Tench Rakes

[Jeffwill]

Few pointers regarding rakes:

 

If you are clearing near swims you can hand throw but I have tried a number of rake types and throwing methods and at the end of the day, gravity will defeat you if trying to throw further than say 15 - 20mts.

 

If you want to clear a fair distance out, you need a boat and at least one mate. Then you may as well have a fairly wide rake. I have two fabricated that just about fit in the rear (width) of the car.

 

One of the easiest rakes I have and requires no welding skills, I bought through Travis Perkins. Its not on the shelf but a catalogue they have in store, basically the rake has an aluminium head with wooden handle, used for raking stone chippings.

 

Check it has a hardwood handle (they have fitted softwood to some) and you will need to drill the head and attach some flat bar metal otherwise its not heavy enough to hold bottom when dragging. Also with a fine disc on a grinder, I cut little notches in the teeth to give more grip on the weed. I drilled the top of the handle and threaded on a rope. You throw it with the handle and it works very well but I stress you do need a hard wood handle otherwise it will split..

[Guerilla]

Having a chain between the rope and rake head is supposedly good, adding weight to prevent the head from lifting off bottom when retrieving.

How soon do you rake before fishing, though? Some prefer to fish straight away after raking, others rake the evening before fishing.

 

Off topic but worth considering:

You mentioned it was sunny; Dawn and dusk-night are the best times for Tench.

Also, if the silvers are pestering you, try prawns or cockles on the hook.

[The Flying Tench]

Raking over a gravelly bottom can produce quite rapid results. However, if the bottom is silt, mud or chod (as many of our southern tench waters are) raking is not a good idea, which is why I haven't bothered with a rake for many years now.

 

What is the problem of raking over silt?

[Andy Macfarlane]

Having a chain between the rope and rake head is supposedly good, adding weight to prevent the head from lifting off bottom when retrieving.

 

We have a length of chain ready cheers

 

How soon do you rake before fishing, though? Some prefer to fish straight away after raking, others rake the evening before fishing.

 

Almost immediately or at least sit down for an hour and feed the are we've raked.

 

Off topic but worth considering:

You mentioned it was sunny;

 

Dawn and dusk-night are the best times for Tench.

 

Yes but with my mate having dogs to walk we can't always hit it when we'd like.

 

 

Also, if the silvers are pestering you, try prawns or cockles on the hook.

 

I was using 3-6lb hooklength, artificial corn and red maggot on the hook and pests didn't seem to bother me. In fact they didn't because of the short depth waggler fishing and spraying had kept the silvers higher up in the water.

 

Cheers anyway.

 

What about mix?.....sound ok to you lads??

 

 

....andy....

Edited July 5, 2009 by Andy Macfarlane

[Vagabond]

What is the problem of raking over silt?

 

Silt soup - and the tench move elsewhere. Whenever I have tried it over anything finer than fine sand it has not proved effective. The swim has been blighted for days. IMHO raking such a swim generates a turbidity that even tench wont tolerate. Also if the substrate is silt/mud/decayed vegetation(chod) then various sulphides are released which smell unpleasant to humans - and possibly to tench also. I suppose you could rake a soft-bottomed swim and come back a week or so later, and see if there are tench present, but I've never tried that.

 

Sand or gravel with good weed growth is the ideal substrate for raking. Tench come into such a raked swim very quickly - almost within minutes.

 

Otherwise, for the rakeless amongst us, good groundbaiting helps - with a bit of luck the tench come in and do the raking for you!

 

Points worth thinking about/discussing :

 

The success or otherwise of raking may come down to what the tench are normally feeding on. In the case of weed over sand/gravel, snails and other invertebrates present in the weed become dislodged and lie on the bottom after raking. Tench come to such areas like rooks following a plough.

 

In the case of softer substrates, there is little soft weed anyway, so fewer snails etc. The tench may feed on things like bloodworm which lie at some critical depth not far below the surface - disturb such a soft surface and you may well have made the bloodworms more difficult to find, as well as increasing the turbidity and releasing unpleasant gases.

 

The rake will also dig deeper into soft bottoms - deeper than may be prudent. Think of the damage done by heavy trawls at sea.

[Dick Dastardly]

Ive not seen anyone mention it yet but when raking I believe you should always leave the weed youve raked in in the margins so that all of the invertabrates etc in it are left alive.

[wayne baker]

Ive not seen anyone mention it yet but when raking I believe you should always leave the weed youve raked in in the margins so that all of the invertabrates etc in it are left alive.

 

In my original post i did mention about leaving the weed in the water. And thats another good reason to do so Budgie, Its amazing how much aquatic life you pull in sometimes.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Ive not seen anyone mention it yet but when raking I believe you should always leave the weed youve raked in in the margins so that all of the invertabrates etc in it are left alive.

 

I'd have left that mor the Moorhens, Coots, Grebes and Swans to build nest material anyway. Cheers anyhow. More words of wisdom from the Budgemeister.

 

.....andy.....

[James P]

Silt soup - and the tench move elsewhere. Whenever I have tried it over anything finer than fine sand it has not proved effective. The swim has been blighted for days. IMHO raking such a swim generates a turbidity that even tench wont tolerate. Also if the substrate is silt/mud/decayed vegetation(chod) then various sulphides are released which smell unpleasant to humans - and possibly to tench also. I suppose you could rake a soft-bottomed swim and come back a week or so later, and see if there are tench present, but I've never tried that.

 

Sand or gravel with good weed growth is the ideal substrate for raking. Tench come into such a raked swim very quickly - almost within minutes.

 

Otherwise, for the rakeless amongst us, good groundbaiting helps - with a bit of luck the tench come in and do the raking for you!

 

Points worth thinking about/discussing :

 

The success or otherwise of raking may come down to what the tench are normally feeding on. In the case of weed over sand/gravel, snails and other invertebrates present in the weed become dislodged and lie on the bottom after raking. Tench come to such areas like rooks following a plough.

 

In the case of softer substrates, there is little soft weed anyway, so fewer snails etc. The tench may feed on things like bloodworm which lie at some critical depth not far below the surface - disturb such a soft surface and you may well have made the bloodworms more difficult to find, as well as increasing the turbidity and releasing unpleasant gases.

 

The rake will also dig deeper into soft bottoms - deeper than may be prudent. Think of the damage done by heavy trawls at sea.

 

The local canal I rake when Tench fishing doesn't have any of these problems Vagabond. A very soft silty bottom with a whole abundance of silkweed, lilies and more...

 

I almost always have to rake the swim due to the density of the weed and i've almost always had fish within a short time of raking. I normally arrive at the swim, rake it and set up for 10-15mins allowing it to settle a bit. Bites usually arrive shortly after casting in for the first time.

 

Maybe it varies from venue to venue, but i'm sure if a Tench is hungry enough it won't be worrying too much about sulphide levels.

 

James