Failing to catch Tench (again!)
Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2022 12:15 pm
Yep, here we go again! I did go back to the 'New to Me Water' a nice little pool for the time being. That was on Wednesday evening as planned. I did get a Tench too, around two and a half pounds and in lovely condition. The trouble was there was no bite, not even the merest shiver or dip of the float, I just lifted and there it was, hooked fairly and squarely in the top lip. It's not quite the same is it when you see no bite?
That was the only action in more than three hours although those pesky Carp were quite active on the surface. So for my "crack of dawn" session this morning I switched back to the canal near Chasewater. I knew the S/W breeze would get going quite early and I also knew it would blow into the favoured swim.
I was awake at 3.45am and at the waterside by 4.30am. A pleasant morning with small fish topping frequently and the occasional Bream rolling. But of Tench there was no sign and after an hour and a half, doubts began to creep in. These circumstances always bring to mind that wonderful chapter in one of Howard Marshalls books where he writes about failing to catch Tench in France and the phlegmatic demeanour of his native companion in accepting fate as it comes.
Unfortunately I couldn't summon the required level of patience (or indolence) and was soon back in the car en route for a little pit a few miles distant. I had wondered if spawning had anything to do with the disinterest the Tench had shown so my reasoning was this little pit I was heading for is quite deep and maybe the water temperature there would be lower and by extension, the Tench would not be in an amorous mood?
In short I was wrong, or at least if they weren't spawning there was something else amiss. Now I failed to catch Tench here several times last Summer (a seven hour session once!) but each time there was copious bubbling to indicate their presence. This morning nothing, not a sign. Eventually I scaled down my tackle to save the blank with a few little 'Silvers'. I couldn't even do that despite them being around. I had several bobs, twitches and fast dips but nothing hung on. So there it was, water licked for the first time in ages!
Not to worry. All the usual compensations for rising early were present, the dawn chorus, the cool fresh air and at the Pit, a complete absence of road noise and just one brief appearance of another human being leading two horses from the adjacent paddocks which they share with'Wilded' Roe Deer. Wonderful.
That was the only action in more than three hours although those pesky Carp were quite active on the surface. So for my "crack of dawn" session this morning I switched back to the canal near Chasewater. I knew the S/W breeze would get going quite early and I also knew it would blow into the favoured swim.
I was awake at 3.45am and at the waterside by 4.30am. A pleasant morning with small fish topping frequently and the occasional Bream rolling. But of Tench there was no sign and after an hour and a half, doubts began to creep in. These circumstances always bring to mind that wonderful chapter in one of Howard Marshalls books where he writes about failing to catch Tench in France and the phlegmatic demeanour of his native companion in accepting fate as it comes.
Unfortunately I couldn't summon the required level of patience (or indolence) and was soon back in the car en route for a little pit a few miles distant. I had wondered if spawning had anything to do with the disinterest the Tench had shown so my reasoning was this little pit I was heading for is quite deep and maybe the water temperature there would be lower and by extension, the Tench would not be in an amorous mood?
In short I was wrong, or at least if they weren't spawning there was something else amiss. Now I failed to catch Tench here several times last Summer (a seven hour session once!) but each time there was copious bubbling to indicate their presence. This morning nothing, not a sign. Eventually I scaled down my tackle to save the blank with a few little 'Silvers'. I couldn't even do that despite them being around. I had several bobs, twitches and fast dips but nothing hung on. So there it was, water licked for the first time in ages!
Not to worry. All the usual compensations for rising early were present, the dawn chorus, the cool fresh air and at the Pit, a complete absence of road noise and just one brief appearance of another human being leading two horses from the adjacent paddocks which they share with'Wilded' Roe Deer. Wonderful.