TENCH mecca Lymmvale has certainly lived up to its reputation.

In a period of four days 199 tench were landed up to 8lbs 6ozs 0drms, with several other fish over eight pounds.

Water keeper Mike Wilkinson landed 19 of these red eyed beauties in one session his best being a fish of 7-8-0, although he is emphatic that two fish lost to him were either or very close to double figures.

Co-keeper John Stubbs reported a fast and furious session on the Lymmvale stock pond where he caught 40 small tench in a session lasting only a little over 1.5 hours. This little pool is extremely prolific as a stock pool and has, over the years, provided many of our waters with tench.

Lymm Dam has stepped up a gear or two over the last few days, probably due to a bit of colour coming into the water following the recent rains. Ironically, while the fishing has improved due to an increase in colour, the reverse will happen if too much colour comes into the water. Let us hope summer returns soon.

Another water which has improved over the last day or so is Grimsditch Mill Pool. Skimmers by the hundred along with rudd have kept most anglers fully occupied. The carp lads have also seen an improvement with this week's biggest fish weighing in at 17-4-0.

The busiest carp action has been on Founders Pool where there are numerous fish being caught at the moment. Currently the most successful method is floating baits. However, while the carp are readily taking such baits so are the ducks. Therefore great care must be taken to prevent them becoming entangled in line. They are a fixture on a lot of waters and while they can be considered a nuisance by some, it remains all our duties to look out for their welfare.

I spent a few hours on Monks Moat last Friday and found it teeming with fry. Having set up stall to catch roach, perch and skimmers I found the action a little slow until I fed my swim with little walnut sized balls of ground bait. The effect of this was amazing. Within minutes my swim was fizzing with fish busily feeding which provided me with non-stop action until I got snapped, when I tooled up for the carp culprits.

Typically, having done this, I could not buy a bite. Kidding myself into believing the carp had left my swim I reverted back to fishing very light and within seconds my pole elastic was stretched to maximum. Fortunately, I managed to land this fish which turned out to be a beautifully conditioned mirror carp of 7-0-0.

Problems continue on the Old Quay Canal. We are currently eagerly awaiting the results of water tests which will hopefully give some clues as to what the problem is caused by. In the meantime if you can assist to man the aeration units, give Kevin Peers a ring on 499568.

I can be contacted on 411774.

Neil Jupp

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.