Tench fishing at Whittlesford Pit

So I finally got to fish the Whittlesford Pit or Longmoor Pit to give it its proper name. This water is managed by the Saffron Walden Angling Club and known for decent carp (20lbs+), Tench (8lbs+) and bream (5lbs+). It is fairly shallow in terms of depth, the deepest runs are no more than 7ft I am told and at the margins, the water is very clear and perhaps 2-3ft deep with very weedy bottom.

View of the pit

I went on two occasions, first time; I was there at 5:30am and fished through until 11am. I was working a swim between some lily pads and near some bull-rushes, not fishing very far out, margin fishing really. The tackle was 11ft feeder rod, 8lbs main line with 5lbs hook link (size 12 Kasman barbless hooks with hook link) connected with a swivel. There was a 3BB waggler connected via a float rubber with a couple of large SSG 2 inches from the hook to fish on the lift for Tench. Hook bait was maggots or sweet corn (mix of strawberry and normal). I got a couple of lift bites mainly on the double/treble maggot. The swim was full of small Rudd and these were hitting the bait on the drop. They were less interested in the corn and I hardly got anything on the corn except a couple of quarter pound Rudd. I was really after Tench so was very disappointed to only get Rudd. Actually I got one small quarter pound Perch but that was the only exception. I switched to a standard on the drop rig, a couple of inches over depth (under a loaded waggler – “puddle chucker”) and just got stuck into the Rudd. I must have had about 30+ fish by the end of the day, ranging from 1oz to a max of 6oz. I got chatting to a young chap who was method fishing for carp. He arrived just after me and managed to bag a 16lbs mirror. He said that I should ledger in close to the reeds for Tench. Not being much of a ledger fishing expert, I decided not to try this at 10am given the limited remaining fishing for the day. While I was fishing this area, I did notice a number of carp nosing in about the reeds but none were interested in my float bait.

Not to be beaten, I resolved to focus on ledgering if this was the way to catch fish at this venue. So, I came one more time but only had an hour to fish, starting fishing about 8:30am. I put the most sensitive white tip quiver on the feeder rod with the same reel. I kept the rig very simple, basically the same as for float above but with a 1oz bomb with a rubber bead stop below it. I fished standard double sweet corn with the corn hiding as much of the shank of the size 12 hook as possible. Again, I fished the margins but this time concentrated on the reeds, with perhaps only 4-5 meters of line between the tip and the bomb. I hand fed initially a small handful of corn then kept dropping in 4-5 kernels every 5-10mins. As I was getting my rod settled on the rests for the first time, there was a violent take which I struck into. Whatever it was (and I suspect it was a reasonable carp) took off immediately for the middle of the lake. I was playing with the clutch but just as it shot off, my line snagged another fishing line about 5 meters out. As I was trying to untangle from this, my hook link snapped. My bomb and lots of trailing weed was snagged around the other line which I pulled in. This was a serious carp hair rig with the boillie and 2-3oz lead still attached. I pulled in the entire rig and put in on the bank to wrap up and throw away. A nearby angler (Jake) saw my fight and had come across to see what had happened. He mentioned that he had fished the swim the day before and he had lost his rig so he was pleased that I had pulled it out! He started chatting with me about the water and carp and ledger tactics. He mentioned that it was worth leaving the line slack on the bottom and not tightening up the quiver to avoid spooking the carp. While we were chatting, I put the rig out again (although I stuck with convention and tightened up the quiver to give a slight bend – I suspect a back ledger would help keep the line down so may be worth trying in future). Shortly after, I got a drop back bite and struck into a fish. This was very different to the carp as it went straight for the weeds, it felt more Tench-like. I had to fiddle with the drag to allow the fish to pull off some line and then tightened up and applied side strain to get it away from the reeds. After a minute or so of fighting, I got it to the surface, definitely a Tench and a nice chunky one at that. I was conscious of not shaking the barbless hook so I was keeping constant pressure on. There was some weed around the rig but eventually, probably after another minute of fighting, I got the fish to the surface and Jake helped me get it in my net (which frankly was too small for a fish of this size but was just adequate – memo to self, buy a bigger one!). As Jake went to get his weighing sling, I unhooked the fish, a beautiful chunky olive green male Tench. It was hooked in the corner of the lips and the barbless hook slipped out very easily in my fingers. Weighing the fish, it came to 4-4.5lbs according to Jake, my best ever Tench and actually thinking about it, my heaviest fish to date! After posing for a couple of pictures, I slipped the weighing sling into the water and allowed the fish to recover before releasing it – after about 30 seconds, it righted itself and slipped away into the depths with one swish of its heavy tail. Wow, what a fish, the Tench I had been seeking and one of my first fish on ledger to boot.

4.5lbs Tench (male)

Removing the thick slime on the leader, I fished on for about 20 minutes with no more bites before packing up. This was amazing action for an hour of fishing and good omens for the future of Tench fishing at one of my most proximal waters. Still I am slightly concerned that my rig may attract larger carp and I would need to load up the duty to be able to manage these. Of course this is a ‘good’ problem to have but none-the-less, I need to cogitate on tackle upgrade.

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