Tench have well and truly woken up, and anglers up and down the country have enjoyed a spot of tinca action – but perhaps none more so than Si Llewellyn, who has landed what is potentially the biggest tench of the season.

Tench have well and truly woken up, and anglers up and down the country have enjoyed a spot of tinca action – but perhaps none more so than Si Llewellyn, who has landed what is potentially the biggest tench of the season.

At a weight of 11lb 8oz, this stunning specimen is a new personal best for Si and was taken from a low-stock Nene Valley pit that he had been targeting this spring.

After seeing a lot of activity on the other side of the lake, Si decided to move swims, and this decision paid off in fine style, as Si explains:

“After making the move I got the rods out, and one of them absolutely melted off around mid-morning! It fought like hell and at first I thought it was a decent sized carp, but I couldn’t believe it was a huge tinca as it went over the net cord. I’m absolutely over the moon with it!”

Si, who is 32 years old and self-employed, used a dedicated boilie approach to tempt the big tench: “I fished with a fishmeal pop-up over the back of a weed bed, and fed some chopped boilie and crumb to get the fish interested.”