Tench Fishing in Australia.
I caught my first Australian tench from a blink and you’ll miss it pond, sandwiched between a sports oval and a community centre. No more than four people could fish at this venue at any one time, and then two would have to share a grassy bank space with the locals that come to feed the ducks and misidentify the other wildfowl that call the pond home. Its waters were dark and stained, its banks lined with invasive willow and brambles. I lost two more fish that day to a snag I later discovered was a flat screen TV, disposed of to avoid tip fees or dumped after a robbery. That first tench was as small as the water it came from, probably less than 2lb. It fell to a single grain of corn, fished under a small waggler, and the bite was a classic; the float dipped slightly, rose a couple of inches and then disappeared. Before the fish broke the surface of the water, I remember wondering out loud if it was green. It was, and the smile it generated was proba...