Change of tactics results in PB tench - Ben Cook
“THE day before my session I prebaited a few marginal spots on my syndicate lake for carp, but arrived to find the boilies still in plain view. I needed to change tactics, so I set up in a swim with a lot of open water and a large clear patch at 50 yards.
“The venue has form for big tench, so I decided to scale everything down to medium-sized PVA bags filled with micro pellets, bolt rigs with 4ins hooklinks and corn aligners on the hook.
“Following a wet and bleepless night, I was woken at 5.45am by a jittery bite on the right-hand rod and, after picking up the blank, I was greeted by that satisfying jagjag resistance that we all know and love.
“After a dogged fight a light-coloured fish appeared in my headtorch which I first thought was a common carp, but turned out to be a tench! It showed no signs of giving up and made a bolt for a reedbed to my left, but with some side strain I guided her away and over my net cord.
“My old tench best was a modest sevenpounder, but this one was longer, deeper and fuller than any I’d seen before. I weighed her three times to be sure and the needle stuck on 11lb 5oz each time.”
Ben Cook – 11lb 5oz tench
Pork rind transformed my tench fishing! - Mick Cutler
“When plastic imitation baits were banned on my syndicate water I was hugely disappointed, because they had been really beneficial in my tench fishing and helped me to avoid nuisance species.
“They revolutionised the way we fished, and after the ban I just couldn’t get the same results. I’d just enjoyed two seasons of the best tench fishing ever, catching 11 doubles in the first year and six more in the following one.
“I was keen to make it 20 doubles from the venue, but then the ban was imposed.
“Although I caught well on alternatives such as mini boilies, my results started to decline and I was still agonisingly short of my 20-doubles target by just one fish. The frustration was made worse by the fact that real maggots and worms didn’t last five minutes before being attacked by other species, especially eels.
“A solution eventually came thanks to my friend, Frank Wheeler, who often visited me on his early-morning arrivals at the lake. After he’d listened to my dilemma, he just said: ‘Leave it with me’.
“As well as once being an experienced angler, Frank was also a butcher by trade. The following week he greeted me at the lake with a small bottle which was filled with what looked like rubber-red maggots.
“Frank explained that they were, in fact, pork rind which he’d cut into the shape of maggots, flavoured and dyed red. In its natural state the rind is colourless and odourless, but it can float, absorbs any colour or flavouring and, just like a fake bait, it’s robust enough to be hair-rigged.
Pork rind made to look like maggots
“That evening, I put the rind to the test and ended up catching a 33lb common carp. It was a revelation! The baits transformed my fishing and overnight my 20th and 21st double-figure tench were banked.
“Due to the water’s publicity ban, I’m unable to share pictures of my tench catches although I’ve since caught specimens to 11lb 5oz (pictured) by using the rind on other venues.
“I now have total confidence in pork rind as a bait! It just goes to show that the only barrier to using different baits is your own imagination.”
Mick Cutler’s 11lb 5oz tench fell to his new found pork rind hookbait
Light baiting just enough to fool giant tench
A LIGHT baiting approach has led to the capture of one of the largest reported tench of the season tipping the scales at 11lb 8oz.
The fish fell to Darryn Stolworthy, who fed a tiny amount of bait between two gravel bars on a local pit.
He says:
“I hardly fed anything – just a handful of maggots, casters and chopped worm plus the maggots in my feeders. A few hours later my worm rod was away as a huge fish headed for the weed.”
But his size 12 hook held firm and Darryn soon netted a tench he described as having the biggest frame he had ever seen.
Darryn Stolworthy and his 11lb 8oz tench
Fishing’s biggest myths - Fact or Fiction?
Have you ever wondered if some accepted angling wisdom has any basis in reality? We have, so we enlisted expert mythbusters Paul Garner and Rob Hughes to help us separate fact from fiction…
Are tench the ‘Doctor Fish’ with healing slime?
Dr Paul Garner says:
“I think it’s pretty far-fetched to believe that other fish rub up against tench!
“The thick slime (and small scales) make it easier for tench to move through dense weedbeds (their preferred habitat, especially when young) and also makes it more difficult for parasites to latch on.”
