The Tench Timetable 00:01

[John Bailey]

The great advance made this century for tench fanatics is that we are now allowed to fish for them before the traditional Sixteenth. Prior to this, for decades the very best tench fishing was actually over before the season kicked in and we could get at them. I have been guiding for tench for twenty years now, and I can honestly say I have no qualms about this. If I felt I was in any way putting them at risk I would stop at once. Yes, tench do begin to develop spawn during May, but much of this is at its peak and is shed well after June 16th itself. In fact, most years I have seen tench spawning most energetically in July, and even as late as September.



Enoka and JB with April tench

Anglers love tench. They are our quintessential English fish of the spring and summer and what I am trying to do is provide an ongoing guide to how I see tench fishing in the 2020s, built on my experience of the species over many years. I will provide a chapter every two or three days, hopefully building up to a really handy reference by the time tench are truly beginning to feed in early April. Please feel free to comment and add your ideas too… as I know you most certainly will.


#1 TENCH LOCATION



Vital, of course, and there are loads of considerations to be taken into account. First, in most parts of the country, most tench fishing today is carried out on pits: half a century ago this was not the case, and estate lakes, ponds and pools were the typical venue that Mr Crabtree would have targeted. There are many reasons for this shift, but as otters are a factor and I am not being contentious here, I’ll ask you to accept what I say and move on!

I think you have to consider size. Size matters. Some of us are primarily interested in fish of specimen size only. In Mr Crabtree’s day, that would have been fixed at four pounds. Today, the bar has to be raised to at least six pounds, perhaps even seven or eight. Again, the reasons are manifold, but I think we all accept the truth of what has happened. So, if you want “eights” then you are probably looking at pits, perhaps larger ones. If you are happy (and why not?) with fish in the three to five pound bracket, smaller ponds and pools will do you nicely. If you can find them.


Watching for tench on big waters

Are you interested in numbers? Think whether you simply want an easy day, with half a dozen fish of moderate size, or whether you want to set out for whoppers that can be few and far between. Very occasionally, you’ll find a prolific big tench water, but don’t count on it.

Difficulty is a real issue. For many reasons I still haven’t completely fathomed, tench waters vary hugely on the Difficulty Scale. I have waters where they are easy-peasy, and others where they are well nigh impossible to catch, often despite bubbling frenetically. Try to ascertain where your possible waters lie on the Scale, and what you are happy to put up with.


Tiny tench…

…and intimate tench waters...

How do you want to fish for your tench? Very many of you prefer to float fish and why would you not? But that might mean that are you are looking for smaller, shallower, more intimate waters. That’s certainly not always the case, but bear it in mind. If you are happy to feeder fish, or at least mix the two approaches, then large waters will hold no fear for you.

If you are coming back into the sport after a long lay-off, you might have to accept that the best tench waters are found on carp venues. This can be a hassle if you are fitting in around long-session men. Also, sadly, on some carp venues, tench are not treated with the respect they deserve and you might not like the condition you find some fish in. You might be better off looking around for less high-profile, less pressured, general club-type waters which can be a little less intense.


…less pressured…

…less intense

Think about baiting and session times. If you can prebait a swim the night before, your chances rise appreciably, but this depends on how busy a water is and how close to it you live. Remember that on the shallower waters of Crabtree’s day, tench were very much a fish of the dawn and early morning. Tench fishers returning to the modern scene find it hard to believe that pit tench very often only begin to feed around 8.00am, and the best times are often 10.00am till 1.00pm. Consider how this might fit in with your preferences.



Of course, tench, like all fish, are a post-code species. Some areas are comparatively rich in good waters, whereas in other places you are struggling to find any decent venues whatsoever. Obviously explore clubs, commercials and syndicates. I’ve known groups of friends get together and lease their own waters, often with great success. I have no doubt that the reason I have spent so much time guiding wannabe tench anglers these last ten years is because I have wonderful tench waters that they know are already pre-baited and waiting for them. I am NOT touting for business in the least, just pointing out there are all manner of ways to get your tench rod bent.

Finally, think out of the box. Rivers are not seen as natural tench waters, but some of them hold crackers. I have heard recently of super tench fishing on the marshes of Kent. Canals can be superb.

Go for it. Get cracking now. Tench time is just around the corner.

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[liphook]

Interesting as I caught a small tench on a local river only on monday! Ive never even heard of tench in this river so I'm leaning towards it being washed in from a stillwater on the recent floods.
We fished a water where the tench fed predominantly in the middle of the day - the non navigable northern stretches of the Lancaster canal. Get it right and the tench fishing was amazing, particularly considering its position "up north". It also held a good head of grass carp. Unfortunately numbers of otters 'appeared from nowhere' and ruined it in a very short space of time. I'll be interested to hear your approach to baits and if/how that changes throughout the season JB

 

[Peter Jacobs]

On my local stretch of the Hampshire Avon we never ever saw a tench until the lakes at Petersfinger flooded into the river . . . . since then we have a fair few, on the old river, as well as some Carp that arrived in the same (annoying) happening.

A few years ago we also had quite a large shoal of bream in the same stretch, some pushing double figure weights, but those seem to have all but disappeared . . . . thankfully, so we are now back to the roach, dace, chub and grayling fishing that the stretch was so renowned for.

As I don't fish in the close season, (for coarse fish), I still consider that June and July are my diary dates with tinca tinca . . . .

 

[john step]

The best tench waters local to me are rivers.

 

[LPP]

Ah, the thought of tench fishing approaching, ( as another hail shower blasts down outside!) and I wonder what I love most...
the little lake where the tench are prolific but only up to 3 or 4 oz (or were until wiped out by b.........d cormorants!),
the amazing pit where we've had incredible catches of fish, beyond what i would have believed possible,
or maybe the little "lost" lake where it was desperately hard to get a bite amongst the bubbles and managed maybe a fish or 2 up to 5lb..

