Tenchtopia

Inspired by the recent reports of other bloggers who've visited Ryton Pool recently, I twisted Brian's arm for another crack at it. Bear in mind Brian was on a run of 4 consecutive blanks at Ryton, I was pushing my luck a little, but he agreed to give it a go.

It was an early afternoon start and I was expecting to find a few others on the bank, but the place was deserted. We took the customary walk around the back of the island and doubled up on the largest of the pegs on offer.

We both balled in on a similar line before setting up our rigs. I set up a straight lead rig and got it up and running, at which point Barry the Fly popped by for a chat. It's quite weird talking to someone I've never met before, who doesn't figure in the anglng press and yet I knew quite a bit about him. He was a very refreshing and honest guy to talk to and I have to admit to sharing his various simplistic views on fishing. Anyone who can catch a 10lb+ Bream and 22lb+ Pike from Ryton is worth listening to. I'm yet to encounter either of these species at Ryton, let alone bank fish like those.

The session went pretty much to plan for me and I took a steady stream of fish throughout. The first few Tench were of a small stamp, before a few better ones moved in. The first better stamp fish went 4lb 6oz.

The next Tench caught me a bit by surprise in that I didn't appreciate its size during the fight. I knew it was a 5lb+ fish, but Brian seemed to be talking it up quite a bit and when I lifted up the net, I knew it was a pb. It went 6lb 12oz, which is over 1lb on top of my previous best (also from Ryton). Having had plenty of 4's and low 5's over the years at Ryton, I was a bit chuffed with myself to finally crack the 6lb barrier- and by quite a way.

In total I caught 10 Tench, which is a record for me in a single session at Ryton. Pick of the others were:

4lb 9oz

5lb 10oz

I didn't actually notice the large blemish on the fish until I looked at the photo afterwards! This one also equalled my previous pb too.

I had a few Perch up to about 12oz and in total I had around 35lb of fish. The really good news was that Brian didn't blank either. He did have me worried for a while, but he managed to put 3 Tench on the bank and I think his faith has been restored - if only a little!

3lb 8oz

3lb 13oz

The larger of the two fish led him a merry old dance and I think Brian was a bit surpsried as to how much power these fish have.

A very enjoyable session and on the way back to the car we passed Barry who said he'd taken 6 Tench himself. They are definitely getting their heads down.