Wingham Fish-In 2014

[gozzer]

For fishing dense weed I've found that the 'pin weights' that Walter Bower used to sell with his 'needle floats' come in handy.

It's just a piece of wire, (he used stainless, but I've used a few different metals, brass being one), attached by small float rubbers on each end. They just pull through the weed without snagging at all. Of course you can't fish at distance with them, and there's no 'bolt effect', but using a floating bait, crust, dog biscuit, or similar, set to the depth of the weed does work.

 

John.

[Dave H]

I tried the old fashioned spoon type weights last year (proper name escapes me) horrible for casting although tape them back to back is better. They fall swinging from side to side and are streamlined to slide through weed. You can still get them in some tackle shops.

It did seem to slide through in the lighter weed but don't expect to cast far and i could not swear by them as i really never gave it long enough for results

[John Weddup]

The other thing that springs to mind is that 10-12lb lines make even more sense if there is a lot of weed. I normally use 6-8lb mainline for tench fishing, but when the fish aren't line shy, there are gravel bars and lots of weed, spooling up with something heavier seems a no-brainer.

 

 

Since the banning of the last weed killer allowed in waterways its amazing how much weed is now in many stillwaters. I dont think anyone quite realised how much was being used and depended apon.

 

Since weed growth has increased I have very rarely used anything less than 10lb mainline. The weed has many bad things about it but on the positive side it makes fish visibility less so near margin swims are better than they were and heavy mainline is not seen.

 

Hooking the tench of a lifetime it would be awfully disappointing to lose it due to inadequate tackle.

 

From my little experience at wingham but lots of big gravel pit experience on similar waters the tench are normally well within 40 yards anyway so distance tactics are not needed.

 

Shoals of big bream will sit further out in deeper clear water but those big old solitary ones also drift around the margins like the tench.

 

John

[Steve Walker]

Very true, John. I think the issue with places like Wingham is that the topography of the bottom means you have margin-like features all over the place, not just in the actual margins. You have to fish to what is in front of you, and sometimes that is at range.

[John Weddup]

Very true, John. I think the issue with places like Wingham is that the topography of the bottom means you have margin-like features all over the place, not just in the actual margins. You have to fish to what is in front of you, and sometimes that is at range.

 

 

Deep weedy gravel pits are certainly a learning curve. The complex I am fishing at present has 9 lakes and several over 40 acres. They have bars allover the place much like wingham as this is the way they excavated such things.

 

Bars also are so different. Shallow ones that are just a foot less than the deeper troughs are just shallow plateaus that most fish visit but those that rise up, say 5ft in 10 ft deep water or deeper are more like islands we cannot see.

 

The shallow ones I have caught many species from but the bigger bars I have only really caught from the troughs either side. I think most bottom feeders swim around them. I have had good rudd on top of some bars and many fish visit them to warm up but my tench and bream normally come form the deeper area's tight against them.

 

I guess some wingham swims the bars are at distance. Then the weed issue becomes a problem. Still the margin is the margin no matter whats out in front. If the bars are a long way out the margin is maybe more important.

 

Off to do battle again this weekend as the month of may is certainly a hot month for tench and big bream.

 

John

[Anderoo]

I never did any good in the margins at wingham, I'm not sure why. The only exception was the first time I fished it (at a fish in), when I had some very nice perch close in on float fished lobs. I can't remember ever catching a tench in the margins, although I have had plenty not very far out, usually at the base of the first series of bars/humps.

 

At other pits I've had plenty of tench from the margins. I put my failure to do so from wingham down to the fact the bars out in the lake were for some reason preferable to the tench, and that as it's lightly fished maybe I was scaring them if they were very close in. Just theories though!

[Steve Burke]

It depends on what you call the margins. Certainly I'd call out to the bottom of the marginal shelf the margins.

 

It also depends on how good you are at long range fishing. This requires accurate feature finding, accurate feeding and accurate placement of your hook bait. I'm not good at that. But Anderoo (and Kappa) are excellent!

 

In fact fishing accurately is probably the single most important factor at Wingham.

 

For this reason It's rare for me to fish at more than 40 yards. Indeed, the majority of my tench and perch in a wide variety of swims have come within 15 yards of the bank, often at the bottom of the marginal shelf.

 

What's more, every single one of the few bream I've caught deliberately at Wingham has come within 15 feet of the bank!

[Dave H]

Margin as in proper margin is un usual on gravel pits as when you think of how its left there is always really going to be a slope. I fished a Sandpit quite regulary and there tended to be a few more real drop offs

There is definately a magical depth in the whole lake and that means anywhere that providing you are at that depth you stand a good chance, regulars probably know it. Also very much two times in the 24 hour period that are most productive.

 

Also i see many pike on the coarse lake and the carp anglers say it tends to happen on their lake that many pikr or jacks lurk aroun a foot from the bank. So maybe that keeps them away too....Just a thought on that one ?

Edited May 8, 2014 by Dave H

[3DoorsDown]

Lots of useful tips and tactics shared as I start to think about this years assualt on Wingham. What thoughts does anyone have about what should be in my PVA stocking ?

 

Pellets or groundbait or other ? What flavours would be suggested ?

[Anderoo]

By margin I meant just down to the bottom of the marginal slope. But then in many swims you have the first features only a few yards further out than that, so still close in. I've found those productive!

 

The nature of many swims prohibit long range fishing in any case, as you don't want to be fishing over sharp shallow bars or thick weedbeds. I've certainly found fishing as accurately as possible to be important, as Steve says.

 

I did try for the bream very close in on a few occasions after Steve's successes, but that took a lot more nerve than I expected!