Most of my fishing these days is either sea fishing on the North Yorkshire coast or lure fishing for Pike, Perch, chub, etc. So when a good mate of mine from Cheshire invited me over for a week’s Carp & Tench fishing I couldn’t say no, it’s been a long time since I last fished for Carp & Tench so I welcomed the chance to do something a bit different from my usual fishing routine.
I arrived in Chester on the Sunday night after fishing the Filey Kayak Fishing Match (I came 13th out of 35 so not to bad), unloaded the gear, had a bite to eat and had an early night ready for the week’s fishing. Day one was a day lure fishing for Pike on the River Weaver, the fishing looked promising as I had a little 4lb jack first cast unfortunately that was the only fish of the day! Conditions seemed perfect but I guess you can’t win them all.
Day two/three was our first 36hr session for Carp, again we fished the Weaver. I’d forgotten just how much cr’p you carry when Carp fishing! It took a while but all the gear was unloaded, bivvy setup and ready to go. I for some reason had a need to watch a float so one rod was cast to the far bank for the Carp with the second Carp rod put to one side whilst I float fished for Tench/Bream on a lighter rod.
It wasn’t long before Mike had the first take of the session, a small drop back and he was into a decent fish. After a few trips into the nearside weed bed a nice common graced the net. A quick photo, weighed and the cuts from spawning treated with Klin-ik and see was returned safely. At 19lb 5oz it was a good start to the session so smiles all round 
I managed a few Bream, Rudd and a nice little 3lb Tench on the float rod which passed the afternoon nicely, something very enjoyable about watching a float (well, it’s best when it slides under the surface!). With the sunlight fading both Carp rods were baited up and cast out for the night, it hadn’t even got dark before Mike had his second fish. Another hard fighting common appeared through the weed, slightly smaller than the first fish but welcome all the same. Quick photo and she was gently returned straight away.
A nice Weaver Common Carp for Mike
I had one or two line bites on the Carp rods but nothing was showing, it wasn’t until 2am when I had my first run on the inside margin rod. I must admit at first I thought it was a small Bream as nothing really happened at first, however the fish then realised it was hooked then proceeded to go mental! A series of short but strong runs made for an interesting fight but eventually she came to the surface and netted first time. She weighed in at just over 17lb but she had a huge paddle at the rear which would explain the strong fight!
My first Carp for quite some time, result!
Nothing much happened for the rest of the night with just the odd beep on the bite alarms, so in the morning both rods were rebaited and cast out. Mike had an absolute screamer at around 9am which resulted in a low double Mirror Carp, nothing massive but it was a good start to the day. It wasn’t long after I was into my next fish, this time it fell to the far bank rod. Another Common slid over the next at probably around 11lb, unhooked and returned straight away. Mike had his fourth fish shortly afterwards, this being a nice little 8-9lb Common.
It had been a few hours without any sign of fish so we decided to finish on a relative high and have a change of scenery. Gear was packed away, loaded in the van and headed back to Mike’s for freshening up and a cooked meal before heading out for an evenings Tench fishing.
Mike had told the next venue is a beauty, pretty much a classic Tench lake I was told so I was looking forward to fishing this Lake. A 1/2 mile walk through the overgrown woods brought us to a stunning little lake, full of lily pads and surrounded by Rhododendrons and overhanging trees. This is my kind of venue, none of this man made commercial rubbish, a proper lake!
A proper Tench lake!
Obviously when fishing for Tench next to lily pads the law states you must fish sweetcorn with a lift float, so that’s what we did. We both selected our swims, baited up and away we went. For some reason I seemed to struggle to preform the simplest of tasks without messing it up, if there was a tiniest twing sticking out anywhere I tangled on it, dropping split shot into the grass, etc. After an hour there was no sign of activity in my swim where as Mikes swim had every fish in the lake fizzing up the bottom! A change of swim was in order so I fitted on the far right of Mikes swim in a hope of poaching a few of his feeding fish Mike was the first to land a Tench, a nice plump 4lb 13oz was a great start to the session.
