Tench Fishing

[Whiskers]

I'm wondering if any other members enjoy fishing for tench.

I caught my first one way back when I was a little tacker and the thrill of catching them has never stopped.

I looked in at one of my favourite tench spots today but there's still too much cold water in the ponds. Tench don't feed much when the water temps are low like they are just now. We need a month or so of warm weather to get them going.

Today's results were predictable. Doughnuts, but I had to give it a crack.

But, like all the tv shows, here a couple I prepared earlier!

[Marty.A]

Wow that brings back good memory's :thumbsup: used to catch them as a kid under the Arundel Rd bridge in Keilor have you tried eating them as I suspect they would taste like carp. Nice looking fish though.

[Whiskers]

Nope, I've never tried eating them but I suspect that they're pretty ordinary, although I think that that the Europeans have methods of cooking them.

I know that they've been bred for centuries as a food fish going right back to the dark ages when the monks used to breed them in ponds attached to the monasteries.

I'll leave it for someone else to try them!

[Boonanza]

I've never caught a Tench there used to be plenty in the campaspe around Axedale when I was a kid but we were always were spinning for reddies & trout so never caught one but the bait fishermen landed plenty.

[Lightningx]

Nice fish mate :thumbsup:

[fishpod]

Malmsbury Reservoir used to have a good population of them as well as Wendouree, good fighting fish

[BIG GAV]

I wanted to target then as I was told they were a solid fighting fish but lost interest after hearing they were not any better on the hook than the common carp.. Do they take any favoured baits? Or just use worms?

[Whiskers]

Big Gav, They fight hard for their size, but like any fish, if you use heavy tackle and skull drag them out, it's no fun.

I usually use no more than 6lb line for them, even less when the water is clear. If i'm fishing a water where I know there's some bigger than usual fish I'll step up to 8ib bull strain.

Tench have comparatively small mouths for their size so baits shouldn't be too big. Smaller size worms are good as are maggots. Cheese paste also works well. I usually use hooks no bigger than a size 12. If the fish are a bit shy I'll drop down to a size 16.

Either float fishing or ledgering will work. Of the two I find float fishing to be the most enjoyable.
:water:

[guppie12]

So where can you catch them always wanted to catch some

[mingle]

Wow that brings back good memory's :thumbsup: used to catch them as a kid under the Arundel Rd bridge in Keilor have you tried eating them as I suspect they would taste like carp. Nice looking fish though.

Tench are supposed to be very good eating, nothing like carp (so I've heard). But I suspect any fish that comes from the ponds and spots they're usually found will have a bit of a muddy taste.

Cheers,

Mike.