Wingham Fish-In Catch Reports 2013

[tincatinca]

Firstly apologies for the delay in writing a report but unfortunately it is the first opportunity that I have had since I returned home. Having checked with Steve that it was OK to set up before the fish in I arrived at the lake around 2pm on Thursday afternoon. I had been allocated a swim called the left hand Christmas Tree which I had fished once previously but felt had a lot of potential which I will go into a bit later. After Terry kindly pulled my trailer round to the swim and with all sorts of changeable weather forecast over the weekend, the first job was to put the bivvy up. I decided to use my bivvy overwrap for the first time which proved to be a right mare to put up but when finally set up it was like having a bungalow by the side of the water.

 

 

Having finally managed to get the bivvy set up, the next job was to spend a bit of time with the marker rod and develop a plan. The swim in question sits on the entrance to the bottom bay and between the edge of the swim and the far bank there is lots of variation in depths. Right in front the near shelf drops down to around 12 feet and further out you can find lots of variation in depths between 6 and 12 feet with a few gravel patches patches. The water in front of me was fairly clear and weed free and to my immediate right was an overhanging tree with the branches covering the bottom of the near bank drop off. Having found what I thought was a suitable area but not where I had previously fished I decided to bait up an area and fish two rods on it and further bait up just on the edge of the overhanging tree line for fishing the float. One new little toy that I have obtained is a couple of Nashy ball makers see link below

 

 

These come in two sizes which give a 20mm and 40mm ball. The beauty of these is that you do not need to spod and once you have got your mix right you can catapult very accurately over a fair distance. Having already prepared a dry mix at home consisting of micro pellet, hemp, ground up 10mm Ritchworth air dried frozen Tuttis, and fine milled vitalin, lake water was added along with a liberal dose of molasses until the right consistency was reached. The next few minutes was taken up making 40mm balls which were then catapulted around the marker float. The close in swim was then baited with both baited areas being left till the following day. During the night I got up to look at the area a couple of times to see if there were any signs of activity nothing. On the far out baited spot, the plan was to fish maggot feeder on the two rods during daylight and a 10mm boilie snowman during the night with the float rod being alternated between worm, maggot and corn. At first light on Friday the maggot feeder rods were cast to the baited area and corn was fished on the float rod.to around 10am when I pulled in the rods and wandered over to the club house to give a hand in setting up the barbecue area. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of effort that is put in every year by the bailiffs, the Broombridge clan and everyone directly connected with the management and running of Wingham that has produced in my opinion a fishery that is second to none.

 

Having returned to the swim late afternoon, Steve arrived and must have left gold dust on my chair because shortly after he left one of the alarms on one of the maggot feeder rods burst into life resulting in a male Tench which hovered on the 7lb mark on the scales.

 

 

Yes I thought, cracked it but nothing further to dark when the maggot feeder rods were replaced with the rods carrying the snowman rigs.

 

After an uneventful night, it was down to the Clubhouse helping Rusty on the way to put up his bivvy. Everone was arriving for the fish in and that wonderful Korum model and Tench Fishers stalwart Steve Cambell was greeting everyone with Bacon and Sausage sarnis whilst at the same time doing a cracking job of trying to get sales for the latest Tench Fishers book. This is where the organisation of the fish ins comes into its own with all the bailiffs working their socks off to get everyone and their equipment to their swims. Returning to the swim it was back on the maggot feeder rigs and around the tree switching between the slider float rod with worm and maggot feeder on the a polaris set up. I had been continuing to feed two swims off the tree and had noticed activity on a couple of occasions with bubbling and bits coming up from the bottom. I had got the polaris rod with the maggot halfway along the the tree when the float dipped and the rod bent over. As soon as I felt the jag jag on the end I knew it was which turned out to be a decent sized Eel of the small mouthed variety, perfectly hooked in the bottom lip and weighing I would guesstimate around the 3lb mark. This was a bit unexpected as the time was around 1pm in the afternoon. After de-sliming myself and the landing net then returning it to the water it was off to the club house for the first barbecue.

 

Unfortunately the remainder of the fish in produced no further fish but as always with Wingham the place is just awesome both for scenery and wild life where catching fish is a bonus coupled with the added pleasure of some excellent all round

company and camaraderie.