Actually,I loved them all and right now would give up beer for a year to be at any of them.............................maybe?

 

[John Bailey]

Hi Peter, I empathise with your reluctance to disturb tench 'till post The Glorious Sixteenth, and I was very much of the same mind when the close season was first scrapped on stillwaters. However, as I stated in my piece, over the last dozen years at least I’ve rarely had an inkling that they actually spawn 'till later in the summer. I mentioned that I have come across them hard at it as late as September. If we were to have a useful close season for tench, then it would probably run from June 15th 'till August 15th. Of course, Peter, like all responsible fisherman, I’d never fish for tench, or anything, if I thought they were spawning, but pack and go home.

To liphook, I’ll certainly be talking about tench baits but I do emphasise that in my experience, tench get harder as the summer progresses.

And to LPP, may yet another doubly come your way again, my friend!

 

[Keith M]

Tench are my favourite species of all and whether they are 2lbers or 7lbers I still love fishing for them.

We have a private water which used to be a trout only venue; that now provides us with some excellent Tench fishing not that far from Whipsnade Zoo (see pic) it also holds a good head of Grass Carp all between around 18lb to 22lb however these Grassies are only rarely caught and are often seen just sunning themselves just under the surface laughing at us.

Of coarse we spend most of our time after the Tench which although they are not all giants even the smaller ones give us a very worthy fight and they certainly put a frightening bend in our rods; however we usually have to rake our swims ahead of fishing as the lake is usually chocker full of waterweed in spite of the Grass Carp.

Another few weeks and we hopefully can get there amongst the Tench; and I just can’t wait.



Keith

 

[John Bailey]

#2 SWIMS & WEATHER FORECASTS

Do remember I am writing primarily for tench fishing in the early part of the season, and conditions and considerations change as summer proper comes along. It is true to say that April and early May probably see tench inhabiting deeper water, especially after a few nights of frost. You will find them in that all-important first channel on gravel pits that is sure to be a target area if you are a float fisher. But on most waters there are areas of deep water further out too that can be reached with feeder. Patches of early emerging weed are also attractions but, above all, early tench do like a relatively clean bed to browse over. If you have one, it’s not a bad idea to rake a close-in swim and see what rubbish you come up with. The less the better, ideally. At range, casting a lead gives you a good idea, especially if you feel it bounce over clean stones.


A gorgeous April eight!

BUT don’t get too hung up over this depth thing. I am broadly right to highlight its importance, but do remember this. Remember that tench are very nomadic, and do not use one tight area solely. In all my experience, tench live in groupings and have fairly extensive territories. On larger waters a shoal of perhaps twenty fish might well wander along a stretch of bank two hundred yards long. They might spend time in the shallows, but then move off completely into deep water. In short, all these location rules are meant to be broken by a species that will travel where it wants to, not where it is supposed to.



Cold as it is, JB gets in to rescue a “nine” for dear Keith!

There are two big considerations to where they might want to be. One is where they find plentiful food… and I’ll come to that aspect in a day or two when I talk about baiting regimes. The other factor is an area where they feel comfortable, and that is where the ‘weather forecast’ part of the title comes in. Temperatures are obviously all part of it in early season, but in my experience, the real decider is wind direction. Put simply, a Northerly is bad. An Easterly is disastrous. Because I have spent most of my tench fishing life in East Anglia, the effects of an Easterly are probably magnified, but they have to be taken into account everywhere, is my belief. I have no idea why Easterly winds are such killers but believe me, they are horrendous. As a tench guide I have to go out whatever the weather, but I would never bother to plan a trip in an Easterly, left to my own devices. NEVER!



A cold mid-April day but it doesn’t stop JG hitting a big fish

You can, however, sometimes mitigate the effects of a cruel wind by choosing a swim that escapes the full force of its blow. That means picking swims on the North and Eastern banks, so you get the wind coming over your shoulder rather than into your face. The JG Swim on the Sand Pit is a good example. It is situated in the North Eastern corner of this 10 acre pit, and is snugly hidden down a steep bank so that the wind whistles overhead and hits open weather some fifty yards out from you. The swim is 12-15 feet deep at the rod tip too, and these combining factors can make for success when every other swim on the lake is dead.

I know it is not always possible to pick and choose your swim on crowded club waters or commercials, but I’d still recommend you try to think it out, rather than plump for the first swim you come to and settle just for easy. Next time, I’ll be looking at baiting regimes and considerations, and in my view that is more important than simple straightforward watercraft. Tench are like any creatures, and can be led to wherever you want them to go by the promise of a cheap meal!

The post The Tench Timetable 00:02 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[John Bailey]

#3 BAITING REGIME CONSIDERATIONS

It’s vital to realise that tench groups are highly nomadic within a fairly large territory, depending on the size of the venue of course. If you are going to catch them, you have to stop them in their wanderings, concentrate them together, entice them down to the bed, and then convince them to feed on what you are offering.



JB and Enoka with spring fish

Prebaiting! Let’s make no bones about this, and admit that whether we like it or not, prebaiting is hugely effective and revolutionises catches. It is a tactic you cannot use on busy waters, or if you live a long way from the venue. It is also not allowed on some waters because of rules and, indeed, prebaiting offends some people’s sensibilities, which I can understand. Yet, prebaiting is a perfect example of how you can bend wild fish to your will. If it is done well, prebaiting can over days attract more and more groups of tench into your swim until they coalesce into one huge shoal. On private waters you can prebait, but you can also often find room on carp syndicate waters if you work with the carpers and agree to keep out of their swims, in return for a patch of your own. The swim doesn’t even have to be a top one, because prebaiting will drag tench to where you want them, rather than where their own inclinations might take them.


