The Sessions - May 2021
Spring Tench
I signed off last month after having caught a monster and new British Record Crucian, I’d made the front cover of AT and can now tell you that I made the front cover of Catch Cult, two front covers I felt very privileged to have been chosen for.
May had arrived and I was looking forward to some Tench fishing.
6 May 2021 – Rosewater.
You may remember I had a look at Rosewater last June and had some nice Tench that gave me hope of a good one pre-spawning this Spring.
With the weather still cold we were a month behind so it was difficult to know whether the Tench would be on the feed or not but I wanted to start so headed over arriving at 19:00 just before the gates were locked. I wanted to try the river bank so headed over there and got the leading rod to work, it was quite weedy already in the shallower areas and as I worked my way along the bank I found what I was looking for, a clear sand bar at the bottom of a quite steep shelf, I changed the lead to the Deeper Pro and found it to be 12 feet deep and clear of weed until the shelf which was then very weedy, this looked a good spot so I clipped up at 7 wraps. I then swapped the Deeper for the spomb and put ten spombs of hemp / corn / caster and a few boilies on the spot.
The water felt cold to touch and it was forecast to be frosty in the morning so I put all three out on method feeders and boilies for the night.
7 May 2021
As expected it was a cold and frosty morning, and I did wonder whether I should look for shallower water which would warm up quicker during the day so kept looking for signs of rolling fish.
I changed two rods over to heli-rigs, 2oz maggot feeders, a 5 inch braided hooklink to a size 12 MWG hook and fished worm kebabs, filling the feeder with chopped worm. On the third rod I had a 10mm Pineapple pop-up and method feeder with my usual method mix.
By 18:30 I’d been recasting the worm rods every hour and the method rod every two and had three Pike on the worms with not a sign of a Tench so I topped the spot up with another five spombs of mix. The wind had swung round to a southerly and it was warm and sunny and it has to be said Rosewater is a lovely place to be.
8 May 2021
The night was again cold and it started raining at 04:30 with a south easterly wind blowing straight into the shelter soaking a lot of my stuff until I realised and dropped the door down.
The rain was non-stop and pouring, I’d kept up the recasts and at 09:30 I topped the spot up again with another five spombs of mix. With no bites I changed the worm rigs to maggots putting three maggots on a size 12 MWG and tried sweetcorn on the boilie rod. Two lads Carp fishing had caught a Tench each so they were feeding a little. First cast with the maggot I had another Pike…..things were not looking good.
I kept up the hourly recasts all morning in the rain and finally had a take on maggot at lunchtime, it felt a good fish and was definitely a Tench, I got it up the shelf and it dived in the weed, I applied a little pressure and the hook pulled. On inspection the hook had opened up which was very annoying.
I changed the hook to a size 14 Barbel hook, recast and sat in the shelter reflecting on the rig. After a bit of thought I changed the rig again to a size 10 Barbel hook with a fake red maggot pushed up the back of the hook with two real ones, this looked a lot better and the fake one balanced the hook well.
I had two takes in the next hour, one came off straight away, and the other was a Tench at 6-04.
The rain started to ease to a drizzle at 18:00 and the wind changed again to a south westerly with a warm night forecast. By 21:00 it was 12 degrees and the rain had stopped. I changed the rods again for the night, putting them all on method feeders, one on real corn, one of fake balanced corn and one on a 10mm pink Cell pop-up and got in the bag hoping the warmer conditions would trigger them to feed.
9 May 2021
04:10 – the pink pop-up went and I quickly knew it was not a Tench as it stripped line off the clutch, once the initial runs subsided I knew I only had to take my time and the Tench rods would do the rest and I slipped the net under a lovely fully scaled mirror at 21-11.
I recast all the rods and topped the spot up with another five spombs of mix before getting back in the bag. I left the method feeders on until 07:00 before changing two back to maggot feeders for the last few hours.
It was worth the effort as I had two takes on maggot, one came off the other was a Tench at 7-02. A tough session but I learnt a lot about the lake and packed up at 16:00.
