Mike Lyddon's mighty mixture

Mike Lyddon enjoyed a red letter day when he banked his season’s greatest mixed bag... made up of crucians to almost 4lb, roach, tench and a personal-best carp.

The Gardner Tackle-backed rod spodded out a bed of groundbait at 50 yards and dropped a Method feeder over the top.

Then, in a breathtaking 48-hour stint, he netted an amazing 29 crucians over 3lb, the best of them going 3lb 15oz.

That was only part of the tale, though. Half-a-dozen tench to 6lb, stacks of quality rudd to almost 2lb, roach to 1lb 8oz and a UK personal-best carp of 34lb also muscled in on the act.

All Mike’s fish were beaten on a rig made up with 6lb Gardner Hydroflo mainline to a 4lb Mirage fluorocarbon hooklength and a size 16 Target hook.

Chip off the old block

This image encapsulates the real beauty of fishing.
The beaming smiles on the faces of father and son duo, David and Oscar Highe, were thanks to this superb 9lb 5 oz male tench, which sets a new personal best for David.
At just four year’s old, Oscar joins his dad on most of his fishing sessions and this was the case when the duo, from Bawdeswell in Norfolk, visited a local gravel pit and feederfished worm hookbaits over a bed of maggots, casters and chopped worms.
“Oscar has started joining me on night fishing sessions and he loves every minute,” said the Norfolk & Suffolk regional organiser for the Tenchfishers.
“I’ve been after a double-figure tench for a while and to get one step closer with a ‘male’ like this with Oscar by my side is really special.”
To find out more about the Tenchfishers visit: www.tenchfishers.com

500lb of Linear tench topped by a nine-pounder

One of the biggest tench hauls of all time has been taken from Oxfordshire’s Linear Fisheries.
Tipping the scales at a whopping 500lb, the mammoth bag was the work of specimen angler Mark Daffern, who netted no fewer than 58 fish during a three-day session on Linear’s Unity, one of the syndicate lakes on the popular complex.
The Nuneaton rod’s amazing catch was topped by a superb 9lb 1oz fish and backed up by five others over the 7lb mark.
Mark started his stint by baiting up with 20 spodfuls of chopped worm, hemp, seeds and maggots, plus a few handfuls of pellets and sweetcorn, all of which were deposited on to a spot at around 60 yards range.
He then set up two helicopter feeder rigs and the action began early on the first morning when Mark banked the majority of his initial 24 fish, including four seven-pounders, a fish of 8lb 4oz and his biggest specimen.
All took either maggots or hair-rigged pieces of worm.
“At times it was total mayhem – I’ve never known fishing like it. It was a real buzz,” said Mark.
The second day saw him with a 14-fish haul, and 20 tench were landed on day three to cap a memorable session.
“It was frighteningly frantic!” he said. “I had weighing gear all over the place with rods scattered about, and I had to drop my spod rod several times when I got a run while topping up the swim with bait,” he continued.
“It was absolute madness, but I loved every minute of it.”
While Mark’s catch was taken from one of the members-only waters at Linear, the fishery has also been producing some stunning tench catches from its day-ticket pools this season and bosses are encouraging anglers to fish for this species as well its huge bream and roach.

The five-year double-figure tench

A five-year quest to catch a double-figure tench ended in success for Andy Waters when he banked this 10lb 5oz specimen.
He’s been targeting the same syndicate water in Norfolk for many seasons, but despite catching countless big tench the elusive ‘double’ had eludedhim until the Suffolk specialist’s latest session.
It wasn’t plain sailing from the off for Andy, who moved lakes after not feeling confident with his first choice. That proved to be an inspired decision, as tench began to roll at 60 yards over an area in his new location.
He hair-rigged two imitation maggots to the back of a size 12 Korum hook on a heli-style maggot feeder rig and presented his bait over a bed of pellets, chilli hemp, casters and maggots, backing up his new pb with tench of 8lb 11oz, 8lb 2oz and four over 6lb.