Simon Ratcliffe with a beauty

JG ditto!

If you do not choose to go the full-blown prebaiting route, there is a halfway house. If you can get to the water the night before your session, and pile bait into a swim you can guarantee for yourself next day, this is far better than nothing. The worst scenario is to arrive cold on the day and fish a swim that has seen no bait at all. Really good watercraft can get you onto a peg where there are tench, and perhaps feeding tench, and you might get a fish or two. But remember, if this is how you do it, in April and May it is hard to overfeed a tench swim unless the water has very few in it, or unless it is very cold, possibly with winds from the East or North East. It is no use thinking half a tin of corn will produce a bag of tench for you, because two six pounders will eat that in ten minutes and move on. If it is relatively mild with a mellow Westerly or Southerly, then tench will be feeding hard, coming alive, making up for the winter, preparing for spawning in the months to come.



Let’s look at some important considerations as I see them. I like a good base mix, whether I am prebaiting or just feeding on the day. My go-to is Vitalin and I buy this in 15 kilo sacks. This is pedigree dog food, full of goodness, and full of tench-attracting bits and bobs that keep them interested for hours. Wetted, the Vitalin doubles in weight but even so, there are times in May, if I am out every day, I can go through six or seven sacks a week. This is where cost comes in. Vitalin, bought judiciously, can work out at about a pound per kilo dry, which is much cheaper than anything you can find in a tackle shop. Into the wetted Vitalin (I like it not too runny and not too stodgy), I add hemp, corn, parboiled rice, or even corn merchant bought Pigeon Mix – all of which provide small, attractive titbits to keep tench digging in the area for hours.


A Spomb loaded and ready to go

Enoka preparing to launch

This is the cake, if you like, let’s look at the cherries. Also add the juicy morsels that you are going to use on the hook to stop the fish becoming overly preoccupied with small food items alone. I’m thinking the obvious here. Maggots. Boilies. Pellets. Even chopped worms. How you deliver the bait depends on how far out you want to fish, obviously! If you are float fishing the margins you can deliver it by hand, but my life was changed when I began to use a plastic scoop. A scoop makes it cleaner for you but also it is more accurate, when you need that. You can fire balls much further by catapult, but you might need to stiffen the Vitalin base with standard ground bait so the balls do not break up mid-air. I prefer a Spomb. Okay, you will need a stronger extra rod to get this out, but you can whop up to 12 ounces of bait 70 yards plus when you need to. It is hard work, but once you are experienced, you get into a rhythm that really empties those buckets of bait!


JG shows great Spombing technique

JB baiting by boat

Or, sometimes, depending on rules and availability, you can use a boat. But be careful. Life jackets please. Do not go out in a wind, wearing chest waders, and a ton of water-absorbing clothing. Also, you will need a mate on the bank (or a marker float) to direct you because it is strangely disorienting when you are out there, and you can heave the bait into entirely the wrong place! My advice is not to bait too tightly, but spread it around the swim a bit. You want passing fish to see the bait easily and give them something to home in on. Also, it is good to have the tench spaced around a largish swim when you can, simply because of the disruption factor when a fish is hooked. You’ll find there are hotspots within this larger area where you almost know a bite will occur – if you have baited well.


Always watch the swim carefully, so you can gauge how much tench activity
is taking place. It’s not always about rolling and splashing, a lot of movement
is subtle and just the sightings of backs or fin tips

I have already said that half a tin of corn is no use at all in 95% of situations. If I am prebaiting the night before, I’d perhaps put in 8 to 15 pounds of bait, depending on size of water, size and numbers of fish, and weather conditions. On arrival, I might fish for half an hour without baiting, just to see if tench are there already. If I know I have a lot of tench in a big swim on a big water I might well top up with five to ten pounds of bait every 45 minutes or so. If the fish are coming and if you are seeing a lot of fish topping, keep the food going in or they will drift off looking for food elsewhere. Keep working. Keep watching. Keep thinking about how to develop the session as it unfolds. Remember that on big pits especially the prime feeding time can be between 8.30am and 2.00pm, so do not slack off your feeding at 11.00am, thinking the fun is over. Furthermore, in my experience, the biggest fish of the day often come towards the end of the session.


See what I mean about Vitalin attracting huge numbers of caddis to the area?
Which in turn pull down the tench

If you can manage a window that allows you to fish for several days, you will find that a swim builds up, the more bait goes in and the more fish get used to visiting your swim. It is almost impossible to overfeed at this time of the year, in part because you also draw in endless invertebrates that feed on the left-over crumbs of your baiting banquet. These invertebrates in their turn attract even more hungry tench, so you are in effect creating your own micro world down there.


Enoka playing a fish

On big waters that have big swims and numbers of biggish tench, it can pay to work as a team of two to four mates. If you share the cost, you can buy more bait and build up tench activity quicker. You can share the Spombing too and save your shoulders a bit. Above all, you can share the fun! And that, after all is said and done, is the whole object of trying to catch these gloriously beautiful fish.



In this piece I have outlined how you can get the best out of any tench water I have come across, which is hundreds. However, I can completely understand if you simply want to venture out with a single float rod, a can of corn, enjoy the wonders of a May dawn, and keep your fingers crossed that a lovely tench will come your way. The choice is entirely yours.

The post The Tench Timetable 00:03 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[John Bailey]

#4 TACKLE

We are pretty much halfway through this Tench Timetable guide of mine, and I really hope it is building up to something useful. I have dedicated myself to tench between April and September for many years now, and I truly think I know how to achieve results. Hopefully for you lot too.



