Tench Fishing on the Cotswold Water Park

It has been an aspiration of mine for the last couple of seasons to catch a good sized Tench. To most specimen hunters I guess this would be a fish of around 8-9lbs? This figure for me however would be significantly smaller having only caught Tench to 5lb, believe it or not from my local river; the Bristol Avon. To be fair I have never put the time in after being pre-occupied with Barbel fishing in seasons gone by so this season I have decided to put a focus on this most beautiful of summer species.Tench are synonymously a summer species so perhaps I  have started my campaign a little early, time will tell?

I headed over to the Cotswold Water Park armed with maggots, sweetcorn, hemp and ground Vitalin in hope of pulling out a Tench or two. I have been reading up on techniques and best ways to tackle gravel pit Tench and have found that it can be both good to fish in the margins and equally as good locating gravel patches amongst weedy areas.

We arrived at around 7am to glorious sunshine, the lake is around 8 acres and very picturesque. I can remember fishing it with my father perhaps 15 years ago for its inhabitants and catching a few small tench if my memory serves me correctly. The water was calm, there was little wind and it was a balmy 12C. We headed around the lake and located a nice corner to fish in which looked Tenchy. My brother Ollie fished one rod to the left against a snag and one in front of his feet. I located a clear spot about 35yards out with the marker rod set up and fired out 6 spombs full of a combination of ground bait and particles.

The day began well with Ollie landing a Tench of 4lb 8oz close in on his centrepin and then another about an hour later. For me however the day quickly went by without a bite. We were however anticipating our trip to Horseshoe with the Tench fishers in the coming week so a blank for me wan't the end of the world.


A few tench from the last couple of days on a different lake within the cotswold water park.

A couple of pretty Tench caught on worm in the margins using a classic Drennan Tench Float Rod and centrepin reel.