Match angler nets tench of a lifetime - Paul Hardy
“At heart I’m a match angler and I love targeting commercials for stockie carp and F1s, but by giving a natural venue a try I’ve ended up catching the tench of a lifetime.
“It all started last year when I stumbled across an old lake near to where I live in Rotherham. As an angler I love being beside the water and naturally look for signs of fish during my walks there.
On a warm summer evening I spotted a number of big fish roll which had to be tench or bream, so I called a few of the local match angling lads to see if they knew anything about the lake’s stock. They reckoned that bream used to be caught on bread there years ago.
“That weekend I headed down and settled in one of just four fishable swims – most of the lake is unfishable due to large reed beds cutting off access. It took me a while casting a lead around to find a clear patch, but eventually I found a gravel bar 65-70 metres out and targeted it with groundbait feeder tackle and two hair-rigged dendrobaena worms.
“After two hours the bream switched on, and they were good ’uns at around 7lb apiece. Then, over the next 30 minutes, I was snapped off three times by fish that clearly weren’t bream. They must have been tench or carp.
“I planned another trip and this time my mate John Hopes was with me. I fished the same swim as before and between us we enjoyed a superb session with plenty of bream and finally some tench, averaging 6lb-7lb – but I just knew I was only scratching the surface. So, I planned yet another session and settled into the same swim again.
After two hours my tip finally slammed round and I was in, a stocky 5lb tench being the culprit. Four further tench of around the same weight followed over the next two hours.
“My session was coming to a close when I had five or six liners, then the tip slammed round again. I struck and straight away this fish took line and headed for a weedbed. It took my line all the way to the clip and I thought it was going to snap, but by giving it some guts I managed to steer it away and put line back on the reel.
“It was now in open water and I could feel it was heavy, but not much different to the five-pounders I’d caught. After five minutes it briefly snagged me in the weed, but I managed to pull it out, which is when it flopped on its side. When I saw it properly I was wiped out by the size of it!
“Once it was in the net it went mental trying to escape. I remember barely being able to lift it out of the water, it was so heavy. I knew it was a special fish, but never in a million years did I think it would weigh 11lb 2oz.
Paul Hardy and his ‘tench of a lifetime’ at 11lb 2oz
I’m just so glad I spotted those fish rolling and put some effort into fishing a venue I would never normally have bothered with. It just goes to show that if an opportunity presents itself, acting on it could just help you catch the fish of a lifetime – as it did with me.”