Tench slime may not have the healing powers some think
Is red line invisible in water?
Rob Hughes says:
“This one is absolute nonsense! I think it first came about when someone saw something about divers and red light in sea water and jumped to the conclusion that red line would be invisible.
“Red is actually one of the most visible colours in shallow water. If it wasn’t, how do you explain the effectiveness of red maggots?”
Fish can certainly see red
Are pike’s teeth covered in anticoagulant to keep prey (and anglers!) bleeding?
Dr Paul Garner says:
“I don’t think so. You appear to bleed a lot when you get cut by a pike tooth because your hands are normally wet and the blood is mixing with water, so it looks worse than it actually is.”
Pike teeth aren’t covered in anticoagulant
Does sound from a bite alarm travel down your line?
Rob Hughes says:
“I’ve tested it and it doesn’t. When I’m diving you can hear hard sounds like car doors slamming or lorries hitting a pothole, but softer sounds like talking and fairly quiet music can’t be heard.
“The surface of the water acts like a barrier, so sounds made in water travel further than sounds made above the surface.
“We tested a bite alarm on its highest tone and highest volume and it was just about audible in the margins, but we tested it with and without line and the sound didn’t travel along the line.”
The sound of an alarm does not transmit under the water
Do only uncaught carp have a mouth curtain?
Dr Paul Garner says:
“Not at all. Virtually all carp are hooked in the lips, so the curtain would have to be incredibly fragile if it was damaged while playing a carp when the hook was nowhere near it. I’ve caught plenty of carp that have been on the bank numerous times – some have curtains, some not, so this is not true!”
Some carp have the curtain some don’t!
Are you really fishing ‘on a dinner plate’ at 120 yards?
Rob Hughes says:
“No, you’re not! If you were fishing on a spot that small at 120 yards you wouldn’t be able to hit it more than once, and if you were able to hit it more than once then it certainly isn’t the size of a dinner plate! It’s hard enough to drop on to a spot that size from a boat!”
You aren’t fishing on a dinner plate at 120 yards
Do fish have a three-second memory?
Dr Paul Garner says:
“Absolutely not! Most fish have a good memory, including the ability to learn new behaviours such as remembering where to find food and the best spawning sites.
“They build up an accurate map of their environment, which enables them to move quickly around a lake or river. Anyone who keeps fish will know they soon learn when someone enters the room that they might get fed, so come to the front of the tank.”
Carp certainly have a very good memory!
"Absolutely incredible tench fishing is the best I've ever had" - James Champkin
“Over the course of two recent sessions on a large southern gravel pit I’ve enjoyed what’s probably the best tench fishing I’ve ever had.
“I managed to catch fish of 9lb 6oz, 9lb 7oz, 9lb 15oz and a brace of doubles weighing 10lb 6oz apiece – in addition to a number of other tench over 8lb.
“On my most prolific morning’s fishing I landed eight, and I even had the 9lb 15oz and one of the 10lb 6oz tench in the net at the same time!
“It was absolutely incredible considering this water has a very low stock and can be tricky at times.
“All my fish were caught on worm kebab rigs fished on top of a gravel bar over a large bed of mixed particles – hemp, corn, maggots, casters and Dynamite Marine Halibut & Hemp Big Fish groundbait.
“After losing a few fish when my feeder got caught in an unseen snag while I was playing them in, I switched to a lead clip set-up and improved my hooked-to-landed ratio dramatically.”
James Champkin with one of his 10lb 6oz tench
Bumper haul of male tench, including my largest-ever! - Tony Gibson
“I was fishing a Cambridgeshire pit and chose a swim where there was a clear gravel area between weedbeds at around 50 yards. I decided to put two rods on that spot, and a third down the margin to see what was about.
“After using a Spomb to bait the swim up with a stinky mix of crumbed Dynamite Baits Complex-T boilies, mixed 2mm and 6mm pellets, hemp, corn and groundbait laced with liquid worm extract, I cast 2oz lead rigs with boilies tipped with corn to the spot.
“An hour later I had a twitchy bite on the bobbin and struck into what was clearly a tench. It put up an heroic fight, and tried to snag me in weed multiple times, but eventually what was possibly my largest-ever male tench of 9lb 11oz slid over the net.
