3 bream trips - 3 doubles!

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

hhhhm id go back to the location of them i bet they are tightly grouped and getting near to spawning hows the weather there?if theres lots of bars n humps and can be a real waiting game youll know soon, as someones bound to drop in on em sooner or later,or some one might see em having a go at spawning,have you tried just walking round all day looking or getting out in a small boat?

[Steve Burke]

It could be that the tench are all bunched up for spawning, but that's not their normal pattern at Wingham as they seem to have several different spawning sites. Unfortunately there's an algal bloom at the moment, and so visibility is only 3ft instead of the usual 13, making seeing fish from the boat more difficult.

 

This is the first time the problem has arisen, and the only thing that's different is the lack of weed. In turn this has meant an explosion of easily got at natural food, and I suspect that this is the cause.

 

Quite what the tench are pre-occupied with I don't know for sure as Wingham is so rich that there are many possibilies including daphnia, bloodworm and shrimps. However, I suspect it's one of the many species of snails that have exploded in numbers this year.

 

I'm waiting to speak to Bruno (we keep missing each other) to see if he can suggest what the tench are likely to be pre-occupied with but not the bream.

[Newt]

What has happened to all your weed growth Steve?

[Steve Burke]

We don't know yet, Newt. I treated part of the margins this year as I do every other year, which might be a contributory factor. However, normally this just clears channels in each swim.

 

I'm waiting to get to the Back Lake, which I don't allow fishing on and so didn't treat with herbicide. However, the head gasket has recently gone on my tractor and so I can't get a boat over there at present.

 

Another local pit, Westbere, that my bailiffs also work on had no weed until a short while ago - then it exploded! It's looking less and less likely, but the same might yet happen at Wingham.

[RUDD]

Steve Burke:

Edd, I haven't tried pellets yet because of the cost.  Wingham has so much natural food that it takes a lot of bait to get the fish interested in anything new.  As Gaffer remarked after an earlier AN Fish-In, there's so much food in any weed you retrieve that it crawls back in!  However, pellets are certainly on my "to try" list.

 

When you add in the low stock levels and the huge number of bars and humps you can perhaps begin to see the challenge, especially compared to commerial venues.  But that's what makes it so interesting!

 

Ratty, there's almost no angling pressure at Wingham.  There's just 30 members on 40 acres.  If there's another angler on the water it's crowded!  However, your idea of the tench being tightly grouped is certainly a possibility.

 

Anthony, hopefully you'll fill your boots at next year's AN Fish-In!

 

Thanks for the ideas lads, keep 'em coming!

Steve

 

I use proper coarse fish pellets that cost me 18quid for 25kg from the local animal feed specialist.

I have been using a mixture of 4 and 8mm with ringers 6mm expander pellets on the hook.

Working a treat for tench.

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

talking about weed explosions,when on the river the other day,ity was quite clear a few streamer weed beds coming through lillies and cabbages etc went again few days later boom!weed evrywhere!!!and the water had a very od green tint to it that stained the water,water started to run clearer as the day progresssed strange.steve you could always take a look at sticky baits,bloodworm and shrimp?mix they do some good mixes mate take a look round.

[Steve Burke]

Thanks Rudd, that's not much more than I, or rather Peggy pays for sweetcorn!

 

However, I might have to spend a fair bit of both time and money establishing a new bait as I doubt that the fish at Wingham have seen as much of pellets as they have of sweetcorn. In fact the water's so little fished they might never have seen pellets at all! However, it's certainly one for the future. Thanks to both of you again.

[Russell Fitzpatrick]

yeah i was gonna say a pre-baiting campaign.might help concentrate them in one area.

[Steve Burke]

Dead right, Ratty, I've certainly found pre-baiting is usually very effective at Wingham. Only this year it hasn't been!

[Steve Burke]

Ratty46:

steve you could always take a look at sticky baits,bloodworm and shrimp?mix they do some good mixes mate take a look round.

I'm not familiar with these mixes but they sound interesting - are they simple pastes? Is there a link you can post? Cheers.