21 May 2021 – Ivo, St Ives Lakes
I hadn’t had chance to get out for 12 days and tried to get onto Rosewater but couldn’t as the lake had been booked out for the weekend so I went back to Ivo for the Bream.
It was warm at 15 degrees, raining, thick cloud and a strong south westerly wind. I knew where I wanted to be which would give me some shelter from the wind and a nice flat smooth area to fish to. I arrived to find the swim free with just two other people on the lake, the first thing I noticed was how high the water level was, with all the rain we’d had since my visit in April the level was up at least two feet so luckily I had my wellies as I would have to wade out to cast. I checked the area with the leading rod to ensure it was still clear and clipped up to 10 wraps and then put twenty spombs of mix on the area. My mix was hemp, corn, 4mm pellet and dead maggots, and I put dead maggots in my method mix instead of casters.
I started at 18:00 with two on worm kebabs and one on a method feeder with a 10mm Cell pop-up. I was getting line bites straight away but no pick-ups and by 21:00 I felt I needed to change something so I took off the worm rigs and replaced them with method feeders, four inch hooklinks, I used 10 pound Drennan Gravel Braid and size 10 ESP Curve shank hooks, the hookbait was my go to, ever reliable Pandemic in a 12mm wafter. I clipped up half a wrap shorter to get the rig at the front of the feed to avoid line bites.
The rain was relentless and made it a very uncomfortable night to keep jumping out, landing fish, rewrapping the rods and recasting but I kept going and landed nine Bream to mid eights and a Tench at five plus before leaving at 10:30. A good session but no doubles, I’m told the bigger of the two shoals are all around the 7-8 pound mark with the doubles being in the smaller shoal so another trip will be arranged soon.
26 May 2021 – Rosewater
With a rest day the following day I booked on for 24 hours and arrived for 19:00. The south westerly winds and showers had continued but it had been getting steadily warmer and was starting to feel like early summer had arrived with day temps at 17 degrees.
I wanted to try a different swim each trip so as to get to know the lake so drove along the meadow bank looking out at the lake, I parked and got out in the area that I fancied, a swim I will call the double bush peg, and a Tench rolled right on que so I got the Deeper out and had a look, I found a sand bar at 11 feet deep at eight wraps and then it shelved up towards the margin with a lot of weed so I clipped up and put a lead on. The bottom was smooth and clear so once I was happy the spomb was put on and ten spombs of mix was put on the spot. My mix was hemp, corn, 4mm pellet and a few 12mm Pandemic.
I then wrapped the rods and put two on 45g method feeders with the Pandemic wafters and one on a heli-rig with a maggot feeder, with a size 12 Barbel hook, one fake and two real maggots.
I had two takes on the maggots straight away landing a 4plus and a 5-15, the boilie rod went a bit later but the hook pulled in the margins, annoying but the short feeding spell gave me the confidence the swim choice was right.
27 May 2021
As expected I didn’t get any Tench at night, the rain had cleared and it was lovely and warm. I was up at first light topped up the spot with six spombs of mix and changed one method rod to maggot feeder.
The bites started at 06:20 and there were tech regularly rolling over the spot, by 08:00 I’d had four on maggots at 4plus, 5-13, 6-00 and 6-01 and a 6-01 on boilie, as I was landing the last one two people pulled up and saw me land it and promptly went either side of me on an empty 39 acre lake, I tried to smile it off but it was a bit annoying.
As expected with the noise and disturbance my bites slowed down with the next one being two hours later with a male at 5-13 on maggot.
I had one more take on the boilie at midday and the biggest of the session at 7-02 and then topped the spot up with another five spombs of mix, looking back this could have been a mistake. I fished up to closing at 19:30 without another take but with nine fish I did feel I was working the lake out a bit.
Interestingly three lads that were Carp fishing came over for a chat and were telling me “they put double figure Tench back for fun”, so after a few laughs from me we got chatting and I asked if they genuinely weighed them, one lad said he did and showed me two photos that gave me hope I was on the right water…..