“By the end of my 48-hour trip I’d caught 13 tench… of which 11 were males! I’ve never had a tench trip like it before.”
Tony Gibson with his 9lb 11oz male tench
Run of five blanks ends with a double figure tench - Kevin Durman
“After five blank sessions on various gravel pits since lockdown was lifted, I finally managed to get among some good tench!
“I headed to a pit on the Medway Valley Fisheries syndicate and fished a worm rig over a bed of hemp and a mix of S and Krill pellets.
The approach certainly worked, and I ended up catching this beast of 10lb 6oz, alongside others of 6lb, 9lb 6oz and 9lb 8oz.
“The biggest one put up a really good fight and I had her on for ages. When I saw her shoulders come out of the water for the first time I knew this was a great fish and prayed she wouldn’t come off.”
Kevin Durman with his 10lb 6oz tench
11 tench in 48 hours from 100-acre pit - Joe Royffe
“I decided to focus my spring tench campaign on a 100-plus-acre pit local to my Hertfordshire home, where I know that big tench can be found.
“My plan was to up my personal best, and with this fish of 10lb 10oz I did just that, beating my old PB by 4oz. I banked 11 fish in total during the 48-hour session.
“The first one fought really well, so well that I wrongly had it down as a carp as it dug deep and tried to shed the hook in the marginal weed.”
For tench, I find PVA bags of casters fished over a bed of hemp and caster is a really effective tactic.
Match angler nets tench of a lifetime - Paul Hardy
“At heart I’m a match angler and I love targeting commercials for stockie carp and F1s, but by giving a natural venue a try I’ve ended up catching the tench of a lifetime.
“It all started last year when I stumbled across an old lake near to where I live in Rotherham. As an angler I love being beside the water and naturally look for signs of fish during my walks there.
On a warm summer evening I spotted a number of big fish roll which had to be tench or bream, so I called a few of the local match angling lads to see if they knew anything about the lake’s stock. They reckoned that bream used to be caught on bread there years ago.
“That weekend I headed down and settled in one of just four fishable swims – most of the lake is unfishable due to large reed beds cutting off access. It took me a while casting a lead around to find a clear patch, but eventually I found a gravel bar 65-70 metres out and targeted it with groundbait feeder tackle and two hair-rigged dendrobaena worms.
“After two hours the bream switched on, and they were good ’uns at around 7lb apiece. Then, over the next 30 minutes, I was snapped off three times by fish that clearly weren’t bream. They must have been tench or carp.
“I planned another trip and this time my mate John Hopes was with me. I fished the same swim as before and between us we enjoyed a superb session with plenty of bream and finally some tench, averaging 6lb-7lb – but I just knew I was only scratching the surface. So, I planned yet another session and settled into the same swim again.
After two hours my tip finally slammed round and I was in, a stocky 5lb tench being the culprit. Four further tench of around the same weight followed over the next two hours.
“My session was coming to a close when I had five or six liners, then the tip slammed round again. I struck and straight away this fish took line and headed for a weedbed. It took my line all the way to the clip and I thought it was going to snap, but by giving it some guts I managed to steer it away and put line back on the reel.
“It was now in open water and I could feel it was heavy, but not much different to the five-pounders I’d caught. After five minutes it briefly snagged me in the weed, but I managed to pull it out, which is when it flopped on its side. When I saw it properly I was wiped out by the size of it!
“Once it was in the net it went mental trying to escape. I remember barely being able to lift it out of the water, it was so heavy. I knew it was a special fish, but never in a million years did I think it would weigh 11lb 2oz.
Paul Hardy and his ‘tench of a lifetime’ at 11lb 2oz
I’m just so glad I spotted those fish rolling and put some effort into fishing a venue I would never normally have bothered with. It just goes to show that if an opportunity presents itself, acting on it could just help you catch the fish of a lifetime – as it did with me.”
Two tench for 19lb 8oz - Lee Snow
“When the lockdown was first lifted I fished a southern pit and caught four tench to 9lb 6oz, so I went back for a second trip.
“This time I tried a different swim and cast a feederfished caster and corn cocktail to the back of a bar just 25 yards out.
