The Sessions - May 2023
Tench struggles.
Last month, after some brilliant early spring Crucian fishing, catching fish to 4-03, I moved onto the Tench and had my backside handed to me by my pal Busta on my first session, I was hoping results would improve favourably in May.
12 May 2023 – Rosewater.
Life had gotten too busy, work had been crazy and two weeks had gone by in the blink of an eye, I’d had no time to go fishing and knowing the window for a big Tench wasn’t going to wait for me I took the Friday off work in the hope of getting a better swim for a 48 hour trip.
I’d done the prep the night before so loaded the van and was at the gates just after opening at 08:30 to find the lake very busy (does anyone go to work anymore?), I’d been pipped for the two swims I wanted on the meadow bank so drove round to the road bank to find that very busy too. I don’t like dropping in next to other anglers but I had no choice, with only two decent swims left and two anglers in the swims in the middle of them I had to go next to one of them, so set up on the left hand side half way down the road bank.
We’d had a warmer week with lots of rain and the constant north easterlies we are still experiencing, it was forecast to be nice at 18 degrees with an air pressure of 1024mb, so conditions looked good.
I got the leading rod to work and found the channel and gravel at 10.5 wraps. I set one rod up on a 70g method feeder and Pandemic wafter and used my special little Crucian ground bait mix. The other two were set up with heli-rigs, 2oz feeders, 5” Gardner fluorocarbon hooklinks to size 10 Talon Tip hooks baited with worm kebabs and maggots in the feeders.
I put eight spombs of mix on the spot, my mix was hemp, pellet, a can of sweetcorn and some 12mm Pandemic and I was fishing by 10:45. The anglers next door had done very well the day before and were getting odd fish in the morning, and I had fish rolling over my spot so I was expecting takes.
We had a couple of hours of rain and it felt quite cool and by 14:00 I’d not had a bite. The guys next to me were catching a few on maggots so I swapped two to maggots on the heli-rigs and left one on worm kebabs. I had Tench rolling constantly over the spots but I couldn’t get a take, it was very frustrating.
I put another ten spombs of mix out at 18:00 and just before dark swapped the two maggot feeders over to method feeders and boilies for the night.
13 May 2023
It was mild and cloudy through the night and I was surprised not to pick one up and speaking to the guys next door they’d had most of their fish on the Thursday and bites had slowed up.
I swapped rigs over again in the morning, two on worm and one on maggot and topped the spot up with another three spombs of mix.
Tench continued to roll and I felt I may have over baited the spot so at 10:00 I wrapped the rods at 8.5 wraps and lightly baited the area with two spombs over each rod. An hour later I had a take on worm with the first of the session at 6 plus.
It took four hours for the next one and it was a small one at 4 plus but very welcome, I then had a flurry of three takes, one came off, one was missed (possibly a liner) and a Pike hammered into the worms.
I changed all three to method feeders and boilies for the night, two on Pandemic and one on a Pineapple wafter.
14 May 2023
An hour after midnight I had a take on Pandemic and landed a nice Tench at 8-00. Four hours later I had three in the net at once, two at 5 plus and a 6-15 that looked a lot bigger.
At 06:30 I changed two over to worms and topped up the spots with two spombs over each rod.
I was starting pack the swim down when at 08:45 I had a screaming take on the boilie rod which obviously wasn’t a Tench, it took a lot of line on the first run but was gently coaxed back into the net and was lovely Linear at 22-06 to finish the session.
A lot of lessons learnt on this session with baiting and ringing the changes by swapping rigs and bait definitely helped. Still, every time I think I’ve worked this lake out, it puts me back in my place, I really want a double from here but they are very few and far between so I may have to move on next spring, we’ll see…..
19 May 2023 – Rosewater
The weather was very much the same, a few heavy showers, temps at 18 degrees and light north easterlies. I arrived at 13:30, the road bank was empty and the lake not busy at all, a total change from the previous weekend.
I’d decided on a change to my spomb mix and was going to use just hemp and caster, and fish two worm kebabs and one on a method feeder with fake caster hook bait. I went back in the same swim and set the rods to 8.5 wraps and put four spombs over each rod to start the session.
The first fish was an old gnarly male at 5 plus on worm early evening and I hoped that would be the start of a good session but no more bites came before I changed two rods to method feeders and pandemic for the night.
15 May 2023
I had nothing through the night and woke up to a chilly misty morning. I changed the method feeders back to heli-rigs and worms and topped the area up with five spombs of mix.
The conditions looked very good with the wind blowing onto my area but there was no fish showing and nearly all the other anglers packed up and left early leaving just two of us on the lake, it was very quiet.
By lunchtime it was lovely, clear and sunny but nothing was showing, it was very strange, there are times when you get a big insect hatch on this lake the fish switch straight onto them and you can’t get a bite but that didn’t appear to be the reason this time.
A couple of guys I’ve met here over the last few springs turned up for a chat and it was good to see them both and they then set up on the meadow bank for a night.
I had an Eel at 3 plus mid-afternoon on worm and that was quickly followed by a Tench out of nowhere at 8-05 on the same rod.
By late afternoon it was hot and sunny and I did start to see odd fish rolling. I didn’t want to over bait so put two spombs on the area late evening and just before dark I had another Tench at 6-04 on worm.
I left two out on worm for the night and had another Eel after midnight and fished through until 09:30 before packing up, another frustrating session.
That was the last trip of the month, sometimes life just takes over and there is no time but with June around the corner and the rivers opening up I’ve got the first week booked off as annual leave so I will get out as much as I can and hopefully catch a few, I still love the 16th on the rivers and can’t wait.
Julie and I had a weekend away in Leicester on the last weekend of May, we went to see Marillion who were doing a two night show at De-Montfort Hall, suffice to say it was brilliant and we’ll definitely be going again next year. We stayed in a nice hotel, had some nice meals and had a relaxing time shopping and walking round the castle grounds, and all round lovely weekend with my lady xx
We had the Barbel Society show to look forward to on the first weekend in June where I was be doing my first talk, I’d done plenty of prep and was really looking forward to it and I’ll let you know how it went next month.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃
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