Tench raking

[Stewlaws]

Unfortunately a guy has made several videos on his Tench fishing exploits, with noted markers and features, needless to say this has increased the footfall on the water, I'm thinking about going into the water in a section with a rake/spade and digging/raking a section out ( the banks are heavily reeded so making an inconspicuous swim should not be too difficult) question is will I draw fish there by raking this down a few feet into a feature area or will it be a case of they just feed/scavenge then off to the usual haunts? or do Tench hold to a feature?

Canal not a lake FYI.

[davelumb]

On my local canal the tench were very nomadic.

[Stewlaws]

On my local canal the tench were very nomadic.

The fishing is in gin clear water, not navigable save Kayaks and the most I counted around a baited area was 8 individuals, there is a holding area but unfortunately everyone knows this and the location now.

Strangely nothing over 6lb 4oz to my knowledge with the majority being 3-4 lb range

[cookiesdaughtersdad]

I have caught tench within minutes of raking so it certainly attracts them.
A regular raking with the addition of bait may not necessarily create a holding feature if the fish are very nomadic, but they may pop in regularly enough on their travels for you to catch with some consistency.
Creating an area about the size of a pool table with narrow channels leading to it would be a excellent method of which I first read about by ,Tony Miles with barbel.

Cheers, Alan

[Daniel]

Rake and feed a handful or two of 4mm pellet.
Get them used to finding food in the area and they'll visit regularly.
If you don't feed the pellet they can become preoccupied on the tiny naturals the raking disturbs which makes catching them much harder than it needs to be.

You could feed maggot or caster but absolutely everything will eat that, pellet is more selective.

[Tomsheen]

Rake and feed a handful or two of 4mm pellet.
Get them used to finding food in the area and they'll visit regularly.
If you don't feed the pellet they can become preoccupied on the tiny naturals the raking disturbs which makes catching them much harder than it needs to be.

You could feed maggot or caster but absolutely everything will eat that, pellet is more selective.

If they get on bloodworm it's game over in my bitter experience.

[Oldskoolfool]

I use an old trick which was to rake a swim , feed then rake again to mix the bait into thr bottom - works for me. I do find a mix of small pellets and dead maggots in ground bait most consistent adding chopped worm.

The only down side is carp ... .

[Stewlaws]

I use an old trick which was to rake a swim , feed then rake again to mix the bait into thr bottom - works for me. I do find a mix of small pellets and dead maggots in ground bait most consistent adding chopped worm.

The only down side is carp ... .

Luckily no Carp on this section Malc, the one's that are present are a good 6miles away, happy to keep it that way. I have a few pints of frozen maggots that I was wondering what to do with, that's a plan!

[Andrew]

Unfortunately a guy has made several videos on his Tench fishing exploits, with noted markers and features, needless to say this has increased the footfall on the water, I'm thinking about going into the water in a section with a rake/spade and digging/raking a section out ( the banks are heavily reeded so making an inconspicuous swim should not be too difficult) question is will I draw fish there by raking this down a few feet into a feature area or will it be a case of they just feed/scavenge then off to the usual haunts? or do Tench hold to a feature?

Canal not a lake FYI.

Kept a swim regularly raked and prebaited for a few years on the canal 100% it attracted all sorts and tench would move in to it at dusk ended up seeing them breaking the surface when you never see the damn things or signs usually on the canal.

Not sure about digging but I'd take the rough of regualrly and not going overboard churning it up.

[pikey brownhills]

Unfortunately a guy has made several videos on his Tench fishing exploits, with noted markers and features, needless to say this has increased the footfall on the water, I'm thinking about going into the water in a section with a rake/spade and digging/raking a section out ( the banks are heavily reeded so making an inconspicuous swim should not be too difficult) question is will I draw fish there by raking this down a few feet into a feature area or will it be a case of they just feed/scavenge then off to the usual haunts? or do Tench hold to a feature?

Canal not a lake FYI.

Kept a swim regularly raked and prebaited for a few years on the canal 100% it attracted all sorts and tench would move in to it at dusk ended up seeing them breaking the surface when you never see the damn things or signs usually on the canal.

Not sure about digging but I'd take the rough of regualrly and not going overboard churning it up.

100% iv always said the best ground bait for Tench is to rake the swim .
I once went to local canal clear sky , warm , bright an sunny .
Had polaroid's on , and a 2 pound heavy grappling hook to get some snags out .
I Watched the Tench in clear water literally go into a frenzy , even as the hook was hitting the surface , Tench were straight in there .
Unbelievable to watch .
I no it works
Tench are one my favourites .

Some anglers have said to me , what hell you doing you will scare fish off !!
I just laugh , I no it does not , when you have seen what they do , you no it works , i have actually raked in between my floats an while raking my float has gone under .

[Steve Dennington]

Talking of raking, I had a look to see what was available in the way of big rakes for use from a boat. I found a 4ft one that looked like it would be pretty efficient, but the cost! £185!