“I managed an 8lb 4oz tench straight off the bat then, the following day, I had two for 19lb 8oz in a crazy five minute lunchtime spell!
The smaller one went 8lb 10oz but I was proper made up with this 10lb 14oz fish.”
Lee Snow with his biggest tench of 10lb 14oz
10lb 11oz tench is my 50th double - Dai Gribble
“I targeted a large southern gravel pit known for its big tench. Up until this latest trip I’d caught 49 doubles, so I was keen to add one more!
“I baited a clear plateau amid the weed with mixed 2mm pellets at first light, but by 3pm I’d only had an eel and a pike. Then a mate joined me in my swim and I joked that he’d bring me luck and that I’d get a bite within 10 minutes… barely five minutes later my alarm sounded!
“The fish felt heavy and powerful, so I took my time, keeping the rod high and guiding it through the weed. At the net I knew I’d got my 50th double!
I caught my first back in 2006 and never set out to reach the half-century, but it’s another matter when you get close to the target.
This tench fell to a worm kebab rig, which has taken at least half of all the doubles I’ve caught.”
Dai Gribble and his 50th double figure tench
Tench rig fools big common not caught for nine years
Warren Hammond hooked something far bigger than he expected on a recent tench fishing trip - a 36lb 4oz common carp!
Fishing an undisclosed Surrey Gravel pit, Warren was aiming to catch a specimen tench but the big carp beat them to the bait.
He told Angling Times:
“On arrival, I Spombed in a load of hemp, wheat, tares and dead maggots and cast a maggot feeder rig with five maggots on a size 10 hook over the top.
“At 3am I was woken by a screaming run as a powerful fish took about 30 yards of line.
“Eventually I could see this lovely dark common which plodded about in front of me before being netted. I was later told it was last caught in 2011!
Not my PB common, but up there with the best!”
This big common slipped up on tench tactics after being uncaught since 2011!
Haul of tench topped by 10lb 15oz beauty - Rob Thompson
“For my first trip after lockdown I almost went to an easy venue but I’m glad I went for a southern pit which I fished hard last spring.
“In a swim that doesn’t get fished much I was soon catching. I ended up with 17 tench, the three best weighing in at 10lb 15oz , 9lb 8oz and 9lb 6oz.
“The fight from the biggest was nervy and it weeded me up at one point. Luckily it kicked free and eventually I managed to slip the net under it.
Artificial maggot hookbaits fished over Sonubaits F1 Black groundbait with mixed particles and 2mm barbel pellets did the trick for me.”
Rob Thompson and his 10lb 15oz tench
"The greatest tench fishing I will ever have" - Kane Hammond
“Just two weeks after catching a PB of 11lb 3oz, I returned to the same 90-acre Surrey pit for another go.
“I spent two hours baiting a gravel bar at 50 yards with dead maggots, hemp, corn and pellets, before casting cut-down Hinders Beta’nana pop-ups tipped with five live maggots over the top. I had no idea that I was about to enjoy the greatest 24 hours’ tench fishing I’ll probably ever experience.
Kane Hammond and his 11lb
“Having caught two smaller fish, at first light on the second morning I banked a 9lb 14oz tench followed by a monster of 11lb 2oz. At 3pm I had another take which brought another double at 10lb 4oz . I was in shock. It had taken four springs on the pit to catch my first double, then I’d caught three in two weeks, including two 11-pounders!”
He followed it up with this 10lb 4oz tench
Incredible tench session sees five doubles landed - Alan Rio
“I set off for three nights at a local club lake, which was really busy, but I managed to squeeze into a swim and soon found a few gravel bars and weedbeds at 60 yards. After baiting up with chopped worm, caster and mixed particles, I cast inline 2oz rigs with short hooklinks and worm hookbaits over the top.
“I had the first bite early on the first evening and from then on my trip involved lots of weighing, photographing and rebaiting!
“By the end of the third day I’d had the session of a lifetime, banking 11 fish in total, including four nines and the five doubles.
“Using a barometer app on my phone I was able to watch the falling pressure. Interestingly, the doubles all came when the pressure dropped to 997mb, with persistent cloud and rain.”
