Sunday 28th February - River Kenn

February has almost been a 'write off' for me with rivers in flood and having the dreaded lurgy cold and cough. Feeling much better I was keen to get out on the bank and on the River Kenn which has been fishing it's socks off. 7 loaves of liqqy had been in the bait fridge for a few weeks but OK and a 2 week old pint of maggot and caster (still sealed) and in good condition meant no bait bill. It's always important to check the tides for the Kenn as you need it to be running for any chance of success. High Tide was at 10:00 a.m. so no rush to get out of bed. I headed off around 9:00 and there was a bitterly cold wind, car temperature gauge showed 3.5 degrees but much colder due to the wind chill. I had a look at an area we call the 'cross waters' first where the old Kenn and a couple of ditches from the moor converge but it was pissing through so on to the town area. I stopped on Kenn Rd Bridge to have a look and it did look good, a couple of fish topped and the pace was nice even though the tide had not peaked. I was going to go upstream of Kenn Rd. bridge but saw that our car park gate was unlocked to decided to go below instead and out of the wind a bit.
I decided to settle in on the peg Scott was on a few weeks ago when he had his 11 bream and managed to position my box in a fairly solid area on the mud flats.

I was fishing for around 10:15 and the tide meant the river was more or less completely still and only the downstream wind making the waggler move. I decided to try the tip after 30 minutes after no sign of a bite even though I had been feeding bread regularly and fishing punch on the hook. Out went a small cage feeder with liqqy and a big piece of flake on a 14, again nothing. It must have been around 11:30 when Simon Carvallo came down the bank for a walk and sat behind me for a short while. Si informed me that a couple of anglers fished it the day before and blanked whereas another couple fished above Kenn Rd. Bridge and bagged up on the whip.
I picked up the waggler again and feed a few casters with double red on the hook, I suppose it must have been 15 minutes afterwards I got a couple of little dips on the float before it went under. The strike was met with solid resistance and I mean solid, at first I thought it was a big perch or a pike but Simon predicted a Tench. It did not give up easily and sure enough it was a Tench around 3lb.

It's been a while since I caught a River Tench and was most welcome.
That was it, no more bites, not a sign of a fish at all so packed up around 14:15.

We are running an Open on the Kenn on Sunday 13th March, details to follow.