TINCA FEEDER MAGGOT PIE

Hello to all

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately, Life's needs and musts have stopped me from wetting a line for two whole weeks!.
After what seemed like an eternity I had a free day to do as I pleased. Fortunately the weather forecast was looking favourable for a session on the canal.

The plan was to try and catch some tench, yes this may sound a bit stupid to some people, I know if you lived up north and said to another angler that you were going tench fishing in early march he'd probably think you'd been smoking  crack. Any way down ere in Devon it only takes a glimpse of spring to send the tench on the feed,This does not apply to all venue's but there are a few places that seem to provide very unseasonable sport.

As you may have noticed I have been doing lots and lots of pike fishing. I do love my pike fishing very much but to be honest I have been looking forward for the chance to fish for something different.I needed a visit to the local tackle shop to stock up on a bit of bait and a few rig bits, Whilst making my purchases I got talking to a man who is somewhat a bit of a don on the cut. He gave me a few valuable tips and I left the shop buzzing at the prospect of catching a few tinca's.

When I got home I went about preparing the bait for the next morning. I soaked two pints of maggots in green lipped muscle oil and mixed up a batch of light sweet smelling ground bait which also received a healthy glug of the muscle juice along with another meaty liquid additive from CC Moore. The work was complete, It was now just a case of hoping the fish would play the game.

The next day I arrived on the bank with a big smile on my face, The weather forecast was spot on with a very warm air temperature coupled with a light breeze giving a bit of ripple on the surface. My tactics on the day were kept very simple employing feeder tackle on a running arrangement.

I started the session with a very large feeder to deliver a good carpet of maggots into my swim. Once I was finished baiting up I unclipped the obscenely large spod like feeders and replaced them with medium sized 25g Drennan cage's. Then tied on the hook links of 6lb line and a strong specimen size 14 hook to which 4 maggots were impaled on.

It didn't take long before the tip wrapped round and I was battling a fit tench which I lost right at the net as it happened. A bloody big bugger he was too! anyway after some rather colourful language and a couple of casts later the tip ripped round again and I struck into another tench. This time I landed the little rascal and felt very happy as I slipped him into the keep net. I don't usually use a keep net but I was hoping to get a few nice picture's so on this occasion I did. After an hour or so I landed another two, Including a very plump fish much larger than the two previous ones. At this point I thought it would be a good time to take a trio shot then pack up the keep net for the remainder of the session.

When the keep net went away the tench came out to play as I landed another 5 and lost a few to boot. A ridiculous day's sport to say the least. I must thank Neil for taking the photographs for me, He also had a bit of sport lure fishing.

  Til next time

  Good luck