Old style tench fishing scenes

Looking at tackle is not easy, because it really is subjective. I can say this swim or this bait works because I have definitive proof and experience that is the case. Tackle is not as cut and dried. What I can do is write what works for me, so here goes. I’ll be looking at fishing for tench with float, feeder and method feeder with modern(ish) gear. I’ll also mention vintage tackle as an aside when I come to it. I do this here because I do get many clients who want to fish for tench in the old manner. Tench do attract nostalgia to them and rightly so. The lily pond. The fizz of breaking bubbles. The rising sun and the lifting mists. Grandfather’s quill float stirring, lying flat, dipping, and disappearing into the growing gold of the East. Three pounds or ten does not matter. It is the experience that is the thing.

FLOAT FISHING


Marksman v Acolyte

I use exclusively Hardy Marksman models that are now 10-15 years old. I like a 13 or 14 foot rod, and I find the Hardys give me delicacy with power. I am very aware of the Drennan Acolyte range, which are a joy to hold. All I would say is that I have seen a number break (though Drennan seem excellent at replacing them) and that, for me, they lack a bit of spine. If you are the vintage way inclined, I know built-cane rods dating from goodness knows when do a good job, because I used them as a kid. Again, I’d go for something with power and perhaps 12 feet long in cane. I’m going to mention John Stephenson at Thomas Turner, because he knows about this gear inside out, and a contact with him would serve you well.


Some rather fancy tench floats

A Windbeater rides the waves

Equally with reels. For my money, you cannot beat a centrepin reel when it comes to fishing close(ish) in with a float. This is not claptrap. I do believe that the marriage of a float rod and a pin is a happy one, and allows complete control once you have mastered the technique, which is far from hard, and gets increasingly accomplished the more tench you engage with. It is a wonderful experience this, and I think you do yourself a disservice if you ignore it. John will advise if you want to go vintage and, truly, a good pin seventy years old will perform as well as a new one. However, there are modern pins to suit every pocket and Gary Mills, as we all know, makes beauties and he is not the only one.


A double hook-up on a float trip

The tench and the float

For what it is worth, I use a Piscario Titanium pin because I was given one. I have to report it is a workhorse of a reel. It has no bells or whistles, but it performs year in, year out, without any sign of wear whatsoever. I did love my Hardy Conquests and fished with those for around eight years, but they did begin to wobble and line could always get behind the drum. (Or perhaps that was bad angling, I’m prepared to admit.) I’m wary of saying what I use personally, lest I’m accused of profiteering. I do so because many people like to know, and I am being totally honest about what I think.

I generally go for 6lb BS mono. I will go heavier or lighter but rarely. I have a whole variety of wagglers taking anything from a couple of SSGs to a single number 6. I’ll say more about this in the future but I like to go as light with my float as conditions and distances allow. That is a golden rule. Plastic floats. Hand-made jobs. Ancient quills. All work. It is down to your preference.

LEGERING


Rods on rests

Once again, I go to my selection of ten year old Hardy Marksman Avons pretty much always. I like all of them. If I have favourites they might be the 11 foot Specialist models and the 12 foot rod that I like for bigger fish in tough conditions. I would NOT go vintage for this job because it can be brutal, but I am aware there are lots of rods out there to do the work.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to see or use a carp rod, but there are a number of 11 foot (or thereabouts) Avon-style rods of around 1.5 pounds test curve out there. I wouldn’t stress about this, and many rods that aren’t quite right do a job. For example, I still see John Wilson Avons brought out of the bag. They are too soft and underpowered in my book, but they do a job so who cares? I have a couple of ancient North Western quiver tip rods that I love. They are 12 feet long, soft again but with surprising power. Simon Clark had a mid-thirty mirror last year that came along by mistake, and the rod did well, albeit with a bit of moaning and groaning.


Blockend feeder success

These rods I use in conjunction with method feeders, where I am not expecting quite the savagery of bite I frequently experience with a blockend feeder. Method and blockend feeders do me for everything tench-related, but I do carry a variety of sizes.

Reels are obviously NOT pins as I can’t do the Wallis thing well, certainly not accounting myself able to flick a feeder seventy yards. I’ll simply say that I prefer bait-runner style reels for this work as bites can be more like carp runs – and quite often are. One point is this: I see no point in using big reels if you are casting a maximum of seventy or eighty yards, even though I step up line strengths, usually to 10lb BS. Smaller reels are nicer to work with, and if you have the option I’d go for 3000/4000 size reels every time.

BITS & BOBS


I’m happy to prop the rod on a single rest

Buzzers etc? Yes, I do use a buzzer set-up but more and more, I’m happy to prop the rod on a single rest and watch the tip. You’re never in doubt when a tench has committed, and the simplicity of the single rest encourages you to move if you think necessary. Anyway, I like to be constantly active rather than slouched in a chair (which I rarely use) so this suits me.

A bag with feeders, floats, hooks, forceps, plastic baits, scales, weigh slings, and that is truly about it, apart from a bucket of bait. Travelling much lighter than most folks once again allows me to walk further, and up sticks faster and with less fuss.

