Tee-Cee
Senior Member
I almost confused myself this morning in trying to decide where to fish - not good as the confusion set in at 6.30am as I dropped down into Marlow town. Do I stay local and go for the roach ( again ) or do I head for a tench water. It's all this talk of ' tench challenges ' that had me in two minds.....
Anyway, I decided going for tench would be very speculative and my bait bag didn't really hold the right goodies, so local lake and roach it was, although the rather cold night didn't fill me with confidence !!
I was fishing by 7am and started catching immediately on hemp using the same style of long antenna float ( see previous posts ) with much of it out of the water (in an attempt to ' slow ' the bites ) and it worked well, ( most of the time ) as the antenna slowly sank from view - far more affective than a dotted down float IMO as it gave 'time' to react.... ...Sometimes the sinking would stop and the antenna rise in the water again, so I would then wait for a continuous ' sink ' before pulling into the fish.
Obviously I suffered the odd ultra fast bites, typical of 'on the drop' hemp fishing, but generally speaking I feel I caught more fish simply because I'd slowed the reaction time.
Over the morning I caught continuously and even managed a couple of fish on tares and wheat, but I think the hemp hook was really too small for these baits as many dead cert bites were missed. I tried maggot at one time without getting a touch, yet as soon a hemp was on the hook bites started again.
I would be telling porkies if I said every fish was decent but many of the 40+ catch did need the net with the best at 1lb 2ozs. I did catch a bigger fish but in my haste to organise camera and weighing, the fish ( laying quietly in the net and on the mat ) did a couple of flips which bought it clear of the net and with a fine double somersault, made it's escape !! I would hazard a guess at 1,5lbs or so........
Come 1.30pm and I started to lose concentration. The constant action of baiting and feeding with hemp, plus holding the rod at all time was taking it's toll so I decided to call it a day. I've no doubt in my mind that more fish would've followed had I stayed on, but I was well pleased with my catch and happy to head home !
In all I used 1/2 pint of hemp and this with only a few grains going in at one time as feed, and such was my work rate that I forgot about a hot drink and the flask was still 3/4 full when I left !!
A lovely morning witnessed by an angler sitting opposite me who failed to catch a single fish in five hours....
Who needs big tench and ' challenges' eh ??
Anyway, I decided going for tench would be very speculative and my bait bag didn't really hold the right goodies, so local lake and roach it was, although the rather cold night didn't fill me with confidence !!
I was fishing by 7am and started catching immediately on hemp using the same style of long antenna float ( see previous posts ) with much of it out of the water (in an attempt to ' slow ' the bites ) and it worked well, ( most of the time ) as the antenna slowly sank from view - far more affective than a dotted down float IMO as it gave 'time' to react.... ...Sometimes the sinking would stop and the antenna rise in the water again, so I would then wait for a continuous ' sink ' before pulling into the fish.
Obviously I suffered the odd ultra fast bites, typical of 'on the drop' hemp fishing, but generally speaking I feel I caught more fish simply because I'd slowed the reaction time.
Over the morning I caught continuously and even managed a couple of fish on tares and wheat, but I think the hemp hook was really too small for these baits as many dead cert bites were missed. I tried maggot at one time without getting a touch, yet as soon a hemp was on the hook bites started again.
I would be telling porkies if I said every fish was decent but many of the 40+ catch did need the net with the best at 1lb 2ozs. I did catch a bigger fish but in my haste to organise camera and weighing, the fish ( laying quietly in the net and on the mat ) did a couple of flips which bought it clear of the net and with a fine double somersault, made it's escape !! I would hazard a guess at 1,5lbs or so........
Come 1.30pm and I started to lose concentration. The constant action of baiting and feeding with hemp, plus holding the rod at all time was taking it's toll so I decided to call it a day. I've no doubt in my mind that more fish would've followed had I stayed on, but I was well pleased with my catch and happy to head home !
In all I used 1/2 pint of hemp and this with only a few grains going in at one time as feed, and such was my work rate that I forgot about a hot drink and the flask was still 3/4 full when I left !!
A lovely morning witnessed by an angler sitting opposite me who failed to catch a single fish in five hours....
Who needs big tench and ' challenges' eh ??
