Charlie and I headed for the Grand Canal, Allenwood in Kildare on 2nd July and with Gary we were hoping to capture some tench on film. We fished just beyond Shee Bridge. From previous visits we knew there is a good head of tench here with good numbers of bream and hybrids also. We started off in late afternoon fishing wagglers with Charlie on maggots and I started on worms.
The water was extremely clear and weed growth was heavy. From the off Charlie got plenty of roach and rudd up to about 1/2 lb. I stuck with the worms but all I could tempt was a few perch.
As the evening drew in it got very humid and very wet. We continued on until dark and while the roach and rudd kept coming we never stirred one of tench that we were really after. At one point my swim went quiet and I thought it might be a few tench moving in, but as Gary was filming from far bank, he noticed it was a pike of about 8 lb attracted to the roach and rudd.
With the arrival of millions of midges we finished up at about 11pm. Gary got some nice footage, including some shots of fish feeding, using a new filter on the camera. The tench will have to wait for another day. rj