 

 

 

I would also like to congratulate errrm on his fantastic Tench. What an achievement. I am really green with envy. In conclusion whilst I feel the weather played a significant part in the end results I am sure everyone got bitten by the Wingham bug and enjoyed the event.

 

It has been said before, but I really appreciate the effort that is put into making the fish in possible. From Steve, Glyn Terry, Sam, Budgie, KIm and everyone who works tirelessly throughout the year. Peggy and her helper TJ who put on a fantastic barbecue. Stevie Cambell whose generosity provides the welcoming bacon and sausage butties. Steve and his colleagues have produced a truly wonderful environment as well as a unique fishery and I feel very privileged to be a member.

Edited May 23, 2013 by tincatinca

[Anderoo]

[media]https://vimeo.com/66777340[/media]

 

Interesting footage. It would be good to see the other tench clips if possible? This one looks to me like a nervous fish, rather than a picky eater...

[Vagabond]

Nice sequence Wayne.

 

When I first started fishing Wingham, I had a conversation with the late Fred J Taylor on the subject of tench in gravel pits.

 

As ever, Fred's comment was succinct and cogent.

 

" Happy wanderers, mate ! "

 

I think the sequence illustrates just that.

[Anderoo]

That to me looks like the behaviour of a fish that saw/heard something it didn't like - not enough to spook it, but enough to make it do a 180 and leave the swim.

 

Wayne, were the other tench you saw also singletons and of an average size?

[Steve Burke]

Many thanks for posting the footage, Wayne!

 

In your experience was this behaviour similar to previous years' footage?

 

How big do you reckon the tench was?

 

Vagabond, did you see my recent article about wandering tench? Go to http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/coarse-fishing-articles/two_types_of_tench.html.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Steve Burke

[Errrm]

That to me looks like the behaviour of a fish that saw/heard something it didn't like - not enough to spook it, but enough to make it do a 180 and leave the swim.

 

That was my thought as well, how close does the fish get to the rig/line? I couldn't see the rig when I watched the video.

[gozzer]

That to me looks like the behaviour of a fish that saw/heard something it didn't like - not enough to spook it, but enough to make it do a 180 and leave the swim.

 

I agree Andrew, but it seemed to me to be something it didn't like the taste/smell/ feel of. I've watched chub behave in a similar way to a bait they weren't used to. Although there were usually a few of them, and one would eventually take it, (after mouthing/inspecting it), then it was a free for all. Maybe if there had been a few tench the reaction might have been different, I don't know.

 

The thing that stood out for me was the clarity of the water, and the abundance of weed. In Waynes previous video there was more colour in the water and more undertow, probably both related. Is there more weed this year, or is it just that it's a different swim?

 

John.

[Errrm]

I agree Andrew, but it seemed to me to be something it didn't like the taste/smell/ feel of. I've watched chub behave in a similar way to a bait they weren't used to. Although there were usually a few of them, and one would eventually take it, (after mouthing/inspecting it), then it was a free for all. Maybe if there had been a few tench the reaction might have been different, I don't know.

 

The thing that stood out for me was the clarity of the water, and the abundance of weed. In Waynes previous video there was more colour in the water and more undertow, probably both related. Is there more weed this year, or is it just that it's a different swim?

 

John.

 

A lots more weed than normal, basically the whole lake bed apart from the bars have been covered in weed. Also I think there was less wind than previous years which should have impoved visibility a bit and reduced the undertow.

[Steve Burke]

It did seem spooky, didn't it? But was it from the bait, the rig or the camera and pole?

[Vagabond]

Vagabond, did you see my recent article about wandering tench?

 

Not until just now, but you have commented on loners in the past, and the number of people that have had just one tench in a session reinforces that view.

 

Evidently Fred J had had that experience in gravel pits too.

 

I agree the fish in the video was not 100% happy about something, and Gozzer may be right - it reacted soon after chomping what it picked up.

 

Thinks...... What if the ONLY bait on view had been Wayne's hookbait ? Would the tench have picked that up instead ? Held it long enough to get caught ?

 

Hmmmm......Are we surrounding our hookbaits with fish-scaring freebies ? A bit revolutionary I know, but successful tactics for loners may well be quite different from trying to attract a shoal.