Favourite way too fish for tench?

[tat]

Float fished about 6" overdepth,then watch it lift,drop away,lift,drop away then go.chuffin' marvellous.btw bait is lob with maggot,not much else to say.

[biggun]

A hand grenade and a catchers mitt!

Just kidding, I like to float fish with sweetcorn glugged in bloodworm oil (it stinks to high heaven but the Tench love it).

[grinner]

tench,the fish that got me hooked on angling.iwas never really interested in fishing i used to say "i would rather sit in the park with toothache than go fishing"untill one day about six years ago.my son was 10 years old and had been going fishing with his grandad for a couple of years, fishing mainly comercial waters whitch he loved.then one saturday morning his grandad had to work and was unable to go,so as not to dissapoint him i agreed to sit with him on a local lodge.after a couple of hours i was getting a little fed up so whilst i was waiting i set up a quiver tip, simple ledger rig and a jocking big lob worm cast it in about 15 meters and forgot about it. i sat there for another couple of hours and thinking of going when the rod jumped out of the rest and the reel started screeming,i grabbed it and i thought id hooked a marlin,it took me all over the lodge.after what felt like an hour, but was probably 5 or 10 mins it was in the landing net a perfect 7llb 12oz specimen tench,i could hear my heart beating in my ears,my hands were shaking,i was buzzing and hooked.this year will be my seventh year fishing with my son we fish all year round,weather permitting and still getting that same buzz every time i connect. ive fished the same lodge loads of times since and never caught that fish again but the tench is and will always be my favorate fish to catch.and that was the first fish i ever caught.
now i prefer to fish pole in the margins with a cube of luncheon meat it usually produces tench regularly.

[robm]

Tench do take some beating as a favourite fish,i bet there,s not many favourite fish polls where the Tench does,nt,figure very highly on the list.
Another 5/6 weeks and my thoughts will be turning towards the Tench again
and another early season campaign to bag a few of those Green Giants.

robm

[Barrie C]

I fished for many years at Tring Resevoirs (cant spell!) Wilstone and Startops.

Huge waters! Now that was hard fishing! But when the Tench started feeding on your bait the sport was fantastic.

My first overnight on Wilstone got me a 9lb 4oz and my picture in the Angling Times - that got me hooked on specimen fishing! I gave up on Tench fishing there after I had a 10lb 1oz, I just knew I wasn't as good as the other guys who had fished there for years and it really was a bit of a fluke!

The favoured method on there is really unusual for Tench:

rake out a spot - if needed
Drop markers - normally 2
Bait up the swim - using a boat
Fish a paternoster (safe rig)
Maggot or Caster -

This was basically the same method used for the big Perch as well

Can't wait to get my hands on some Fenland Tench - though I won't be fishing with the same method

Barrie

[robm]

Hi Barrie
A double figure Tench is near the top of my wanted list,well done to you for getting one off Wilstone, as you say a fluke but you must of been doing something right mate.
Wilstone,a scene of some legendary catches of Tench over the years and im sure many have been enthrawled by the many articles and stories told and published about it.

robm

[baitmaster]

yes them waters have had lots wrote about them many times i to have read many a articles and wanted to fish startops, wilstones tring , ect but sadly never did i,m with barries worm and caster

tightlines
kevin

[robm]

My most productive method of fishing for Tench is either introducing my bait which would be casters and pellets by spod or from my boat,depending on venue and presenting 2 rubber casters hair rigged to a size 10s carp r us longshank nailer hook fished on a semi fixed bolt rig with a short hooklength inside a funnel web stick.

A few years ago i would of laughed at someone telling me that they caught loads of fish on a piece of rubber but not any more.

But i must admit that it could be the efficiency of a well presented rig that really makes the difference,and the bait doesn,t have to look like anything in particular.But the artificial casters are the ones for me.

robm

[Barrie C]

Rob,

Wilstone is a funny place, you really had to put some horrendous hours in. If you went up there in summer quite often no one would be on there for weeks.

I'm looking forward now to the Summer and having a go on the drains for Tench, Perch and eels

[robm]

Yes roll on spring,i normally start a baiting campaign on my Tench water around mid march and start fishing a couple of weeks later.
Im in the lucky position of actually running a fishing syndicate on a cheshire mere with 12 members and approx 25 acres of water so you can prebait and prepare your swim in the knowledge that no one else will fish it,each person will let eachother know where they are baiting and planning to fish.
Im looking as though my next couple of months im going to be very busy,i,m still planning a few more sessions where i fish for Bream before it closes on march 15th but i,ve been distracted with the Zander lately which are also still in my plans for the next month or so,then Tench campaign starts mid march,i am in the tenchfishers also and have a fishin at Sywell in april and i have been lucky enough to get my name drawn out of the hat for our very popular fishin early may at the Carp society,s Horseshoe lake in Gloucestershire,i also got drawn out last year for Horseshoe and had a great weekend there,WOW I LOVE HORSESHOE im really looking forward to that one.

robm