Wingham Fish-In

[Anderoo]

Just wondering, as I've never used one before,

 

If I use a marker rod, do I need a licence to cover it? or only for the rods that actually have hooks on

 

Just wondering as I've met a few EA baliffs that have weird ideas about the rules before, including one that said I needed two licences because I was fishing two rods and had a floater rod made up ready to use and leaning against my bivvy Quote "How do I know you aren't going to cast it out as soon as I leave?"

 

And do you guys leave the marker rod/float in place for the whole session once you've found the spot you want to fish, or remove it once the bait and rigs are in the right place?

 

Mat

 

Marker and spod rods don't count - only those with baited hooks in the water. Good old baliffs eh

 

I always bring in the marker float once I've done the baiting and clipped up the fishing rods. If you mark the right distance on your fishing rods with light pole elastic tied on the line with a water knot and remember what to aim for on the far bank (I always draw a picture of the tree line and mark the target on that, so if I forget I can check), you can get back on the spots day or night. After reeling in/catching a fish/etc. just cast away from your spot until you get to the pole elastic, put the line in the reel clip, reel in, cast again in the right direction, and you're in the right spot again. Then take the line out of the clip or you'll lose a rod!

 

It's frustrating if it's windy or just one of those days when you just can't get back in the right spot, but if you're not 100% happy with it, I'd bring it in and just keep trying, even if it takes 10 casts.

[Mat Hillman]

Would it be a problem If I turn up early on Saturday morning and sleep in the car park till 7am?

 

I'm going to be finishing work around 2am friday night/saturday morning, going home and sleeping till 5 then setting out for wingham seems like a good recipe for an oversleep and late arrival

 

If not I'll probably get a couple of hours kip at a service station on the A2

 

Mat

[Anderoo]

I just had a text from another member who's over there at the moment, and he's now had 5 tench with the biggest going 8.13 and 9.1!

 

Oh, and an 18lb pike on fake corn

 

The weather's looking good, I think there will be some very good tench caught as they're now starting to put the weight on. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a bream come out...

[Steve Walker]

 

Stunning.

 

Well done on the tenching, that's quite a haul!

[Anthony78]

To illustrate how important location is, I had a great majority of the tench on one rod. The second rod caught several but not as many. The third rod, despite being in what looked to be a perfect spot, only produced 2 of the fish. I then moved it halfway through the session to a new spot that also looked really good, and again only had 2 fish from it. So if I'd have been fishing those 2 spots, I'd have caught 4 tench.

 

Hi Anderoo,

Hope you don't mind me asking but when you first reached your peg what features were you looking for and how did you decide on your 3 spots to fish to? I very rarely get the chance to fish for tench never mind a 30 acre gravel pit with so many features.

On recent trips to Wingham I have always had one rod on the base of the marginal shelf as this is a spot I have confidence in no matter where I'm fishing but I am never sure what I should be fishing to in open water. Silt, gravel, on top of gravel bar, down the side of gravel bar......

Any advice regarding features to target would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Ant

[tincatinca]

Unfortunately I had to abort my latest trip on Sunday evening due to a work problem and that was just after I had finished an hour of spodding for the evening and morning session. To cap it all it started to rain as I was packing up and everything got a bit wet which I am currently in the process of sorting out and drying. Andrews Tench haul was fantastic however, one thing I would say is that it didn't just happen but was very much influenced by the preperation, dedication and skills of one very meticulous and passionate angler, who at the time of departing on Sunday looked completely cream crackered. Over the weekend there were some exceptional fish caught and if the weather is good forthe fish in, there could be a few surprises. I would also echo Andrews comments regarding the work that has been carried out to organise and prepare Wingham for the fish in and ask that all recognise this with a contribution to the bailiffs box as it really is a unique opportunity to fish a premier league water.

[Leon Roskilly]

This talk of nuisance tench is beginning to worry me

 

How can I avoid them and target the stripey fish that I was intending to concentrate on?

[Leon Roskilly]

[Anderoo]

Hi Anderoo,

Hope you don't mind me asking but when you first reached your peg what features were you looking for and how did you decide on your 3 spots to fish to? I very rarely get the chance to fish for tench never mind a 30 acre gravel pit with so many features.

On recent trips to Wingham I have always had one rod on the base of the marginal shelf as this is a spot I have confidence in no matter where I'm fishing but I am never sure what I should be fishing to in open water. Silt, gravel, on top of gravel bar, down the side of gravel bar......

Any advice regarding features to target would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Ant

 

Ant, I'll come round to your swim first thing on Saturday if you like and we can see what's what? What time are you getting there?

 

It always takes me quite a long time to choose where to put bait, even in swims I know. The Google Earth images really help as you can see where the biggest features are, and line them up with the far bank. Fishing it blind would be so much harder!

 

I think it's important to choose 3 (if you're fishing 3 rods - 2 if not) spots of different depth. For tench, about 6ft is usually the magic number, shallower if it's warm. So I would look to find a spot at 5ft, one at 6ft and the third at 7ft. Ideally these would be up against bars, humps or the margin, or weed (if there is any). As long as the bottom isn't deep, smelly silt I'm pretty happy, so I'd look for fine gravel or hard 'sweet' silt. This is the time of year the bloodworm beds start to really bloom, and if you find one of those (your lead often comes back with them, or nice smelling pale silt, on it, especially knobbly marker leads) and fish over it, I'm sure you'll pick up tench. On my recent session, there was a large bloodworm bed about 30 yards out and it may have been the first one to appear this year, hence all the tench coming in. With this warm weather we're having now, I expect there will be lots of them by the weekend!

 

For the bream I'm much less certain! But water about 8ft seems to produce the bream, and I think the baiting is different (more of it and spread over a wider area).

 

Also, think of it as trying to pick the odd fish off as they move through your swim - look at the map and imagine which routes they'd take through the features. Find suitable spots (depth and bottom make-up) in those places, put a little bait out and fish on them accurately and I'm sure you'll do well

 

In some swims the margins can be very good, but the water is very clear at the moment, so staying quiet will be essential. Also, the bottom of the shelf (in some swims, at least) may have a lot of old black, rotting leaf debris and may be too deep for tench, so fishing up the shelf may be better.

 

The good thing with fishing 3 spots is that there are aways one or two that look brilliant, but just don't produce anything. I can never explain it, but it happens a lot!

 

A last thing on baiting, things tend to go quiet in early afternoon, so that's a good time to get any top-up baiting done well before dusk. There's a definite feeding spell as the light goes, and chucking spods or balls of groundbait around then probably won't do you (or your neighbour!) much good!

 

One last general point, the guy who had the bream the other night woke one morning to find a shoal of roach had whittled his hookbaits off during the night and left him fishing with bare hooks - so during darkness it's probably best to either fish a running rig so you know that's happening, or fish harder baits.

Edited May 18, 2010 by Anderoo

[Anderoo]

Unfortunately I had to abort my latest trip on Sunday evening due to a work problem and that was just after I had finished an hour of spodding for the evening and morning session. To cap it all it started to rain as I was packing up and everything got a bit wet which I am currently in the process of sorting out and drying. Andrews Tench haul was fantastic however, one thing I would say is that it didn't just happen but was very much influenced by the preperation, dedication and skills of one very meticulous and passionate angler, who at the time of departing on Sunday looked completely cream crackered. Over the weekend there were some exceptional fish caught and if the weather is good forthe fish in, there could be a few surprises. I would also echo Andrews comments regarding the work that has been carried out to organise and prepare Wingham for the fish in and ask that all recognise this with a contribution to the bailiffs box as it really is a unique opportunity to fish a premier league water.

 

It was the swingers wot did it!