On the Friday evening after work I decided to have an evening after Tench at the Estate lake. The new river season would be here in a few days and the Tench may have to take a back seat for a while once it was here; so I got my Tench gear together and retrieved my bait from the bait fridge, but while I was getting my food and drink ready something inside me made me decide to postpone my outing until the following evening; which is strange for me as any time spent by the water is a bonus for me.
On the Saturday evening I loaded my tackle into the car and off I went. As I drove down the tiny lane to the lake I remember thinking that it was the 13th June, however It wasn’t a Friday and Im not really that superstitious in fact I felt strangely confident that tonight I would catch something special. The last time I had this feeling at the Estate lake was when I caught three large Tench of 5lb 4oz, 5lb 8oz and a lovely looking 6lb 4ozs. I had had the occasional five pounder before but I had never caught more than one in a single sitting from this lake so I felt confident that tonight would be another evening when I would catch something special.
On one rod I was using 8lb line, a size 8 hook with a hair rigged 15mm Crab pellet coated in soft seafood paste and on the other rod I was using 6lb line a size 14 hook with a hair rigged 7mm halibut pellet; together with a small PVA net containing 5 or 6 loose pellets on each rod.
There were only a couple of other anglers fishing around the lake that evening as most anglers had gone home for their tea by 6 o-clock after sitting around all day in the heat; so there shouldn’t be anyone walking round and spooking the Tench.
There were a few clouds building up in the sky with a light breeze starting to build up from the west.
About an hour later after a few abortive bleeps on my Crab pellet rod I had a run which resulted in a small Tench of around 2lb which I didn’t bother weighing. Then as the light started to fade a little there were a few large swirls amongst the lillies out in the middle of the lake and someones alarm sounded on the far bank.
A
heron flew down onto the Island nearest me and slowly walked to the edge and you could tell when he had seen a fish as every now and then he would lower his head and gaze intently while slowly moving into a striking pose. I don’t think he saw me sitting quietly in the evening light.
Just then I had a screaming run on my Crab pellet rod which sent the Heron flying into the sky and I quickly engaged the freespool lever and struck into the fish which immediately felt like one of the larger Tench I was after; but my heart soon sank as I realised that my line had managed to get caught around the back of my spool, I was using a barbless hook and was sure that I was going to lose the Tench. I needed to untangle the line before I could continue retrieving any line and when I eventually wound in I was pleasantly surprised by the feel of a large fish at the other end of my line, plus it was still in open water and had not managed to bury it’s head in some lillies.
It felt like a big fish and when it momentarily rolled on the surface I knew that this was no Tench and was in fact one of the few larger Carp that inhabit the lake and don’t often get caught.
After a few hectic moments when I thought that my 8lb line would part on some lillies and a few abortive runs as it got closer to the net I soon had it under control and It turned out to be a lovely broad backed almost scale perfect Common which after deducting 1.5lb for the sling that I weighed it in took the scales to 21lb 4oz. It was pure muscle with none of those big flabby bellies that you sometimes associate with big Carp. In fact the only big flabby belly in evidence was mine.
After photgraphing and releasing the the Common the skys opened up with some light rain drops and with the wind getting stronger I decided to call it a day but not before a nice little Crucian of around 1.5lb had taken my other bait.
All in all it had been a very satisfying evening session, I may not have had the large Tench that I had expected but that was more than compensated for by the lovely scale perfect Common that I had caught; which may not have been a giant among Carp but which had certainly made my day end on a good note.
As I reached the car I remember thinking that if this rain became a bit heavier and more consistent it would mean that the rivers would be in a great condition having had a flush through for the start of the river season.
and I remember thinking “How could anyone not like fishing?”
