite slow, I soon found small pieces of meat approx 5mm square got just as many bites, and I hooked a couple of small roach. So I tried slightly larger bits of meat, and the revelation was that the roach were up in the water. I'd cast beyond the spot where I'd put the loose feed, and as I was winding in a couple of times a roach (no rudd on this occasion) hit the moving bait. So I adjusted the depth to about 3 feet, and for a while it was 'bite-a-chuck'. But they were very fast tricky bites and I hooked very few fish. Any tips? But I was very pleased to get 2 decent roach of 8oz and 15oz. So I had almost hit my 1lb target on day one!. I also caught a 2lb bream , which shouldn't have surprised me if I'd remembered that I've caught bream on floating dog biscuit in the past when fishing for carp.
    A pleasing short session, I'll be back!
  22. The Flying Tench

    Grove Pond 30.4.21

    By The Flying Tench,


    Update
    3.30 - 5.15pm  This lake belongs to Wantage Angling Club, of which I am a member.  After a series of cold nights, and bright sun all afternoon, I had few expectations of catching fish, but I was pleasantly surprised. I float-fished maggot and had about 15 small roach, about 5 rudd (best a chunky 7oz) and 3 nice crucians, all about 6oz. As far as I know this lake doesn't hold any mega-specimens, but it's a very pleasant lake to fish.
  23. The Flying Tench

    What happened in 2020?

    By The Flying Tench,


    Update
    I've just realised it's been more than a year since I posted, so I thought I'd do an update to let the world and the computer system know that I am still around!
    What fishing happened in 2020? For me very little. I can't remember what the problem was in winter 2019/20. I think it was the time I had tennis elbow! Then in the spring and summer we had Covid and restrictions on fishing and tackle shops coupled with a house move - not far, still Didcot area.
    In the autumn I did at least wet a line a few times.  I have joined a new angling club, Wantage and Grove, and checked out their lake a few times. I caught a reasonable bream, 4-5 lbs, and a few chunky rudd of about 6 oz. It doesn't sound much, but I like the lake, and talking to other anglers there I am looking forward to giving it more of a go this year.
    Then this winter I've been a few times and blanked! Most of the winter the Thames has been very 'up and coloured'. I know in the books you can catch barbel in such conditions, but I think that's further ahead on the learning curve.
    The good news, of course, is that 2021 will be far better! I'll keep you posted when there's something to report.
  24. The Flying Tench
    4-6.30pm at the Club Lake, Orchid Lakes, Dorchester
     
    I left myself too little time, mainly because the forecast had been showers, and I decided to wait till the weather was better. But then the forecast changed, so I had a quick session.
     
    Fished 8mm halibut pellet, with 3mm pellets in the feeder. Had carp of approx. 11lb plus bream of 6lb 6oz and 4lb 7oz. The bigger bream was a pb. I realise many anglers, specially carpers, have had much bigger bream than this, but I was still very pleased.
  25. The Flying Tench
    5.15 - 8 pm
    Relatively shallow local lake which has warmed up well (WT 17degC)
     
    Fished feeder. 3 roach, 1lb 3 oz, 1 lb 7 oz, 1 lb 12 oz.
    The fish were full of spawn. The biggest was a pb, and the catch was my best catch of roach, so I was very pleased.
    The middle fish was quite pale and almost looked like a silver bream, but I was not aware this species was present in the lake. I shall take a camera next time! All the roach came in the first hour, and I also foul hooked a second 1lb 7 oz fish.
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