New Weedy Tench Lake

[fishing4luckies]

To complement but not distract from Lagunas thread about his new hush-hush location stuffed full of giant Tincas, this thread is for me to get some advice about fishing a new lake that looks like it SHOULD be stuffed full of even more monstrous Tincas.

The last time I was there it was clear that the lake was absolutely stuffed with what I think is Canadian Pond Weed. Loads of fizzing bubble patches. Obviously home to a seriously large squadron of Tench BUT......

How the hell do you fish for them through all that weed?

I've been told that raking is frowned upon at this location so what are my options?

All help gratefully received.

 

[Keith M]

If raking is definately frowned upon and there are no clear spots then I would be tempted to use PVA bags to hold both your hooklength and lead and loose feed until it sinks through the weed to the bottom or some PVA Nuggets to bury the hook in so it sinks through the weed to the bottom.

I would look for slightly deeper areas if there are any, where the weed could be a little bit thinner.

Keith

 

[Tee-Cee]

Ask Laguna IF you can fish his lake!!

Without raking it is difficult. Someone else discussed this a week or two ago (fishing over pondweed etc.) and I did offer some suggestions (or related ideas when faced with similar years ago) - can't remember which thread , though!!

I'll have a quick butchers later on..



ps If you search under 'fledger' you will come up with one post by me from 2010 and another bit recently in 'float ledgering' with the latter thread offering some pretty good general suggestions................

IMHO it is finding a method where the bait sits atop the weed and one that is highly visible., so bread in all its forms always good.

 

[S-Kippy]

The only thing that ever worked for me was to bomb a lead through the weed with a short hooklink and PVA bag. I wouldn't say it solved the problem but it got me a few fish. Was it worth the effort ? Probably not.

That was a while back....nowadays I think I'd just look for somewhere else.

 

[associatedmatt]

There a lovley lake like that near me it's called claydon pike it's near lechlade and it's very weedy but close to the bank you can fish it's fine only problem is the crayfish !


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[thames mudlarker]

There a lovley lake like that near me it's called claydon pike it's near lechlade and it's very weedy but close to the bank you can fish it's fine only problem is the crayfish !


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Fished it about 25 years ago Matt, had some proper stonking tench in there

 

[associatedmatt]

Is there anywhere you haven't fished lol


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[thames mudlarker]

Is there anywhere you haven't fished lol


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Matt with all due respect mate I've now been a specialist coarse angler for some 36 or so years and have probably fished some of the very best known river systems within the whole of southern England at some stage, I've also fished in me earlier days on some of the big known carp waters in the south aswell although the carp scene no longer really interests me nowadays as I'm more of a river trotting specialist etc.

I live very close to the banks of the Thames estuary and have also been a very fanatical bass angler for over 20 years, I ve studied bass and bass fishing exclusively IE, walking out on the vast mud flats over low water to study the tide lines of the estuary, how many anglers do this, not many I can assure you, this is why I'm know as " Thames mudlarker "

If one is not used to walking out on mud flats then definitely don't attempt it as it can really be highly dangerous unless yer experienced and I have done this for many years, 1/2 - 3/4's of a mile out on the mud flats really ain't for the faint hearted
When bass fishing one needs to understand tides fully IE, springs, neaps, highs, lows, wind patterns are critical as I'm ideally looking for onshore winds, times of year, high and low pressure fronts, this all comes into the equations and simply cannot be learnt over night,

Again I've also tutored many beginner wannabe bass anglers and are now confident anglers :thumbs:

I'm also on the WSF ( world sea fishing ) forum under me normal name " STUART WHITING " and have put up vast bass info up over the last couple of years on the southeast section of the forum but I'm now mainly on the coarse and carp section of the forum that can be found at the bottom of the WSF forum board :thumbs:

I've fished from the age of 10 Matt and have never looked back, I just love the overall variety out there but of all the fishing I've done over the years my favourite without a doubt is trotting on quality river systems and chalk streams

Be lucky mate

 

[associatedmatt]

Sounds to me you spent a lot of time and happy memories fishing ! There is a fishing tutor but for some reason he charges ?!


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[Andy M]

I have similar problem in nearby lake so I fish it early in the year - starting tomorrow weather permitting. Once the week gets a hold I move on but it gives you 2-3 months fishing.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

Couple of things,

1st, Bubbles doesn't always mean Tench or any fish come to that.

One lake I fish is full of weed like yours, long hook link, PVA bag, or some foam around the hook so it falls slowly on top of the weed.

Cast around with a lead, you will find a clear spot or two, fish on the edge of these clear spots, NOT in the middle.

Good Luck

ps. rake some weed up the bank in front of you, you will find all the natural bait the fish are feeding on, shrimps, snails etc etc, use them as bait, and return the weed to the water.

