“The Kingfisher Lake complex in mid-Norfolk was looking absolutely gorgeous bathed in spring colours and foliage. Tench were the target - and what an interesting day they provided.

It’s all too easy to assume that you’ve got to fish at some distance, especially on large stillwaters. On this particular day, tench of six and a half pounds, seven pounds and eight and a quarter pounds were landed -quite literally - just out from the rod tip. Okay, the swims were well chosen, with drop offs immediately from the bank side gave way to depths of between eight and nine feet just three or four yards out. These deep channels represent perfect patrol routes for the big tench.

Interesting, too, is the fact that all three fish were caught on float tactics even though most of the rods were using swim feeders hard on the bottom. Again, it’s interesting that the successful bait for all three fish was sweetcorn – has there ever been better tench bait than the humble yellow grain?

So, you can’t get more traditional tenching than this: float and corn, an underhand swing cast and a fine fish in the net. Hi-tech is great, but it’s not the only way to success.”