The post The Tench Timetable 00:04 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[Mark Wintle]

I still have a soft spot for tench. A couple of the better waters around Ringwood no longer hold them due to the morons who illegally introduced catfish, another couple of pits are off limits as now syndicate but I found some nice ones when I re-acquianted myself with another pit last summer when after roach and hope to find them again next summer.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Adding to the above. I haven't encountered river tench very often but there are historical records of tench in the Dorset Stour dating back to the 17th century and they're still caught up around Stur. Newton where I've had a couple. 50 years ago Peter Wheat reckoned a few would venture out of the Leaden Stour into the main river at the School Bridge on Throop at dusk but I've yet to see any down there. I fished a winter League nearly 30 years ago on the Brue near Glastonbury where a number of tench were caught in January; I had three (to 4-4) plus a bream (8-10) for 20lb and the angler at the next peg had 6 for 18lb, all fish coming to laid on casters near the far bank. Of similar vintage I recall odd tench coming out of the upper Bristol Avon at Chippenham; I had a 4lber in one match and was convinced I'd won the section as I had aound 7lb but had been blissfully unaware of an angler 8 pegs down who had 25 bream for 95lb for a close section win (I was 2nd ).

 

[Crystal Bend]

@John Bailey Loving your articles John. Very informative as always.
I've watched your Tench Fishing on the Float on YouTube numerous times as it's very good.
I was wondering if you could help me out with some of your end tackle detail.
In the video you have an Enterprise Artificial Bloodworm Rig and I was wondering what braid, hook do you use & how to you link the Braid to your Mono Reel Line?
Also what is your preferred Reel Line for Tench Float Fishing?
Many Thanks
John

 

[no-one in particular]

Adding to the above. I haven't encountered river tench very often but there are historical records of tench in the Dorset Stour dating back to the 17th century and they're still caught up around Stur. Newton where I've had a couple. 50 years ago Peter Wheat reckoned a few would venture out of the Leaden Stour into the main river at the School Bridge on Throop at dusk but I've yet to see any down there. I fished a winter League nearly 30 years ago on the Brue near Glastonbury where a number of tench were caught in January; I had three (to 4-4) plus a bream (8-10) for 20lb and the angler at the next peg had 6 for 18lb, all fish coming to laid on casters near the far bank. Of similar vintage I recall odd tench coming out of the upper Bristol Avon at Chippenham; I had a 4lber in one match and was convinced I'd won the section as I had aound 7lb but had been blissfully unaware of an angler 8 pegs down who had 25 bream for 95lb for a close section win (I was 2nd ).

I had 8 tench in quick succession once from a river but that was a fluke, I had had the odd one from it before. However, the river can be more like a big drain or canal. The flow is held up by sluice gates and the edge has some dense weed in the summer up to about 6 ft out, past that it drops to 12/15ft in the middle. I usually caught them on bread fished just over the edge of the weed with a float, of course they always dived straight into the weed and they could be difficult to get out but I learned to bully them a bit and get them to surface quickly and hold them there until they tired. They were always lovely conditioned fit fish up to 6lb and probably never caught before as hardly anyone fished there. Over 10 years my mate and I had quite a few but they seemed to have disappeared as I have not had one for about 5 years and the whole river appears to have declined for other species as well. I have not got to the bottom of that but the Mullet still get up it some years.

 

[John Bailey]

#5 TENCH RIGS & END TACKLE

We are about halfway through my Tench Timetable guide to (Spring) tench fishing, and as it is only the 20th March as I write, the whole project should be finished neatly by the first week of April, when tench fishing has started for me most years this century.

Tench rigs, the business end, where you triumph or where you fall flat. It is important to consider how tench feed if we are to understand what is going on here. Typically, a group of tench come into your swim, drop down through the water column, and hover over the bait you have laid. They then tip up almost vertically onto their heads and begin to drift an inch or two over the bait carpet, sucking up items as they pass. They rarely pick bait up physically in their lips and they expel the waste, twigs and the like, and swallow the corn, hemp or maggots. It is an easy, relaxed process, and once the tench has a good mouthful, it will right itself and swim off, chewing the food, before returning to repeat the procedure over and over.


Into an early season tinca

The suck that tench generate is enough to lift particle baits, and even a lobworm, into the mouth, and tench seem to know exactly the amount of suction required in any given situation. It is vital to realise that if a piece of food, generally a hook bait, is too heavy to be sucked in, it is simply left where it lies on the lake bed. In the “old” days before tench were pressured like they are today, they would pick up big baits like flake or corn, but generally now they are too wary to do this. In this they are like their carp cousins and, like carp, once tench learn about danger, they become more cautious about how they suck food items up.

COMPLETELY STUMPED


A super tench for Heidi

Let’s take sweetcorn as the perfect example of all this. Back in the mid-late eighties, my fishing partner Roger Miller and I were completely stumped by the tench of Blickling Lake in Norfolk. Each morning, we would throw in a bucket of corn and hemp and float fish a grain of corn on a size 10 on top. The tench would come in, feed for three hours, clean up every scrap of bait, apart from our two hooked grains, and depart. Day after day we were driven to complete distraction. How were they doing this without ever making a mistake? Well, I’ve told you. That size 10 was the issue. It was too heavy, and it simply anchored the corn to the bed where it resisted the power of the dreaded suck! Thousands of grains unfettered by the hook were consumed, and our two were eternally ignored.

WE DEVELOPED STRATEGIES


Tench on plastics

The usual explanation is that the fish are too clever, too sharp-sighted, or whatever. The simple answer is that tench are feeding naturally and avoid capture as a result. Roger and I were not fools. After a while we began to realise all this and develop strategies. We used half a grain of corn on a size 18. We used a grain of corn on a hair and a size 16. We emptied out the body of the corn and inserted a piece of polystyrene so that it floated. Finally, we stumbled onto plastic, buoyant corn imitations that neutralised the weight of the hook, whatever size.

