Summer rain spurs Trent barbel to go on the feed
Recent downpours have caused the River Trent to rise, and if you’re a barbel angler there is no better time to be out on the bank. Here are three Trent doubles taken last week to whet your appetite...
Justin Stoddart – 15lb 1oz barbel
Laying down a big bed of hemp, pellets and chopped boilies proved a wise move during Justin Stoddart’s latest barbel adventure when he slipped the net under this 15lb 1oz belter.
The Retford rod used a Spopper to introduce his feed on a section of the tidal Trent, and during a 12-hour session he managed to bank his new personal best alongside six others – including a fish of 10lb 14oz. All fell to 3FT Twitch 18mm SG1 boilies.
Alan Lane – 15lb barbel
Alan Lane has banked his first double-figure barbel in the form of this 15lb beauty.
The 74-year-old, who lives on the south coast, travelled with his friend to fish the prolific Bob’s Island stretch of the River Trent in Newark.
His new pb, alongside other barbel of 6lb 12oz and 7lb 1oz, were tempted on tandoori-flavoured luncheon meat fished over a bed of hemp, maggots, boilies and parti-blend, making his 400-mile round trip well worthwhile.
Zak Gorst – 11lb barbel
Young Zak Gorst was treated to a few days fishing on the Trent at Gunthorpe during the summer holidays and banked his first double-figure barbel at 11lb 5oz.
The Manchester lad and his dad managed to hook 17 barbel during their stay by fishing 18mm Pro-Sushi boilies fished over 10mm, 14mm and 16mm offerings.
Giant Trent roach sets new record
A colossal roach that’s believed to be a River Trent record has been banked in the shape of this 3lb 4oz beauty.
The incredibly rare redfin fell to Newark-based Alfie Naylor who had been targeting the waterway’s shoals of roach over the previous month.
The 36-year-old had already enjoyed success with a 2lb 10oz personal best, but he had no idea his latest trip to his local stretch would yield something even more special:
“After landing that 2lb 10oz fish I honestly thought I’d never see another river roach that big in my life,” he said.
“How wrong was I – two weeks later I managed another Trent giant, but this time it was even bigger. I honestly thought it was the British record when it lay in my net.
To help get past the smaller roach Alfie fished with half a Nutrabaits River Plus dumbbell around 6mm in size, which he banded to a size 12 Daiwa Gamakatsu G-point hook.
He fished this in conjunction with a helicopter rig and a 25g Drennan Gripmesh feeder loaded with damp 4mm River Plus pellets and Trigga carpet feed.
“A couple of months ago I was invited to Bob Roberts’ barbecue which gave me the opportunity to pick the brains of Archie Braddock and the late Mike Townsend regarding targeting big river roach,” Alfie added.
“I went away that evening with a serious amount of information from two of the best river roach anglers in the country and couldn’t wait to put it to use.”
Alfie’s big roach wasn’t the only specimen caught recently either as Richard Barlow proved with his 3lb 5oz specimen.
The Poole-based angler used groundbait feeder tactics with corn on a Wimborne and District Angling Club stillwater to take the large three pounder, alongside others weighing 2lb 6oz, 2lb 5oz and 2lb exactly.
“I had just caught the three two-pounders when the bobbin went again and I struck into a heavy fish,” Richard said.
NOTE
There is no official documentation for a Trent record roach although Alfie Naylor has submitted his 3lb 4oz fish to the BRFC and is currently awaiting confirmation.
Giant zander out from both sides of the english channel
An estimated 20lb zander has been banked from an English river by lure expert Greg Bafia.
The 93cm predator, a new personal best, fell to a 7cm soft plastic ruffe pattern from the Realistic Shad company.
Despite not having scales to hand, the London angler did measure the fish – caught on a fast-flowing stretch of a Midlands waterway – and was able to compare it to another big zander he caught nine years ago.
He said: “My previous personal best was 90cm long and weighed 18lb 12oz – so with an extra 3cm in length I’d estimate this zander to easily weigh around 20lb.
“I fish exclusively for zander and have caught more than 30 doubles in my time, but this catch is by far my best.”
Meanwhile, his impressive zander wasn’t the only big predator caught last week. French angler Seb François was celebrating the capture of this world record-shaking 24lb specimen.
The fish measured 100cm and was just 1lb 6oz shy of the official record.
Targeting a large stillwater in France, Seb fished in 10ft of water using Fox Rage 18cm Tiddler Fast in Hot Tiger colours.
one bite for an eel that so nearly made the 6lb mark
One bite at 3.30am accounted for one of the biggest eels of the season in the sinuous form of this fantastic 5lb 15oz specimen.
