Oooooo ya little Tinca

[Chris Playle]

Excuse the corny heading.

 

OK, let's talk Tench ( Latin : Tinca Tinca hence the heading....).

 

I'm getting clued up on Tench in readiness for the early season sport.

 

I hooked and landed my first ever Tench last year and I'm hooked. The fight they give is like nothing I've experianced before. I got my PB Tench up to about 6lb last year and I'm looking to better it this year, hopefully.

 

I know a pond where the Tench run to about 8-9lb and thats my goal for this year, beat the 8lb barrier.

 

I'll be picking a few calm days soon to perfect the Lift Method since I have never used the lift method before and I'd love to see that float dance before my very eyes on a still summers day.

 

Anyone got any tips on attracting BIG Tench into your swim and keeping them there long enough to find your hookbait?

 

Which has worked best for you ?? Breadflake, corn, flavoured or coloured corn, lobworm, swan mussel?? Float or ledger ?? Groundbait and freebies. Any unusual baits you have tried ?? One of the fella's I was chatting to last year said Tench like Annaseed flavouring, is this true ??

 

Any ideas you have will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Tight Lines

 

Chris.

[boilies]

lift method, maple flavoured corn and ball in some bread crumb

 

tight lines!!!

boilies

[cliffy]

hemp is a great attractor

[ayjay]

Early season or even close season if you fish then; hemp and loads of bread,flake on the hook.

[Adam S]

Hello

 

i can recommend raking and prebaiting if possible,as i feel it can really make the difference.if you can you could rake on the first day and prebait days 1,2,3 and fish on day four.

prebait with a high food mix such as crumb,corn and hemp.

any sweet flavours should work,strawberry corn has always done well for me,as have mini strawberry boilies,casters and worm,a bunch of maggots can also be a good bait for the bigger tench

 

good luck

[Chris Plumb]

Yup - don't underestimate good ole fashioned raking. My PB last year fell to cockle/red maggot cocktail. This at the end of a very frustrating session when I knew they were in the swim bit not taking anything else I offered (meat, corn, paste, pellet, maggot). Out went the rake again and a change of bait to the said cockle cocktail brought half a dozen, 4 - (nearly)7lb fish in a couple of hours.

Twitching the bait every 5 or 10 minutes often resulted in a savage bite as well. This is another proven winner for me if I'm confident that tench are around but a bit undecided.

 

Chris

[JasonH]

I'm also starting tenching again a little earlier than usual, March / April time. Is raking useful / acceptable at this time of year ?

[Adam S]

Hello

 

yes ive used raking to good effect as early as march in the past,it can help to turn the fish on aswell as helping to clear weed and stir up the bottom.

if i was fishing a once off session with no prebaiting i would rake to encourage the tench in and lay down a bed of low food ground bait with hemp ,casters or corn (or whatever), to keep em picking about once they arrive. then just fish over the top with the bait of your choice.

[Chris Playle]

Many Thanks to all that replied.

 

I've noted all the suggestions and will be experimenting quite a bit this season with a few of the methods given.

 

The Tench season is just around the corner and I'm looking forward to it. I may even get lucky with a few Carp while using some of these methods.

 

Just one more question.

 

Has anyone used particles such a Pidgeon Feed Mix for laying down a bed of feed to keep the fish in the swim ?? This was described in a previous edition of Improve Your Coarse Fishing.

 

Tight Lines

 

Chris

[Adam S]

Hello

 

i havent used pigeon feed but i have used other particle mixes,i found they worked well (chickpeas best of all) ,but they didnt work any better than hemp,casters,corn etc.plus they are harder to prepare properly.i use them only ocassionally,but they are a good bulk bait as they wprk out cheaper than some other baits.