October, is it too late for tench?

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Right, quick answers needed for this one please! I have a day off next week with the intention of going fishing. I have a pretty varied choice of waters I could visit, however my angling buddy who I'll be going with would probably rather go to his tench lake (which he can get me a guest ticket on). It's a lovely water but I'm just a bit worried about whether or not the tench would be interested at this time of year? Forecast for this week is actually really warm, so maybe I'm worrying about nothing? Plus there's a few big carp, some roach and perch.... probably we should just go for it?

 

[thecrow]

Last time I was out (a week ago) Tench were still rolling on the lake I was on although I didn't have any, may have been due to playing 2 carp in through the swim during the morning, I always think if they are active they have to feed sometime.

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

Where does this misconception come from? One can catch tench all through the year.. all fish need to eat, all year long. here is a video of my fav angler fishing for tench in january YouTube

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

Not from an overstocked fishery either.

 

[tigger]

The answer to that has got to depend on the specific water and where abouts it is in the country.
I reckon they will be hard to come by round my neck of the woods on the "genuine" wild waters. Commercial or club waters with a higher than normal stocking of fish and the tench may prove to be worth targetting even at this time of year....good luck!

 

[chrissh]

On my local pond the tench have stopped playing for the past two weeks and cushions are slowing down now, the roach have come alive

 

[sam vimes]

It's all water dependent. On some waters, tench will be a fairly unlikely prospect by now, on others they will still be a viable target. On a tiny minority of waters, they will be a realistic proposition almost all year round.

 

[barbelboi]

I believe that a lot depends upon location and weather conditions - in the past I've caught tench during every month of the year but not in the same calendar year.

The best winter tench fishing I ever had came from an estate lake that was nowhere more than about five feet deep and most of the tench were caught from depths of less than three feet. This water did have the benefit though from being surrounded by trees and the shallow waters also respond to the conditions much quicker than deeper ones. In the winter a warm sunny day would almost guarantee at least a tench, or two, on sweetcorn or worm in the margins..............

 

[mikench]

I still live and fish in hope! Tomorrow will be shorts and flip flops weather so remain optimistic !

 

[tigger]

I still live and fish in hope! Tomorrow will be shorts and flip flops weather so remain optimistic !

I've noticed the bbc weather is saying tomorrow will be 22 degrees....bring it, It might get the barbel to go for a trotted bait .
Just hope I manage to cast ok after nearly cutting my casting finer off with a bloody angle grinder the other day mg: :scared:

 

[daniel121]

Wild Tench almost certainly, different story in stocked venues

 

[mikench]

Be careful Ian ; you are not getting any younger!

I know Sensor is strong but an angle grinder !!!!

 

[tigger]

Be careful Ian ; you are not getting any younger!

I know Sensor is strong but an angle grinder !!!!

Lol, your right Mike, it was a silly mistake on my part won't happen again!

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Thanks folks. We'll give it a go. Seems like purely on the basis of temperature, we should be ok. It's like a summers day out there right now!

 

[steve2]

Just returned from a days pike fishing I should have taken my tench gear there were tench on the move all over the lake.
When I got back to the car the temperature in the car was 27degrees.

 

[bezzer]

I fished a local reservoir over the weekend of 29th/30th September and had a couple of nice Tench out.
As the weather has been decent this week and looks ok for the weekend (apart from the rain tomorrow), I'm going back on Saturday. Will target them like I do in Spring and early summer.

 

[morston1]

Some of the fenland drains and rivers fish better for tench through the winter than they do in the summer....and can be far more reliable.

 

[iain t]

I've caught Tench throughout the winter months on one of my club ponds. It's a mixed pond of Carp, Tench and a few silvers. The Tench seem to feed all years round. Although harder in the colder weather i can still catch one or two. Don't know if it makes a difference but the pond is spring feed.

 

[thecrow]

Some of the fenland drains and rivers fish better for tench through the winter than they do in the summer....and can be far more reliable.

I have caught Tench from drains in the winter when fishing for baits, mostly where another drain/ditch was putting water into the drain I was fishing.

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Well, just my luck to pick a day with plummeting temperatures, horizontal rain and a biting north wind! Gave the lake a go for several hours yesterday morning, but gave up after a bit and moved on to stretch of the thames just above oxford. Had more success there, feeder fishing - to begin with, decent roach; however after a while some bream moved over the groundbait I'd been steadily introducing and I ended up catching six decent slab-sized bream before heading home. I had some trouble from what I can only guess was a really big pike, taking shoal sized bream! going back at the weekend to see if I can catch her....