Tench tips

[manse]

Can anyone give me a few tips on catching Tench from my local stillwater, Bait/groundbait etc.

on a waggler. waters clear but deep around 10ft where they usually are and weedy.

Thanks for any tips.

[Dunk Fairley]

Try "Raking" the swim before you fish. By Raking, I mean exactly that. Get an old metal rake head, and tie it to a rope. Throw it out and drag it along the bottom. Tench will move in pretty soon, to hoover up all the grubs and goodies stirred up. Tench have no problems in cloudy water, as they spend most of their time up to their gills in silt anyway, they love it!

 

Just after raking, throw in a few handfulls of ground bait and free offerings, such as sweetcorn, casters or mini-boilies, over the raked patch, then fish over the top.

 

Don't be surprised, if action is instant. Tench aren't scared of the rake and will soon start to think of it as a dinner bell.

 

You can buy cheap rake heads for a couple of quid at a lot of garden centres, or look out at your local car boot sale. Buy two, and wire them together, back to back. You'll need quite a strong rope (1/2"), if the water's very weedy. Have fun!

[kojak]

Dunk is on the ball with this one i`m at it all the time, just add a few chopped worms to the menu and your sorted

[Chris Plumb]

Beat me too it Dunk!! - Another raker here and this sounds like the type of lake where it should work a treat. I've had great action with cockles (Usually fished in a cocktail with maggs.)and I intend to give black pudding a try this June.

 

 

Chris

[Zaphod]

Ditto, just remember to tie the end of the rope to something.

 

But just to add, I am pretty convinced that Tench actually come in to investigate the racket, curiosity perhaps,or maybe to complain but that is what happens in my experience.

Also Tench are reasonably easy to locate when feeding,as they release tiny bubbles through thier gills, just look for those lovely patches of pin head bubbles. They also, usually, tend to feed at certain spots at certain times. Spend some time walking around the lake with some binoculars, it may be useful also, to make a little map of the lake, features/depths etc and make notes of where/when & weather conditions when you see the bubbles of fish rolling. You should over a period of time get to know when and where to target them. You may also want to "trickle" some bait in the spots that they regulary feed. I say "trickle" as if you bait too heavy the burbot (carp) will get on it and the Tench will shy away.

Good luck.

 

[ 20. March 2003, 11:02 PM: Message edited by: Zaphod ]

[prez]

Is it true that to catch tench you have to be out at the crack of dawn? When are they active and for how long? Does it depend on the season or temp?

 

I have only ever caught one tench before and that was about noon on a hot summer day. I can't go early mornings you see so maybe that's why they are so rare for me!

[Zaphod]

Prez, it is true that these are the best times, but in the right conditions you will still catch. I had a 6lb male tench this year at 10.30am on a freezing January day..!!

If they are feeding, you can catch them.

Also, the one I had today was at about 2am, they were not on the feed until then. They were bubbling like good'uns from 1:30 until about 6'ish, I am a bit dissapointed that i did'nt catch more, I will need to adjust my tactics, methinks.

 

I have just remembered an incident from about 4 or 5 years ago, when a guy carping come over to complain about me raking a swim out (not weedy just giving the bottom the once over) as he reckoned the comotion would spook all the fish (which was rich coming from him, as he had just spent the last 30 minutes gratuitously malleting in his pegs/rests etc. Can you imagine his toughts, as, within 10 mins of casting I had a lively plump lady Doc at about 4lb, in the next 4 hours I had about a dozen in total plus two double figure carp (got smashed by one), while he had bugger all. On leaving i wished him good luck for the night session and he just grunted, bloody rude..

 

[ 20. March 2003, 10:29 PM: Message edited by: Zaphod ]

[Steve Burke]

Tench feeding times depend a lot on the type of water. In general, in soft-bottomed lakes they feed at dusk, and in particular, at dawn. When the light gets brighter they tend to go deeper or into weeds where they can still be caught. However, on a dull day you can sometimes catch them all day in the appropriate swim.

Gravel pit tench on the other hand tend to start feeding later, from an hour or two after first light until to late morning. There's sometimes an evening feeding spell as well.

Of course waters vary a great deal so this is only a rough guide. For instance my pits at Wingham contain two strains of tench. The green ones came from another gravel pit and feed as above. However, the black ones came from an estate lake and still feed at the traditional times of dawn and dusk - despite living in a new environment!

Edited February 23, 2013 by Steve Burke

[John Ellison]

I have great faith in SENSAS TANCHES. Put 10 balls in and go in over it. They'll come flying from all over the lake to get at it. Casters are my number one addition with caster and redworm on the hook. You'll not scare them in that depth.

[Zaphod]

Manse,

 

Have you checked out the articles section on anglers net, there is one for Tench baits by Jim Gibbinson, and he is one hell of a Tench angler.