Wingham Fish-In Catch Reports

[Jeffwill]

Thanks very much for the warm welcome from everyone.

 

Many thanks to Steve, Peggy, Glyn, Terry and Tom for their kindness, help and great hospitality and all AN members that attended and made the trip memorable.

 

On the fishing front, I only caught three wrigglies, the last one over 2lb and caused me to rush out of the bivvy pulling my wellies on and sticking a lamp to my forehead while simultaneously watching Steve's isotope bobbin moving up and anticipating something large and green...but it was a wriggly!! Thats life.

 

Again many thanks to Steve and his crew and I hope his vision of a British record bream is realised soon.

 

PS The nightingale that kept me awake each night...should get an ASBO!

[tincatinca]

Just got on to the computer after sorting out a mountain of gear. I do not think I will ever learn. Firstly I would like to thank Steve, Peggy, Glyn, Terry and Tom and all involved for another great weekend. It requires a huge amount of effort and organisation to prepare for this type of event.I would also like to thank Anderoo and Richard for some very sound advice although it took me a day to find the 5th bar but fortunately all became clear on the Sunday when the Sun appeared and there were the bars in all their glory although casting to them in the crosswind was still a bit of a lottery and one had to rely on feeling the line in as there was as much line going sideways as out in front. I still can't come to terms with the rubber maggot though. All in all a cracking time with some some excellent company and even Christmas came early for Elton as he managed to catch a small Carp which had the effect of keeping him away from the barbeque in the quest for another. What a beautiful place Wingham is and with great company and the bonus of a few fish from what appeared to be the boys club, what more could you ask for. Budgie, the hook sharpener is now ordered and Den, thanks for insight on the line clips.

 

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[Will Wilkinson]

First of all, many thanks to Steve, Peggy, Terry, Glyn and Tom for all the work they've put in to make the fish-in such a success once again. The weather was a little challenging to say the least - the waves in Steve and Anderoo's swims were more like the North Sea than an inland lake

 

I could only make the weekend due to work and was concentrating on trying to find one of the elusive Bream so duly mixed up some pretty dry groundbait laced with caster and micro-pellet to cover a fairly large area with a high-attractant, low feed, sprinkling. Casting the spod across the wind was tricky to say the least and I was glad that I didn't need to feed tightly. The night was fairly uneventful with just a 2lb(ish) eel coming to a piece of chorizo sausage, one of the wide-mouth eels and not too hard to unhook, I may try a big piece of sausage on a future trip to see if I can't manage to find some bigger specimens as I rather like catching big eels (my best from Wingham is around 4lb, well short of my PB of 7lb 2oz) and I feel that Wingham could hold a few very large individuals. No sign of any Bream overnight, or any Perch on the worm rod in the morning so I switched tactics for the rest of Sunday and targetted the Tench with fake corn and PVA stocking filled with micro-pellet. This resulted in a nice female Tench of 7lb12oz late morning in the middle of a heavy shower - I was soaked by the time I got back into the bivvy.

 

Nice to catch up with some old friends from the board and meet some new faces. The company and chat makes these events special - can't wait until the next one, whether it be Wingham, Timsbury or somewhere new (hope I can make the birthday bash, wherever it is).

 

Will

 

p.s. It was particularly nice to see so many PBs caught during the fish-in - well done to all of you who managed to beat your previous bests on a tough weekend.

Edited May 18, 2009 by Will Wilkinson

[Anderoo]

I thought I'd fished in windy weather before

 

Three full days of what felt like gale force winds tearing down the lake - it was, erm, exhilarating! It's a shame the temperature wasn't just a bit higher. I think with more warmth and that wind it would have been really superb. It was tough going but the number of PBs caught in poor conditions is testament to what a quality water Wingham is. I think at the last count Steve said there were 8 or 9, which is fantastic. The drop in water temperature after the really hot April was the problem, but I hope everyone (especially first-timers) enjoyed the challenge, the BBQs and the company anyway.

 

I was in the point swim, looking straight down the lake and straight into the wind:

 

 

Waterproof trousers were the order of the day when recasting And my head got soaked several times when refilling a spod. After very little time the swim was waterlogged from the waves crashing in. It was proper wild fishing!

 

 

I had one rod out to the side of the point, where the bobbin spent most of its time 90 degrees from where it was supposed to be.