NEUTRAL BUOYANCY


Items of rig gear for the modern tench angler

JB’s hook lengths ready to go

All this is well known through the carp world, but even today can be ignored outside it. Given our pressured times, it is no longer enough to splash out a big bait and sit back in hope. You have to think about how any bait will behave, and how it will respond to the power of the suck. So, let’s start thinking about presenting baits that are light, buoyant, or have neutral buoyancy. Smaller, lighter hooks. Hairs. Plastic baits. Popped-up boilies. Braid hook lengths that are softer, more supple, and less resistant than ones of mono. It’s good to test all baits in a bucket of water before casting them out. Watch how the bait stirs and rises if you swirl the water above it with your hand. If it sticks to the bottom of the bucket, then you know it will not rise to the tench’s suck and will be ignored.

FISH OVER-DEPTH


Float fishing

Your line is also important. Think how tench position themselves vertically to feed. Wised-up fish are perfectly capable of feeling a tight line rub abrasively against their flank. A tench startled by this will squirt away alarmed, taking shoal members with it. That’s why, if you are float fishing and line has to fall through the water column, set the float over-depth so that line hangs as limp and unthreatening as a stray strand of weed. If you are legering, it is vital to lay line along the bottom so it hugs the contours as closely as possible.

SLACK LINE



Tench on a feeder

Here, a length of lead core up from the feeder can be a real boon. It looks ungainly, but it keeps your last giveaway few yards of tell-tale line firmly on the deck and out of sight. It’s also a good ploy to fish a slack line between your rod tip and the feeder, so do not tighten up too dramatically after the cast. If you do, you can create the “cheese wire” effect that all carp anglers aim to avoid. That results in yards of tight line slanting through the water that tench can either see, or sometimes bump into and learn to regard as danger.

Obviously, end rigs and baits are very closely aligned. The next chapter in The Tench Timetable will scrutinise the best baits, and the best ways to present them. Cunning plans can make a colossal difference to your tench results.

The post The Tench Timetable 00:05 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[Crystal Bend]

Absolutely brilliant John and can't wait for the next instalment.

 

[John Bailey]

#6 BAITS

Over the past ten years, April, May and June have been my hectic tench guiding months, and some seasons I have been out between five and six times a week. My best year saw in excess of twelve hundred tench landed, and even my worst ones have resulted in five hundred plus fish. A decent day for me is ten tench, split between anything from one to four anglers. A good day is twenty fish, and a red letter day, fifty fish plus. One day in 2018, Malcolm and Richard had sixty seven tench and eight double figure bream. The three of us thought what you are thinking: it really was too much, but these are guys in their sixties who have known tough times, and deserved one extraordinary day as recompense.


Pingers and Clarky with tench… plus spaniel Bailey

Robbie and tench

Now, I do NOT cite these figures to brag in any way, believe me. I only tell you all this because it is important you take on board what baits have produced these results. I want to give you confidence to perhaps try something new. Overall and approximately, in the last three years, 45% of all tench have been caught on plastic baits; 35% have been caught on boilies; and 20% have come on naturals of one sort or another. Let’s look more closely at these figures.

PLASTIC BAITS





Plastic maggot set-ups, plus a double-figure fish for JB and client

I had great trouble believing in plastic baits myself, and a lot of my guests can’t initially get their head around them either. At first, it seems bonkers that a tench would prefer to eat bits of plastic than the real thing – but they do. Let’s take red maggots. Firstly, I used three real maggots on a 14, and one plastic one. Then I used two and two. After a while, it went to three plastics and one real one, and soon I went the whole hog of four plastics and no real ones at all. AND the catch rate went up and up, whether using feeder or float.

To get used to this concept, you have to go back to how I described the way tench feed in Tench Timetable Part 5. Remember the all-important tench suck I talked about. Four maggots on a size 14 are heavy, and do not rise into the tench’s mouth because of this. The suck does not have enough power, and the maggots are left on the lake bed. However, three, four or five plastic maggots, especially the buoyant ones, counterbalance the weight of the hook perfectly, and when the tench hovers over this bait and sucks, the hook flies into the mouth. Bingo.



Feeder variations

Feeder/plastic maggot capture

Not all plastic baits are equal. I vastly prefer all those made by Drennan. Take that company’s red maggots, a real favourite. They are big, glossy, blood-red, and magnificently buoyant. They stand out on the lake bed and tench actively home in on them. You can use these plastic maggots direct on the hook, but in my view, they are better hair-rigged. Remember what I said about testing baits in a bucket or shallow margins? Waft your hand over every bait set-up, and it should lift and waver in the current you produce. Think about three big tench in the immediate vicinity of your bait. Imagine the power of their pectorals and the way they stir the water around them. You want your bait to be lifting and falling balletically, and all a tench has to do is open its lips and sip it in.

So, experiment with plastic maggots, and vary the numbers and hook sizes ’till you are happy with the way everything behaves in the water. Use plastic corn similarly, and plastic bloodworm can be deadly over silt beds. And, as a bonus, small silvers ignore plastics, so you can rest assured your bait is sitting there perfect until it is taken.

BOILIES


A boilie set-up

Boilie-caught tench

Again, both on float and feeder, boilies are a killer tench bait. I much prefer them to pellets, though the latter do take bream if they are present. I personally prefer red boilies sized 10mm or 12mm, but 15mm can be a go-to if big silvers are a nuisance. I’m not too fussed on the flavour or make, to be honest, as most of those I have tried seem to work. There are times when neon colours win the day, so keep a few pinks and lurid oranges in your bag.