The fine fish was banked by 31-year-old Supply Chain manager Chris Mason, who fished the classic approach of lobworms on a Dyson rig over a bed of chopped worms, during an overnight session on a Midlands gravel pit.
Chris said: “I’ve struggled to get out fishing this season but I felt like the weather was right for it at the weekend and managed to get a quick overnighter in.
“I only had the one run which resulted in the big eel, which beat my old pb by 2oz.”
4,453lb of silvers banked at Tamar lakes
One of the best silverfish festivals ever in the UK has seen a staggering 4,453lb 8oz of roach, skimmers and perch landed by 33 anglers over a four-day event.
The 82-acre Upper Tamar Lake on the Devon/Cornwall border was home for the festival and despite its size the results were incredibly fair – with each angler averaging 134lb 10oz over the four days.
Remarkably, each of the top three anglers had over 200lb, but it was Daiwa Dorking’s Gary Pook who topped a strong field with a remarkable total of 211lb 2oz. That included a 73lb 2oz net of skimmers to clinch the overall win on the last day.
Nick Howell finished in second with 210lb 8oz, and Simon Willsmore claimed the third place with 200lb 14oz.
“I’m over the moon to have won, especially against such a strong field of anglers,” Gary said. “Tamar is a brilliant venue, and wherever you draw you know you’ll catch.”
The 73lb bag Gary had on the last day was the best catch of small silverfish he’s ever had, and fishing at close range was key to amassing such a bag.
He added: “I was on the Cornish Bank on the last day, and this was where some of the really big weights had been coming from.
“I started by fishing with a 3m whip, however as I was landing a good stamp of fish I switched to the pole fishing a top kit and one.
“I got through lots of bait, and fed around 5kg of Daiwa’s Green Bream Groundbait mixed with Sensas Magic, and three pints of both hemp and caster. While I occasionally used maggot on the hook, caster was the best option because they singled out the better fish.”
Gary was quick to praise festival organiser Simon Poynter on running a brilliant event, and Simon was no slouch during the event, finishing fourth with a remarkable 190lb 4oz.
“It’s been an incredible festival,” Simon said, “and it’s unbelievable how fair it’s been.
“Section A and section G are 60 acres apart, however everybody on and in-between them have caught really well.
“This fairness means that the results are a real reflection of the angler’s ability, which makes it a great event and a test for some of the top anglers.”
Simon knows Tamar better than most, and has a few explanations on why its fishing so well:
“At the moment there are loads of roach in Upper Tamar as it’s not long since they finished spawning, and as a result this forces the other fish in the lake feed because there’s more competition for food.
“The water quality is high as it’s a reservoir for drinking water. There’s £8,000,000 of aeration at the bottom of the lake, which contributes to the quality of the fishing. I’ll be running the event again next year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what that will bring.”
Big Rudd still on the feed!
There’s still plenty of time to bank a monster rudd and if recent catches of the species are anything to go by, a new personal best could be on the cards!
Here are three incredible rudd catches taken last week to get you in the mood…
Joe Royffe 3lb 7oz
Just a few days after banking a massive 3lb 2oz rudd from the River Cam, Joe Royffe returned to slip the net under this 3lb 7oz fish.
The specimen was taken moments after the Hertfordshire rod raked a marginal swim to clear it of lily pads and pennywort.
He said: “I cast out a single piece of floating crust just upstream of a large fish that had shown itself. It was a classic big rudd take.”
Sion Williams 3lb 4oz
Big rudd don’t come much better looking than this 3lb 4oz beauty, taken by Sion Williams during his latest visit to a Midlands river. He caught it alongside three others weighing more than 2lb 8oz.
Scott Day 3lb 3oz
Carper Scott Day switched to rudd during a recent session and was rewarded with this 3lb 3oz specimen.
Targeting a Fenland river using roving tactics with floating bread hookbaits, Scott covered more-than five miles of water before hooking the monster fish.
“Eventually we managed to locate the fish – and I ended up with a 3lb 3oz specimen and a brace of twos weighing 2lb 8oz and 2lb 10oz,” he said.
Carper lands stunning roach brace
An angler fishing a carp match received the shock of his life when a drop-back bite yielded a fantastic 3lb 3oz roach.
E-S-P and CC Moore-backed ace Kev Hewitt was participating in the British Carp angling championships semi-final on Linear Fisheries’ Brasenose 1 water when the big roach (top) inhaled his fake corn hookbait.