Alan’s doubles weighed 10lb 3oz, 10lb 7oz, 10lb 7oz, 10lb 10oz and 10lb 13oz - that’s some session!
Alan’s biggest tench of the session went 10lb 13oz
"I had no doubt it was a double" - Warren Hammond
“Following my recent tench and eel session, when the eels played ball but the tench didn’t, I decided to get back on the same 90-acre Surrey pit and have another go at the tench over a 48-hour period.
“Conditions looked ideal. It was warm and cloudy, with a good chop on the water, so I felt confident. I settled into a swim that I knew had a good clear, hard area around 40-45 yards out, and baited it with 30 Spombs of dead maggots, hemp, wheat, maples and groundbait. Over this area, I regularly cast my heli-rigs which featured open-end feeders filled with maggots and groundbait, with popped-up maggots as hookbaits.
“As dusk arrived on the first night I had a couple of bleeps, then the line from my reel started peeling off and the alarm was screaming. I struck into it and knew it was a good fish as it kept taking. I couldn’t gain any line for a good 20 seconds.
“I eventually turned the fish and managed to get her close in. I had no doubt it was a double. I was totally made up when the scales read 10lb 11oz.”
A clonking 10lb 11oz tench
Chaotic session topped by 10lb tinca - Matt Fernandez
“My fourth tench trip since fishing returned couldn’t have gone much better! I arrived at the lake at 4.30am after prebaiting a good-looking spot the evening before with hemp, halibut pellets, and 14mm crushed and whole dumbbell boilies coated in salmon oil and worm extract.
“There was no need to put any additional bait out other than what was in my helicopter-rigged feeders baited with single dumbell hookbaits.
“My rods were in the water at 5am, and by 6am the tench bites were coming thick and fast! The fishing was chaotic all morning and bites and runs only died down around 2pm. I landed a total of 24 tench, the biggest of which went 10lb.”
A 10lb tench, the highlight of an incredible morning’s fishing
One bite results in massive tench
NORFOLK specimen ace Justin Grapes hit the tench jackpot when he slipped his net under this 12lb 1oz stunner during his latest trip.
The Wensum Valley Angling-backed angler made the catch after he booked Thursday and Friday off work to fish his favourite gravel pit with his mate Darryn Stolworthy.
“It’s one of those waters where you say it only takes one bite, because the tench are that big,” Justin tells us.
“That bite came at 2.30pm on the Friday and I lifted into a very heavy fish.
“After a hairy fight the tench turned in front of us and I remember Darryn saying: “This is huge.” At 12lb 1oz I was speechless.”
Justin’s catch fell to a worm kebab rig.
Justin’s 12lb tench fell to a worm kebab hookbait
Former Drennan Cup champ nets trio of double figure tench
THE 2018/19 Drennan Cup winner Darryn Stolworthy proved he’s still a master of catching specimen fish when he banked this chunky 11lb 2oz tench and two other doubles during a week off work. The Norfolk lad fished three gravel pits across two counties and couldn’t stop pulling them out!
He tells us:
“On each location I managed to find a gravel bar 30-60 yards out and just kept casting maggot feeders over to them with either worm, maggot or caster on the hook.
I had the 11lb 2oz fish during the first trip, followed by two more doubles of 10lb 1oz and 10lb 15oz during the other two.
I backed these up with others of 9lb 15oz, 9lb 12oz, 9lb 6oz, 9lb 1oz and several eights to 8lb 15oz.”
Darryn Stolworthy and his 11lb 2oz tench
Hampshire the place to be for a big tench!
Hampshire stillwaters played host to two astonishing captures of big tench, with Chris Stothard and Matthew Fernandez landing fish of 11lb 9oz and 11lb 4oz respectively.
Chris Stothard with his 11lb 9oz Hampshire tench
Chris, from Portsmouth, had never targeted this particular lake before but ended up driving home glad that he did – having caught 11 specimen tench to a new PB of 11lb 9oz following his 48-hour stay.
Meanwhile, southern specialist Matt used heli-feeder rigs with 14mm dumbell hookbaits over a smelly spod mix to land 15 tincas to a best of 11lb 4oz during his overnight session.
Matthew Fernandez with his 11lb 4oz Hampshire tench