Well the inevitable happened, two days of moderate sunshine and the tench spawned. I guess that means my chance of a northwest double has gone for now - but there's always next year of course. First day out this week produced nothing but a large eel. No line bites, no other bites and nothing rolling. I followed this up with another two eels along with tench of 6lb 15oz and 8lb 2oz on day two. Denis couldn't make this trip but I had plenty of company as several people who have caught modest fish there (and who don't actually weigh their fish) have chosen to advertise the venue here and there. There's a race for swims now most mornings and I had people fishing either side of me.
The appearance of the eels obviously coincides with the tench having shed their spawn. Eels have a fantastic sense of smell and I don't doubt they have converged on the area from all over the lake gobbling up the tench spawn - and any maggots they happen to come across in the process. I've been avoiding baiting up with cereal feed as I don't really want to attract the bream into my swim. All I've used for feed is maggots and caster, introduced by spod but I may have to rethink this policy if the eels really become a problem. I wouldn't mind so much if they were big ones but the biggest I've had so far is only about two and a half ponds - not really specimens.
Day three was a different story. The tench had completed their nuptuals and were on the verge of a feeding frenzy. Seven fish were caught in all, six tench and a bream. The bream was first to put in an appearance, taking the bait on the first cast within just a few minutes. It weighed 9lb 8oz and fought so poorly that at times I wasn't sure I had a fish on at all. There was a lull after that but the tench came on the feed mid morning and I got bites steadily for an hour or two. I hooked eight of them in all but lost two in the very thick marginal weed. The ones I landed weighed 5lb 8oz, 5lb 15oz, 7lb 5oz, 7lb 14oz, 7lb 15oz and 8lbs exactly. All were battered but some were still carrying a bit of spawn.
Interestingly, I caught nothing on maggots, every bite was on a rig which carried two plastic casters on the hair and two real ones on the hook. What's more the majority of bites occurred within the first five minutes after a recast. Denis had remarked on this previously and it does look like the tench are homing in on the splash of the feeder. Echoes of Pavlov's dogs!
Denis joined me for the last session of the week and we both blanked. Denis hooked a fish which came unstuck almost immediately but I didn't even have a line bite. It had been a very cold night with frost forecast (frost in June!) and I can only imagine the drop in temperature coupled with early bright conditions served to put the fish down. I wasn't too bothered really, the tench are in very poor condition now and this was to be my last attempt at catching them for this year.
Next week brings the start of the river season and the opening of my bream lake. I think I can smell a blank!