Spring's here and I can't resist it.

[Rusty]

With the clocks going forward and it being a nice sunny day outside I’ve decided that life’s too short not to take advantage of some of NAA’s stillwaters open during the close season…..so I’m going tench fishing in the near future.

 

I don’t have too much of a plan but I’d like to try float fishing the lift method so I’ve read up on that and have the theory sorted, bait will be traditional corn or meat. Edit: scrub this, too many crays

 

A couple of things I’m not sure about;

 

Are tench as sensitive to weather/light conditions as [say] perch, is there an optimal time of day?

 

If I’m lucky enough to spot fizzing when I arrive is it best to get a bait in quickly or should I still plumb the depth and risk spooking them? If I do spook them will they come back unlike river chub for example? From what I’ve read on here tench do seem more tolerant of disturbance.

 

Without knowledge of the water I appreciate it’s difficult to be precise but any general guidance would be gratefully received, it’ll be a first for me.

 

Thank you.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Rusty

[Tigger]

Blimey Chris, are your still waters contaminated with signals as well as your rivers ?

I fish for tench with maggot and corn but sometimes I use worms. I like to use them as cocktailes ...a peice of corn and a couple of maggots, worm and corn , worm and maggot etc. I usually throw in a few tennise ball sized balls of groundbait consisting of hemp, corn, trout pellets, maggots and brown crumb but you can use whatever you have available. Sometimes I mix in a tin or two of tuna to add to the scent trail.

I like to fish after dark with a starlight/ glowstick attached to the float and usually fish just off bottom but alter the depth till I get bites as sometimes i've had better luck fishing up in the water/ mid watere and sometimes just a few inches below the surface. Just play about with your depth till you get some results. Good luck Mr !

[Chris Plumb]

Blimey Chris, are your still waters contaminated with signals as well as your rivers ?

 

 

Yup some of our lakes are pathed with the bleeders!!! Chris - don't be afraid to get the rake out - tench love a bit of disturbance and I've even found that the crucians sometimes come and investigate - also has the added advantage of spooking the carp!!! Most of my bigger tench on NAA waters have come on halibuts or meat - though I'venever fished for them early season. - Same caveat as barbel fishing - if the signals are around it usually means the fish aren't!

 

 

C.

[Rusty]

Blimey Chris, are your still waters contaminated with signals as well as your rivers ?

 

Yup 'fraid so Ian, I only thought about it after I'd posted. I'm hoping that the crays won't like corn, otherwise it's bread for a hookbait. Thanks for the tips, particularly the groundbait, I was just going to buy a bag from the tackle shop.

 

Edit: And thanks Chris, I was wondering about the rake just wasn't sure whether other NAA members would appreciate it. It'll be a midweek session so should be quiet.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Rusty

[Chris Plumb]

Yup 'fraid so Ian, I only thought about it after I'd posted. I'm hoping that the crays won't like corn, otherwise it's bread for a hookbait. Thanks for the tips, particularly the groundbait, I was just going to buy a bag from the tackle shop.

 

 

I've had crays on both (corn and bread!)

 

 

C.

[Anderoo]

With the clocks going forward and it being a nice sunny day outside I’ve decided that life’s too short not to take advantage of some of NAA’s stillwaters open during the close season…..so I’m going tench fishing in the near future.

 

I don’t have too much of a plan but I’d like to try float fishing the lift method so I’ve read up on that and have the theory sorted, bait will be traditional corn or meat. Edit: scrub this, too many crays

 

A couple of things I’m not sure about;

 

Are tench as sensitive to weather/light conditions as [say] perch, is there an optimal time of day?

 

If I’m lucky enough to spot fizzing when I arrive is it best to get a bait in quickly or should I still plumb the depth and risk spooking them? If I do spook them will they come back unlike river chub for example? From what I’ve read on here tench do seem more tolerant of disturbance.

 

Without knowledge of the water I appreciate it’s difficult to be precise but any general guidance would be gratefully received, it’ll be a first for me.

 

Thank you.

 

Generally, tench don't seem to mind disturbance in the water, and I will happily chuck a big noisy marker float around before tench fishing and not worry about it. So plumbing up should be fine, and I would do that to get a good idea of the swim and choose where to fish. They can be sensitive to bankside disturbance though, so if fishing close in I'd keep very quiet.

 

Best time of day is a tricky one and I think you'll have to try everything and see what's best! This time of year (early season) night time can be best, moving more into daylight as the season progresses, but I've never found a pattern over different waters. They all seem different, and also change as the season goes on. Getting there as early as possible (if fishing days) would be a good starting point.

 

Chasing fizzing tench has never worked for me! It's driven me spare plenty of times, you know there's a feeding tench there and your float can be in the middle of the bubbles but you never get a bite! I have no idea why. I've always found it best to pick a spot, feed it, and ignore the fizzing elsewhere. On the other hand, I have had lots of carp by casting at bubbling fish.

 

In clear water, creating a cloud of bait is often successful. Fairly dry groundbait/crumb containing a good mixture of fee items works well (as Tigger suggested). You don't need much, just enough to attract them in and keep them interested. They are very visual feeders, so include plenty of bright little bits and pieces, and don't forget the hemp

[Rusty]

Very helpful Anderoo, thank you. A plan is forming but a recce of the potential venues will be in order before it's firmed up.

[gozzer]

I've found that when there's obviously a group of them 'fizzing', it sometimes pays to fish a few inches off bottom.

I'm sure that all those big fins are stirring up the bottom, and the tench take the food that gets stirred up with it.

 

John.

[JV44]

Very helpful Anderoo, thank you. A plan is forming but a recce of the potential venues will be in order before it's firmed up.

When are you planning a recce Chris?? Anderoo do fish traditional style for the Tench ie lift method or do you fish inline feeder maggot clip with fake/real maggots ?? Thinking of giving it a go just wondered what your thoughts were Steve.

[viney]

A few of the lakes produced a few tench this weekend chris so if the weather holds you should be in with a shout!

As to the time of day jairm had a 4lb11 on saturday at about 1pm in complete sunshine! Which lakes are you thinking of?