 

 

On the Saturday morning after a welcome coffee from Steve C (ta!) I found some nice spots with the marker gear - a 6ft gravel plateau next to a deep channel, a 7ft gravelly spot surrounded by fresh eel grass, and a deep spot in the margin - and spent ages spodding out the breamy groundbait. I was after bream really, but any tench would be welcome and in fact I fished fake maggots on all rods in the day with tench in mind. The furthest spot out was 55 yards (EDIT: I just checked, it was actually more like 62 yards!) right into the wind, and after all that effort I was very happy to leave it to settle and go to the BBQ.

 

At 5pm I had my first run from the plateau, a one-toner that looked like it might melt the spool! I struck into a heavy fish that fought and fought. With the waves hitting me and the wind battering me it was quite an experience! After a long and hard fight I netted a really big tench, one of the young primrose ones that hadn't yet started to fill up with spawn. I couldn't even begin to guess the weight and was over the moon to see the needle settle on 9lb 8.5oz, a new PB. (I only mention the half an ounce to wind up Steve C, whose PB is a paltry 9lb 8oz ).

 

 

Hooray!

 

That evening the wind did die off a little, and I tried floatfishing lobs for the perch. Steve Burke came round and was sitting next to my rod when the float buried, he struck and missed it. And he calls himself a perch angler The float slid off again just after that and I caught a feisty little perch of about 12oz. Just after returning him, the rod in the eel grass tore off, and I soon landed a lovely tench of 7lb 7oz to round off a great first day.

 

At about 10.45pm I lost a smallish tench from the plateau because the hair had tangled around the hook. Lesson 1 - rigs can matter

 

At 6.30am the next morning I lost another small tench from the deep margin spot because the maggot clip had masked the hook. Lesson 2 - don't use maggot clips. Interestingly, that had been out all night without beeing eeled.

 

In the night I had a series of long, slow liners from the plateau. I may have messed up my chance of a bream this year. If it was bream (it could only really be bream or carp) they were just moving through rather than stopping to feed, but I think it may haunt me as the season goes on...

 

At about 8am I had another fast run from the plateau and after another really hard fight landed a fat tench which looked to be about 7-8lb, but on the scales it's belly made the difference up and it went 9lb 3oz:

 

 

(Excuse the dodgy self-take!)

 

Two 9s, absolutely fantastic.

 

A couple of hours later I had another tench from the plateau, this one a 5lb 3oz male.

 

Conditions got gradually worse, and it became cooler and even more windy. Nothing happened for over 24 hours, and I was not really expecting anything on the last day, but after a brief but clearly important sunny spell between 11.30 - 12.00 in the morning, I had two runs from the plateau within 5 minutes (I'd cast two rods there overnight in case the liners meant the bream were coming short of the spot). The first was an incredibly fat tench filled with spawn, of 8lb 1oz:

 

 

And the second was a nice fish of 6lb exactly.

 

Later that day Steve Walker (too many Steves!) worked very hard for this lovely 2lb 1oz perch:

 

 

I fished on until 6pm to let the rush hour around London subside but there was no further action. Not that I'm complaining of course, it was a fantastic session and a rare opportunity to fish a swim that's normally reserved for disabled anglers. Steve B did suggest that if I broke my legs he'd let me fish it again, and I'm fairly tempted.

 

The two things that made it possible were the new Drennan rods, which punched a 2oz lead and PVA bag 60+ yards accurately through the wind with no problem at all, and a distance spod that Richard got for me (ta Rich) which meant I could feed pretty accurately.

 

Thanks Steve for letting me fish, and peggy for the BBQs, which were brilliant as always and extremely hard work in all that wind and rain. Thanks Tom, Terry and Glyn for getting it all ready and for the lifts and company. Cheers Tom and Budgie for showing me how to sharpen a hook properly - that's going to save me a fortune. It was great to meet new ANers and catch up with the ones I know. It was great to see Tinca's bream swingers - they really are the business.

 

Roll on next year!

Edited May 19, 2009 by Anderoo

[Anderoo]

I've had a 40 (please read this on Monday).

 

Not far off! It was a pleasure to witness that huge carp, I hope the photos came out OK. Nice one

[Dales]

Well it had to happen on one of my Wingham trips, I Blanked. After worrying about getting over run with eels, I failed to catch one

 

But Wingham has so much more ot offer then just the fish and a big thank you goes to Steve, Peggy, Glyn, Terry and Tom for there hospitality and hard work on putting on another great event.

 

Plus many thanks to Steve C for the warm welcome of breakfast on arrival, a great way to start the weekend.

