Boilie flavour/colour/size for Tench

[Anthony78]

All,

I'm going to be fishing Kingfisher lake in Norfolk at the end of the month and having asked loads of questions it appears that the tench tend to switch over to boilies throughout the month of June. This is apparently down to the number of boilies used by the carp lads down there.

Now as I have only recently started seriously targetting tench I have no idea of the best boilies for them. I have some small 10 mm red Strawberry & cream boilies which I've had soaking in strawberry flavouring and will be taking these but does anybody have any favourites that they use primerily for their tench fishing?

Also does anyone know of a yellow sweetcorn boilie in small sizes that I can use to put in my spod mix just incase there are alot of small fish around?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Anthony

Edited June 8, 2010 by Anthony78

[Rob Ward]

All,

I'm going to be fishing Kingfisher lake in Norfolk at the end of the month and having asked loads of questions it appears that the tench tend to switch over to boilies throughout the month of June. This is apparently down to the number of boilies used by the carp lads down there.

Now as I have only recently started seriously targetting tench I have no idea of the best boilies for them. I have some small 10 mm red Strawberry & cream boilies which I've had soaking in strawberry flavouring and will be taking these but does anybody have any favourites that they use primerily for their tench fishing?

Also does anyone know of a yellow sweetcorn boilie in small sizes that I can use to put in my spod mix just incase there are alot of small fish around?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Anthony

 

Anything fruity will catch Tench so the strawberry & cream you've got will do fine!

[Kappa]

Anything fruity will catch Tench so the strawberry & cream you've got will do fine!

 

I agree with Rob your boilies will most likely catch.

 

Personally I'd use a good fishmeal 10mm boilie. I'm not a fan of flavours as most of them only smell nice but actually taste nasty, and don't forget too much can actually be a deterent. I'd be looking for natural attractants like liver extract, green lipped mussel, fishmeals etc etc. Most of this is just my preference but I have caught good tench straight away (i.e. with no prebaiting by me or carpers ) on fishmeal baits.

 

Rich

[Chris Plumb]

I do fine catching tench on halibut pellets...

 

 

C.

[Anderoo]

Size - 10mm. Flavours - some waters respond better than others to boilies, but tench seem to like them all really. The fruity ones like tutti fruity and esterberry are very good, but as Rich says, so are the better quality fishmeal ones. I've been using the frozen 10mm halibut pellet boilies and the 10mm shelf life tutti fruity boilies, and the tench love them both.

 

I do think how you bait up makes a difference to their effectiveness though. Fishing them over a bed of nothing but boilies hasn't worked well for me, but fishing them over a good sprinkling of groundbait (either sweet or fishy) containing corn, maggots, micro pellet and a good handful of crushed/chopped boilies has worked very well.

 

I tend to fish one 10mm boilie plus a piece of yellow or white fake corn on the hair.

[Dales]

As others have said most 10mm fruit boilies will catch Tench and so your Strawberry & Cream should work. I tend to use Esterberry, but doubt it makes a lot of difference. I also tend to agree with Richard Capper and also like fish meal boilies for Tench. While there in April I did not get any Tench but that might have been due to the time of year, but the Carp and Bream were crazy for green lipped mussel pellets.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Dales

[Anderoo]

It's worth checking if the tench are boilie eaters or not before going. Another Anderoo story coming up, sorry...!

 

I used to fish a lake in Surrey for carp and catfish, using boilies and pellets. I picked up the odd carp and only ever 1 small catfish, but never caught anything else. It was a heavily fished water and nearly everyone used boilies and pellets, so there were a lot going in.

 

I was talking one day to a bloke who was fishing with a quivertip and maggots. He was bream fishing and had already caught several good fish including a couple of low doubles. He also mentioned that there had recently been a fish survey on the lake, and it was heaving with tench - they're in every swim, he said. That was news to me!

 

So I tried float fishing maggots at the bottom of the marginal shelf, and immediately started catching good tench!

 

For whatever reason, the tench and bream in that lake never switched onto the boilies and pellets. Strange isn't it?

[Christy]

Personally I would go with 10mm Halibut Pellets - I'd suggest Dynamite Baits - drill one and hair rig it on a size 12 hook - Drennan Super Specialists are my personal favourite. For extra attraction crush up some pellets, I would suggest using a small Korda Crusha - and stuff them into a 2 inch wide PVA mesh, if possible catapulting in a few freebies can also help. Simply cast close to a feature (I find lily-pads are usually the best) and wait for a roaring take!

 

Alternatively try a Drennan Bolt Rig Maggot Feeder, with a 3-5 inch hooklink and a size 14 forged hook with 2 or three magots on (Red are generally the most effective.) Feed once every 5 or so minutes and it's absolutely deadly!

Edited June 9, 2010 by Christy

[Anthony78]

Thank you all for your replies.

I have been trying to gather as much information about this lake as possible and managed to get hold of the fishery manager himself who gave me alot of pointers regarding baits and tactics. Thankfully this lake appears to be very similar in features as Wingham and has done numerous 9lb tench in the last few weeks. This will make the tips and advice I gained at the Wingham fish-in this year invaluable and I'm chomping at the bit to get down there.

I have been told that the tench do get harder to catch as the summer wears on and they tend to switch over to the boilie. I would assume that this is down to the amount of extra bait being used by the carp anglers or would they just be switching to naturals??

I don't want to go there with an all out boilie approach so have decided to just add them to the spod mix to give myself some options. I'll also be adding mini pellets, corn, and hemp to the mix along with plenty of red maggots.

I have found these and thought they would be perfect. They also come in 6mm which would be perfect for the spod mix.

Anybody had any experience of these?

 

Thanks again for the replies.

 

Anthony

[Andy Macfarlane]

I've been mixing my groundbait with Robinson's Apple and Blackcurrant juice, undiluted, with good success of late. It also makes the groundbait just nicely sticky, for fishing the method. Perhaps you could flavour your boilies with that or reduce it in the kitchen for making a glug.