In a double delight however, Kev also added an estimated 2lb 10oz fish on the very next cast to form one of the biggest stillwater braces of roach reported this season.
He said: “Obviously we were fishing for carp but at first light a couple of bites just five minutes apart resulted in these two incredible roach in the net.
“I was more excited about these two fish than the match itself and just had to have a photo! I love my roach fishing and had caught a lovely roach of 2lb 2oz from the river earlier in the year, but these were colossal and fin perfect.
“As the marshals were weighing our carp for the match I asked if they could weigh the biggest roach, but by the time I’d caught the second fish I’d found out the guys in the next swim were just one carp behind us in the match, so I had to slip the roach back unweighed and focus on carp fishing again – but it was easily between 2lb 8oz and 2lb 12oz.”
Both of Kev’s roach were caught on rigs incorporating mini E-S-P solid PVA bags filled with micro pellets with a single grain of plastic corn as a hookbait.
Stunning river perch landed!
An evening session on the River Thames resulted in this 5lb 1oz perch for Kiran Nathan.
The London angler targeted the river with multiple rods and presentations with the hope of catching either perch, carp or zander, but couldn’t believe his luck when the stripey of a lifetime filled his landing net. The fish fell to a livebaited dace on a single size 4 hook tied to 15lb fluorocarbon.
Kiran also caught his other target species during the same session netting a zander of 6lb and a beautiful 16lb linear carp.
UK Specimen hunters enjoy rudd success!
Two monster rudd of 3lb 2oz have once again shown that now is prime time to target this beautiful but often elusive summer species.
A large gravel pit in the north of England produced the first ‘three’, taken by Angling Trust campaigns officer James Champkin who has been enjoying a successful year so far.
The specialist from Milton Keynes, Bucks, has been fishing the difficult venue on and off for the last few years, with just a handful of smaller fish to show for his efforts – but his pursuit of a dream three-pounder finally came to an end during his most recent outing.
He said: “The weed is savage in this water and the rudd are highly nomadic – only feeding in very short spells.
“Consequently, the last two years have been particularly challenging, and I have landed just a couple of two-pounders after an awful lot of effort each season.
“This summer I returned for another crack at the pit and on my first trip over the last couple of days I managed just two bites – one each night – resulting in the 3lb 2oz fish and another of 2lb 3oz.”
James new personal best fell to a small pop-up boilie fished in conjunction with a feeder filled with a combination of Dynamite Baits Zig Cloud mix and Silver X Roach groundbait.
This was fished over a bed of particles and broken Complex-T boilies.
Hertfordshire angler Joe Royffe hooked the second of the week’s biggest rudd with the capture of a 3lb 2oz fish (above) from Cambridgeshire’s River Cam.
The delivery driver banked a personal best 2lb 8oz fish from the waterway at the beginning of July, but was determined to return to try for an even bigger specimen he suspected was in the area.
“I started the session by wandering off downstream for about a mile and eventually saw some decent rudd making bow waves as they swam through just below the surface,” Joe said.
“I quickly set up my float rod with bread flake on the hook and cast into the river.
“Almost immediately there a big swirl on the surface, quickly followed by a loud slurp as the first fish engulfed my floating piece of bread!”
Joe’s new personal best was just one of seven 2lb-plus rudd he managed to catch in July in what has been a prolific summer for the species so far.
Tench angler nets lake record carp!
A tench angler using 8lb line and single corn has set a new lake record at a top carp fishery with an incredible 49lb 8oz fish.
Toby Yates was targeting tench on Sandmartin Lake on the Bluebell Lakes day-ticket complex in Northants when the massive fish picked up his tiny hookbait.
Fishing alongside friend Ash Bainbridge, the pair, from Sale in Greater Manchester, were both after tincas, having moved on to Sandmartin after 48 hours catching small tench at another gravel pit.
Ash said: “With Sandmartin Lake being deep and relatively sheltered we thought this might give us a better chance of tench,” explained Ash.
Toby set up in a noted summer hotspot on the lake, and had a succession of bites.
“Tench came throughout the day, with the carp favouring early mornings.
“Toby managed two nice tench of 9lb 8oz and 9lb 12oz.
“On our final morning the usual bite time for carp came and went without many indications. We started to pack down, then Toby’s right-hand rod was away.
“After a lengthy battle on 8lb Maxima a beast of a common carp surfaced!
“I went straight in up to my waist and netted the carp. It went 49lb 8oz, and I believe this is the Sandmartin lake record for the species.”
