Thread: bait for tench

200 years ago when i did a bit and before they were protected we used swan muscles..

Dead red maggots or red maggots, often fished as cocktails with artificial red maggots! lol

there just had to be one..........abbo you on a yella

my experience with tench is they love worms bread and corn.Another thing you could do if its practicle is rake the swim the day before you fish.But only do this if the lake bed is clean ie not the foul smelling black mud.Raking the swim dislodges all the natural food like bloodworm swan muscles and all the other invertebrates and larvae.basically get an old garden rake or two if you can,wire them together back to back and attatch to a strong length of rope.Throw it in the water and drag it back to stir up the bottom.leave the swim overnight then in the morning put two or three balls of groundbait in laced with casters corn maggots worms whatever you're gonna be using on the hook.Fish over the groundbait and if you want to try a really old but brilliant method set up a waggler plumb the depth with no shot on the line plumb it exactly then add six inches and put an ssg six inches from the hook.cast to your baited area then gently tighten to the waggler so it cocks.sit back and wait for the float to lift as the fish picks up the bait and dislodges the ssg or the float slides away.Its an old method called the lift method but it takes skill to fish it and really is a beautiful method to watch.Good luck tight lines and maybe let us know how you did........Nick