Tanyards Lakes. The Tench Pond. January 3rd, 2005.

First outing of 2005.

I don’t know about you, but the 1st trip out of the New Year is one that I always look forward to, so that when Dave the Fish sent me a PM asking if I would like to join him and Colin for a session at Tanyards Lakes, a water that I hadn’t visited before, I was only to pleased to accept.

Leaving home at 6·30am to meet up I noticed it was quite mild, 8°C according to the car thermometer. However as we got closer the temperature dropped, till on arrival it said only 3°C with a heavy frost on the ground and cat ice in the margins of the lakes.

The decision was made to fish the Tench Pond, as both Dave and Colin had fished it previously, and they reckoned that it didn’t contain any of the large Carp that are present in most of the lakes, and which Tanyards is renowned for.

As we unloaded the kit, the bailiff appeared, so we paid our day tickets and got some info that the end nearest to the car park was fishing the best. We also spoke to a Carp Angler who was just packing up after a 3 day session, who had only had one run (from an 8lb Bream)

Well by the time I got to the pond, Colin and Dave had claimed the 2 swims at the bottom end either side of a dead reed bed, so being the youngest I wandered up to the opposite end where there was another dead reed bed.

With no large Carp and a good head of silvers allegedly, I set up on the pole, finding an even 2½ft of water everywhere, so fed 2 swims, the 1st at 11mtrs straight out into open water, the 2nd into a gap in the reeds to my left. Bait was either single or double maggot and all feeding was with a small T-pot with just a pinch of micro pellet and 4 or 5 maggots each put in.

With such shallow water coupled with the heavy frost, I wasn’t expecting any action to begin with, although Colin was soon of the mark with a couple of fish including a nice Perch weighing 1lb 6ozs.

My first bite came from the open water swim and resulted in a nice Roach of around 12ozs, and was followed around 10mins later by a Bream  of around 2lbs.

1st Fish of 2005

At this point we adjourned to the lodge with its wood burning stove for breakfast and a mug of hot tea.

Suitably fortified we returned and Dave was among the Perch as well, one of them a new P.B. for Dave at 2lbs.

My 1st fish from the reed swim was a small golden Carp of about 2lbs, and by alternating between the 2 swims I managed to keep the fish coming regularly nearly all day. Variety was the catch word, with Roach, Rudd, Bream, a Crucian, various ornamentals, Tench and even a humble Gudgeon making up my catch.

   

   

My best fish of the day was a Tench of 2lbs 15ozs ............

My total bag must have been close to 30lbs, which was a lovely way to get 2005 off the mark .
Thanks to Dave and Colin for the company, It certainly won’t be my last visit to Tanyards.