10-06 record Wingham tench

[lutra]

An 8lb Tench for me is Specimen weight,

And me.

 

I think if you talk to someone like Andy Macfarlane he would tell you 2lb roach are much easier to come by than 8lb tench.

[Steve Burke]

Well done Steve and Glyn...... superb tench.

 

I have been reading the theory of "loner fish", can wind play a part in their location?

 

The reason I ask is because at the AN fish-in, nearly all the tench caught were in the Eastern side of the pit. Did the tench follow the strong prevailing winds during the week of the fish-in ? Any thoughts on this Steve?

 

Thanks Jeff

 

Good point, Jeff.

 

I can well imagine wind affecting loner fish even on pits like Wingham that have lots of bars, leading them to move to the downwind side. Certainly they'd be more likely to stay there and feed once they arrive.

 

Maybe this is one of the reasons that loner, nomadic tench tend to grow bigger - they'll move to the area with the best conditions whereas the shoal fish are less likely to do so.

 

My experience at Wingham suggests that it takes a lot to get the shoal fish to move, witness the fact that tench were rolling but not caught at the leeward end on the recent Fish-In despite the strong wind.

 

Additionally, with some of the early Wingham tench gradually changing colour it was possible to identify individual fish. Whilst the nomads would turn up anywhere, the shoal fish were almost invariably caught on their home territory.

[natty]

That tench is a stunning fish, very well done

[****glyn****]

I judge each lake or river on its own merit , if i can catch fish thats in the top 10%

 

thats good enough for me .

 

catch ya later glyn

[Angly]

Well done Steve! PB for you too, or just a Wingham PB?

 

 

Glyn, and well done to you too Sir!

 

 

[Anderoo]

I should confess that I am the one who posts on here who uttered that ridiculous line - I'd been there 3 days and had lost all sense of reality! An 8lber is of course a big tench.

 

Regarding the wind, on gravel pits I don't think it moves tench that much, not like it does carp for example, which get blown from one end to the other on a new wind. I agree with others that the majority of the tench have their own little areas and very rarely leave them. However, the wind still affects the very localised conditions on their little patch - so in a strong SW (as in the fish-in) conditions were probably good at the NE end of the lake but poor at the SW end. The tench were still there (in fact Budgie saw them rolling) but they didn't feed. In other swims I expect you could find feeding tench in very specific spots, which change when the wind/temperature changes, which is why changing things when you're not catching often (OK, sometimes!) brings a quick result.

 

On waters with no features, tench do get moved by a new wind like carp do. I saw it several times at Frensham (big featureless sandy bowl).

[Kappa]

Regarding the wind, on gravel pits I don't think it moves tench that much

 

Last weekend I was fishing the wind was blowing left to right one day and right to left the next day. Interestingly every tench I caught ran against the wind direction, switiching direction as the wind direction changed.

 

Rich

[Rob Ward]

I should confess that I am the one who posts on here who uttered that ridiculous line - I'd been there 3 days and had lost all sense of reality! An 8lber is of course a big tench.

 

Regarding the wind, on gravel pits I don't think it moves tench that much, not like it does carp for example, which get blown from one end to the other on a new wind. I agree with others that the majority of the tench have their own little areas and very rarely leave them. However, the wind still affects the very localised conditions on their little patch - so in a strong SW (as in the fish-in) conditions were probably good at the NE end of the lake but poor at the SW end. The tench were still there (in fact Budgie saw them rolling) but they didn't feed. In other swims I expect you could find feeding tench in very specific spots, which change when the wind/temperature changes, which is why changing things when you're not catching often (OK, sometimes!) brings a quick result.

 

On waters with no features, tench do get moved by a new wind like carp do. I saw it several times at Frensham (big featureless sandy bowl).

 

Ban him!

[Anderoo]

Ban him!

 

I know, it's ludicrous. A couple of seasons ago my PB was 8lb 4oz and had been for many, many years. When you're out of the real world for a few days it's easy to forget that.

 

I reckon with some warmer weather this could be the shortest lake record on, erm, record It's nice that Steve holds it though.