Tinca time?

[suffolk si]

Too early? I'm on a new syndicate with alleged 9's and possibly doubles, can't wait to get going, anybody else started yet or do we need a couple of weeks warmth?

[Andrew]

I was out yesterday after them. p****d down the whole day and not a bite. still asleep up here I reckon. another week or two should do it.

[Fish on....]

Who’s Tina?

I was going to start this weekend but my new lake is flooded out so I went carping on my other lake instead, had two tench and lost one so they are awake in places.

I can’t wait to get started on them this spring, but everything feels a bit behind still.

[suffolk si]

Oops, predictive text error lol

[ChrisWales]

Looking forward to a Tench, no biguns where I fish unfortunately but nonetheless roll on...

[Jason Skilton]

Did my first trip on Sunday......had two :-).....pike Lol one on caster and one on fake maggot!

[Fish on....]

This was my first tench of the year, pretty fish just a shame it was on my carp rods but It whetted my appetite for a bigger one this year, last spring was very sparse on the tench front for me. The fish in the second picture worked the rods properly though

[loughouversdream]

All the gear and bait sorted for this weekend, looking forward to it now, finally some spring weather!

[bencarvosso]

All the gear and bait sorted for this weekend, looking forward to it now, finally some spring weather!

you heading where i think buddy ?
text me

[loughouversdream]

All the gear and bait sorted for this weekend, looking forward to it now, finally some spring weather!

you heading where i think buddy ?
text me

Might give that ball breaker a few weeks yet I’ll send you a text

[Steve Dennington]

Next week for me, I think. I might not catch tench, but it'll hopefully be a bit too early for the eels. They're a real pain on maggot/caster rigs

[suffolk si]

Well I just managed my first one of the year,only a five pounder but a start,driving back after dark was five degrees.still feels like December!

[Jason Skilton]

Will be out again this Saturday....hoping to pick one up.....but its a rock hard water!

[frankcarty]

I started trickling bait into my swim on the Royal Canal last night, not much just around 5 tennis balls of groundbait laced with a small can of corn. Ill do it again this evening, rake and bait it tomorrow and fish it sat morn.

[Fish on....]

Do you guys get on better with dead maggots or live ones?

[Daniel]

Do you guys get on better with dead maggots or live ones?

Live reds, unless the water holds lots of silvers, then switch to deads.

[suffolk si]

Artificial ones seem a bit better at surviving small fish nibbles , I normally put a couple of artificial a and couple of real maggots( or casters on)

[Fish on....]

Sorry I meant for freebies.

I expect there will be plenty of smaller skimmers in the lakes I’m fishing so gonna use artificials on the hook. But just discovered my local shop does a gallon of week old maggots for £12, so gonna spod out dead’s and then use lives in the feeder and/or dead’s in a bag and see which is best.

Only problem with them is there’s no guarantee of colour. Bit annoying.

[Andrew]

For freebies. 2mm pellets everytime.

[suffolk si]

Agree with Andrew pellets, hemp corn and casters for freebies imo

[Fish on....]

Hemp, buckwheat and pellets will be the bulk of my feed. Can't wait to get started next week!!

[piker60]

Ice on the windscreen this morning but will start next week.

[delboy]

Joined a new club ,only 25 quid ,happy days,just got back from looking at one of their waters,was all excited till i saw it,prob take 2 minutes to walk round it,2 blokes fishing,my missues said don't go and talk to them,you will only p**s them off,as if,anyway delboy was on his best behavior,but as it is so close to the road and no fence and the gate is so stupid ,it didn't matter if was open or closed,i had to ask about the ee's and yes they have been over there,no surprise there then,but one of them mentioned a 18lb' pike that had been caught the other day,have to wait till next season now,thinking whether to go over there tomorrow,was hoping for a tench,just one would be a result,unfortunatly for me the two fish i like to catch most are almost extinct ,pike because of the polish and tench because of the carp

[Jason Skilton]

So with the tench starting to show on various waters up and down the country, do you guys have any preference to bait and rigs for early season tench.

Been adopting a small bait approach on a hard water involving inline bolt rigs with either fake maggot/caster and 10mm boilies myself.

[Fish on....]

I appear to like the look of this mix a lot more than the tench do at the moment

[Andrew]

Too many big particles imo. Personally i go for a crumb groundbait as attractant and 2mm pellets as a main loose feed with a few bigger bits of loose feed like corn sparingly. My idea is keep them there feeding and competing for the big stuff

[Fish on....]

Other than a handful of 10mm pellets, the biggest stuff in there is maggots. I don't want them getting preoccupied on tiny particles or pellets that are impossible to replicant on the hook. There is also molasses meal mixed in with it which you can't see, probably not enough really put I've less than I thought.

Lost my first fish about two minutes after I posted that pic lol

[suffolk si]

So I guess it's probably been asked before , but do people believe in the old adage if you catch male tench you can pretty much add 30-40% on to the maximum size of them to gage the potential size of females in the water? Been getting several "average"females out of a new lake but had this male at just six pound last night which if the adage holds true means there should be fish in the 9-10 pound range present? Keep hearing of carpers getting big fish there but saw a chap catch maybe a high six/scraper seven which he didn't weigh but estimated at a good eight pound, I still struggle to get my head around how carpers mis judge the size of other species!

[davelumb]

So I guess it's probably been asked before , but do people believe in the old adage if you catch male tench you can pretty much add 30-40% on to the maximum size of them to gage the potential size of females in the water? Been getting several "average"females out of a new lake but had this male at just six pound last night which if the adage holds true means there should be fish in the 9-10 pound range present?

If you're catching males over six and a half I reckon that's a good sign for females of over nine where seven plus females are regular captures. The average size of females seems to me a better guide to potential. But there are always freak fish to keep us hoping!

[suffolk si]

Cheers Dave,been catching females around the six pound mark too with nothing bigger shown up yet, lot of bait going in and I think it has done fish legitimate nine plus , guess you can add a good pound of spawn in the next month or so too? Hopefully all will be revealed....another member pointed out that it's good to keep some perspective also, 6 -7 pound tench are still nice fish I guess, unless you are a carper