Toby used a single grain of fake corn on a size 10 Korda Wide Gape hook tied to 6ins of 12lb E-S-P Ghost Soft on a helicopter set-up with a cage feeder.
He fed groundbait with mixed particles and corn.
Season’s biggest chub rocks river trent record
The River Trent chub record has been rocked with the capture of a colossal summer fish weighing 8lb 2oz.
The remarkable specimen – the biggest of the season – fell to Vortex Baits-backed Jay Elliott during a four-hour evening session on the Midlands river.
The 44-year-old from Nottingham said: “This had to be one of the finest sessions in my 34 years in angling.
“After failing to connect with two bites, resulting in bait missing from the hair, I knew there were chub in the swim.
“There was no mistakes on the third bite and from the off I knew it was a good fish, with typical thudding chub headshakes.
“When I saw the huge mouth and big rubber lips my heart skipped a beat, then, when the fish was in the net, I realised it was beyond my wildest dreams.”
Jay tackled the Trent chub with a running rig comprising a 4oz gripper lead and a 3ft hooklength fixed to a Hybrid Tackle size 8 Curve Shank hook.
He used a Vortex Crab, Krill and Oyster Cocoon boilie presented alongside a Castaway PVA mesh bag of freebies.
Duo bank 1,384lb in ‘incredible match’
For most anglers a 100lb catch would mark an excellent day – but Pete Upperton and Robbie Taylor took bagging to another level with an incredible 1,384lb haul from Monk Lakes, in Kent.
Fishing a new two-day pairs event, the pair blew the opposition away with two lake wins apiece over the weekend, headed by Pete’s second day individual catch of 506lb.
Amazingly, the haul - made up of carp from 8lb to 10lb - wasn’t enough to break the current venue record, set at 525lb by close pal and event organiser Pemb Wrighting last summer!
“I had a great few days,” admitted Pete, “and I had the rare opportunity to fish the same peg, 79 on Lake 2, on both days.
“The first day was strange, as I only caught one carp and one F1 in the first three hours, but after feeding my left hand edge I had a manic few hours, catching big carp and weighing in 286lb, which won the match.
“Robbie came second on the day with 260lb, which put us a comfortable 170lb ahead.”
Bagger Pete returned to the same swim on day two, but conditions were totally different, with bright sun bringing big carp to the surface.
“In the first few hours I must have dobbed 200lb, using a banded piece of meat fished around 12ins deep beneath a 0.3g Guru Cookie,” he said.
“I then fed the margins with three pots of Mainline Method Mix that I mixed really wet to get it down quickly, and fished 6mm expanders over the top.
“I caught well here for the rest of the day, and ended up with 506lb which won the lake again. By then I had 11 keepnets in and I had to tip back some silvers to make room for the carp!”
As the fish average between 8lb and 10lb in Lake 2, Pete used ‘proper gear’ to get them out.
“Down the edge I used 0.19mm straight through to a size 12 Guru XS hook and blue Middy Hi-Viz Shock Core 18-22 elastic,” he said.
Pete’s partner Robbie was on Lake 1 on both days, where he had small carp weights of 200lb and 333lb.
He fed with a big Guru pot filled with 4mm Mainline Match pellets and fished paste.
“Robbie’s tactic was to catch a few fish and then add on a section and plumb up again when it started to slow down” Pete said, “and he also used paste down the edge.”
Runners up Pemb Wrighting and Mark Goddard put 860lb 8oz on the scales for second place.
14lb 2oz barbel falls in huge warks avon haul
Lewis Richards enjoyed a specimen session to remember on the Warwickshire Avon after banking this stunning 14lb 2oz barbel.
The fish is a new personal best for the Birmingham-based angler, and it came during a dream trip when Lewis landed nine barbel in total, including four other doubles to 13lb 4oz.
He said: “I was over the moon with it, as it’s an absolute beaut for the Warwickshire Avon.
“All the fish fell to Korum running rig kits with an 18ins hooklink incorporating a size 8 Korda Wide Gape hook with stripped-back Korda Semi-Stiff coated braid.”
Lewis fished a 3oz open-ended feeder filled with a mixture of crushed Spotted Fin Smokey Jack Pillows, 6mm pellets and groundbait of the same flavour, as well as hemp. The mix was then soaked in a Smokey Jack glug.
Surprise capture for match fishing ace
For many anglers, landing a 10lb carp on the pole is a right old battle and a real achievement.
