What is your best bait for Tench ?

[oldnewby]

Sweetcorn,sweetcorn and more sweetcorn(mind you where I fish the Eels love it too!!)

[James Pos]

Thanks for the replys. Hope you have a good season.

 

Regards James

[Ferg]

in my opinion the best way to catch tench is get up v v v early in the summer. Try to be set up just as its gettin light and fish corn or cater over lots of chopped worm. If there are lots of perch stick to corn. I do this with some success and the good thing is that the tench seem to turn off by 10am so you can go somewhere, or if the place is big enough concentrate on something else.

[Steve Burke]

There isn't of course a "best" bait for any species. What works well on one water may be second rate on another. Factors to take into account are how hard the bottom is, whether they're are any weedbeds, how heavilly stocked the water is, the presence or otherwise of nuisance fish such as small perch or eels, and what's been used before. Additionally tench change their preferences from day to day - and often hour to hour!

 

I've had most success on bread, sweetcorn, maggots plus various types of worms. With the first 3 baits I often use flavours, my favourite being sweet ones from Archie Braddock (www.braddocksbaits.co.uk). Indeed, I haven't used unflavoured corn or maggots for many years.

 

More important than the bait used is feeding. Again this will vary from water to water. However, unless the tench have wised up I find that cereal groundbait is usually a great help, and certainly hemp is. On clear gravel pits tench seem to patrol a set beat and will rarely deviate from it, and so getting the location right is very important. The tench seem to swim in midwater on pits and investigate anything interesting they see on the bottom, hence the use of groundbait. Having said that some tench, and often these are big loners, wander over the entire pit.

 

Interestingly these loners seem to feed at different times to the shoal tench, and late morning has been most productive for me. Otherwise, a couple of hours after dawn through to mid-morning has been the best time on just about every gravel pit I've ever fished. Note that this is different to other waters such as estate lakes and canals where the action often starts pre-dawn, and from breakfast time to early evening is very quiet, especially if it's sunny. Having said that, I have picked up a few estate lake tench during the day by fishing in swims with low light.

[Dick Dastardly]

I should imagine that over 90% of the tench over 8lb Ive caught have been by "mistake"! Most whilst fishing for carp at Johnsons Lake,Larkfeild back in the late70's/early 80's mainly on particle baits.The others whilst bream fishing on various waters with worm!

 

Intentionally Ive found bread to be very good tench bait in weedy waters (certainly better than the traditional corn) whilst over clear gravel Ive found corn to be good.

 

I agree though that if ever I was fishing some where without to many small fish I would have to go with maggot/caster.

 

Strangely my biggest ever (9.12) was caught intentionally on bread.

 

As Steve says I think it very much varies from water to water,the various conditions ie weed/water clarity and of course most importantly what bait goes in.

 

I dont really like fishing for tench "carp style" but it is undoubtedly very effective.Both my biggest bags and the best bags Ive seen have fell whilst carping.

[James Pos]

Thanks for the reply's. I hope you have a good season.I will try the baits this year.

 

Regards James

[Steve Walker]

I dont really like fishing for tench "carp style" but it is undoubtedly very effective.Both my biggest bags and the best bags Ive seen have fell whilst carping.

 

I was thinking about this last night, while blanking (hooked one tench and lost it in the margins). I think I could probably catch more big tench from this particular water by adopting carp tactics, but I've come to the conclusion that it would be like fishing worm for chalk stream trout; just not cricket, old boy.

[Dick Dastardly]

I suppose every angler eventually gets to a stage in their fishing where how they catch a fish becomes more important than just catching them.

 

No rights or wrongs just a personel preference in how we get enjoyment from our sport.

[James Pos]

Thanks for the replys once again.I hope you have a good season.

 

Regards James

[TrevBoy]

never tried bread, for some bizarre reason. Whats the best way of presenting it? Do you need a big hook like a 10 or a 12?