Two 10lb fish head up great week for big tench

A heavy baiting approach paid dividends for Craig Woolhouse whose first ever double figure tench was the highlight of a memorable session on a Leicestershire syndicate water.

The new best for the species of 10lb 14oz was one of four tench landed by the 33-year-old owner of The Bait Shop, who got through eight pints of red maggots, five pints of casters, two tins of corn and six kilos of trout pellets.

The cracking specimen fell to half a lobworm hookbait fished on a helicopter feeder presentation constructed using 8lb Drennan Supplex hooklinks and size 14 and 12 Super Specialist hooks.

He said: “A double figure tench was my prime target this year and I had several venues short listed that I was going to visit in search of one. The fact I caught it from a local venue only a 15 minute drive from my house and not at one of the well-known waters made it all the more special to me.”

Craig also increased his bream pb during the session with a specimen of 14lb 8oz the biggest of 15 slabs landed.

Another angler to break his tench personal best was Chris Reynolds who landed this 10lb 2oz specimen from Richworth Linear Fisheries’ Hardwick and Smiths Lake.

Travelling from the West Midlands to fish the Oxfordshire venue with his brother Scott, the duo landed a total of six tench during their three day session.

All of their fish came from a spot at 30yds range which they had baited with hemp and dead maggots. Over the top of this they offered red maggot hookbaits on size 14 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hooks and 12lb ESP Ghost hooklinks.

He said: “We’d gone with the intention of trying to break our personal best’s so decided to set-up on Hardwick as this lake is known to hold the bigger specimens. The session went better than expected with me smashing my old best of 5lb 7oz and Scott upping his from 6lb 6oz to 7lb 3oz.”

Click here for more angling news...