Catching Tench

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Catch the green handsome

For me, acquaintance (then still in absentia) with the most curious fish - tench - took place in the distant barefoot childhood. Now, several decades later, I don’t remember exactly where exactly: either in the Pionerskaya Pravda newspaper, or in the Pioneer magazine. It was there that I came across a riddle quatrain: “Be cunning and careful. And then success is possible. Cast your fishing rod deftly. And he will grab the bait … . The answer is clear - tench.

Of course, then I could not know that not everything in this quatrain corresponds to reality. For example, the tench is not afraid of the boat at all. You can literally get close to the thickets of grass, where this fish likes to stay, and, having cleared the patch, calmly throw the nozzle.

And the word "grab" is hardly suitable for the line. Because this fish is melancholic and very indecisive. Approaching the bait, she usually does not take it right away, but squeezes, tugs slightly, procrastinates, takes it in her mouth and immediately spits it out, and sometimes even plays with it. As if "pondering": "To take or not to take?"

… Several years later, I again met this fish in the story of KG Paustovsky "The Golden Line". The author wrote: “Reuben was carrying a tench. It hung heavily from his shoulder. Water was dripping from the tench, and the scales shone as dazzlingly as the golden domes of the former monastery … We slowly carried the tench through the whole village. The old women leaned out of the windows and looked at our backs. The boys ran after him."

After these colorful lines, I passionately wanted to get to know this fish myself, and most importantly - to try to catch it. However, it turned out that from “wanting” to “catching” is a distance of significant time size … And yet my dream came true, but very, very long time ago.

So what kind of fish is this tench? Let's start with the title. Here is what our well-known hunter and fisherman S. T. Aksakov writes about this in the book "Notes on the fishing of fish": "Although you can pronounce his name from the verb cling, because the tench, covered with sticky mucus, clings to the hands, but I strongly believe that the name comes from the verb shed: for a tench caught even in a bucket of water or a mug, especially if it is cramped for it, immediately sheds, and large, dark spots will go all over the body, and even taken out directly from the water has a two-faced shedding color. No doubt the people noticed this peculiarity of the tench and gave it a characteristic name."

In addition to this ability, tench can be easily distinguished from other fish of the carp family by its appearance … A fat, clumsy fish with a short, low body, covered with small scales and a thick layer of mucus, and a sort of chopped off tail. All fins are gray-yellowish and, unlike other cyprinids, are rounded.

The mouth is fleshy, small, and in its corners - along a short antenna. The eyes are small, bright red. As a rule, the back is dark or dark greenish, the sides are light green with a golden sheen, the belly is grayish or light yellow. But the color of the tench largely depends on the color of the bottom, water, vegetation among which it lives.

The tench is found in river bays, in channels with weak currents, in lakes, in abandoned quarries, oxbows and large ponds overgrown with reeds, reeds, sedge and horsetail. And even where there are no impassable thickets, in the so-called "windows" among water lilies.

But it is the thickets of aquatic plants (and the thicker the better!) - the favorite places of residence of the line. It is among these plants that they slowly swim in search of food. Therefore, it is not for nothing that in common parlance the tench is called "quiet water".

Usually tench leads a solitary sedentary lifestyle. The ability to reproduce begins in the 3-4th year, with a length of more than 20 centimeters. Spawning occurs in June-July, much later than many fish, at a water temperature of + 19 … + 20 degrees Celsius. It lays eggs on the underwater parts of plants. Despite the high fertility (an adult female is capable of spawning up to 400 thousand eggs), tench is not numerous everywhere in the water bodies of the North-West.

Probably, the main reasons for this phenomenon are the constantly deteriorating habitat and the fact that in the reservoirs where the tench breeds, there are too many people who want to feast on its late laid eggs and the fry hatched from it.

The tench feeds on insect larvae, worms, crustaceans, small mollusks, which it preys in the bottom mud. Therefore, there is a lot of silt in his stomach. Experienced anglers claim that, digging in the silt, the tench betrays its location by chains of gas bubbles rising to the surface. This is especially noticeable among dense thickets.

Since the tench lives in very specific conditions that make it very difficult to catch it, there are few people willing (let's call them rulers) to fish for this fish. In addition, a burdensome, depressingly fuzzy bite can unbalance even the most patient angler. Therefore, few fishermen purposefully fish tench, mostly they come across by-catch, that is, with other fish (carp, bream, crucian carp).

What and what to catch tench

This fish is caught mainly with a float rod and a jig. Much less often - on the donkey. But the most widespread was, of course, the float rod. And without any special frills. Conventional float rod with blind rigging. The rod for her should be at least five meters, moderately stiff. Main line 0.3 mm, leader 0.25 mm. It is advisable to paint the line in light green, and the leash in dark green. Hooks - # 5-7.

