The Tench-ion…03/09/13

The Tench-ion…03/09/13 “Paul” “Okay” “Half hour” All day at the theme park with four today, super-hero-dad time again. Dinner for seven, made excuses and got excused. Didn’t make paste, went over to the darkside – Paul had bought boilies. We were glad it was dark and no-one would see us. He didn’t buy them locally either, travelled to thus avoid the shame. Down to slater’s again. This time? Commons and Tench, both required, had neither rin the UK and tench never. Covered carp before, as for tench, what did Walton say? [i]”The Tench, the Physician of Fishes, is observed to love Ponds better than Rivers, and to love pits better than either.”[/i] Yeah yeah, this is a pit. Yeah. Doctor Tench loves it. [i]”He will bite at a Paste made of brown bread and honey, or at a Marsh-worm, or a Lob-worm, he inclines very much to any paste with which Tar is mixt, and he will bite also at a smaller worm, with his head nipp’d off, and a Cod-worm put on the hook before that worm; and I doubt not but that he will also in the three hot months (for in the nine colder he stirs not much) bite at a Flag-worm, or at a green Gentle, but can positively say no more of the Tench, he being a Fish that I have not often Angled for; but I wish my honest Scholar may, and be ever fortunate when he fishes.”[/i] Or a boilie. Or corn. Gentles are maggots so that was covered though they were rubbish maggots. I’d dug four worms but I’d fed them to my fish. In my tank there is a hook to put prawn on – that’s what I usually feed with – and I instead put a medium worm on it. I had a chub one side, a minnow the other. It was damned funny! The minnow snaffled two thirds, was chased around with a piece hanging out of its mouth while it kept gulping. I got changed. By the time I was changed he’d swallowed it (it was the male) and now looked highly pregnant. The chub both kept coming and bumping him, maybe to make it throw it back out but this failed. Then every now and then it would do a runner – this was the source of my mirth because, my heavier than normal minnow, would dash away up in the water then sink like a stoen to the bottom; as the chub caught up he’d dash up and away again, then sink. That’s why I was so long in leaving, a marvellous spectacle! To explain briefly my tank has two small chub and two minnows, all caught the same day in the same water when Paul put me onto my first minnows. All are two-three inches long and have really done well in the tank, I’m sure they’re happy. Where was I…yeah, I had no worms. So off I went, met up with Paul and he rigged me up with these foul balls of disaster. Shocking pink, shocking tactic. Usual Slater’s evening, banter and failure. Managed a few bites, some decent ones, on pieces of float fished boilie, corn, maggot but not once did the hook set. Heard carp rolling here and there. Both gave up after a few hours. Can’t believe I’ve got to return AGAIN. Damn this competition.