Now, tench know that a boilie needs a bigger, more hearty suck than a maggot, so often a hair-rigged boilie will do the job. If bites are not materialising, then, once more, you need to tinker a bit. Try half a boilie. Try a smaller hook. A longer hair. Try a cocktail and put three plastic maggots, or a piece of plastic corn, on the hair to make the boilie more buoyant. Try an out-and-out pop-up boilie. Try putting a buoyant neon-coloured plastic blob on the hair, alongside the boilie, to help neutralise the weight and give visual appeal. Once again, test and retest your boilie set-up in that bucket ’till you get everything spot-on.

NATURALS






A hair-rigged, popped-up worm worked for Heidi!

Of all the “old” baits, worms are the one I still use. When lakes are dead, especially post-3.00pm, a good old lob can produce a fish or two out of seemingly nowhere. I never quite believe it when I see it, but, hey, it can work.


A worm cocktail

A caddis colony attracted by groundbait

Now this happened. In 2017, David had been fishing with me from Monday morning ’till Wednesday afternoon. We had had two tench I think. It had been dire. He had left a bottle of something in a sack in the margins, and before he left he said we would have a quick toast, failure notwithstanding. The sack came in and there were some caddis cases on it. I put four on a hook whilst we drank… and David had a tench in a couple of minutes. There were five caddis left. On they went and out came a second tench. On Thursday Ian was with me. I had left a landing net in the margins overnight, and two hundred caddis had climbed onto it. Those caddis, and those we caught during the day, landed us over fifty fish. Friday the same. By Saturday, we had recorded around 130 runs to caddis and 5 to maggots. We had fished maggot on two rods and caddis on two rods, and the rod positions were rotated so the experiment was as fair as we could make it.



A caddis/plastic maggot cocktail

We have never had quite as dramatic experience as this again, but caddis can turn around a quiet day, and they are a huge addition to a normal plastic maggot set-up. Four plastics on a hair and three caddis on the hook produce a great cocktail, but play around yourself.


Enoka with a net full of caddis


Some lakes are caddis-richer than others, but most hold them in my experience. Place a soft mesh landing net in the margins and if you search around, you should find the caddis in their cases clinging to the mesh when you pull it in. Robbie Northman enjoys catching caddis rather more than he does catching tench, by the way! We tend to extract the grub from the case carefully but on occasion, when action has been red-hot we have simply hooked the case and have had fish. That is how tench eat them in the wild after all, not prepared by JB with loving care.

So there you are. Crabtree would be turning in his grave, I know, but I’m telling you what has worked extremely well for us on very many tench lakes. I’m never saying a knob of flake or paste will not work from time to time, but if you want to catch tench regularly, this is how I do it. Next, I’ll be taking you through a JB tench day on the float.

The post The Tench Timetable 00:06 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[Crystal Bend]

Brilliant insights again @John Bailey into Tench Fishing and really appreciate all the years of knowledge\experimentation that you are sharing with us.
I'm currently trying to put a terminal tackle order together at the moment and I've taken note of the items in your previous post but would love to hear your recommendations for additional hooks, reel lines, braided hooklengths, artificial baits etc.
Many Thanks
John

 

[John Bailey]

#7 FLOAT ACTION




April is a week away. With luck, even the beginning of that happy month might see temperatures in the low teens, and if there are no Northerlies or Easterlies about, you can realistically begin to think about tench sport. This is what we all dream of, a frieze of the traditional tinca morning. The reeds around you a titter of warbler song. A bright, calm lake, and your chosen swim all frothy with those auspicious bubbles. A crimson float rocking, then diving, and the scream of a reel. A plump, pristine PB lying on a glistening mat whilst the cuckoo sings. This can be your reality.



Fabulous tench action for Dominic and Justin

Choose a swim dependent on the weather forecast – and pray for once it is right. If the wind is from the South or West, pick a swim where you want: if a Northern or Easterly, fish a bank that offers shelter. A Southerly in your face is good, an Easterly in your face is a killer. Try to plumb those swims before a session, so you know the depth and your plummet won’t disturb the waters on the day.

PREBAIT IN ADVANCE




If you can, prebait the night before, or even a day or two in advance. If not, get to the water early and bait before you start putting up the gear. A bucket of Vitalin, mixed fairly soft and laced with red maggots and red 10mm boilies is my choice. I deliver it with a scoop close in, and a Spomb further out, but most of this float work is done in the first gully, generally little more than four rod lengths’ range. If baiting the night before, I’ll put in ten pounds minimum, on the day, half that. But I’ll always bear in mind club rules, weather conditions, and how prolific the water is, so fixed rules are hard to lay down.




More float action

A 13-14 foot float rod with a bit of beef to it. Six pound mainline and a five pound bottom is par, but go heavier in weed or snags. A waggler of some sort, I like reed, but plastic more than does. All the shot up top, locking the float, this way there is no shot in the water column – something tench loathe. Set that float at least one foot, or preferably two feet over depth, so the line hangs limp from top to bottom. That way, a tench brushing slack line will not bolt, terrified.

BUBBLES? KEEP BAITING




When you see bubbles, keep the bait going in

If there is a strong wind, a BB shot might just be needed, a foot from the hook, to stabilise things, but generally a 10/12mm boilie will give you all the weight you need for an anchor. Hair rig the bait, but use a short hair please… half an inch is well enough. A size 10 hook is a good starter. Bites should be bold. If the action is consistent, and you are seeing bubbles and rolling fish, keep baiting, a scoop every 15 to 30 minutes, depending. If bites slow down, step up the bait. And/or move to plastic maggots – 4/5 on a hair and a size 12 hook, or even 3 on a hair and a size 16. Test all your baits in the margins at your feet, or in a bucket. The more you work and the less you sit back idle, the more tench you will catch.



Tench on!!

