Tench - feeding spells and Lillies

[BoldBear]

At this time of year like many; I start to daydream of Tench fishing in the Spring.

Feeding Spells:
I remember the really early sessions that we have on our local gravel pits when we fish from around 0400 till 07:30 before we pack up and go home and then on to work.
There must be hundreds of these gravel pits all over the country that for those in the know can produce hectic sport after the Tench in the really early hours. By the time we packup at around 07:30 the Tench have stopped their main feeding spell and 99% of the anglers who fish the pit after this hour don't even realise what they have missed. Which is a good thing for us.
They may catch the odd Tench throughout the day but have no real Idea of what they have missed.
The evening usually starts another feeding spell but doesn't always produce as many Tench as the early hours.
Of course not all waters behave this way and the Tench feeding can be very different on other waters.

Lillies:
Has anyone noticed that; although Tench and Lillies normally go together in the summer; in the autumn when they start to die down and rot; they can actually appear to repell the larger Tench? I may be imagining it; but Ive spoken to other Tench specialists and matchmen who have also talked about it; and found that we start to catch the larger Tench well away from the lillies in the autumn and the further away the better.
We can still catch the small Tench in the lillies but not the bigger Tench who perhaps are not so dependent on a place to hide from predators.

[BoldBear]

Another thing that I've often wondered is why the 'Brandy' flavour (sold in some tackle shops) is so good for Tench and Carp?
Until someone told me that the flowers on some types of Water Lilies smell very similar when they are in bloom and seem to emit the flavour into the water from the pollen.
So the flavour may not be as strange to the fish as I thought and a bait masked with such a smell may not alarm them as could otherwise be the case.

Anyone got any other similar snippets of info that may help us catch more Tench?

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Always founf pineapple a great flavour and tinny 2mm halibut pellets as ground bait would hold them on your peg