[tincatinca]

Just a few more pictures showing the swim, poledark on the far bank at maximum zoom in his quest for the fish of dreams that would have enabled him to launch the rocket that had been presented to him to mark such an event and the telescopic swingers that performed extremely well being totally unnafected by the wind. Great write up Anderoo and an excellent result in the conditions.

 

[Angly]

My Wingham Fish-In started with a surprise call on my mobile late Friday evening from Steve Burke himself, who had just seen me post that I'd be leaving early to arrive before 7am, and wanted to brief me on my swim, apparently one of his favourites for the perch that I'd listed as one of my target species on the questionnaire we were all sent. After the initial shock (Steve Burke phoning little old insignificant me) wore off, I realised I was now under pressure to catch!

 

Due to my over enthusiasm, adding an hours journey time for luck ('just in case'), and relying on Multimap daytime traffic journey times, I arrived at Wingham at 5am, so settled down for a nap in the car. It wasn't too long before I heard movement and realised that others were already about, so managed a quick cuppa in the clubhouse before Terry T-Shirt arrived and lent me his spare 2lb TC rods as previously arranged. As luck would have it, the bailiffs were keen to get anglers to the lake, so with my gear in the trailer and myself in the 4x4 with Glyn, I was in my designated swim before 7am.

 

I spodded out some groundbait (equal quantities crushed hemp, molasses meal, pellet powder, and brown crumb) next to a visible gravel bar as per Steve’s instructions, cast out my two rods and sat back to await the action. Meanwhile I set up a slider float for the evening and morning perch sessions, but was dismayed to find my plan thwarted at the start because my rod’s tip ring was too small to pass a powergum stop-knot! Luckily the depth was around 9ft, so it was just possible to cast with the stop-knot about a foot down from the rod’s tip, but the facing wind was making mincemeat of my wimpy 4AAA loaded waggler.

 

Shortly Steve popped in to see how I was doing, and very politely informed me I wasn’t fishing in the right area, I’d actually misunderstood his instructions and chosen the wrong gravel bar (a bar on my left leading away from me), when I should be fishing against the bar in front of me running diagonally across my swim. Oh well, another round of spodding, and my baits were now cast to the correct spot. I’d been informed by many that there was a hot area to the right of my swim, but I’d already earmarked that area (well OK Steve had) as my perch swim, and Steve was kind enough to lend me a far heavier loaded bodied waggler float to cope with the brisk facing wind.

 

At the lunchtime BBQ quietly and efficiently served up by Peggy to a seemingly never ended queue of ravenous anglers, Budgie sorted me out with a bedchair, a brand new item no less that he had bought for a spare. Lifts to and from the BBQ were kindly provided by Will in his Defender, who was fishing just up from myself and Steve Campbell who was next to me.

 

Evening eventually fell, the wind dropped off completely, and I started the perch fishing in near mill pond conditions. Damn, one missed bite just as I was feeding the chopped worm caster maggot mix. Damn, and again! Now night was falling fast, and bang, I’m into a fish! Was it a perch? Argh, nope, an eel. I guess about 2lbs, the first eel I’ve seen for about 20 years, and probably a PB, although I didn’t weigh it.

 

The eel signalled the end of meat baits for the day, and I carried on float fishing using a chemical nightlight on Steve’s float trying a variety of baits for about another hour. Then I settled down for a light nap. Stupidly, I’d not actually planned out my sleep pattern, and I hadn’t yet slept since Thursday night! I was soon dead to the world.

 

00:30 and I’m awoken by one of my alarms…fish on! Obviously of medium size, it didn’t really put up too much of a fight until it came to the margins, trying not to be too rough with my possibly gravel damaged 8lb line, I gently persuaded what I could now see was a huge (for me) tench into the net. What a gorgeous fish, and she went 7lb 9oz on the scale. My face in the photo says it all, I was chuffed to bits. I wanted a specimen tench, and here she was, a new PB by quite some margin.

 

 

I slept through Sunday morning first light, the best perching hours, an oversight I would later kick myself for, especially as by all accounts the conditions were perfect.

 

My next action was at 5:30pm, the alarm waking me from an after BBQ nap, and luckily witnessed by Will who kindly took the photo for me. Another tench, but this time ‘only’ 6lb 10oz. And again, a gorgeous looking fish.

 

 

Sunday evening and the wind was up again, nothing to the float rod.

