How did you get on?

[Graham Elliott 1]

Peter. Can you add my 6.13 from the article please.

Thanks

 

[peter crabtree]

http://www.fishingmagic.com/forums/coarse-fishing/357790-big-tench-challenge-2016-a.html

 

[tom_moran]

I'd forgotten about the tench challenge! My choice of venue for tomorrow has changed now!

I've not posted much recently. Been fishing most Friday evenings though.

No specifics but I'll put up any recent capture pics I've got

This was the biggest tench from my trip to horcott at the end of may, didn't weigh it though as none of us had Scales but it was a biggun:

 

[tigger]

We've had lots of rain round these parts recently and the rivers are still up and coloured. I should have gone and legerd on my local big river today as i'm confident I would of caught chub or barbel or both but as usual I had to float fish and so I nipped over to my local small river. Not really a good decision as it was like running my float through a river of hot chocolate with pretty much zero visibility. I did catch a few small chub and dace by fishing 3ft overdepth in 5ft of water and holding back hard as the float made it's way downstream but it was pretty hopless so after an hour and a half I was off home again lol.
It started to rain as I drove home and it's persisting down right now, rain is forecast for the next few days n'all...ffs!

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

Had two days working in the countryside Wednesday and Thursday so decided a recce on Wednesday to get a few hours Thursday evening. Arrived on my chosen swim on the Teme to find the gravel beach I intended to fish from was now under eighteen inches of water and the slightly pacy glide down the middle was now a raging, toffee coloured torrent. No joy fishing with a 3g chubber except for one bite that came off the hook before I could even tell whether it was a small Chubb or a reasonable Dace. Finally managed to lose the chubber trying to retrieve it between the weeds (there's a surprise :wh) so decided to try a feeder. Set up the rod then realised I'd only got half oz leads and small maggot feeders with me tried the feeder assisted by a couple of swan shot first cast it disappeared downstream quicker than the float, snagged and never returned Packed up and drove to pub ("looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking")

I'll be back on the river.................................................'WHY'

 

[tigger]

Had two days working in the countryside Wednesday and Thursday so decided a recce on Wednesday to get a few hours Thursday evening. Arrived on my chosen swim on the Teme to find the gravel beach I intended to fish from was now under eighteen inches of water and the slightly pacy glide down the middle was now a raging, toffee coloured torrent. No joy fishing with a 3g chubber except for one bite that came off the hook before I could even tell whether it was a small Chubb or a reasonable Dace. Finally managed to lose the chubber trying to retrieve it between the weeds (there's a surprise :wh) so decided to try a feeder. Set up the rod then realised I'd only got half oz leads and small maggot feeders with me tried the feeder assisted by a couple of swan shot first cast it disappeared downstream quicker than the float, snagged and never returned Packed up and drove to pub ("looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking")

I'll be back on the river.................................................'WHY'

Try upstream legering next time, it usually holds bottom much better even with a small / light weight .

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

Try upstream legering next time, it usually holds bottom much better even with a small / light weight

Memo to self Ian.....................................pack some 4oz leads

 

[peter crabtree]

Quick couple of hours this afternoon trotting maggots on the stick. The river has fined down a bit and some of the colour has dropped out.
20 odd fish including perch, dace, gudgeon and chublets.
Plenty of mayflies hatching a month late which were getting picked off by the birds.

 

[Neil Maidment]

Fishing is a funny game!

It was looking like a long 150 mile round trip just to walk around a low clear river. Having walked a field and a half with all the gear I was totally undecided what to do. A further field and a half was surveyed but at least I'd parked the rods by the lower stile! I eventually decided to return to the car and go back to the upstream stretch and fish the bottom end of the opposite bank!

But having accomplished that hike and settled in an old favourite swim by 11:30pm I was seriously doubting the wisdom of the trip.. but

Another move back towards the car park, sort of on my way home but not quite, I couldn't walk past a certain swim. An angler was already in that swim but had said he was packing up at midnight. That'll do me, I'd give it an hour!

I'd just got comfortable and the 'pin screamed. A fiery barbel eventually came to the net and all was well. About an hour later and another, slightly smaller barbel followed the same path.

I've rarely had more than two barbel from this swim and when I have they've tended to be like peas in a pod. But I carried on for a while, two long lean and empty chub obliged and then it started to rain. Time to pack up properly this time.

And then off went the 'pin again! This one was clearly in a different league and gave me all sorts of trouble finding several trailing branches and other unseen snags. I eventually got it up in the water and under control and finally into the net.

Definitely a big fish but what it apparently lacked in length, it more than compensated for in width and depth. An absolute breeze block of a summer fish and at 15lbs 04oz a new pb.

The drive home was a lot more tolerable than I had thought it might have been!

View image in gallery

View image in gallery

View image in gallery​

 

[binka]

View image in gallery[/center]

Congratulations on your new pb Neil, it looks a fine beast and makes you wonder what it would be weighing well into winter?

 

[Hugh Bailey]

Nice one Neil!

 

[Neil Maidment]

Congratulations on your new pb Neil, it looks a fine beast and makes you wonder what it would be weighing well into winter?

I've had plenty of barbel from this area over the last several years, quite a few doubles with a previous best a few ounces short of 15lbs. They have typically been long but superbly proportioned and look "huge". I have seen fish of 16+ on the bank in previous years and a couple that looked their equal or bigger whilst stalking. All have been the "long" versions. This one really surprised me when I went to lift the net.