[piker al]

Talking of raking, I had a look to see what was available in the way of big rakes for use from a boat. I found a 4ft one that looked like it would be pretty efficient, but the cost! £185!

I’ve got 2 of the Jake’s rakes, a small castable rake and a bigger 12” model for throwing on a rope, great well made bits of kit, I think u would need a tractor to pull in a 4 ft rake

[Oldskoolfool]

I have a couple rakes - the small cashable ones are useful but mostly use a Gardner 12in rake - right size for me on 50mt of para cord. I do have a beast mate up of two garden rake heads bolted back to back with about a meter of chain connecting to the rope - that thing shifts loads of crap but can be heavy work. Regular prebaiting is the key I've had a couple great seasons recently just be simply adding 2-3 scoops of prebait weekly to my spots when I walk the dog - usually on a Saturday then fish Sunday- had a great run last season with several fish every trip. Unfortunately I was too successful and by thr end of the summer only weed free spots were where I'd rakes and baited kept clean by the fish. For baiting I bought a 25kg of 4mm pellets adding in corn, dead maggots and whatever else to hand works a treat.

[Steve Dennington]

I’ve got 2 of the Jake’s rakes, a small castable rake and a bigger 12” model for throwing on a rope, great well made bits of kit, I think u would need a tractor to pull in a 4 ft rake

Or an outboard motor, which is the plan

[Oldskoolfool]

Good call often on my local cut the clean patches made by prop can be go to spots as often the only weed free spots.

Small pva bag dropped in the go to

[pikey brownhills]

Helps to no someone who works with steel an welding , comes in very handy

[Oldskoolfool]

Agreed but be careful! My old man made a weed rake welded from steel pipe. Dead impressive but took hercules to throw it and need 10 men to drag it in. Modest ambition is the key

[pikey brownhills]

I was quite surprised my local canal produced a February tench of 6.08 , i no the lad an saw photo .
He had it while carp fishing , I said that would been 8 plus come May .

[fishder]

I had heard off a bloke who used a mowing bar tied to his boat and used it to clear swims.

[BillCollins]

Like others, I've been down the road of making monstrosities for clearing weed and at the end of the day, all they are is health hazards. I now use a nice sturdy little all steel rake about 12" wide that I made 10+ years ago and I've no intention of changing it. You don't need to clear the whole lake, just a patch big enough to present your bait and some groundbait/loosefeed on.

[Andrew]

Like others, I've been down the road of making monstrosities for clearing weed and at the end of the day, all they are is health hazards. I now use a nice sturdy little all steel rake about 12" wide that I made 10+ years ago and I've no intention of changing it. You don't need to clear the whole lake, just a patch big enough to present your bait and some groundbait/loosefeed on.

Little patch I started people twigged I was doing better so they started raking too then someone made a bigger rake a 2x2' monstrosity a bar with two flat pieces at the ends, it looked like an H and it was stashed in a swim.

Well one the anglers kids decided one day to rake out 30x30' maybe more area.

Fishing was f****d for a while and had mountains of weed everywhere. It was completely barren

[BillCollins]

Like others, I've been down the road of making monstrosities for clearing weed and at the end of the day, all they are is health hazards. I now use a nice sturdy little all steel rake about 12" wide that I made 10+ years ago and I've no intention of changing it. You don't need to clear the whole lake, just a patch big enough to present your bait and some groundbait/loosefeed on.

Little patch I started people twigged I was doing better so they started raking too then someone made a bigger rake a 2x2' monstrosity a bar with two flat pieces at the ends, it looked like an H and it was stashed in a swim.

Well one the anglers kids decided one day to rake out 30x30' maybe more area.

Fishing was f****d for a while and had mountains of weed everywhere. It was completely barren

Thats what happens if you clean out too much, the fish move on somewhere else.

[paintman]

Like others, I've been down the road of making monstrosities for clearing weed and at the end of the day, all they are is health hazards. I now use a nice sturdy little all steel rake about 12" wide that I made 10+ years ago and I've no intention of changing it. You don't need to clear the whole lake, just a patch big enough to present your bait and some groundbait/loosefeed on.

Little patch I started people twigged I was doing better so they started raking too then someone made a bigger rake a 2x2' monstrosity a bar with two flat pieces at the ends, it looked like an H and it was stashed in a swim.

Well one the anglers kids decided one day to rake out 30x30' maybe more area.

Fishing was f****d for a while and had mountains of weed everywhere. It was completely barren

Thats what happens if you clean out too much, the fish move on somewhere else.

Had that some years ago on a very secluded stretch of the Derbyshire Wye controlled by a couple of the local hotels.
Rainbow & brown trout, dry fly only.
It was a few hundred yards of their fishery & very few people fished that part of it as access was a bit of a walk & the weed beds had got quite overgrown but excellent fishing.
My father had a word with the bailiff about it & the next time we went they'd done some work on it.
As in all the weed had gone & unsurprisingly so too had the fish!
Wished we'd kept schtum!