First Tench of Spring.

 This was my first proper session since the end of the coarse season, typically I spend my first few trips out with a fly rod, this year with the consistently milder weather I couldn't resist targeting Crucian's and Tench. At the turn of the year one of my club tickets obtained exchange ticket rights with Godalming AS, this obviously was great news as it granted me access to fish the premier Crucian water in the country, for those unsure the water is the holder of the British Record Crucian Carp and holds numerous specimen's over 4lbs, which are of course extremely rare.

 Of course I could have just bought a ticket for GAS but with a cost at £150+ to fish one water a couple of times a year seems an extreme expenditure, one of which I wasn't prepared to make. So with this additional venue at my disposal I thought I should try to open my Tench account, this of course being my first trip down and I had some learning to do. Johnson's lake is the home of this monster fish and the next cast could be a special fish, but the lake is also home to Tench in excess of ten pounds, something close to that would be great.

 Considering 95% of my fishing is done with a single rod it felt weird to be setting up two rods on bank sticks and buzzers....not what I call normal but needs must as the fish are from what I've been told patrol areas of 30-40 yards out so a float rod is certainly out of the question unfortunately, once I had arranged everything how I think it should be I got both rods out on an area baited, the ground bait I used was SonuBaits 50/50 green and also 6mm soft pellets, in the past I've found it's a good combo and depending on how heavy the fish fed determined how much I'd lump out.

 Rods were out before 9am and a hopeful day ahead began..........hopeful being the keyword here as it turned out to be a rather slow morning, anglers either side of me were struggling as was Brian, any sorts of indications including liners would have been great, but after three long hours I finally had a run after recasting only two minutes previously, only a small Tench but better than a blank and as was the lack of activity during the remaining 8 hours we packed up having learned that if your not on the fish then you might as well go home, one angler was bagging up on Tench throughout the day but Crucian's were not showing and none came out the entire day between possibly 25 anglers.

Small but welcome.

 It's fair to say though I will head back over there at some point in the Summer/Autumn but for now I'll hold off on the Crucian fishing as it seems to be a little sluggish.