3 years on and no tench

[thuramario]

i feel like i am writing to jim l fix it, but at the moment anyone will do. i love fishing and have got pretty good in 3 years, however i only seem to get the easy fish; bream, skimmer, roach, perch, gudgeon etc (all regular but no substance). all well n good but even the big breams 3-4 lb come in far to easy for my liking. i tend to fish 5lb line, 4lb hook tie on a barbed 18 hook, one maggot through the hook n two on the hook (so the hook is completly covered). i tend to fish dead bottom with 75% of the wieght 4 inches from the hook. i use a very light, small float (as i fish close in and its more responsive) just reaching the surface of the water (so i can strike as it rises, falls, or runs). with this set up i strike instantly as i have been told tench take it straight away. i fish in margins and at the side of lilies n weeds and i use maggot, corn, luncheon meat n castor as baits or as ground feed (little and often and the same baits match up e.g. if i had castor on the hook, then i would feed with castor) but i cannot catch a tench. my mate fishes the same and had two 5-6lb cannal tench in an hour. drove me mad, he hasnt even got his own gear, he borrowed mine lol.

can people who think they know what they r talking about and who catch tench regular get in touch with me for some hints n tips on how to increase my chances. gotta go now cos i am on a tench hunt (will keep you all posted lol).

[Dick Dastardly]

PLease note Im not taking the micky with this reply

 

For general fishing I feel your line is a bit heavy.A 2 1/2lb - 3lb mainline with 1.5 hook length is about right for most general float fishing with maggot or caster.You say your catching other stuff regularly though.This heavier tackle wont be why your not catching tench though.

 

Simple answer is that you are probably fishing waters with few tench in them,simple as that.Try going some where that is known for tench. Another (but smaller) possibility is that you are fishing at the wrong time or in the wrong areas.If others on the same water are catching tench regularly then try to find out where,how and when they are fishing.

 

Where abouts in the country are you as people may be able to sugest a venue for you or give you advice on the one your fishing.

[terry t shirt]

Hi just out of interest but why are you covering the hook? I normally fish single maggot nipped onto a size 18 hook occasionally might put 2 on but normally would go up a hook size. 3 on an 18 seems over the top.

[thuramario]

thanks for the reply. i am in wigan, and dont drive. i carry everything on my bike so i cant really fish out of the area. i hide the hook completely with maggot (or most stuff) because i read n article once in a magazine pushing this method forward. no messing, over night i doubled the amount of fish, and the size of the fish i was catching at the same locations. this was on a size 14 hook by the way, but i can now do this on a hook as small as 18 (which is what i use 90% of the time). none of my mates do this, and i honestly get more fish and more bites every time (even when in some cases we are fishing the same swim), so i cant stop using that method. if i was a fish i wouldnt want to see any hook at all. i place the hook through the first maggot, covering everything, and then just attach two right at the end of the hook, over the barb. sometimes i only use two maggot (usually when i am cold or at night). i always mix the maggot up so the fish gets a choice on my hook. cheers for the concern terry, as i have pretty much had to figure everything else out for myself, im sure there are one or two more random techniques that i have addopted.

budgie, why is the line strength so important, and heavier tackle. should i be concerned even though i still catch the smallest of fish (2" perch n gudgeon, and 3" skimmer).

cheers

[Vagabond]

i am in wigan, and dont drive. i carry everything on my bike so i cant really fish out of the area.

 

Despite having no knowledge of the area, I thought I might try to help, and Googled Wigan and District Angling Association - not accessible.

 

Tried "Angling near Wigan" and all I got was a list of tackle shops!

 

You could ask the guy at the shop which sells you maggots about local tench waters, or you could press on with the canal.

 

If your mate has caught tench, at least you know they are there!