 

[tigger]

I fish a similar water but the weed isn't a big deal until after June. I float fish up in the water off a steep'ish shelf (maybe a foot or two off bottom in 8 or 9ft of water) and keep spraying out maggots. This always works for me and i've had some great sessions with tench up to 9 1/2lb and rudd to 3.3lb. The water is Jin clear and the fish are as wild as they come and the place is little fished. To fish it in daylight is pretty much a waste of time but come dusk the tench start rolling and the place comes alive with activity on the surface. I've even caught tench on floating bread or casters intended for rudd. Tench don't just feed dead bottom and often cruz about over the top of weed beds. Looking at the water in the pic the fizzing may be eels,they make the same bubbles as tench and when they get feeding in a shoal they can make the place look like a Jacuzzi.

 

[thames mudlarker]

Sounds to me you spent a lot of time and happy memories fishing ! There is a fishing tutor but for some reason he charges ?!


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Yea mate there are obviously tutors out there that do charge but in all the years that I've tutored at times I've never ever charged anything what so ever, I just get the satisfaction of helping like minded anglers and above all else I like making new freinds

One can never have enough freinds in the fishing game :thumbs:

---------- Post added at 19:24 ---------- Previous post was at 19:14 ----------

I fish a similar water but the weed isn't a big deal until after June. I float fish up in the water off a steep'ish shelf (maybe a foot or two off bottom in 8 or 9ft of water) and keep spraying out maggots. This always works for me and i've had some great sessions with tench up to 9 1/2lb and rudd to 3.3lb. The water is Jin clear and the fish are as wild as they come and the place is little fished. To fish it in daylight is pretty much a waste of time but come dusk the tench start rolling and the place comes alive with activity on the surface. I've even caught tench on floating bread or casters intended for rudd. Tench don't just feed dead bottom and often cruz about over the top of weed beds. Looking at the water in the pic the fizzing may be eels,they make the same bubbles as tench and when they get feeding in a shoal they can make the place look like a Jacuzzi.

Blimey Ian a lake that is little fished and with almost double figure tench and 3 lb Rudd ......can I come....lols

Yea mate yer definitely right as I've seen tench feed on the top,

On the Kennet a few years back I've actually caught barbel off of the top on floating crust intended for chub :thumbs:

 

[tigger]

Blimey Ian a lake that is little fished and with almost double figure tench and 3 lb Rudd ......can I come....lols

Yea mate yer definitely right as I've seen tench feed on the top,

On the Kennet a few years back I've actually caught barbel off of the top on floating crust intended for chub :thumbs:

No prob's, you wann'a come you can come Stuart .

I only ever caught one barbel off the top and it took a floating caster as I was targeting roach and dace topping a few yards down from me in a smooth glide..

 

[thames mudlarker]

No prob's, you wann'a come you can come Stuart .

I only ever caught one barbel off the top and it took a floating caster as I was targeting roach and dace topping a few yards down from me in a smooth glide..

I'd love to come up to you and fish mate but in reality is quite a distance from me and probably need to stop over somewhere for one or two nights I suppose,

I've got so much on during this year as me boy is getting married in July amongst other stuff and me fishing money is gonna be seriously budgeted for the first half of the year, no doubt I'll get out to a few local fisheries but a lot of me more distance club waters will probably be on hold for a while

Role on August and I'll then hopefully caught meself back up again financially and then be firing on all cylinders and racing around southeast like a lunatic to catch back up with me fishing rep.......lols

 

[fishing4luckies]

I'd love to come up to you and fish mate but in reality is quite a distance from me and probably need to stop over somewhere for one or two nights I suppose,

I've got so much on during this year as me boy is getting married in July amongst other stuff and me fishing money is gonna be seriously budgeted for the first half of the year, no doubt I'll get out to a few local fisheries but a lot of me more distance club waters will probably be on hold for a while

Role on August and I'll then hopefully caught meself back up again financially and then be firing on all cylinders and racing around southeast like a lunatic to catch back up with me fishing rep.......lols

You're more than welcome to pop down to sunny Kent and fish my new lake - no-ones fished it for about 8 years apparently so it could be interesting.

 

[thames mudlarker]

You're more than welcome to pop down to sunny Kent and fish my new lake - no-ones fished it for about 8 years apparently so it could be interesting.

Cheers mate yea I'd most definitely be up for that, probably sometime during the summer I presume,

Chances are I probably know of the lake especially if it's up around the Tonbridge, Tunbridge wells area,

I can remember many years back when I worked for penge angling ( southeast London ) they used to have a pucka tench lake in Eridge that I used to fish, around the time when we had the 1987 hurricane

Know it well as I was out during the night of that damm hurricane was actually at Eridge trying to fish early evening until the wind got so rediculas me and me mate had to retreat back to his car where we stayed for about 4 hrs stuck in the car park near the lake until the storm had passed, talk about schit ourselves