 

2:15 am and I’m woken by my alarm, I lift into something noticeably more solid than my last two fish. As is my usual night practice, I only turn my headlight on when the fish is in netting range, but I’d messed up, and putting pressure on the fish I was gutted to hear my lead come whistling out the water past my ear…the fish was just underfoot and I’d not noticed, I thought it was still some way out. That’s never happened to me before…I swore loudly. The hook had been ejected or pulled out.

 

Monday morning up at 3:30 am to catch that perch magic first light, but conditions were awful, heavy rain, strong wind, and slippery underfoot, I slipped and almost went it! Float fishing was a no go, I’d have to try quivertipping, although not sure if the perch would put up with the resistance. Again, I missed two good bites, and then morning was over. I’d fallen short, and I was pretty angry with myself. More so when I realised that during the course of the morning I’d somehow snapped the tip of the float that Steve had lent me!

 

I packed up just in time for the 1pm BBQ, after which I said my goodbyes and made my way home, grinning from ear to ear the whole way.

 

Both my tench came to two 10mm boilies on a 3” braid hooklength from a semi-fixed 2oz bomb, not an inline one mind, so you’d think tangle city, but a part boilie PVA bag or stringer seemed to keep things inline.

 

Some firsts for me including: First time on a gravel pit, first time on a water as large as Wingham, first time being woken by a bite alarm (I normally fish OR sleep), first use of braid hooklength, first try at slider float fishing, first go with the marker float, first spodding.

 

At no point during the Fish-In did I forget what a huge privilege it is to get a chance to fish Wingham as a non-member.

 

 

Highlights

 

The gorgeous lake

 

Steve’s obvious (and well justified) pride, enthusiasm, energy, and knowledge, coupled with his ability to make everyone feel so very welcome.

 

The obvious amount of hard work and preparation that goes into the Fish-In which ultimately culminates in the weekend running with near military precision.

 

Peggy’s cooking!

 

Having expert advice on hand

 

Meeting some more forum members and putting faces to names

 

 

Low points

 

That weather!

 

Losing that fish, no one to blame but me

 

Failing to catch a perch, again, all my fault

 

Breaking Steve’s float!

 

 

Once again, a huge thank you and round of applause for all those that made the Angler’s Net Wingham Fish-In possible, including (but possibly not limited to) Steve Burke, Elton (congrats on the new PB carp!), Peggy, Terry, Glyn and Tom, and lets not forget the forum members themselves, who whether by lending out gear, offering advice, or just ‘being there’ make the Fish-In what it is.

 

Also a special thank you to those who helped me out in other ways (tackle loan, taxi service, or just plain old good company) including (but possibly not limited to) and in no particular order: Budgie, Terry T-Shirt, Will, Steve Campbell. Cheers lads.

 

And let’s not forget those forum members who give their thoughts and advice so freely, and because of whom I was ready with the correct baits tackle and methods to allow me to catch my PB tench.

 

One way or another, I hope to return to Wingham one day to do justice to the perch population.

 

P.S. Sorry for the novel!

Edited May 19, 2009 by Angly

[Julian]

Sounds like the conditions were challenging to say the least!

 

Some cracking catches and some great images – credit to the continuing work Steve does with the water.

 

Just wanted to congratulate Elton with his first 30, well done mate, can’t wait to see the photos!

 

Well done to all

[Dick Dastardly]

Well the previous weeks wind and rain had significantly lowered the water temp and the tench especially seemed to have gone right off the feed! The swims Andrew and I were in were pretty barren feature wise and not ones we had fished before....but Steve had told us that they had been the only ones on the lake that week that they had seen fish move!

 

As the sun started to go down it was alive with fish in front of me! right under the rod tips were tench "porpoisiung" and even rolling over the feed!But it wasnt to be! One Jack and that was it! No point trying the same again so for the last night I put baits right under the rod top (still 12' of water) and promtly had 5 takes from pike (the way they take on a semifixed rig is unmistakeable!) three of which were landed! all around the 5-8lb mark skinny as a pipe cleaner,good fight and a rather bizzare fondness for a static boillie! I dont know about me running Pike teach ins for anglers maybe I should start doing teach ins for Pike! Go eat some fish boys!

 

Didnt matter though as as usual with Wingham it was just great to be there and catch up with everyone again.

 

Goes without saying a great time all down to the generosity and hard work of Steve,Peggy,Terry,Tom and Glynn plus the company of all you ANers! Thankyou.