4lb 13oz Tench on the lift float, nice.
A few hours passed with still many fish sending up bubbles as they were feeding but we just couldn’t get a bite, we couldn’t understand why but just couldn’t tempt them. I decided to switch from corn to worm, it wasn’t long before I had a bite. The float lifted, I struck think there would be a nice Tench on the over end. Unfortunately one of the few resident Carp took a liking to my worm hookbait but didn’t take a liking to me on the other end, this resulted in my reel clutch screaming at me as this Carp tore off 30yds into the lily pads! With 5lb mono I didn’t stand a chance, line went solid so a pull for a snap was in order 
Re-rigged, cast out and was ready to go. Again there were masses of bubbles but just couldn’t tempt a bite, it was’nt until the light was fading that I got my first proper Tench bite, a classic life float bite and the fish was on. Put up a good fight on the light gear and my first remotely decent Tench graced the net, I was well pleased as it is once in a blue moon I get to go Tench fishing so to catch one on the lift float made my day. She weighed in at 4lb 12oz so 1oz less than Mike, typical!
A nice Tench and a happy shiney face :)
Day four was to be made up with 4-5hrs Chub fishing on the River Dane followed by an evening Tench fishing again. The river Dane is a lovely little river, I’ve fished it a handful of times over the years and always enjoy returning, it’s the prefect venue for traveling light armed with a quivertip and a tin of luncheon meat. Last time I fished the River Dane I managed a Chub of 4lb 1oz which apparently is a decent fish for the Dane, keen to revisit my ‘big fish swim’ the gear was setup and ready to go in double quick time
I settled into my swim where as Mike started off 100yds up stream of me, baited up with meat and cast to my faourite overhanging tree. Mike appeared 10mins later, I did wonder why he had deiced to move on so quickly. Apparently the front legs on his chair weren’t folded out correctly so just when he was setup for fishing the legs gave way folding back over, this dropped the front of the chair down and acting as a slide sent him flying down the muddy slope to the waters edge. I can only wish I was there to witness such a sight, laughing would of been an understatement, I would of been wetting myself!
Mike made his way further down stream leaving me chuckling to myself thinking of his attempt to slide into the river. It had been a good 45mins without a touch so just when I was thinking a move maybe in order the rod wrapped round! A little fight later and a nice Chub of about 3.5lb or so was in the net, result!
A 3.5lb Chub taken on luncheon meat
I fished the same swim for a further 45mins with nothing doing so I headed down stream in search of another likely area, I found a nice lookig spot with a sharp bend in the river which looked like a potential Chub holding spot. Again I fish luncheon meat, cast out under the overhanging tree and played the waiting game. Fortunately the Chub didn’t want me to wait long and I was into another 3lb+ fish, I was felling very pleased with myself. A quick phone call from Mike telling me he had similar results was good news, ok we hadn’t landed loads of fish but it was great to be on the river again and see the rod wrap round a couple of times.
We made a move to the Tench lake (via the fish n chip shop of course!) hopefully of a repeat of the night before, unfortunately it didn’t work out that with the fish doin there very best to avoid us. We blkanked at the Tench late but it’s a beautiful place to fish so can’t really complain.
Day five/six, our second overnighter was planned with a return to the River Weaver in search of Carp again. We decided to fish the ‘old section’ of the river which is natural overgrown section of the weaver. This section of the Weaver is crammed full of features, reed beds and overhanging trees everywhere. We were feeling confident, swims were baited and rods cast out. It was just a matter of waiting for the fish to show up, unfortunately the fish felt we should wait a lot longer than we planned so for the next 36hours nothing happened. the only movement I saw was a few grass snakes making their way across the surface.
Blanking at the Weaver
Sunday was my last day at Chester, we had planned to have a morning’s fishing and I’d head home later in the afternoon but to be honest we were knackered after the week’s fishing so I spent the morning packing up and loading the van. Was finished by noon just in time to watch Formula 1, not a bad way to finish a great week’s fishing. Cheers Mike for the top week’s fishing, look forward to the next trip
