Hook bait for Tench

When choosing bait for Tench there are a few criteria it should meet. The bait should be attractive enough for a Tench to actually eat. It should stay on the hook until a Tench comes by. It should not be too expensive. If you fish long sessions it should, preferably, be possible to store it without it going off (though prawns that have gone off is a very effective bait indeed). Independent of what bait you choose it can pay off to twitch the bait at times. A moving bait can really catch the attention of the Tench.

A moving bait caught the attention of this Tinca

Top 5 baits

1. Bread - a big lump of flake or crust float fished lift-style is extremely effective, though if there are a lot of small fish they will nibble it off in no time at all.
2. Prawns - when there is too much tiddlers for bread, then a big prawn with the shell intact works wonders especially one soaked in fish oil
3. Lobworms - a favourite in cold water
4. Sweetcorn - Pescaviva Cream caramel and Scopex are my favourites
5. Maggots - if the going gets tough the tough (hide under the table) put on a smaller hook and a couple of maggots.

Bread can be enhanced by spraying it with all manner of liquid foods or flavours. Prologic's cream banana is my personal favourite. Flake dipped in fish oil can be tremendous. You can easily flavour sweetcorn on your own, simply soak it in a flavour+liquid dip for a few days. Curry in sunflower oil makes a good soak, especially when it is about to go off.

Ground bait

I rarely fish for Tench without putting in some bread crumb ground bait, the only time I do not use it is in lakes with a massive head of rudd - as they can make fishing almost impossible. Tench are attracted to both sweet smelling ground bait and more savoury mixes. The best commersial mix I have tried is called "sutarkung" (Tench King), it is in fact a mixture of sweet and savoury attraction. The exact recipe is a secret but it contains a fair bit of crushed hemp, crushed trout pellets, probably some fish meal, and something creamy sweet. Powdered blood and brasem (a bream additive) are great additives to any mix.

Usually I put out some small food items into my swim. Tench get preoccupied easily, but in contrast to carp they seldom get so occupied with the small seeds/pellets that they do not eat a big tasty bait positioned on top of the carpet. My explanation (theory) is that Tench usually picks up individual food items, and are thus more likely to look around for the items that look particularly tasty - whereas carp usually eats particles much like a hoover. However, more than once I have put in a bit too much hemp - and watched bubbles coming from the baited spot all morning without catching anything. Hemp, canary seeds, trout pellets, sweet corn, prawns (liquidized in a blender), chopped worm, maggots, anything small and tasty makes a good ground bait for Tench.