Is this the best tench session of all time?
Rob Knapp has banked two of the biggest tench of all time, with a combined weight of 22lb 6oz. The fish scaled 11lb 6oz and 11lb and were landed by the big-fish hunter from Farnham, Surrey when he presented hair-rigged worms on feeder gear.
According to species experts this is one of the biggest pairs of tench ever reported. Rob was fishing the same stillwater in Kent that recently produced a different fish weighing 11lb 9oz.
“What an epic tench season!” he told Angling Times.
“In just two weeks I’ve had five doubles, three of them over 11lb, which is simply incredible.
“During the latest session the 11lb fish came first, and while I was setting the camera up for self-takes, the left-hand rod ripped off, so I had to get the first fish back in the retaining sling.
“I was so relieved to connect when I lifted into the fish, and after another long fight the
11lb 6oz tench was mine.”
“This was a genuine pair of ‘elevens’ about half-an-hour apart, and even better, none of my fish have been recaptures.
“As far as I know, the last two are not known fish from this water.
Both Rob’s latest tench were taken over an area at 40 yards that he baited with hemp, casters, dead maggots and chopped worms.
He bagged the stunning pair just a week after going out on a guiding session with former Drennan Cup holder Dai Gribble – and Dai, too, got among the big fish this week with the capture of an 11lb 6oz tench.
It was part of a massive haul of 45 tench taken by the Korum-sponsored angler from a Midlands gravel pit. Dai targeted a gravel bar around 55 yards out, baiting the spot with mixed 2mm Sonubaits S Pellets and hemp.
He took numerous fish to 9lb 15oz using a helicopter rig with three rubber maggots on the hair before hooking his biggest fish on day three of a four-day session.
Graeme Johnson also enjoyed big-tench success with the capture of this 11lb 3oz specimen after making a 130-mile round trip to Bawburgh Lakes in Norfolk.
The former Tenchfishers records officer fished 48 hours on the complex’s Colney Water and fished inline maggot feeders on three rods in the hope of an elusive double. He told Angling Times: “Without success on the maggots I decided to switch one rod to a Method feeder and hair-rigged one piece of fake corn and one real grain on a size 10 hook – and it worked.
“I’ve targeted Bawburgh for the last three years but this is my first double after numerous years fishing for tench,” he said
