Early Season Tench - Fenland Drain

[Fentiger001]

Evening All,

I am aiming for the first weekend of the season on a Fenland Drain, fishing for Tench. My plan is to do a bit of pre-baiting / raking out of a suitable swim. My initial thought is to pre-bait with groundbait / hemp and a selection of hookbaits. Never having done this before though, I was wondering if any of you more experienced Tench anglers have any ideas on this? Would it perhaps be better to prebait with a cheap particle bait such as wheat or indeed not at all??? I was planning to use the usual baits such as Lobworm / Sweetcorn etc.

Kind regards,
Dave

[BoldBear]

Do they send up Tench bubbles on the Fens? (Some waters don’t seem to bubble as much as others).
If they do bubble then an early morning or evening recce could be more productive than a blind prebaiting campaign; looking for the hot spots where they are sending up Tench bubbles; and then feeding some samples of the hook baits you are going to use. failing that then a blind prebaiting spree might work, I wouldn't overdo it though and a small amount fairly often would be more effective than a large ammount once a week which could leave bait rotting on the bottom if overdone and have the reverse effect. Alternatively just pick a likely holding place and prebait the evening before. Tench are not known for going mad at night; with their main feeding spells being from Dawn to mid morning and the early evening till around 10'ish . But there can be marked differences on different waters even waters that are in the same geographical area; however the amount of pressure they get from anglers probably accounts for much of this.

I enjoy early morning Tenching using a Waggler with a size 14 hook; with bread flake, small redworms, casters and sweetcorn being my favourite hook baits (in that order of preference) however my friends seem to catch quite a few Tench on pellets and small boilies.
I sometimes use a groundbait that contains mollasses and/or dried blood; but I usually just loosefeed with the same bait as is on the hook or small soft halibut pellets.
Good luck and tight lines.
Let us know how you get on

[Fentiger001]

Cheers Bold, many thanks for all that info - certainly enough to get me going, i'll let you know how I progress!

Kind regards,
Dave

[Wilza]

I'd put in some small balls of Vitalin in likely looking spots it's cheap stuff for pre baiting and frozen sweatcorn too as it's cheaper than tinned as you get more.