With rain forecast for the afternoon I decided on a morning session at Ryton, followed by some long overdue decorating. The latter of which does not thrill me, but it does help to secure me a few points in the missus' good book. At least it better have done so!
I wandered round the back of the island to my favourite peg 16. I noted the weed growth on my way round and it was a good bit more vigorous than it was last year. However, my chosen peg was clear enough for the area I intended to fish.
I deviated from my normal approach for this swim by feeding groundbait on two different lines. I had seen a lot of Tench bubbles, but the fish were clearly well amongst the weeded areas. I was hedging my bets in the hope of persuading them out into the clear areas.
I caught 3 Perch and a Roach in the first hour, none of which were of any size - in fact the Perch were of a much smaller stamp than I'd previously seen at Ryton. Things then went a bit quiet, but I could see the bubbles continually fizzing around the swim and getting closer to the clear area I was fishing.
As is often the case, the wildlife started to muscle in on the action and in case I was in any doubt as to where one of my baited areas was, a helpful swan was on hand to mark the spot!
I continued to feed the other swim and in the end it paid off when I hooked into my first Ryton Tench of the season - a fish of 3lb 10oz.
Another one followed later on, but it was probably the smallest Tench I've had from Ryton, at maybe 12-14oz.
It was a frustrating session because the swim was definitely alive with fish - the bubbles just kept increasing as the session wore on. Bites were hard to come by though, but I'm not sure why. I've used similar tactics in the past and have had a few sessions where I've taken half a dozen decent Tench to over 5lb. I would have liked another hour or so as I felt confident of catching more, but the rain was setting in and I was pushing my luck if I didn't get any work done at home. With regret, I had to call it a day.
I'll give it a go again next week hopefully, to see if I can set the record straight.
I have heard, upon the grapevine, that when one is faced with a swim alive with bubbles and no bites forthcoming floatwise, then, and only then, one should take the leger rod from the quiver and make hay...!
ReplyDelete