ADTV Specimen Series - Tench on the Float

The first type of venue I want to show how effective float fishing for Tench can be is on shallow weedy lakes which are a float fishing paradise. For todays session I have come to the beautiful Rocklands Mere where I am fishing. It is stuffed full of tench and crucians, with several lily pads and fish holding spots which will be perfect for flicking a float out.  

I always try and fish these venues on early mornings or late evenings, as the tench are most active, before the sun gets high in the sky. Not only that after a difficult spring gravel pit campaign there is nothing better than getting a few bites on the float. 

The set-up I have chosen for tackling this type of venue is a Drennan Specialist X-Tension 13ft rod matched to an Advanta Pro Match S4000 Reel. The extra length of the rod allows me to quickly pick up the line when striking at bites, but also has plenty enough power and back bone in the rod to steer even the liveliest of tench away from their weedy home. 

Rig wise, I have gone with the lift method as it allows me to present a static bait on the bottom with minimal distrubance when casting into the shallow, clear water. Not only that, the bites are unmissable as the two shot closest to the hook exaggerate even the smallest of bites so that the float pops up and the battle can begin! 

My bait tray for this kind of lake is much different to normal as I love fishing baits such as maggots and worms for tench, but as there are several small silverfish in the lake, I have opted for a different kind of bait tray. 

Feed wise, I have opted for a mix of 2mm and 4mm Sticky Baits Krill Pellets with some hempseed. This has been soaked so that I am able to mould the pellets into balls for feeding. This allows the feed to get to the bottom in tact and slowly break down to create a carpet of food for the tench to graze over, whereas the particles within the mix are large enough to avoid the attentions of small silverfish.

Hook bait options I find best are either a 10mm punch of the Dynamite Specimen Tuff Luncheon Meat, an 8mm krill hookable expander or a large grain of the humble sweetcorn. 

After feeding a few balls of the krill pellet and hemp mix, there is soon a jacuzzi of bubbles over my fishing spot just in a small gap in the lily pads and it is not long before my rod hoops over with my first tench of the session. 

By keeping the feed going in and swapping between hook baits I am able to keep tench coming to the net throughout my short session, with some bites lifting the float out of the water literally as soon as the bait hits the bottom. Although the size of tench has gotten smaller as the day has gone on, I find there is nothing better, to enjoy the simiplicity of float fishing and putting a bend in the rod by catching plenty of tench. 

The second type of venue I want to show you how to catch tench on the float is on larger deeper venues such as the gravel pit I am fishing today on the lovely Billingford Lakes complex. Although you would normally associate a venue like this with ledger fishing or maggot feeder tactics, as there is plenty of depth close in, tench love to patrol this near side ledge, making the float the perfect tactic.

Again, despite the depth, the water is normally crystal clear, so early mornings and evening sessions are again best. On these types of venues I am not expecting many bites, so I target the swim slightly different. With tench to over 10lb in this lake, I am hoping to connect with some large fish for the cameras today. 

Although, I am only fishing a few rod lengths from the bank, the depth of the swim is nearly 11ft and although I could use a convential float set up, you find that casting and playing fish can be incredibly difficult as the rig is nearly as long as the rod. In this situation, I opt to fish a slider float using the same rod and reel set up and this allows me to keep my rig at the optimum length for casting and playing fish as the floats slides up the line to a float stop which sets the depth.

The float carries no weight so will easily slide up and down the line, and below the float I am using an olivette which carried most of the weight of the rig with a small micro rig swivel below which I have attached a 6lb hooklength of Guru N-Gauge Line with two shot on the line just above a Guru Super MWG hooks to exaggerate the bites similar to the lift method, I highlighted earlier. 

On gravel pits such as the one I am fishing, there are not as many small silverfish present, so my bait tray for targeting tench is more convential and features my favourite natural baits; red maggots and worms. 

On these larger venues you find you need to draw more fish in whereas not overfeeding the fish at the same time, so I have opted to feed groundbait as this creates a large carpet for tench to graze over but offers minmal food content so will keep the tench searching for bait for longer. My mix is a combination of the Dynamite Big Fish Explosive Caster & Green Lipped Mussell Method Mix. 

For feeding I will throw in small balls of this mix around the float, but will also loose feed a pouchful or red maggots with a catapult to drive the fish to the bottom. Hook bait wise, I keep it simple and will either use half a worm tipped with a red maggot or a bunch of 5 red maggots on the hook. 

To try and cover my options, I have fed two swims, one in front of me and one down the left hand margin on a tree line. After regularly feeding it does not take long till a few bubbles start appearing over my left hand margin swim and shortly after I am attached to a large tench, which has got my rod almost bent to the butt, before the unthinkable happens and the hook pulls! 

Re-starting the swim, it takes a while before the fish return to the swim, but by again fishing that left hand swim, the float soon pops out the water and I am attached to another hard fighting fish, before soon netting a pristing male tench. It may have been smaller than the previous fish hooked but it is a stunning fish with a dark olive green colour and that trademark red eye, making it well worth the wait! 

Hopefully, I have been able to show you how devastating this method can be for targeting tench on a variety of venues. Not only that, believe me when I say that this style of fishing can be so exciting because as soon as you strike and the water erupts there is no better adrenaline rush!

So, if you've got a lake close by that is home to a few tench, give these two methods I have showed you today a try and hopefully you will soon know have your rod bent double with a hard fighting tench!