Lift method for gravel pit tench

Been a bit quiet of late, I’ve had a few trips out with the carp gear on the syndicate water without any success. I had a few hours spare this evening, and decided to leave the bite alarms at home, and just take float gear.

Fishing the lift method in 12ft of clear water, I put down a decent bed of hemp, caster and pellet, and fished sweetcorn. Gear consisted of a 12ft 1.25lb drennan specialist avon rod, couple with 6lb line straight through to the hook. No splitshot on the line, with the float and swan shot link being stopped by drennan grippa stops. A size 16 super specialist hook finished off the rig, which provides a very sensitive set up, indicating any sot of feeding near to the hook.

After an hour of nothing, the float twitched, lifted slightly, and then fizzing started. This continued for a short while before the float lifted beautifully and I struck into a nice tench.

Really nice to catch a tench on float, and 20 mins later I struck into my second, only for it to come off. I watched my float into dark, and then walked back to the car, whilst Venus and Jupiter lifted into the night sky. Cracking evening.....and one that i'll hope to repeat soon (perhaps with a larger stamp of tench). Hoping for a little bass trip on the dorset coast this week at some point, as i'm travelling about a fair bit at the moment.

A Challenging start to 2018

The rivers have been really up and down since the turn of the year, snow melt, floodwater, extreme low with frost. It's proven a real challenge to try and get things under way, but I have managed to squeeze a few trips in, including one or two blanks.

I always make a point of getting out fishing in the snow; there's is something special about capturing any fish in challenging conditions. The Swale was the destination, roving the banks with a chub rod at the ready. Steak was flicked out in various good looking spots, and eventually the rod hoofed round and a decent chub was quickly landed.

Despite my best efforts, nothing else occurred.

With the snow melting, and south westerlies approaching, the river was soon in flood. Ever the optimist, I was out on the Swale again, armed with worms, moving about and trying to find any suitable slack - this wasn't easy, and I had to keep a keen eye on the river which was doing its best to cut me off. A blank was expected, and was the result, but great to see the river in such condition....this is what creates the ever changing environment we come to love,

Eventually the river died down, snow came back, and on one horrid afternoon with gales and blizzard, I ventured out, again trying for chub. Trying as many swims as I could, my hands were really struggling in the cold, but the tip jolting forward had me grabbing for what I hoped was my target. The fight didn't feel right, fishing staying deep and slow for a while. To my surprise, a very big trout came up, and I was chuffed to land a pb of 3lb 1oz. Certainly a nice splash of colour on a very white day.

There have been a fair few other blanks along the way - truly a hard start to 2018!