Wingham Fish-In Catch Reports 2013

[Dave H]

Last year there was a break from the weed to the start of it on the summer ticket but this year i believe the winter never really killed it all off through the winter so this year i think in the spring they have earlier weed to feed on from it as there was last year. That means no gap between the weed this year so they are just not as hungry.

it's the first year that has happened

Edited May 24, 2013 by Dave H

[gozzer]

Everyone has that option John,

 

Of course, I hadn't thought of that I also didn't realise that as Steve said, it's been tried already.

 

I kind of assumed that because of the nature of the water, everyone would accept, and work on, any help given, I know I would.

 

Obviously I only know about Wingham from what's written on here, but reading Daves post makes me wonder how much experimenting goes on. Is it a case of tried and tested methods, or constant experimenting? Or even a mixture of both?

 

John.

[Anderoo]

All the members I know (and I don't know all of them) are thinking anglers, who are always trying new tactics and areas. Once some things have been worked out, obviously people capitalise on the work, until a new approach is needed.

 

John, I forgot to say, usually at the fish-ins there are a number of swims where actually no-one can offer much help, as none of the members there have fished them! In which case it's a case of looking at the satellite photos to see where the biggest features are, and going it alone.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Anderoo

[Guest twofoottwitch]

I don't know too many anglers that would take on aboard all the information about how to fish a water, or even appreciate the advice. Don't get me wrong there are positives to be had, but on the whole many like to work things out for themselves, it's all part of the challenge, and it is fishing and not catching.

 

But from what I have heard and seen, Wingham is a wonderful venue, and Steve, Peggy and all the other help are just top class, and do as much as they can to make the visit successful. This year by all accounts it may not has been as good as previous years, and I get the impression the Steve rather felt it his his fault, that is the character of the man I guess, but as we all know nothing is guaranteed in fishing, and I guess that's what keeps us coming back.

 

It is so refreshing in these days of 'I'm all right Jack' to witness such hospitality and kindness.

.

[Steve Burke]

I very much doubt that angling pressure is making the tench significantly harder to catch. In fact Wingham is one of the most lightly fished syndicates in the country. In the busiest period last June it averaged just 4 anglers on 40 acres! And some of the swims pegged for the Fish-In hardly see another angler from one one year to the next!

 

However, the situation at Wingham is different from last year. There are 2 reasons.

 

The first is the weed. In the past we applied some herbicide to clear parts of the swims, although not the surrounding areas. Under new EU rules we can no longer do so, although hopefully this will change in a few years. This new legislation is affecting just about every clear water in the country that's not overstocked. Last year's weed died back in the winter, but the long and cold winter meant it didn't rot down.

 

As a temporary solution I'm investing thousands of pounds to mechanically drag clear areas. Whether this will be successful I'm not sure, but by next year's Fish-In we'll know.

 

The second is the freak weather we've had over the last 12 months. We had one of the wettest summers and autumns for ages, followed by the latest spring in nearly 100 years.

 

As a result the Main Lake is way, way behind normal. It's no co-incidence that until about a week ago the tench were feeding almost entirely at night. This isn't unusual early season at Wingham, or indeed on other gravel pits according to the Tenchfisher's book. However well before now we'd expected the tench to have switched to morning feeding. They did switch from night feeding just before the Fish-In. But they decided to feed in the afternoon, normally the least productive time at Wingham!

 

We also had very low water temperatures during the Fish-In, including a recent fall, and as most will be aware tench don't feed well in these conditions. Traditionally few fish are caught on the first day of the Fish-In because the fish aren't used to the disturbance. Whilst it was sunny on the Saturday the wind changed to the NE, which always knocks the catches for six at Wingham. Then on the Monday it was cold and wet. Overall these were probably the worst conditions we've ever had on a Fish-In.

 

On the bright side, we've found that these adverse conditions don't seem to affect the biggest tench as much. This may be one of the reasons they're bigger. I mentioned this in my recent article "Two Types of Tench" that I referred to earlier. A few years ago in early June the wind turned to a cold NEly and just 3 tench were caught all week. I had a 10-06 and a 7lber, Glyn had a 10-4.

 

And at the Fish-In Errmm of course banked a superb 10-02!