 

The tackle you are using sounds OK for tench, apart from the hook size, so why not try bigger baits on bigger hooks in the canal? Tench like a good mouthful, and bigger baits will discourage most of the smaller fish. Move up to a size 10 barbless hook and make sure the bait is on the bottom. Chuck a few free samples at your float of whatever bait you are using (as you are doing already). You will almost certainly have to wait much longer for a bite but it will be a better fish when you get one.

 

Fish as early in the morning as you can - dawn is a good time. Approach the water VERY quietly. If there are things like rushes and flags growing in the margins, especially where it is a couple of feet deep or more, look carefully to see if anything is nudging them from below - that will be tench (or carp) pulling watersnails or the like off the stems. Fish close to such vegetation. Also look for patches of tiny bubbles - that's tench! So fish near such patches.

 

The fact that you fish close in is good - provided you keep quiet and still and watch the water carefully you will learn a lot in a short time. Keep us posted.

 

Finer tackle is better for small hooks and small baits for roach etc, but if its tench you want, then 5 lb with a 4lb hooklength is about right, especially if you are fishing close to reeds - a decent tench will try to dive into them.

 

Good luck!

[Steve Walker]

I'm originally from the North West, and I fished for years without catching any tench because most of the waters I fished had very few of them. It was only when I joined some clubs with plenty of tench in their waters that I started catching. Now I'm in the South West, I'd be hard pressed to think of a local stillwater where I wouldn't stand a good chance of catching them. The canal you are fishing obviously contains some tench, because your mate has caught some, but was that just a fluke? Do people catch them regularly? If they do, you need to follow the good advice from Vagabond and others, if not, you also need to find a better tench water.

 

On bait, do try the advice of a big bait on a size 10; bread flake, luncheon meat, that kind of thing. If that doesn't work, try something in between; a 14 or 16 hook with a grain or two of sweetcorn, or a couple of casters. The maggots aren't selective enough. You may well find that even if you don't catch any tench, you might get some surprising bonus fish. Casters are particularly good for producing bonus fish from canals. Whatever you use, make sure you loose feed some of it.

[ColinW]

Same advice as always (and same as everyone else says!) If you want to catch tench you should be starting to fish before sunrise. Maggots are not the best bait for tench in a mixed fishery, not because tench don't like them but because smaller fish will take them first. Unless tench are the main species present it might be better to switch to a more selective bait. That just means one that won't attract the small fish, ie something that doesn't wriggle.

In the north west a five pound tench is a good fish, so you don't need the heavy tackle you are using, you should be able to land them on two or three pound line.

If you can find a stretch of canal that is really heavily weeded apart from the central channel you are laughing, just lay big bread flake baits over the edge of the weed, so that the bait swings down into the weed. In this situation you can use the heavy gear because when they are feeding in weed they seem to be oblivious to tackle.

[bluerinse]

Try using big worms; you can still hide the hook in the bait even if you use a size 10.

Bait the area with chopped worm. Vagabonds advice is spot on with regards to location and time of day.

It can also pay to pre bait an area.

Spend a week each day baiting an area (as described by Vagabond) with sweet corn, and mashed bread. And some chopped worm. Then early in the morning creep up to the area and lower a nice fat worm into the swim, the action should be pretty quick.

 

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[gozzer]

Some good advice on here as usual.

 

I don't know your canal, but it sounds a lot like my local bit of the Leeds & Liverpool.

Plenty of roach, perch etc, but the tench are few and far between.

I've found that if I can't get there early doors then I fish through the afternoon and catch the usual culprits. Then an hour or so before dusk I bait up a 'tenchy' looking part of the swim, and fish there until dark. (I know that can be a bit 'dodgy' on some urban waters).

I have caught most of my tench at this time, along with some of the bigger roach.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about hiding the hook, so long as it's suited to the size of bait, and resting on the bottom. After all, plenty of tench are caught on hair rigged baits and the whole hook is visible then.

 

All the usual baits work on their day, but caster, bread and sweetcorn have produced the best results.

 

Good Luck.

 

John.

[thuramario]

this is good stuff, cheers everyone and will keep ya posted.