If you target a certain species of fish.....

[tigger]

I've never caught a tench in the river, i'm sure there will be one or two which have been slipped in but they must be very low in number.
The rivers near to me arn't really suited to tench so I don't think they's do too well in them.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

There are a few tench on th Britford stretch of the Hampshire Avon. They seemingly washed in together with a few carp when the Petersfinger lakes flooded some years back.

Thet do seem to have fared very well in the river as have those carp.

 

[sam vimes]

I've never seen or heard of a single tench in the local rivers. I think it's very unlikely they'd last long if they happened to get in them. There have been a few carp over the years, but they invariably end up much further downstream than my usual areas. I know of one place on the Swale that a very small number of carp could be reliably found. However, I've not seen or heard of them being there for quite a few years.

 

[Mark Wintle]

There are records of tench in the Dorset Stour from the 17th century and still some around Sturminster Newton where I've caught a couple. Those in the know catch them in summer. Throop Mill Pool was stocked with tench and carp in about 1972 and there are certainly carp on the lower river still, and a few years ago a fishery survey of the upper tidal - just below Iford Bridge, produced about 20 tench through electro-fishiong but I've never seen one caught down there. I've had tench to 4lb in matches on the Bristol Avon and the Brue.

 

[steve2]

The only river tench I have caught have come slow flowing small rivers. For some reason they have always been a good size 3-4lbs. I have never seen or caught any smaller or bigger ones.

 

[no-one in particular]

The river I talked about was very slow, it was controlled by sluice gates which were not opened most of the summer, although when opened when the rain was about, it did flow very strongly. However, hardly any flow most of the summer so a good weed growth developed near the edge. A few lily patches here and there as well so, a likely tench water in places. never caught that many though except for that day, and like Notskev found, often good sized tench. never caught small ones so, maybe the signs were there that they were not breeding for some reason however, the whole river has declined over the last few years, chub, bream and roach less prolific than they once were.
The type of stretches I imagine Sam Vines fish, the grayling/trout type upper stretches would not hold tench but I suspect tench exist in some of the slower deeper stretches more often than perhaps anglers know. I have heard of them in a few rivers.
Big strong fighting river tench are worth looking for or finding out about. These tench used to make my day among the run of the mill fish even if they were only a few all summer. So catching 8 on the trot that day was something else, just a fluke really but a nice fluke.
I must have caught them on bread because I only use bread and sweetcorn there because of eels and I caught these early on and I always start with bread. I have caught them on sweetcorn as well though in the river.

 

[sam vimes]

The type of stretches I imagine Sam Vines fish, the grayling/trout type upper stretches would not hold tench but I suspect tench exist in some of the slower deeper stretches more often than perhaps anglers know.

I've never heard of a tench coming from the Swale, Tees or Ure, regardless of how far downstream that might be. Even in their lower reaches, these rivers are an awful long way from being similar to rivers that rise at lower elevations and/or further south. You can never say never, but it's highly unlikely.

 

[nottskev]

I've caught tench from a few rivers, and while it's no surprise to get one in the canalised Weaver, for instance, I was surprised to catch one on a pellet legered for barbel on the Derwent a few years ago. That river, coming down from the Peak District, and full of trout and grayling these days, has a lot more in common with those northern rivers, but then it does have some slow deeps and backwaters below Derby. When I told a couple of people about my amazing catch, they were less amazed than I expected, and they pointed me to some swims below Borrowash where, just as they said I would, I caught a couple more laying on down the side of a rush bed.

 

[markcw]

I have had some good tench from the Bridgewater Canal around Warrington, also caught bitterling from there ,
It may be day gudgeon bashing on a canal next week, re elasticating a couple of topkits , pity cant find any Zim elastic, I thought that stuff was brilliant in size 2 and 3, pole rigs are tied and ready to go.

 

[rayner]

Talking of big catches of tench, I used to fish a pond close to Worksop that held tench. My best tench catch was 9 fish to 5.5lb, I considered that a big catch. That was in the days before the commercial explosion, now it would be sniffed at by some.

 

[theartist]

Only caught Tench on three rivers, all by accident, funny enough on two occasions in the same swim as Barbel and with dad. Both times we tried to get as many species as possible in one day, it was a laugh trying to catch things like minnow instead of avoiding them.

They don't like fast water the way carp can tolerate it though, There's plenty of river tench in the lowland waters of the Norfolk Broads and Somerset but you have to target them with prebaiting and raking like you would on an old fashioned ponds.

 

[nottskev]

Talking of big catches of tench, I used to fish a pond close to Worksop that held tench. My best tench catch was 9 fish to 5.5lb, I considered that a big catch. That was in the days before the commercial explosion, now it would be sniffed at by some.

I certainly wouldn't sniff at that - a great session! There may have been a commercial explosion, but sadly there's no tench explosion and quite a few people will say that it gets harder to find good tench fishing.

 

[sam vimes]

Talking of big catches of tench, I used to fish a pond close to Worksop that held tench. My best tench catch was 9 fish to 5.5lb, I considered that a big catch. That was in the days before the commercial explosion, now it would be sniffed at by some.

The only people that might sniff at that are those that have access to truly exceptional tench waters. Sadly, I doubt that means too many people these days.

 

[no-one in particular]

I did find a tench and bream only lake once on a commercial, I cannot remember how many I caught, the nice thing was not having to worry about carp, they were easier to catch but you still had to go fine-ish for them, 16 hooks and 3lb line, over that and they became very wary. I also found a Green Tinged! tench and Rudd only lake on a farm commercial once but all I got pestered by was small Rudd, never caught one of these tench, not sure what the name was exactly but some sort of different tench.
Didn't have that problem for the river tench I caught but finding them and finding them feeding was very hit and miss, more miss than hit. Getting them out was difficult, they would pile straight into the edge weed so you had to bully them a bit, get them up and keep them there. But these were un-fished for and never caught fish, pristine and powerful, a real joy.

 

[108831]

I once had twelve tench at Sywell,on the float,six over six pounds,the two biggest went 7-14 each,funny enough ive always preferred catching lots of mediocre sized tench though,2-4lbs,beautiful creatures,with lots of attitude,lovely...

 

[steve2]

When fishing for Tench on an lakes back in the days of the close season following prebaiting we took large bags of tench. Best catch I remember was well over a hundred weight( 112lbs). These type of catches ended along with the close season when the waters were in constant and pre baiting couldn't be carried out.

 

[rayner]

The only people that might sniff at that are those that have access to truly exceptional tench waters. Sadly, I doubt that means too many people these days.

It's clear to me the folk who frequent where I fish have no affinity with any particular species other than carp. To be honest neither do I these days.
So long as a fish grabs my bait is enough for me. I grew to have a dislike for carp, now it seems carp are all that's available to me. I just now go with the flow. A good thing I enjoy paste fishing.

 

[108831]

This winter has been the poorest for chub fishing i can ever remember,whether it has been the continuous high water levels i dont know,but because barbel have virtually disappeared i am left with roach and bream which have all shut up shop on my local rivers,leaving me with my slider lake and the crucian lake,all is becoming monotonous and stereotyped.