So imagine being attached to a fish six times that size with just a few metres of carbon, pole elastic, line and a hook to do battle with!
That was the situation England star Lee Kerry found himself in during a trip to Poland when he landed seven monster sturgeon all over 40lb, topped by a 63lb 9oz beast, from a day-ticket lake near the village of Kamien.
Paste fished just 5m out did the damage for the Preston Innovations man, whose previous biggest fish caught on the pole was a 20lb carp from Hallcroft Fishery in Nottinghamshire.
It called for powerhouse tactics to get the sturgeon into the net as Lee used 0.30mm line, a size 2 hook and a mind-blowing 4mm diameter C-Drome Hollo elastic that has an equivalent rating of a No30 solid.
“I fished the lake last year with my friend and Polish International Adam Niemiec and caught fish to 18lb, but he told me some bigger sturgeon had been stocked since so I couldn’t wait to have a crack,” Lee explained.
“Paste was the bait, using just enough to cover the hook. It was made up of Sonubaits One to One Krill paste stiffened with soaked halibut pellets, and I fed a slop of groundbait and micro pellets to get the fish into the peg. The idea was that when they arrived they would find only the paste.
“The whole experience was a bit surreal for someone who fishes in the UK, as I was sat on a chair with just 5m of C-Drome pole – which I think you could drive a car over and it wouldn’t break – and a ball of paste waiting for a bite,” he continued.
“When I hooked one, Adam’s advice was to just lean back and pull hard! There was no playing of the fish as such and when it was time to net them, we waded out into the water and ‘netted’ the sturgeon using a massive scoop that the fishery supplies. To do that type of thing is a fantastic experience, but I can’t say I’d want to do it every weekend!”
BIGGEST eel of the season landed
The biggest eel of the season has been banked from a Lea Valley Pit in the form of this 8lb 4oz monster.
It was landed by Cheshunt, Herts specimen hunter Kim George Whiley during a tench fishing session and completely obliterates his previous personal best of 6lb 8oz.
He told Angling Times: “We measured her length at 45ins and the girth at 10.75ins – she was in superb condition too.
“I’ve now been an angler for the best part of 60 years and this eel tops the lot for me!” added Kim, who fished chopped lobworm hookbaits over a bed of casters.
Ruddy hell what a week for gold bars!
If recent catches are anything to go by, now’s the time to target one of our best-looking fish – the rudd!
Scorching temperatures have spurred these stunning bars of gold into a feeding frenzy and, as a result, some incredible specimens have been caught.
Here are the top rudd catches reported to us this week...
Stephen Stones: 3lb rudd
Carpfeed editor Stephen Stones fished floating maggots on a Fenland Pit for this immaculate 3lb rudd.
He covered a handful of grubs in water for an hour before nicking them on to a size 14 Korum hook along with a piece of hair-rigged foam. Completing his rig was a Korum Grub feeder set up helicopter-style.
“On the first cast the bobbin smashed into the rod butt and after a short battle I landed the biggest rudd I’d ever seen on the bank,” said Steve.
Andrew Field: rudd of 2lb 14oz and 2lb 11oz
Walking 16 miles along a Fenland river paid dividends for master floatmaker Andrew Field, who was rewarded with a fine pair of rudd weighing in at 2lb 14oz and 2lb 11oz.
The Greys consultant fished breadflake on 6lb line and a size 10 hook to catch them, casting only when he saw signs of fish. He said: “I caught the 2lb 14oz fish three years ago at 2lb 2oz – if it makes it through the next season it’ll likely make 3lb next time round.”
Adam Perna: rudd of 2lb 10oz and 2lb 8oz
Adam Perna’s inflatable boat helped him track down this plump 2lb 10oz rudd.
The Oxford angler backed it with anotherof 2lb 8oz during a session afloat on a Fenland River with bread crust as bait.
Adam told Angling Times: “I used a 5g Kodex controller float with 5lb fluorocarbon and a size 8 fine-wire Kamasan B911 hook to help land the fish.
“This pattern assists with penetration and doesn’t sink the crust too quickly, as bigger hooks tend to do.”
Top tench on a kebab!
140-mile round trip has produced one of the biggest tench of the season weighing 11lb 11oz.
The phenomenal catch was made by Fox and CC Moore-backed Richard Wilby, who made a long journey to fish for just a few hours on a small southern water in what he described as “my last chance of the season to bank a big tench.”
Richard arrived at his swim around midnight and lightly baited an area with casters, hempseed, red maggots and CC Moore Fish Frenzy groundbait before casting out his rigs.
