Yes, you can still catch tench on floatfished corn near a bed of lilies, but on many waters the swimfeeder has taken over. You’ll feel the float jam against it and the line goes solid. As you can, see I fill the hook with four or five maggots but also thread a sliver of red rig foam to the hair loop formed with the knotless knot. That first fish, all 2lb of it, had read the fishing text books. I like to use bobbins fitted with 10g weights as they keep my line nice and tight. When tench are just getting going in the spring, a highly visible bait often scores really well. Tench, Tench Fishing, Skill School, Beginners Guide, Top 5. We've decided to compile together 10 of the best tench fishing tips and  ait for you to use on your spring and summer campaigns for this great species. The Krill Meal is quite expensive, but fortunately you do not need a lot of this groundbait as I use it purely on the feeder – so half-a-bag is plenty for a day session. The reason for telling you all this is that I want to stress how much things have changed in the last 15 to 20 years. The quickest and easiest way of getting this mix into my swim is with a Spomb. All registered in England and Wales. I have the tell tale shot set five inches from the hook. This, as you will imagine, can be extremely frustrating when targeting one particular species. 8. The right type or, more specifically, weight of bobbin is crucial for bite indication when tench fishing. 1. Keep bait regular and slowly build the swim. Tench fishing season is upon us so we’ve gone to former Drennan Cup champion Dai Gribble to give us his top tips to help you catch a tench this season. Most of these outlets will also sell large quantities of seed such as hempseed, extremely useful for added particles. I prefer float fishing if conditions will allow, considering factors such as wind strength and direction and also water depth, but ledgering is equally effective. 2 - It shortcircuits baiting up – you can spod lots of bait in 10 minutes giving you more time to go fishing. Many anglers visiting a big gravel pit or estate lake for the first time are daunted by the scale of the water facing them. I can then top the swim up prior to these ready for the feeding period to start. It is these qualities that attract me in my hunt for Tench every season, just as soon as the air and water temperature begin to warm sufficiently. That might mean up to 12lb breaking … Obviously this was a decent fish that required some careful manoeuvring,  which finally succumbed to the landing net after a good five-minute fight. Finally, contented with what I had in front of me, the feed could be introduced. All you do is thread the braided line through the rings of the spod rod, tie on the spod, fill it with bait and cast it at your marker float. Typically I will feed hemp, a mixture of 2mm Sonubaits pellets -Krill, S-pellet, F1 and Robin Red – plus maggots, casters and chopped worm. Tagged: For some reason it loses its effectiveness by the middle of May. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. My only choice now was to feed the smaller fish off, so a regular sprinkling of maggots catapulted over the float would hopefully either satisfy the Rudd and Perch, or keep them occupied long enough for the larger fish to pick up the hook bait. 6. Catch your first Tench, and its easy to see why anglers develop a soft spot for the fish. Small hooks are essential for this because they allow you to present maggots in such a way that tench are likely to pick them up as part of the loosefeed. © 1962-2019 Bauer Media Group Posted in: The disturbed lake-bed shows that Tench were feeding heavily here. Angling Direct plc 1 - With practice it allows you to deliver bait with great accuracy. Add a groundbait cap to the spod to stop any contents spilling on the cast, 4. Tench do get caught by carp anglers using thick line and big hooks but a more refined approach is much more productive. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Tench love worms! Overcome this by tying up a hair rig with a rubber caster and a Quickstop on the loop in the hair. As the diagram (above) shows, I use a ready-tied TF Gear Secret Trap leader, fitted with a lead clip, onto which I slip a large Drennan openend feeder. Errors and omissions excepted. Spring is here and so are the tench! As I needed to cast a reasonable distance with ease, most of the split shot was bulked around the float, with two BB’s thirty inches from the hook, and a further three number fives as droppers. TACTIC 1. Located at 40 yards range, within easy casting distance of a loaded swimfeeder, I found a patch of thinner weed surrounded by the heavy stuff. But the reality on most lakes these days is that the bankside disturbance is likely to drive the tench away from the margin. It is always a relief to see a sizeable fish slip into the landing net after an arm aching fight. Bread flake, pellets, sweetcorn, prawns and boilies can also be used to catch tench. All registered in England and Wales. Fishing at dawn and dusk was the concrete rule. Underwater filming has shown that tench often pick up hemp but then blow it back out again, rather than swallowing it. In order to catch tench with boilies, your hookbaits should be between 8mm and 12mm. Jacob Robinson, Posted in: Sow meal, layers crumb, layers mash and several types of pony mix are excellent to bulk out a pre-baiting session at a fraction of the cost. It is also worth raking the swim lightly before fishing to disturb the natural insects on the bottom. 2D Wendover Road, Rackheath Industrial Estate, Norwich, Norfolk, NR13 6LH, United Kingdom The first place to look is right at your feet. A superb “lump” that was immediately weighed and pushed the scales round to two kilos, eight hundred and twenty five grammes, that’s six pounds plus to you and me and an absolute cracker to start a session with. In other regions and waters though, success with green peas is limited. This is a strong hook that has never let me down in the past, and a size twelve is perfect to take a sweet corn, maggot and caster cocktail. When Tench are feeding in earnest, they are capable of mopping up vast amounts of food, and tend to respond very well to pre-baiting tactics. There was a time when tench fishing was all about being by the water at dawn watching a float sitting next to a bed of lily pads. 05151321, VAT No. Tie a loop in the end of your hooklink line and thread the foam onto it. That’s it. Bait must also be considered, and Tench are known to have a broad taste when it comes to feeding. You’ve done the supposedly difficult job of setting up a marker float – how easy is that? News, All About Fishing, Beginner's Guides, Fishing Tips & Tricks, Catch Reports At the venue where these pictures were taken, Horseshoe Lake in Gloucestershire, I fished the perfect tench spot. 2D Wendover Road, Rackheath Industrial Estate, Norwich, Norfolk, NR13 6LH, United Kingdom From floatfishing in the margins, to long-range feeder fishing, the tench angler has to master many different methods, and learn how to get the best from the available baits.