If absolutely nothing happens, and you sense the swim is dead, walk and watch other swims for any sign of tench activity. Talk to carpers. Ask if they caught tench overnight, and on what. Ask them if they have seen tench moving, and where. Every single heads-up you can glean is useful knowledge acquired. Remember too, that smaller tench swims can die after a few tench have been taken. If you want a full day’s sport, and if bankside pressure allows, it is good to have a further two swims baited and ready to go. See what I mean about working to get a result?

WHEN TENCH CLOCK ON




By and large, shallow estate lakes, ponds and pools fish best early doors, until the sun is well up. Most of my pits come on around 8.30am, and reach a high point between 10.00am and noon. It is a fact that many of the biggest tench I have seen have come late in the session, often around 1.00pm. It’s around this time that the lobworm comes into its own and often picks up a whopper. Expect action again from about 4.30pm until dusk.



They are my guidelines. Every water is different, and every session is unique. The one certainty is that if you rest, you rust. Keep thinking. Keep watching. Keep trying things until the safe is unlocked, and you are delivered the perfect day.

The post The Tench Timetable 00:07 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[John Bailey]

#8 LEGERING IN ACTION




Feeder work, for that is what legering for tench is primarily about, probably isn’t seen as glamorous as float fishing, but in my world it is still gripping and fascinating, and I never feel like I have got to the bottom of it. What feeder fishing is undeniably about is blistering efficiency. I’d always think six or eight tench on a float is a red-letter day. Treble that number when fishing a feeder on many waters. By the law of averages, the more tench you land, the greater the likelihood of one being a monster for the water being fished. I’m totally aware size isn’t everything, but there are times when it counts for us all.



Feeder-caught tench for Enoka, Pingers, Ratters and JG

I like to see where tench are showing

I like to get to the water as early as possible. It is probable that I have prebaited swims the night before, but I still like to see where tench are showing and giving me clues. If you can get there on the knell of dawn, great, especially if there is little wind and there has been no trace of a late frost. Binoculars will reveal the usual bubbling, rolling and splashing fish, so mark these areas for the future, or indeed, go attack them NOW!

SPOMB DELIVERS


Stocking up for a session

A Spomb, loaded with goodies

JG on Spombing duty

In all probability, feeder work generally is beyond a scoop to deliver bait so my go-to is the Spomb, largest of the available sizes. The usual mix of Vitalin, maggots, boilie samples, and sometimes hemp, is the carpet I lay down, and loads sweetened with molasses repay the extra effort and expense… but buy from an equestrian shop and it won’t be too bad. Use a heavy pike rod, a big reel, braid, and Spomb for all you are worth. As April drifts into May, you cannot put too much bait out there.


Three rods at work

A method feeder, ready for flight

I like to use three rods, reels loaded with 10lb breaking strain, as a rule. Now I can fish both blockend and method feeders with a range of hook baits and rig set-ups. I rotate and experiment ’till I find what the tench want on the day. The big Drennan blockends can deliver a pint of maggots an hour when I’m going well, so that adds to what the Spomb can get out there. If I’m with the method, I’ll prepare the mix quite stiff and press the hookbait well into it for the cast. I’ll watch the feeder in flight to make sure it does not break up airborne and cause a potential tangle.

WATCH THE TIP LIKE A HAWK



Feeder rigs

I tend these days to put the rod on a single rest, a buzzer if you want the audio warning. This means the rods are pointing up somewhat, but I like this a lot. I watch the rod tips, and the line from them to the water’s surface, like a hawk. I’m watching for any blips, knocks and twitches, just as much as full-blown runs. Some indications will be liners, but many will not, and if fish are out there and bites are not developing, than you have to work for a solution. Swap baits, hook lengths, and try baits popped up an inch or two, no more I’d advise for tench, but then no one knows everything.


A blockend tench, plastic maggots well in view

What feeder fishing can do. Steve and Simon with four tench for 32 pounds

If bites are developing but the fish aren’t quite sticking, then try bigger feeders, or tighten the reel’s clutch or baitrunner to provide more resistance and better hooking power. Above all, make sure your hooks are talon-sharp. They can easily loose that edge if they bounce over stones or mussel shells. Getting it right some sessions is all about hard graft, and realising the smallest tweaks can make a massive difference. That, once again, is where the three rod approach gives you the edge.

KEEP THAT ROD UP




Feeder-caught tench

Play fish confidently because you have the gear for them. Keep the rod high and hold the fish up in the water column. Let the fish drop down and you run the risk of it getting into weed roots, bottom snags, and rubbing the line over the razor shells of the mussels and gravel bars. If the line keeps parting without obvious cause, swan mussels can be the culprit, so use lead core to offer some protection, or cast along a different line.


Heidi and Dad travel light and are happy to move

If there is absolutely nothing happening at all, think about a move. No fish showing. No runs. No bangs on the rod tip. Perhaps it is time to up sticks and try for those fish that you might have spied at first light. Just like you did when you were float fishing, ask long-stay carpers where they have seen or had tench action. In their eyes, they are giving you useless info so they will be uncommonly generous at times. At least with just three rods, three rests, a bag, a bucket, and a Spomb rod you can face a move without too much horror.


A nice one for JB

What a whopper

I rarely even take a chair. Partly this is because I might need to move, but also I never sit back and wait for tench to wander in. I’m always on it. I’m reeling rods in, changing and testing new bait combinations, Spombing, watching through binoculars, and generally thinking like crazy. The feeder approach is never the dull method some imagine, and I am always quite shattered at the end of a session. If I am not, then I am not happy I have done my best. If I blank, I am relaxed, providing I have tried every trick in the book – and then some.




Dear Keith and son Robin with a feeder-caught tench, ably netted by Enoka
The post The Tench Timetable 00:08 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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