Carp,TENCH,pineapple, and winter help quick!!!!!!

[new fisher]

Hey guys how u doin. i need some help im going fishing today and i was going to try pineaplle boiles for carp and maybe tench do you think it will work. i dont know if it will because it is winter. i was going to leger for them with 2 ounce lead what do you think? thanks

[Tyke]

Depends on the size of the boilies. Even carp tend to be very slow to take large baits in winter i.e., anything over 10mm. You will need to groundbait. Remember, a little in quantity and at a rate of once every 15min, until you start to catch, then increase the feed to about every 10min, but keep the amount the same.
As for tench, without a doubt small particle baits and very small worms tend to work best for tench in winter. As to groundbaiting, can I suggest you have a look at my post under ' Going for Green.'
Do use lighter hook lengths, than normal, with corresponding hook size.
You might, also, like to try small pellets 3 - 6/8mm, as an alternative to boilies.
Hope this helps.

[_Glad_]

You know thats something I'v never done, fishing boilies for tench. I'v always been a worm man myself, using small worms in the winter.

[Tyke]

If you fish a lake frequented by carp anglers, then I suggest that tench can become educated to boilies, just as they can to any bait. Hence, use what you think they are feeding on at that time. As you suggest, worms are a very good bait. However, I tend to find that on some lakes and ponds that pellets or boilies work best ( my best river tench last season 6lb 5oz was caught on an 8mm bloodworm pellet, when all else had failed). The important thing is not to sit there like the Sphinx of Giza, but to ring the changes until you find the taking bait. A slower method would be to feed a chosen swim with your preferred bait, for a week or more, to wean the tench from bait A to bait B. Don't tell any one what you are doing or where or you could have great difficulty fishing your chosen swim when you return!. If you are fishing over a muddy or silted bottom, if you'll pardon such an indelicate expression, you may find bites are slow in coming when fishing laid on the bottom, because the worm has become buried in the mud. In such a situation, a pop - up boilie or pellet has a greater chance of being found. Again, if the water is not very clear, a bright bait such as an orange, or red boilie has more chance of being seen. As with all things, size is important. I would suggest that tench do not relish the 25mm 'Gob - stoppers' used by some carp anglers. Very seldom would I go bigger than 12/15mm and even that may be too big! The important point you make is that we do not need to use the latest in bait, in order to catch fish. My late grandfather and his friend J.H.R. Bazley used worm, maggot, breadpaste, and grubs. They caught fish!

[BoldBear]

From this time of year onwards:
How many times have you sat watching Tench bubbles moving towards your bait only to see them moving across your bait and carrying on without so much as a touch?

This often happens in muddied or coloured water with silt covered bottoms.and has happened more times than I can remember and is usually because the Tench have their mouths buried into the silt searching for bloodworm etc. and your bait is sitting on the surface of the silt and is usually missed by the Tench.

When this happens it can be very frustrating and a change to a bait that can will sink through the surface silt like a lively Lobworm or a largish piece of smelly paste or a largish piece of corn can often make the difference when this happens.

[Tyke]

Tench, like all animals are governed by two types of behaviour. Inbred reflexes and conditioned reflexes. The first type cannot be altered eg the sex drive. However, the second type is acquired by experience. For example when a baby learns to cry in order to access food. So it is with tench. The breeding of millions of years of evolution has conditioned the tench to grubbing around in the detritis on the bottom for it's food. However, if it comes across an item of food that does not require rooting for, does this mean that it will reject that item? No. On the contrary, if it finds bait that is easily acquired, it will become preoccupied with that bait and when the opportunity arises it will take that item in preference to bait that it must work for. Any animal works on the principal of conserving energy and will not waste energy on time consuming foraging, when food is staring it in the mouth.
If the above is incorrect, how do we explain the fact that any fish can be encouraged to take a particular bait by a particular presentation, as adirect result of prebaiting? There is more than enough 'a posteriori' evidence to show that fish can be 'educated' in to accepting a specific bait.
The late, great, Richard Walker made the point that the 'lift rig' did not work on soft bottoms, because the bait had disappeared from sight. By corollary, it follows that if our bait is buried, it is not going to be as successful as a visible bait.
Tench, like all fish have a very well developed sense of smell and, undoubtedly use this facility for detecting food that is buried in the bottom. But to go back to a previous point, why work harder than you have to for food, if it is sitting up waiting to be taken?
We cannot predict, with any certainty, how tench will feed - thank goodness- but perhaps we all tend to ascribe intelligence to the tench that it does not possess. As a result, we tend to assume that fish have decided on what they wish to feed and cannot be changed, when a simple change of presentation may be the key.
If fishing were so predictable and easy, I suspect that most of us would give it up in favour of a better challenge. It is the very unpredictability and the solving of many puzzles that renders fishing so enjoyable. Oh, Yes! It's also very frustrating!

[NICK R]

all this talk of Tench has made me think of those long summer evenings

Mr wilson tench fishing

[Tyke]

Too true, roll on summer, but I still enjoy catching river tench in winter.

[_Glad_]

too right, looking forward taking them on this summer...

[count zero]

They are out and about already, had a 4lb female and a 3 1/2lb male yesterday