He said: “At first light my bite alarm signalled a couple of bleeps and I thought it was a pike at first, so when it rolled among all the weed my legs turned to jelly.
“It fought like a demon and I had to give it more stick than I wanted because of the weed.
“Eventually I scooped her up – it’s one of the best fish I’ve caught for so many reasons and one I’ve dreamt all year about catching.”
Richard’s new personal best fell to a simple helicopter feeder rig, a size 10 Fox Zig hook, 12lb Illusion hooklink and a hookbait incorporating a worm kebab topped with a fake maggot.
It wasn’t the only big tench to be reported either, as Alan Rio proved with an impressive specimen of
11lb 7oz (left).
Just a month after receiving a weekly Drennan Cup award for an 11lb 15oz tench, the Woking-based angler continued fishing the same southern water in hope of a larger fish.
Targeting a west-facing bay at 30 yards with worm kebab rigs over a bed of casters, hemp and corn, Alan was able to catch an 8lb 2oz tench and small common carp, but had to wait until 1.30pm on the third day for a take from something altogether more special.
“I had a one toner on the middle rod quickly and after a short tussle I had my prize in the net. “It was my second fish over 11lb and it was totally mind blowing.”
large gravel pit produces big eel
A 90-acre water is a daunting prospect, but Paul Faint’s decision to target the eel population of a southern gravel pit was worth all the effort when he banked this 5lb 13oz beauty.
After baiting a gravel plateau 50yds out in open water, Paul had his hooklength broken by the first fish he hooked, but after this he stepped up his gear and took the big eel in the early hours of the morning.
“At 4am the bite alarm sounded, and on striking I knew I had a good eel pulling the opposite way.
“After landing her at the second attempt I carefully weighed her to register a new personal best of 5lb 13oz,” said a delighted Paul, who tempted the fish on a bunch of maggots.
The biggest barbel of the season
The River Trent has produced the biggest barbel of the season so far at 15lb 15oz.
The whiskered whacker fell to Andrew Knots, who fished on four consecutive days from June 16. He said: “I was with my good mate Alfie Naylor, and most evenings after work both of us went down and put some grub in for the fish.
“Over the first three sessions we caught good numbers of barbel to double figures, plus chub and a couple of big bream – then on day four I hooked something more substantial.
“After a long and slow fight, where I had to stand in the water, I was looking at the fattest barbel I have ever seen.”
Andrew’s Spam hookbait was presented on a metre-long hooklength below a feeder filled with micros and crushed boilies.
l Further south, Ben Fairweather kicked off his river season on the legendary Hampshire Avon with an immense 7lb 11oz chub.
Targeting an undisclosed stretch, the boat builder from Bournemouth fished six evenings on the trot before the fish took his homemade boilie.
“After a few reconnaissance trips I decided to concentrate on a particular swim that had produced during the winter for me,” said Ben.
“The second session saw me bank my first chub of the new season, at 4lb, but with more activity after dark I was sure bigger fish were about.
“The next three sessions were blanks, but the following evening I returned and introduced some hemp, pellets and a handful of my chosen hookbait via a bait dropper.”
Just after 10pm Ben’s rod-tip banged around and he was into a hard-fighting fish. When it was finally netted, he couldn’t believe his eyes: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and when I lifted the net my hands and knees started shaking.”
l Heading the week’s stillwater catches is Mike Lyddon’s 12lb 4oz tench. After baiting a 12ft-deep marginal gulley on a southern stillwater for three weeks with maggot and hemp, and landing a good run of bream to 11lb 9oz, Mike connected with a string of tench, topped by the double-figure tinca.
“I had a slow twitchy take that straight away felt like a much better fish,” Mike recalled. “Two minutes later I could see a very big tench in the clear water.”
The tench is a new personal best for the Gardner Tackle-backed ace, who had all his fish on bunches of maggots fished helicopter-style in conjunction with a maggot feeder.
10-year hunt for double finally over
A 10-YEAR obsession in search of a double-figure tench finally came to an end for Simon Ashton when this 10lb 8oz specimen slid over his net.
Targeting a northern gravel pit, the County Durham-based angler set up in a tight swim that featured a bar 40yds out to which he fed six Spombs of mixed Sonubaits micros and hemp flavoured with 24/7 oil.
“In the end I landed 21 tench to 10lb 8oz back-up with three nine pounders and six eights,” Simon said.
Simon bested all of his fish using a rig incorporating a 70g Drennan maggot feeder loaded with chopped worm and chopped worm on the hook.