Changing from Carp to Tench fishing

[Alan Taylor]

Esteemed Angler, (creep creep)

We have lost our favourite water for fishing.

 

There is another water that is realy beautiful and hardly fished, no swimmers etc and no Carp.

There are lots of Tench though. One end of the water is realy deep, they dug the sand out for roads, there are a couple of nice lilly pad beds at the shallow end and reeds along the sides. There are also a couple of ridges/banks about 10 to 12 feet long and 3 foot across.

 

My normal Carp reels are Shimano 5010 loaded with 15lb braid.

Normal methods of fishing are surface or inline lead (no stopper), hair rig with tigers, particles or boilies.

 

I have never targeted Tench, caught a couple but they were not appreciated at the time.

 

Put yourself in my place for a minute, a complete ignoramus with regards to Tench.

 

Now some questions. What do they eat, when, where etc.

 

Terminal tackle, hook size, bait, type of takes/bites.

 

I think I have 2 weeks to get ready and do not want to spend too much money. My rods and reels are fine.

 

Any help, directions to sites would be appreciated and I would like to try and keep to basics if possible. I can't go out buying books or magazines here in Holland.

 

A tall order I know but your help will be appreciated.

 

Tight lines

Alan(nl)

[Eddie]

The "Esteemed" angler was`nt available so I`ll have a go!

Put very simply:- bait, location, tactics, the same as carp only on a smaller and lighter scale.

[hunter]

My fav fish love them, best fight ever on light tackle.

Get a good float rod and try the lift method, cant beat it m8.

They love hemp so much that they can ignore other baits,worms,maggots,sweetcorn,bread,& boillies{yuk never used them} all work.

GOOD LUCK

hope you enjoy your tenching.

[Spindle]

The best tench programme I ever watched was the one in John Wilson's first series of go-fishing. Gorgeous estate lake, nice sunny morning. Tench fizzing. Nice! Anyway, he had a load of success, and as I've probably seen the program more times that I've watched Star Wars!!! I'll try to tell what he did in the hope that it helps.

 

JW had the benefit of a good lake which obviously was well stocked with Tench, and on that morning could see where the tench were feeding from the bubbles, but even if you don't have this, I would guess the following would probably apply.

 

First, I think Tench are generally perceived to be an early morning/late evening fish. This may or may not be true, others can confirm/deny.

 

JW threw in quite a few large balls (size of an orange) of groundbait which he said had everything in it... hemp, tares, maggots, sweetcorn, etc. etc. I would suggest that maybe adding chopped worm to the mix would be a good thing.

 

Then he feeder fished with the groundbait in the feeder, and a mixture of worm, sweetcorn, and a cocktail of the two on the hook. I've also read that Tench love casters.

 

He also floatfished later on in the morning and had one on maggot.

 

I would think that sticking to these traditional baits and methods would be a good thing unless (sadly) the tench have moved over to boilies.

 

The other traditional thing to do is to rake the bottom, but I don't suggest you do this unless you are sure it's OK to do so and can avoid messing up the lily pads. Raking the bottom stirs up the natural food on the bottom, and the tench soon move over it.

 

Tackle wise I would guess your carp gear would be fine, just swap your bombs for feeders. Line wise, your 15lb braid would be fine if it's low-diameter. JW used 6 lb mono, with a 4 lb mono hook-link. Hooks were I think about size 12-14. Your rods might be over-powerful for the tench, but only you can judge that. If so, maybe trade in your carp rods for ones with a lower test curve (say 1.25 tc).

 

I'm no tench fisher, but having just received a Drennan Tench Float rod for my birthday, I'm definitely going to find myself a nice tench water this year and give it a go.

 

Cheers

[John Fish]

Alan

 

Have a look in your email in box I've just sent you some notes on tench fishing.

Hope you find them of use.

If any one else would like a copy let me know.

[Kappa]

Yes please john!

Edited July 10, 2007 by Richard Capper

[Andrew]

Yes please John

andy@jangar8.fsnet.co.uk

Many thanks

Jangar

[Zinky]

Alan your new place sounds just like my own pool

fantastic we have a mixed fishery some very good tench and carp.

Tight lines with the Tench fish light and you will hours of fun.

[Alan Taylor]

Alan Taylor:

Esteemed Angler, (creep creep)

(nl)

Thank you esteemed anglers for the responses, it looks as if it could be interesting and a bit of fun.

 

John, will check out the email, as usual it is overloaded at this time of the morning but thanks.

 

Spindel, I might have to get some new line, some floats, swim feeders and some made up hooks (that small I doubt if I can see them).

 

Any fish is a good fish but how big do these things get to?

 

Thanks again all.

 

Alan(nl)