Burton Mill Tench 24-6-10

Burton Mill Pond is a beautiful unspoilt fishery owned by West Sussex County Council and,according to the chap who runs the fishing-David Hayler,it has never been stocked artificially.This means that only indigenous species are present the mainstay being pike,tench rudd,and eels.I did read a post on a carp forum saying that there were huge cypry type beasties present-though i've not heard of any caught myself Hmmmmmmm might be a red herring!
I'm unsure when it was created (200 plus years?),but it's basically a dammed tributary of the Western Rother,Initially built to run a mill.It's also a SSSI and a regular haunt of unusual feathered visitors.
Anyway Dave and I usually visit the pond a couple of times each season either for pike in the winter when the rivers are up,or for the odd summer tench session.On this occasion we decided to hire a punt and fish float tactics.An early start was the order of the day and we were making our way out in the punt by 4-30a.m. There were already other anglers present.In the early light it seemed as if every tench in the pond was spawning with lots of vigorous activity among the lilies.The weed growth was particularly thick,and we regretted not bringing along a rake to create our own swim (future note),but we soon found a clear spot in the middle of the pond and close to a large group of lily pads.
Ground bait was vitalin,hemp and corn with corn on the hook and we fed the swim heavily before starting in earnest..It didn't take long for the action to begin and I ended the session with four tench 4-00,4-14,5-05,5-06 plus three others which shed the hook in the nearby lillies.
Dave who,it has to be said ,usually outfishes me by a mile,when we're after tench, ended the session with one tench and a couple of lost fish.It seemed as if most of the fish were over my side of the swim-condolences mate.
By mid morning,in true traditional tench fishing style,it was all over and on investigating our swim we discovered that all the ground bait had been snaffled up.So it was back home for lunch and a kip.
Incidentally ,whilst piking here a couple of winter's back,i managed to take two good tench on sardine complete with treble hook snap tackle! Check out the pic at the bottom-it weighed 6-03