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More Tench advice please.

S

Shaun Morris

Senior Member
Since returning to fishing a few years ago I have fished almost exclusively for Barbel. I have now decided retrace my steps and get back into a spot of Tench fishing.
My first question is about bait. I would like to use up the baits I already have as I live and fish on a fairly tight budget. Has anyone had any success catching Tench with any of these?
PELLETS
Hallibut
Lamprey
Crab

BOLLIES
Hallibut
Source
Spicy shrimp and prawn
Tiger Nut

My second question is to do with the timing of my sessions, I have not fished the traditional close season before. Am I right in thinking that in April and May there is no need to fish the traditional early and late sessions of summer tenching, and I can expect to catch throughout the day, as I used to do when fishing for Tench at the back end of the old season. Not asking people to give up treasured secrets, just looking to be pointed in the right direction.
Shaun
 
Providing the water is not overrun with small fish, you cannot beat casters, maggots and hemp.

And yes they will feed all day long.
 
Shaun. They love pellets, use them up.

I would fish the boilies crumbled up in conjunction with brown crumb and hemp with a half of one (if 16+ ml)hair rigged.

But, quite frankly a large frozen bag of sweetcorn at about £1.50 won't break the bank.

Graham
 
On a budget.

My kind of tenching.

Wheat, hemp, pellets (crab and halibut, though I rate crab and krill as best), sweetcorn, plain crumb groundbait laced with molasses (provided not to many bream present), worms (IMO redworms are the best tench bait, bar none).

TBH the list is endless!!;)
 
Many thanks for that chaps. Looking forward to using up old Barbel baits. The one I forgot to ask about were Hallihookers. Bought some and quickly gave up trying to catch a Barbel on these, much better and cheaper stuff available. However they look as if they might be a good Tench hook bait.
Agree with Colin about redworms. Years ago used to fish Campbells lake in Tillgate park in late Feb and early March. Redworm fished with Maggots and a bit of groundbait in the feeder out fished every thing else by miles.
Cheers
Shaun
 
cc moores live system in 10mm if you want a top boilie.
also, the good old richworth esterberry.
i prefer naturals to be honest.
 
I'm a red maggot fan myself. Enterprise curly red maggot on the hook, soaked in betalin (very cheap as they last almost forever). Spray reds to draw them in; no more than a pint per evening session for me personally. Cheap as chips (okay, not quite), but still cheaper than a half pack of boilies.

Paul
 
Casters are my top tench bait. Being a bit of a skinflint though I try to use as little as possible - I just mix a couple of pints in with my loose feed (pellets, crushed boilies, hemp, corn, wheat, molasses, brown crumb etc etc) then keep a pint or so back for PVA bags/feeders. Can still be expensive but buying all your hemp etc in bulk helps keep costs down.
 
Hi Shaun, if you are on a tight budget I would consider buying a sack of vitalin original dog food and use this as your bulk. You can buy a tray of 12 cans of sweetcorn from aldi for less than £4.
With the money you have saved I would buy a few jars of Dynamite frenzied hemp, a couple of bags of small pellets ( they break down quite quickly and leave a cloud on the bottom) and a scopex based sweetener to mix in. A couple of pints of maggot or caster and bingo!
If you fancy a boilie I would consider 'source' they are very good.

hope this helps
 
shaun, not sure if its still running but there was an offshoot forum of bfw called tench fishing world, you will find lots of help and info there if its still running, i am sure a moderator can confirm if it is or not....j.w
 
James O'Hara said:
Castors are quite possibly the best tench bait ever mixed in with plain brown crumb , try it , it works !!
Click to expand...

casters...oh yer!!:D
there are not many fish that don't like a nice fresh plump caster, my all time bait, expensive but great!
 
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Thanks for all the advice chaps. I am getting quite a sense of anticipation. As for rigs and methods I have decided to set up 2 rods. One will be dead old fashioned and I will fish the way I fished years ago, ie bait in the hook etc. For the other I have tied up some rigs. I have gone for a combi rig. Knotless knot tied with 7lb micro braid and 8lb fluro carbon, very hi-tech for me. I intend to fish this with a running lead, wont be fishing at great range. Will I be able to 'hook up' with this, or will I have to use a bolt rig. Don't really like bolt rigs, having to use 2oz+, and of course the safety thingy.
Am I still headed in the right direction. or have I lost it.
Shaun
 
Shaun,re that combi rig, don't be afraid to shorten the braid section right down, i regularly use it down to 5mm ish ! you won't tie that up very easily but its a piece of p--- using hydrolink, on another day 50mm will work best but be willing to experiment, they can be really faddy fish can Tench.
As far as bolt rigs are concerned, 2oz is not really necessary, half of that will do the job most of the time,go heavier if you are fishing a situation that will lead to drop back bites being the norm i.e fishing the front slope of a steep bar/plateau etc.
Baitwise i would steer clear of things like vitalin and other stodgy products unless used very sparingly, better to go down the little and often route to keep a swim active rather than a big bed of stodge (that bream will love !)
Hope this helps
Si
 
Sorry Shaun I didn't explain myself very well and Simon is right when he says about vitalin being stodgy. I would take on board anything Simon has to say as I believe him to be a rather exceptional tench angler.
For what its worth I use the vitalin mainly as a carrier with everything else mixed in and make up balls of groundbait about the size of a tennis ball to start with. I feed a few of these and top up the swim with smaller balls as I catch. I have caught quite well in the past using maggot feeders with three rubber maggots on a D rig. I like to soak the rubber maggots in a sweetener like betalin. Whether this adds to the attraction I don't know but it certainly gives me a little more confidence.
 
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