31 May 2021 – Rosewater
I had the opportunity for a day’s fishing so got to the gates for opening at 08:00 and went back to the meadow bank going in the green bin swim. I already knew the sand bar was at eights wraps so quickly mixed up some method mix and while that was absorbing the water I put five spombs of mix on the spot.
I was fishing by 08:15 with two on maggot feeders and one on the method and Pandemic. It was a chilly start with a north easterly wind and thick cloud but the sun started to come through at 09:30 and it soon warmed up.
The first bite came to the maggot rod and was a fat Eel that I weighed at 2-09. The next take was on boilie and the hook pulled quite quickly once it got in the weed.
By midday it was lovely, clear and sunny at 20 degrees.
I was getting plenty of line bites so I knew fish were in the area and I feared I was getting pick-ups and not pricking the fish so I made two new rigs and changed them so the hooks were nice and sharp.
That had the desired affect and the next take was on the boilie and was a season best and very fat Tench at 8-08.
That was followed an hour later with a 7-12 on the maggot.
I then suffered another hook pull on the Pandemic rod, I changed the rig again for a fresh hook and changed one of the maggot rods to method and Pandemic. The hooks I was using were barbless and I was starting to think this was why I was losing them once they were getting in the weed, it was certainly something to consider for future trips.
I had one more on the Pandemic at 4plus before leaving at closing time, another good trip to finish the months fishing. 😊
Before I finish writing this piece I will tell you about my claim and the process for claiming the record for my Crucian which has still to be confirmed.
Catching a British Record of any species is always something I’d dreamt of but never imagined it would happen so I’m still pinching myself that it has actually happened. Working full time I don’t get the time to fish as much as I’d like and to catch fish of record proportions you need time and the right waters and that in itself is difficult with syndicates and the amount of people fishing nowadays.
I started the process of submitting a claim by emailing the British Record Fish Committee (BRFC) on 11 April, nothing is straight forward especially with Crucians but I have no issue with that as we want transparency and for our list of record fish to be accurate.
The first part was to ensure the fish was a true Crucian, even though the fish at Johnsons are checked and known to be true Crucians the process still needed to be followed. Fortunately we knew what was needed and that was good clear photos of the fins and tail, so even with all the excitement at the time we laid the fish on the mat and while I did the pictures Matt and Colin spread each fin and the tail so that we had good pictures of them all.
They were sent to the BRFC and I had a nervous but confident ten day wait until I received confirmation and the claim forms to complete. I needed a witness to the capture and two witnesses of the weighing, which was no problem as I had four. I completed the forms and sent them to Matt and Colin for signing.
The biggest challenge was getting my scales checked to the requirement of the BRFC, this had to be completed by Trading Standards and the check carried out three times to ensure accuracy. The BRFC had no go to person and I was advised to go to my local Trading Standards and that it could cost up to £100. Finding someone local was very frustrating; despite spending time on google I kept coming up against dead ends.
I made phone calls to the local, district and Cambridge County Councils and got passed round in circles. I went to local butchers, waste recycling centres and spoke to people that have claimed records previously. Eventually I found an email address that looked hopeful and got a reply from the Cambridgeshire Trading Standards, initially they could do it and it would be £100 but when I explained what was needed they couldn’t do it, but the lady went out of her way to help and put me in touch with David at Norfolk Trading Standards.
David couldn’t have been more helpful, he knew what was required and after a couple of phone calls he agreed to come to my house, collect my scales, take them back to Norwich, test them and post them back to me and it wouldn’t cost me a penny, it’s something I really appreciated and can now thank him personally in print, thank you David.
My scales were returned with the testing certificate and they came up 1oz and 3/5 heavy, so my fish was recorded as 4-12 and a bit, still a record fish and very pleasing.
I completed the Record of Claim and posted all the forms to the BRFC and received confirmation of delivery on 14 May, as I finish this piece I’m just waiting for confirmation the record claim has been accepted and my dream will be a reality.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😊
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