I've compared it to all my photos of the big Loddon fish (I know my previous best from there visits the bank at least once a season) and a couple of other like minded mates have done the same. It seems possibly a new fish to the stretch. Mind you the Loddon has a big and glorious past with big barbel and there's not a lot new in that world that hasn't happened before.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Neil. What a season start for you. Brilliant stuff.

 

[flightliner]

Well out to the east today, a longer drive than usual for another day on a water I had some nice roach on a while ago.
Three quarters of an hour in and blow me if a duck somehow does the impossible and gets my line wrapped around its wing!. No real hurt tho, just its pride, a quick one wrap unwind and its scooting back across the water to its feathered friends with noisy indignation.
No matter, ten minutes later and a nice little tench hits the net, a welcome start.
Some more feed, a recast on both rods and another Tench followed by a Bream that fought bigger than its weight, I like that in a fish, giving its all, pluck earns respect and that Bream got mine-- more than the Tench to be honest.
Another Bream on two plastic casters with a small redworm sandwiched betweem them and another tench on a sweetcorn and double maggot cocktail ended my day.
It was a long drive home-- I was totalled-- must be an age thing.

 

[barbelboi]

I've given you a like Mick but please cut down on this snottie nonsense...............

 

[dann]

I had 3 odd hours on the river after work this evening and had a cracking time.

The swim I had in mind was very overgrown and full of nettles so I didn't stay long as I had my sons with me and they can get stung by a photo of a nettle.

Next swim we were forced to move pretty soon after settling as the cows that live in the field took a bit too much interest in us and it was worrying the boys.

Last swim was one I have never had much luck in but it always looks "fishy" and is seldom fished because of how far it is from the car park.

Right from the off we had some good size roach, some nice perch and a few dace. Highlights were these two.

Great sunset and got back to the car just before dark. Not the warmest evening but a lovely summer evening all the same.

 

[S-Kippy]

You would think, would you not, that by now I would have worked out that the M 25 is not a good place to be on a Friday afternoon......or indeed any time of day or night ! Sadly..... not a bit of it.

2 hours into what should have been a 50 min journey I rocked up on the Wey hoping to get to grips with my first barbel of the season. The river was up, coloured, looked fantastic.....and was mobbed out ! The only free swim was the weirpool so unsurprisingly that's where I fished. It has some barbel form but I don't like weirs....I never know quite where to put my bait and in my experience they are often either bottomless or total snagpits.

I wasn't disappointed on the snag front. The rhs seems to be where the German Navy scuttled the Graf Spee as Big Dave who joined me later found out to his cost. The lhs was snag free and that's where I fished. It's not a prolific water but I thought I might get a fish and tbh that would have done as long as it stayed dry. It didn't. At 8pm the heavens opened and we found ourselves on the sharp end of a biblical downpour worthy of Chuck Heston so beat a retreat to the shelter of a very welcome tree.

It was then my rod hooped over and tried to throw itself in the river.

I then had one hell of a scrap in the pouring rain with a very, very angry barbel. The Wey fish do pull a bit and this one was no exception. All over the weir including trying to get up it but fortunately I managed to keep it away from the sunken battle cruiser. It was all going terribly well....the fish surfaced, I drew it towards Big Dave who was on net duties......and the bloody hook pulled out ! Bollox !

I never suffer hook pulls on barbel. I just don't but BD says for some reason the Wey fish do, sometimes, fall off for no apparent reason. He lost 5 last year to this whereas I doubt I've lost 5 barbel to hook pulls in me life. I'm still at a loss to explain this but it's only a fish and nobody got hurt.

That was it. The skies cleared, the temp dropped, we both got chilled and then he caught a brim. Terrified by the prospect of catching another we packed up and I could not get the heater on in the car quick enough. Motorway (my side) fine going back but a nightmare on the other side.

About 9-10 lb Dave reckoned so it would have been a nice start had it been landed. Now I have a load of wet gear to dry off and a few rigs to tie. Still....I managed to avoid the brim so not all bad.

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

So after two cr@p sessions on the Arrow and a total disaster on the Teme, I decided to return to the Salwarpe today. It was slightly better, but only just, a couple a small Dace and fifteen Chublets. trotted maggot and worm, it was that slow I even tried an upstream ledger on Halibut pellet (not even a knock).

Most of the usual suspects turned up, the Buzzards, Kingfishers, one of the largest butterflies I've ever seen (a Peacock I think) and, finally, as I was packing up, the Heron swooped down and shat in my swim, about summed it up

 

[Chefster]

Open today on High Pool,switched from Club,as too many on it,i drew peg 5,started over at 14.5m on pellet,had about 6 fish in first half hour,then plagued with liners,so dropped on my shallow line,where i had been feeding casters from the off...Ive alternated between 3 shallow rigs,from 6 inch to 18 inch,with banded caster/maggot for 156 F1,s and some ide to weigh in 210-12-0 ,and the win..Alex Harper was 2nd from flyer peg 15 with 145-0-0,and Pete Hancox 3rd with 135-8-0
Its the Jenny Hamlington Memorial Match tomorrow spread over 4 or 5 pools,a lot fishing!!!!....18 fished today...tight lines,Gazza

 

[Pete Shears]

Back at the reservoir today,did better than last Friday when the only bite resulted with the culprit instantly embedding itself in a thick weedbed and shedding the hook.
Today had a roach of about 8oz first cast but had to wait for two tench, a male at 3lb 6oz & then a female at 4lb 3oz - just released one after weighing and the other rod tore off - bus syndrome. Enjoyed watching the kingfisher though.