It's a bit of an irony that the more I wish to whittle down the amount of kit I am bringing with me to the waterside, the more money I seem to spend in the tackle shop in a bid to achieve this. My most recent spend has been on an 11ft carp waggler rod made by Drennan. The Series 7 range is really worth a look for some reasonably priced rods. I have never used a waggler rod as short as this, and casting a 3BB waggler was a bit strange at first, but the rod has some real advantages and has solved one or two issues for me. Firstly, it breaks down into two pieces and can be left set up in the car at all times in a protective case (which came with the rod), and secondly my other waggler rod is nowhere near strong enough to cope with tench on the weedy south-west canals.
The Tiverton Canal is really weedy at the moment however, at least in the sections that are best for tench, and I haven't gotten round to sticking a rake through some likely areas. My first opportunity to use this rod came in an impromptu session, which is just what I intended its use for. With a couple of hours to spare I stopped off at a Somerset park lake, which resulted in - arguably - the best fishing I have had so far this year.
Along with the rod, I will always ensure that I am never without a tin or two of luncheon meat, which is my favourite bait for some close range float fishing. Rather than cut it into cubes or use a meat punch, I like to tear a piece from the tin and mash it up in my hands for feeding, always remembering to give it a dunk in the edge to wipe of any grease, as otherwise the smaller bits will float, and these are crucial for keeping species like carp and tench grubbing around. In fact it always surprises me that luncheon meat is so infrequently used on the tench-filled canals in my local area, as it is one of my favourite baits for tench in small ponds and muddier lakes in particular.
When we arrived at Wellington Basins the first thing I noticed was how pleasant these two little ponds are in the summer time, once all the leaves are back on the trees and the weedbeds have gained some colour. I fished a comfortable swim around the back of the larger pond as this gets you out of the way of dog walkers and the like, for a more relaxing bit of fishing, which is how I imagined these short sessions should be. There was not much time to relax after baiting up though as the meat was soon snaffled by a six ounce skimmer, to be followed ten minutes later by the first of six golden-bronze bream.
There was plenty of fizzing and even the odd tail pattern or two on the surface of the water, and I started to think that a rare carp might have been attracted to the bait in a very short time indeed. There are supposedly very few in the pond, so I was quite excited by the prospect, and further still when the next bite resulted in a fish that was clearly not a bream...
There was plenty of fizzing and even the odd tail pattern or two on the surface of the water, and I started to think that a rare carp might have been attracted to the bait in a very short time indeed. There are supposedly very few in the pond, so I was quite excited by the prospect, and further still when the next bite resulted in a fish that was clearly not a bream...
A tench was the culprit, my first from the venue, although I haven't really fished it that much, and this was the first time in the warmer months. I have to say that this tench was the equal of any I have caught elsewhere, in terms of condition, which just shows what can be achieved when they don't have to compete with a mass of carp, even in a small pond. After landing the tench, I was quick to introduce more bait as the water is quite shallow, and I'm always wary of bream spooking.
Next fish was the old spring time easy-grip bream, covered in spawning tubercules:
Next fish was the old spring time easy-grip bream, covered in spawning tubercules:
I had another bream and lost a tench too, when the hook pulled. I used a size 10 and didn't actually plumb up at all, instead I fished a couple of number six shot close to the hook and set the float so that they were just registering, the result being that I had either positive lift bites or I could strike 'go under' bites with confidence.
Another 3lb bream leapt from the water like a salmon on the next cast, before the best of the bunch - number five - which was closer to 4lb than three, I would say.
Another 3lb bream leapt from the water like a salmon on the next cast, before the best of the bunch - number five - which was closer to 4lb than three, I would say.
Having started at around 6pm, the action had been pretty non-stop for an hour, the pinnacle being the next fish I hooked, which gave me a bit of a runaround having been hooked, as all the others were, alongside a very dense weedbed. Ultimately, the new rod was up to the task, and eventually a very good tench for the water succumbed and was netted. Slipped on the scales, this solid tinca went 5lb 1oz.
Bites were a bit harder to come by after the big tench, although I always felt confident that with time they would return. Beth was a bit restless by now though, and as usual had been very tolerant of my many "last cast" promises, so I hooked the rod up at around 8pm, having only managed one further bream of about 3lb in the preceding 40 minutes.