🎣 Welcome to autumn, Rip Van Winkle and a return to the tench lake
Regarding the first three words of the heading, it certainly felt like it, as it was a very wet and very windy start to the day.
Combined with the air temperature, if you had just woken after twenty years sleep like Rip Van Winkle, you would have thought it was early October, not June.
Talking of the Washington Irving character, with just three hours sleep (I didn’t go to bed until 1.15 a.m.) I was at the opposite end of the spectrum, stirring again for an early start on the tench lake.
Fishing at 25 yards from the bank with a grain of sweetcorn over balls of brown crumb and corn, once again it was a very slow session.
Actually, it never even got off the ground.
We usually talk about the tench having not woken yet in early March, not the opening days of June.
They are definitely more Rip Van Winkle than Stewart Bloor on this lake so far in 2025.
I had lots of small roach plucks but no sign at all of any tench. Once again, the feeding bubbles were noticeable by their absence.
Tackle: Fox Barbel Special 1.5 test curve rod and an Okuma Zeon reel. 6lb Maxima Chameleon, with a six-inch hook-length created by a small shot and an 5mm bead. Above that was a 1/2 ounce bomb. Size 10 Drennan Super Specialist hook.
Nature notes: Two great crested grebes on the lake. Blackcap and chiffchaff singing in copse behind the swim. Little grebe popped up ten yards out, right in front of me. I haven’t seen one on this lake for some considerable time.