First double figure tench of the season hit the bank

This stunning underwater image captures the species that thousands of anglers will be targeting this weekend as popular tench waters bring big catches and huge specimens.

Species enthusiasts from every corner of the country will be looking to catch the iconic tincas as we enter what is historically the traditional tench fishing season – and they have every reason to be rubbing their hands in anticipation of the weeks to come.

EastEnders star Scott Maslen banked one of the biggest tench of the season so far in the shape of this impressive 10lb 2oz specimen (pictured) from Oxfordshire’s Linear Fisheries, a water that’s hit top form for this fair-weather species.

The fishing fanatic, who plays the character Jack Branning in the hit BBC soap opera, banked the fish using a white Mainline Baits pop-up while fishing for carp with good friend Kev Hewitt who also landed an 8lb 5 oz tench.

Scott and Kev are just two of the many visitors that have been taking advantage of the vast tench stocks at the Oxfordshire complex.

“Tench are on the feed in all our lakes and anglers are now cashing in on the action,” said Linear Fisheries head bailiff Ian Roper.

“We’ve had the two biggest fish from the complex this year, Scott landing his 10lb 2oz fish and another angler specifically targeting tench on the Manor Lake who recently banked a cracker of 10lb 3oz.

“This is the time of year when tench start going on the feed not just here, but at waters across the UK, so there could be no better time to get out there and have a go for them.”

Mike Lyddon is one of the UK’s most respected specimen hunters and he proved why you should be giving one of your local day-ticket waters a go this weekend when he banked over 150lb of the species in a single session.

The Gardner Tackle man was fishing the Oak Pond at Three Ponds Holiday Park in Sussex and banked 25 tench, with the best three weighing 8lb 7oz, 8lb 5oz and 7lb 10oz.

After locating a small bar at 30 yards he spodded out a mix of hemp, pellets, corn, maggots and broken boilies to pull the fish into his swim.

He fished a single boilie over the top on a rig made with 10lb mainline, a coated braid hooklink and a size 8 hook.