With my local Jeanes Pond closed for the month of May, I went for an early evening session at the Braybrooke club’s water this week to try for tench. It was not ideal tench weather, despite bright April sunhine, a cold easterly wind was howling through the trees and along the length of the pond, when I set up at 6 pm on peg 13.

The previous week, I had been troubled by small rudd attacking the bread punch bait, offered on a 4 x 16 antenna float, although I did eventually hook into a good tench, which went airborne like a polaris missile and threw the size 16 barbless hook.

This week, due to the strong wind, I had settled for a much heavier 2 gram antenna float to a size 14 barbless, set just off bottom, with the bulk of the shot close to the hook, to pass through the rafts of tiny rudd close the surface. I concentrated my strawberry flavoured groundbait into a gap in the lillies, which was an easy swing for the pole at 8 metres. After a few minutes, rings radiated from the antenna, which raised and sank out of site. A tench! No, there was resistance, but only from a small rudd, which had taken a 10 mm punch of bread. This fish was very cold to the touch, a sure sign that the pond had not warmed up, despite weeks of sunshine.

Bites were slow and I missed the next sink away. Probably too eager, should have waited longer. In again, there was early movememt of the antenna, then nothing. Possibly a small rudd had chased the bread down? I was about to lift the rig back out to check the bread, when the float bobbed and moved into the lilybed, then sank away, followed by the line. I tensed and lifted expecting a tench, or carp, but no again, although the elastic came out with a better fish, that fought deep down. I carefully inched the pole back, seeing a flash of gold before I netted it. A nice rudd.

This was an encouraging sight, as I was worried that the comorants had eaten them all. We used to catch rudd like this all the time. I scraped up the last of my groundbait and lobbed it back into the hole in the lilies, followed by the float for another small rudd. The wind had got up again and I was not dressed for this chill. It was time to pack up anyway, the sun had gone down behind the houses and I needed to beat the 8 pm curfew on the carpark gate.

This had not been a busy session. It was cold even for April and I will probably be complaining about the heat, when the pond opens again on June 1st.