Feeling the pinch on Linch so a switch to tench

Wednesday the 21st to Friday the 23rd of March

Now thats a cryptic title if ever I did see one!

I decided that I would have another trip down to Willow on Wednesday afternoon, I didn't have anything else in particular to do so thought why not. The drive down was different this time, I didn't feel the need to rush and just tootled down there in my own time without a care in the world, previously it was all about anticipationand a big rush. I arrived at about three pm and made my way up the track, the car park wasn't any busier than on my last couple of visits but it seemed that there had been a change of focus lake wise as Willow was just about full, in fact there was only three swims to choose from none of which were of any interest to me. I had a walk round and spoke to a few of the anglers, two were roach fishing and had nothing to report, the rest were carping and none seemed to be leaving any time soon. So that put me in a position I really don't like, fishing purely against other anglers due to pressure, horrible, I either made the best of a bad swim, waited in the hope of a promising area becoming free, or went home. I certainly didn't fancy driving straight back home, I would hit the full force of the rush hour and I was about knackered anyway so that was out. I decided to drop into a swim I had fished in January and take it from there, that area hadn't been too bad weed wise, certainly not ideal though.

Unfortunately what was previously just about manageable light and patchy weed was now more of a problem, I spent quite some time with the marker rod but could find nowhere properly clear and with dark almost upon me I had to bite the bullet and make do. For a while that bothered me and then I started to think if I really cared and the answer was no, not really, the honest truth is it didn't matter if I caught another roach or not. So on went the radio and I sat out under an incredibly clear night sky with a beer for company enjoying what was most probably my last ever night on the water, reflecting on the last couple of months fishing and generally letting it all sink in. It was another strange kind of experience really, I knew I hadn't got a cat in hells chance of catching anything yet I had a very enjoyable evening. I woke up at 7.30, packed up, and was back home by 10.30.

So the decision then was what to do with the next two days, my spring plans revolve around tench and carp, my carp water is another hours drive south away from home and I'd seen enough of the roads for one week so that left me with some tenching, besides I already had some maggots from the roach trip so I was more or less fit to go. The tench tactics I was going to use were in fact very similiar to those used for roach, all I had to do was step up my rods to the 1.75 top section, change 6lb spools for 12lb and pick up some larger feeders and ready made leadcore leaders from the tackle room, all done and dusted in no time and I was back on the bank by midday.

My first view of the lake since last summer was a shock to say the least, the chainsaw's had been hard at it and the snags that I had it in mind to fish no longer existed, wonderful, selective pruning never seems to be an option in these circumstances does it, give a man a chainsaw and before you know it you just have a pile of logs. That set me off on the back foot, where to start now? I plumped for a swim that had treated me well last year, even though it then had a fish holding feature, and fired out the 2oz maggot feeders after clipping up to an area. Half a dozen casts and two hours later and it wasn't happening, I was confident that if the tench were there I would have had a bite by then and so a move was in order. A large tree had been brought down over winter and lay in a bay to my left, I knew the water was a bit shallower in there but then again the whole lake is pretty shallow anyway and the new snag did look the part, with the other features gone maybe that was where they were holed up. Another hour and a half told a different story, the feeders were dropping right against the branches and I was sure that I would have had a bite by then if I was going to get one at all so it was time for another move.

This time I was fishing out into open water, I really did expect the tench to me in the snags so early in the year but I was now left with little choice, I kept the feeders going in on the same spots every twenty minutes or so and not long after the third cast I was away on the left hander. The tench in this place almost always put up a good scrap, the shallow water tends to mean they often kite on a long line and thats what this one did, it was lucky that no one was next door in fact. That one went 6lb 14oz's and had a pronounced scar around its body which looked to be caused by being tethered up in line, I'm pretty sure that I caught it last year at mid 7lb odd but haven't been able to dig a picture out yet. Almost as soon as I recast the same rod was away again, another good scrap and a fish of 6lb 6oz in the net. Another short wait before the alarm screamed again and that happened twice more with fish of 6lb, a male of about 5, and a female of 6lb 13oz before I packed up just before dark, not bad weights for the time of year, another couple of months and they will be a lot better though! I really enjoyed the session, much better than sitting in a no hoper of a roach swim waiting for someone to pack up.

Friday afternoon saw me back to the same lake but it was busy, four anglers along the bank I caught from had caught one or two each but there wasn't room for anyone else and so I headed back into the tree swims and blanked in style, late afternoon I moved round after a couple of mates left for the last hour but apart from finding a new snag with an appetite for feeders nothing exciting occured.`]

An update on that rather iffy smelling bucket on the patio, she who is sometimes obeyed suggested that it should go, pronto like. Where do you get rid of ten litres of foul smelling "something"? Well in my case in next doors garden! That isn't quite as bad as it sounds, the house is empty and I look after it, a large hole was dug and I carried said bucket down our garden to pass it over the fence except that it leaked down my leg. I did the deed and it was in fact hemp as I suspected, absolutely disgusting, hole filled in and I went in to get changed. the wife then came in the front door and started retching at the smell that apparently filled the house....!