After getting a couple of decent bream on the canal during the week I took what was left of my bread down to the tench pond, arriving just before 10am it felt like one of those mornings where I would just settle for one fish for I knew it would be weedy and low compared to the only other time I'd fished it this season, much earlier in the year. It didn't disappoint as it sure was a weedy midsummer sea of green, a tench paradise..
The holes between the weed were small but full of fish, I could spot everything from the usual hordes of rudd to the odd perch, even tiny pike could be seen and the water was so clear you could tell a roach from a rudd, small bream looked elegant with the sharp edges of their fins and the half dozen resident carp made do with a small hole out of the way in the middle.
I had to work hard to see any tench but I noticed a few dark shapes passing through one spot so fed some bread there and set up around the corner. I had the whole pond to myself and couldn't wait to get started. I crept into position and sat on the unhooking mat.
Bread can often be a very instant bait so as I lowered my pole float in with nothing on the line aside from a large lump I resisted the urge to strike at the little rudd that were picking bits off, I could see the bread being hammered as it sunk through the layers until it went just out of sight, within a couple of seconds the float has ripped under and it's a great start as a tench flashes in the clear water and tears into the weeds, my 4lb line holding firm and bringing both fish and the clump of weed to the net.
I wondered how long I could fish this little hole so had a break, poured a coffee and fed another spot around the corner. However I snuck back into position and instantly had another tench on, two in two casts was good going until a blaze of silt kicking, weed flicking action saw the fish and I part company as the hook came out.
A win for the fish so the next one would be crucial to tip the balance, although it had now gone slow as expected. I didn't want the morning to finish on a lost fish so switched to punch as it can outwit the wary. The result was a small tench under a pound but confidence was restored.
Bread punch often out fishes flake as it's just so fluffy and soft yet sinks from the off, I double, sometimes triple punch 10mm discs and despite being very firm on the hook the point shows and it sinks quite fast, it worked for another good tench which once again went into the weed and became placid, like they do sometimes. Tench and weed came to the net and it was a beauty, a really chunky fish.
By now the local gnat population was having a feast on me, maybe sitting on the floor in a damp shady spot isn't the best idea but on such a bright day it seemed the right thing to do with the water so clear and the fish so close in. The sun moving round illuminated the spot I was fishing and I could see bread down there untouched on the bottom. It was time to move.
Around the corner the other swim I prepped was rudd central, no chance of fishing punch here, I fed some more bread and the surface erupted, even the perch seemed to be inquisitive of all the commotion. Although a tiny pike lay motionless just below the surface, all six inches of it unfussed by all the disturbance.
Then a funny looking tench went by on the top, at first I thought it was a mirror carp, all long and lean with a pronounced lateral line and very light in colour. It seemed to dive down where the bread was fed so in went the bait. Mugging tench off the top isn't commonplace but it does show how instant this bait is as the float went under just as the fish swirled over the feed dispersing the rudd, it was a strange looking pale tench with a funny mouth too.
I sat on the grass bank for lunch and was once again joined by the insect life, I was thankful it didn't bite me like the gnats did.
I then managed a perch, I've caught many bass down the docks on bread but I think this was my first ever perch on bread.
As you can see from the photo I just use a click container, put either a slice or the corners of the slice I am using for hookbait in with a bit of water, squeeze and feed, it really is that simple, crusts n' all.
A few rudd and small bream followed and I could swear the fish were getting bigger from me feeding them, I think the sun was getting to me as even the jack pike was now ten inches long, swapping places with the smaller one just to confuse me. The next fish to take my bread wasn't that big but it sure was a pretty little thing.
I then lost another tench and thought that was it, once again the hook coming out with it only on briefly but there was still time for one more. Spotting some bubbles close to the weed the advantage of such a heavy bait as a golf ball sized bit of bread is that you can hit anything on a sixpence, my bait hit the spot and drifted down through the bubbles without much hassle from smaller fish, I almost knew it would go straight under and it did. Saving the best for last this last tinca was a stunner, a real work of art.
Five tench in a few hours, I didn't get snapped or feel like it likely was even though I was on 4lb line, although a couple of lost fish did keep me honest. A perch on bread, dragonflies using me as a perch and a whole pond to myself was the making for an eventful session. I packed up with the fish still feeding after comically trying to keep the last bit of stale crust on the hook, it dropped off leaving me out of bait which sometimes is a wonderful way to end, leaving you wanting more.
By now two other anglers had just arrived and the pond was no longer my own playground. But what fun it was for the morning.
