The Clay Pit (27)
You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.
Arrival time: 08.30
Weather: Cloudy bright and chilly to start but warming up later with a freshening wind.
Tackle: Greys 12' Prodigy TX Float rod, Allcocks 4" centrepin, pre-loaded waggler, single shot, 6lb main line to 12 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn, bread flake, custard bread paste
Fish: Nine tench and 3 crucians.
I fancied a trip to the side pond at the Clay Pit while the weather was still warm in the hope of a tench or two. On arrival I was truly shocked to see how low the water was. It's not a deep pond anyway but when I plumbed the depth it was no more than a couple of feet. Knowing that tench were fairly tolerant of shallow muddy conditions I didn't lose hope but I was certainly a bit sceptical of catching any. But my fears proved to be completely unwarranted.
I fed in some sweetcorn and maggots before setting up and started fishing with maggots. I didn't have to wait long before the first bite but I didn't connect. More bites followed but despite them being very positive I just couldn't connect. Changing to sweetcorn the first positive bite resulted in firm resistance and after a short fight a tench of about 2lbs came to the net.
A change to luncheon meat a bit later produced my second tench, a fish of 3½ lbs. Things were certainly looking promising. Shortly after I lost a good fish when the hook pulled as I was trying to stop it getting into the far side reeds.
Things then went a bit dead for a while. I started getting unhittable bites and when I finally hooked one it turned out to be a very small tench. I hadn't caught small tench there before so wondered if some restocking had taken place.
First tench - estimated 2lbs
Click on image to open lightbox
3½ lb tench - second fish
Baby tench - a right wriggler !
One of two medium sized tench
The first crucian (foul-hooked)
3¾ lb tench - hook pulled at net!
Last cast tench 3¼ lb
At this point I decided to try my custard flavoured bread paste that had worked well with the carp at Fields End. And once again it proved successful with another smallish tench of around a pound coming to the net. So I stuck with the custard and another tench of a similar size was caught, followed by another 'baby' one.
The next fish was a small crucian hooked in the pelvic fin, explaining some of the fiddly bites I had been getting. Another fairly hooked crucian followed.
Thinking I had hooked another crucian it soon became clear that it was something more powerful that turned out to be a 3¾ lb tench. I was lucky as the hook pulled as I was drawing the fish into the net. I was still using the custard flavoured bread paste.
Another tench of 3¼ lb followed. Things were starting to get a bit surreal. A small crucian then broke the run of tench but on my last cast a 3¼ lb tench ended the session.
A real red letter day that I would never have expected when I arrived and saw the state of the pond.