100lb of tench on maggot feeder tactics

ANDY Loble was left exhausted on his first tench session of the year after netting over 100lb of specimens, with this cracking 7lb 6oz example of the species was the highlight of a 16 fish catch from a small weedy gravel pit in Chichester.

The 32-year-old’s haul, which included five fish over 7lb and five of 6lb-plus, were all caught on popped-up artificial corn hookbaits tipped with three maggots over two prebaited areas.

Fishing one rod out in open water over a patch of light weed and the other three rod lengths out on the bottom of the marginal shelf, the Cambridgeshire-based environmental consultant kicked off the session with the introduction of 10 Spombs full of Hinders bloodworm and Little Gemz pellets, krill and shrimp meal plus CC Moore bloodworm glug and then kept the swim topped up with tumeric flavoured maggots, hemp and sweetcorn.

“It didn’t take long for the fish to move in and they made their presence very obvious with fizzing and rolling over both spots,” Andy told Angling Times.

“My first tench weighed 7lb 4oz and the bites were certainly not slow or shy.  I continued to catch until just after dark when I started to get pestered by eels so reeled in until first thing in the morning.  In total I only fished for 10 hours during the trip.

“The runs were frantic - there was a spell where it was difficult to keep both rods in the water at the same time. It was a cracking first session and has given me the buzz to have a proper go for a double figure tench. My current personal best is 9lb 14oz and I’ve held it for too long. I will be giving this venue another try and a few other waters a go to try and achieve this target,” he added.

Andy used 10lb Ultima Power Carp mainline, a 2ft leadcore leader with a Drennan inline maggot feeder threaded on and a 10lb hooklink attached to a barbless size 10 Drennan Barbel hook.