Dai Lands amazing late summer tench

The month of August very seldom produces big tench, so imagine Dai Gribble’s delight when he slipped the net under this 10lb 1oz beauty. 

Scorching hot weather made fishing difficult for the two-time Drennan Cup champ, but he defied the odds by banking his biggest tinca of the season from Oxfordshire’s Linear Fisheries.

Fishing a 24-hour social with friend Andy Lewis, the pair both fished helicopter tactics in hope of a big tench or carp – with Dai pinning his hopes on a gravel hump 50 yards from the bank. 

He said: “We fished all through the day and night but didn’t have a bite until 9.30am the next morning. After rebaiting at first light with five Spombs of chopped worm and worm-attract peat extract, I replaced my rigs and found some tench from 4lb-6lb.”

Dai’s next bite yielded a much better tench at 8lb 5oz, but it was the following take that resulted in something altogether more special. 

“I struck into the fish but at that distance it was hard to tell just how big it was,” Dai added.

“When it got to within four rodlengths out it started to prove its worth and made several angry runs down the shelf. 

“At 10lb 1oz it’s not the biggest of the 41 double-figure tench I’ve caught to date, but it’s the only one I have caught in August. 

“Double-figure tench aren’t so readily available now as they are in the spring and autumn, so I’m especially pleased with this unexpected catch.”

Dai’s winning tench rig incorporated a 12lb mainline attached to a Korum Combi Feeder loaded with chopped worm, worm-attract peat extract and
live maggots.

Attached to this was a Korum Heli-Kit, a 10lb Xpert monohooklink to a size 10 hook and four pieces of dendrobaena worm fished on a short hair.