Most specimen tench are caught using feeder tactics, but the float can still produce the very largest of fish, as Chris Netto found when he took this 12lb 11oz tinca on the waggler!
The Tenchfishers member had volunteered as a steward at the group’s National Tench Championships on Oxlease Lake at Linear Fisheries, Oxford, and decided to stay on and spend a few days fishing himself.
He kicked off on feeder fished worm kebabs, but with nothing other than a small pike to show for his efforts after his first 24 hours, he was tempted to go home that evening.
However, Chris decided to stay for another night and changed his tactics, baiting the near margin with hemp, maggots and groundbait in preparation to fish the float the following morning. Waking up early, he rigged a waggler up to fish it lift method-style, and used artificial maggots as his hookbait, which he cast over his baited area at 4.15am.
About 15 minutes later, his float disappeared, and Chris hooked a fish that held deep, fighting doggedly. When it surfaced, Chris dared to think that he might have hooked his first-ever ‘double’, but once in the net and on the scales, he still couldn’t quite believe the figure that the needle settled upon.
Since the capture, the tench has been confirmed as a joint complex record at Linear, as well as being the Tenchfishers’ new float-caught record.
THE BEST SPECIMEN RODS ARE PERFECT FOR CATCHING TENCH ON THE FLOAT.
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