New personal best tench for Drennan Cup champion

Reigning Drennan Cup Champion, Jamie Cartwright, has got the defence of his title off to a flying start with the capture of this 11lb 5oz tench.

The impressive specimen brought a three year wait for a new pb for the species to a triumphant conclusion and was caught from a Midlands stillwater that, despite him fishing it every spring for the last five seasons, hadn’t produced a tench for him in over two years.

He ended this big tench drought when he kicked off the session with a 9lb 5oz specimen after casting out two hair-rigged imitation casters over a bed of feed comprising four pints of casters, four kilos of hemp, pellets and black groundbait.

The best was still to come, though, and it wasn’t long before ‘the biggest tench he’d ever laid eyes on’ was laying in the folds of his landing net.

“This was the result I’d been praying for,” Jamie told Angling Times. “The venue has certainly been a tough nut to crack and after going two years without catching a fish from it I was delighted with the nine-pounder.

“My mate Dougie had come over to celebrate with some breakfast and mid-way through the meal a huge fish rolled over my left-hand-rod. I commented ‘that’s as good as a bite’, and sure enough, moments later my alarm burst into life. When the fish surfaced in front of us our jaws hit the floor as neither of us had ever seen anything like it before and it beat my personal best by 1lb.”

Jamie beat his prize with a size 12 Drennan Specialist Barbel hook and a 10lb Drennan Gravel Braid hooklink.

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