[Anderoo]

The weekend before the fish-in last year was a strange one too, if you remember Steve. Half the weekend was cold with a NE wind and the lake went mad with lots of tench and perch caught, including some good ones. Then it changed to SW winds and got a lot warmer, and it just switched off! Really odd! It then stayed like that throughout the fish-in.

 

It was weedy then too, but not as weedy as this year. The weather was not as cold as this year either, so I definitely think these two things are having an extra effect this year. It was very dodgy weather last year though, I had to cut 2 or 3 of my trips short because I was worried about trees falling on me!

 

I also agree that the fish are not as cute as on heavily fished waters, but I do think that over time they do get generally harder to catch.

 

Out of interest, have any of the carpers (Malcolm aside) had any of the bigger tench yet, that you know of?

[Errrm]

Watching the footage and having time to rethink my approach I think in similar conditions I would be trying to intercept single fish while they are moving around. I would probably fix the most efficient rig I could that I would be confident would give me the best chance of a hook up if it was picked up, for me this is a KD or if in heavy weed a Pop-Up Rig and either bait with a small PVA bag or scatter some pellets around.

 

Both the PVA bag and scattered pellets should mean that either the pellets have broken down by the time the bait is found or there is only a mouth full of bait to take and you should hopefully get a pickup.

 

As has already been said though when the conditions get better the tench may feed better again.

[Steve Burke]

Out of interest, have any of the carpers (Malcolm aside) had any of the bigger tench yet, that you know of?

 

Immediately before the Fish-In Mark Cunnington had his first tench session anywhere for many years. His first 3 tench were all PBs at 8-07, 8-14 and 9-08! He then lowered his average with a 6-04!

 

All these fish came in the afternoon.

[Dales]

I am a little reluctant to accept that the Tench have changed the time they feed dramatically and suggest we are basing the idea on not a lot of fish being caught. A few anglers catching during the afternoon does not necessarily mean things have changed, I still suspect that they may well still be feeding at night but may well be preoccupied on naturals and as many anglers avoid maggot/castor/worm at night due to the eels we may be wrongly assuming that their has been a change in their feeding habits. So few caught Tench at the Fish-In that it is hard to come to any conclusions. If fish where coming out all over in the afternoon, then I would certinly take notice.

 

I buy the Anglers' Mail every week and over the last few weeks the pics of big Tench and Bream have been few and far between. This week there was just 1 big Tench at 10-02, normally at this time of year you would expect to see pages and pages of double figure Tench including 12lb & 13lb fish from big waters. For what ever reason they are just not being caught, there may be a number of factors such as weed, weather effecting the catches and it makes sense to rethink your approach and tactics. Something Wingham members seem to do even when things are going well but it might be a case of "throwing the baby out with the bath water" assuming that the spots and tactics that worked before will still not produce.

 

With so few Tench being caught at Wingham recently or indeed at other noted Tench waters, I think it might be jumping the gun to drastically rethink things. I would be interested to know what those who did catch Tench at the Fish-In where using for bait when they caught in the afternoon and whether they changed baits say from maggot to boilie come the evening. I am even more interested in whether Maddog continued to fish maggot at night. As the only one to be consitantly catching, we can be fairly sure he had fish and managed to keep them in front of him for a period of time. Not being to bothered about catching eels, I have often fished maggot at night early in the season and caught on them while other baits like corn/boilie etc remain untouched even when cast at the same place. Changing back from a boilie to a natural would often buy another bite.

 

I tend to discount Neil's fish (Seems mad as its a cracker) but as we have often talked about the real big ones seem to feed at any time and so I don't think his catch as amazing as it is adds much to the idea that they may now be feeding in the afternoon.

[Phone]

Dales,

 

http://www.boprc.govt.nz/media/32803/Report-0402-Potential%20effects%20of%20tench%20in%20NZ%20freshwater%20ecosystems.pdf

 

If you are keenly interested in tench the above site is just one of several suggested in my current Fish Biology Journal. While the work is done for/by NZ the bits are well documented foreign scientific papers. Just pick through those parts of interest to a UK angler.

 

As a side note. Having read a couple papers this morning they seem to be a predictable and fun candidate for matching wits.

 

Phone