A night of if's, but's, maybe's, and finally's

A rather interesting nights fishing, I guess that's how you could describe it. I met Alan at the Sluice and once again we were to target Tench. I fished worm and hair rigged corn. The worm unsurprisingly produced quite a few Perch and also a Tench of around 2 and a half pounds, not the hardest fighting of fish, I was actually surprised to see it was Tench. Soon enough Alan was into a good fish, I caught a glimpse of it as it flashed near the surface, a decent Tench easy 4lb + and for sure this was going to be Al's new Tench PB. When disaster happened, his hook length snapped. He was gutted! The air went blue and I can still see his rod flying through the air as he struggled to contain his emotion. I had a decent take on my worm rod, I struck into it, not a big fish, and I went about my business in bringing it to the net, when Whammo! A Pike had seen my fish struggling and hit it with some serious force. Let me tell you that it is a fantastic feeling playing a Pike on a 2oz tip. I had it on for a couple of minutes, I didn't have much hope of landing it as I knew that it would be only a matter of time before the Pike would realise that if it let go of my fish then it would be free, My heart was pounding for ages afterwards, what an adrenaline rush. Dark was fast appraoching and packing up was on my mind when something had taken a liking to my hair rigged double sweetcorn, I was into a decent fish and I had to give it line as it was making it's way quick smart to the other reed bed. A lovely coloured Tench and a new PB for the season, and at bang on 4lb I'd just about broken the 4lb barrier for the first time this season.

First 4lb Tench of the season, look at the size of it's tail

Thunder,Tench, and Lightning!

The heavens opened as I arrived at the Sluice tonight. "All this for a fish!" I proclaimed. I set my rod up when the weather was at it's worst. There was even the odd crack of thunder, not an ideal time to be holding 12 foot of carbon. I fished hair rigged corn and also fished maggot on the tip. I had one Tench on corn and a few bits on maggot. I think I may becoming a little unpopular with Alan, as moments after he caught a Tench I caught a bigger and better one, thats two sessions on the trot that I've done this :)

Just the one fish at Heapy

Late Friday night you'd have found me setting up my Carp rods and making base at Heapy reservoir. I arrived at near midnight not ideal I'd finished work late and I'd arranged to meet Ben there. I had my one and only run of the weekend at 5.15am. A screaming run and a stubborn hard fishing Mirror Carp of around 9 to 10lb's was the result. Ben faired a little better, having four fish on the bank, the biggest weighing in at over 13lb's. I plan to return to Heapy and to fish a different peg :)

Hard fighting Carp, around 9 to 10lb's
Wild plants at Heapy

Where are the 4lb + Tench hiding?

I decided to take advantage of the drop in temperature that we were having this week by heading to the Sluice and targeting Tench. I was rods in by around 6pm I fished on 2 rods and used hair rigged sweetcorn as bait. I had my first fish after around an hour, a decent Tench of 3lb 10oz. I had to wait until after sunset for my next fish. I had another 3 Tench in total, the biggest of the bunch was 3lb 12oz. So the elusive 4lb barrier has yet to be broken for me so far this season, I've had a good stamp of 3lb + and since June 16th I've landed 14 Tench in total, not a bad tally. Alan caught his PB Tench tonight a good fighting fish of 3lb 9oz. Well done mate!

Good fish but not quite a 4lb
Al's Tench PB 3lb 9oz

Time to give old Esox a well earned rest

Following on from the recent pollution on the Three Pools, I have decided to hang up my Pike rods until the beginning of September. The decision behind this is simple, I am well aware of the prolonged recovery rate of Pike when fished for in the summer months, and survival after capture can be a bit hit and miss, this is because the oxygen levels in the water are rather depleted , though Summer Pike have a lot more energy and can provide some fabulous sport. I may add that all Pike that I have caught this summer have swam away with much vigour. So then I will turn my attentions to Tench and tip fishing over the coming weeks, with the odd Carp session thrown in for good measure. I fished on the Sluice today, I targeted Tench on ledgered sweetcorn (Blanked!) and I also fished my tip rod with maggot on a size 18 hook to 3lb main line. I had quite a few fish Perch, Roach and Skimmers were queuing up, no Tench or Bream were showing.

Three Pools water contamination

It was with great sadness to learn of the contamination of the Three Pools water way yesterday, thousands of fish were unfortunately killed possibly due to an overspill of a sewage waste from an outlet system that runs into the Three Pools. A local website has a report here

http://www.southportforums.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=%2050405583

at the moment I am unsure as to the lasting effects of this tragedy, and indeed if and when it will recover.

Where it all started

Not giving up without a fight, an Eel comes to the suface for air

Bream of around 5lb's

Sluice, still fishing well, even in this heat

A couple more Tench and a Pike of around 11lb's were my spoils from another session on the Sluice, I fished late afternoon until evening, the temperature was very hot, but it didn't seem to put the fish off feeding, this leads me to a point, in my opinion the Sluice is fishing very well this season, bait fish are at the moment, are pretty easy to catch, most times I'm getting a bite a chuck on my whip, there is a good head of Perch, Pike are certainly feeding and the Tench are showing in good numbers, the only species that seems to not be making an appearance (For me at least) is Bream, I'm due a few slabs in the net! I have started to notice a pattern on Pike feeding times during the summer, and it has come to my attention that most of my catches are coming between 6 and 8pm, and I haven't had any takes in the later evening, I will check through my photographs and make a record of capture times.

Caught on my whip

A lovely golden colour TenchA double that couldn't resist a Perch