tench fishing's over for now. The fish have spawned and so the prospect of a very large one has receded for this year. I managed a couple more before the event and I was pleased to hook a couple of fish using the old fashioned technique of raking a swim. I wish I'd done this earlier really since the swims I most enjoy fishing tend to get choked with weed quite early in the season and so I don't get to fish them as much as I would like.
It took a full three hours to rake the swim I wanted. the weed, mostly canadian pondweed, was so thick that the rake was still clogged on every drag even after two hours of raking but eventually it started to thin out. I baited the cleared area quite heavily with maggots and casters and of course the tench moved in but sadly, when they did, it was clear that I was too late and they had spawned. Best male to come from this swim went 5lbs 15oz and fought like stink while the best two females both went 7lb 4oz.
With the tench fishing over it's time to turn my attention to my bream campaign. Now this might surprise you but I honestly expect to catch no bream at all. That's because the water I've selected has a very very low stock density. It's a big lake, nearly 100 acres and the syndicate is very small so I don't expect to have to fight for swims but there are so few fish that most people don't actually catch anything.
I've fished two nights so far, and blanked as expected but I did at least see a bream - a rare event in itself. I saw an otter too, at quite close quarters, and I understand they use this lake quite a lot, feeding on the eel population.
I packed in serious bream fishing many years ago, life's too short to fish for bream. Let's see how long I can stick it!