#2 SWIMS & WEATHER FORECASTS
Do remember I am writing primarily for tench fishing in the early part of the season, and conditions and considerations change as summer proper comes along. It is true to say that April and early May probably see tench inhabiting deeper water, especially after a few nights of frost. You will find them in that all-important first channel on gravel pits that is sure to be a target area if you are a float fisher. But on most waters there are areas of deep water further out too that can be reached with feeder. Patches of early emerging weed are also attractions but, above all, early tench do like a relatively clean bed to browse over. If you have one, it’s not a bad idea to rake a close-in swim and see what rubbish you come up with. The less the better, ideally. At range, casting a lead gives you a good idea, especially if you feel it bounce over clean stones.
BUT don’t get too hung up over this depth thing. I am broadly right to highlight its importance, but do remember this. Remember that tench are very nomadic, and do not use one tight area solely. In all my experience, tench live in groupings and have fairly extensive territories. On larger waters a shoal of perhaps twenty fish might well wander along a stretch of bank two hundred yards long. They might spend time in the shallows, but then move off completely into deep water. In short, all these location rules are meant to be broken by a species that will travel where it wants to, not where it is supposed to.
There are two big considerations to where they might want to be. One is where they find plentiful food… and I’ll come to that aspect in a day or two when I talk about baiting regimes. The other factor is an area where they feel comfortable, and that is where the ‘weather forecast’ part of the title comes in. Temperatures are obviously all part of it in early season, but in my experience, the real decider is wind direction. Put simply, a Northerly is bad. An Easterly is disastrous. Because I have spent most of my tench fishing life in East Anglia, the effects of an Easterly are probably magnified, but they have to be taken into account everywhere, is my belief. I have no idea why Easterly winds are such killers but believe me, they are horrendous. As a tench guide I have to go out whatever the weather, but I would never bother to plan a trip in an Easterly, left to my own devices. NEVER!
You can, however, sometimes mitigate the effects of a cruel wind by choosing a swim that escapes the full force of its blow. That means picking swims on the North and Eastern banks, so you get the wind coming over your shoulder rather than into your face. The JG Swim on the Sand Pit is a good example. It is situated in the North Eastern corner of this 10 acre pit, and is snugly hidden down a steep bank so that the wind whistles overhead and hits open weather some fifty yards out from you. The swim is 12-15 feet deep at the rod tip too, and these combining factors can make for success when every other swim on the lake is dead.
I know it is not always possible to pick and choose your swim on crowded club waters or commercials, but I’d still recommend you try to think it out, rather than plump for the first swim you come to and settle just for easy. Next time, I’ll be looking at baiting regimes and considerations, and in my view that is more important than simple straightforward watercraft. Tench are like any creatures, and can be led to wherever you want them to go by the promise of a cheap meal!