Pay particular attention to the float. It must be very sensitive, because the very specific bite of the tench is a kind of test of endurance and patience of the angler. To do this, you need to pick up two pellets or another weight so that only a brightly colored tip sticks out of the water at the loaded float.

For catching tench uses a variety of attachments: bloodworm, maggot, caddis worms, bread, cereal, seeds, legumes, cereal grains (especially corn), slices of fresh fish and even slices of cheese. However, a truly royal "dish" for tench, which he will never refuse - a peeled crayfish neck. It has been noticed that the worm mostly catches small tench. Although, as they say, there are no rules without exception.

Both among anglers and among authors of publications on fishing for line there is no consensus about where the bait should be in order to maximize the interest of the fish, provoking it to bite. For example, in the book "You anglers" it is recommended: "… The bait should lie at the bottom - the line hanging on the hook will not touch." In the journal Rybolov, the author claims the opposite: “From my own experience I know that tench rarely bite from the bottom. While swimming underwater in a mask, I often observed how lines feed most often in the upper layers of the water. In the now extinct magazine "Fishing and fish breeding" a certain middle variant was proposed: "It is recommended to keep the nozzle 10-15 centimeters from the bottom." In a word, it turns out that they catch, as they say, who go for what.

Summing up the experience of fishermen, I advise you to adhere to this simple rule: if the bottom is muddy, the bait should be above it. If the bottom is hard, the bait can lie on it.

But when you are going to catch a line, you should know that the most successful is fishing in a lured place. In this case, it is desirable that the bait was flavored. However, you need to skillfully feed. In no case should you do this directly while fishing. Because, in addition to the line, the bait will also attract other fish - carp, bream, crucian carp, silver bream, which are much more agile than melancholic, slow lines and are always ahead of them. Hence the conclusion: you should feed the fishing spot in advance. For bait, you can use finely chopped worms (so that they do not crawl into the silt), various cakes, cereals, steamed grain grains.

In recent years, line fishing with a jig has become more widespread. Different jigs are suitable (see Fig. 1). Moreover, its shape is not decisive, since the bait itself is the nozzle, and the jig actually serves as a sinker. The optimal weight of the most catchy jigs is 0.8-1.5 grams.

The specific weight of the jigs is determined by the fishing conditions. In heavily overgrown areas, as well as in areas covered with a dense layer of algae, it is preferable to use heavier jigs.

The nod plays an essential (if not decisive!) Role in the jigsaw tackle. It is he who determines the game of the bait and signals the bite. It is best to use nods with a length of at least 150 millimeters. Experienced fishermen (partly molotniks) argue that rhythmic and smooth oscillations are most effective. One of the possible options looks like this: the jig should be lowered to the bottom without sudden movements. And as soon as it touches it, you need to raise it by 5-10 centimeters and gently shake it. Sometimes 5-6 strokes are enough to attract a tench. If there is no bite within a minute, then you need to raise the jig and move it to the side.

When fishing for tench with a float rod or with a jig from the shore, if there are no natural glades, it is necessary to clear an area with radially diverging "corridors" in the thickets of grass. From a boat, you should fish at the border of thickets.

Opinions vary as to what weather is most favorable for fishing tench. Most anglers believe that tench bite best on a warm, cloudy day with drizzling rain. True, there are no rules without exception: sometimes they catch tench on a sunny day, in the very heat. And what is surprising: sometimes larger than on a cloudy day.

In pursuit of a green handsome man …

The ability to fish a line from ancient times was considered the pinnacle of fishing skill. It is very, very difficult to lure a large, cautious, secretive "quiet water" to bait. And this is under the indispensable condition that the place of fishing is correctly determined, the place of fishing is lured, and a suitable tackle is used.

Even under the ice, when the snow is just beginning to melt in the calm, and streams of melt water from the shore gurgle into the reservoirs, the tench begins to move. And although this fish belongs to the thermophilic species, it exhibits forage activity at water temperatures of +6 degrees Celsius.

At this time, the tench tries to stay closer to the shore - the water warms up there faster. From that moment on, it can be caught, despite the fact that there is a persistent proverb among anglers: "Lilac blooms - the tench takes."

Let's say you found a suitable place where the lines can stand, fed him 2-3 days before fishing, and now, having thrown the bait, you are waiting for a bite with understandable excitement. And then, finally, it took place … This is a decisive moment: the bite of the tench is original and completely unpredictable, therefore, being late or haste with the hook almost always leads to a fish out!

A fine line, as a rule, pulls the nozzle once or twice and drags it to the bottom or to the side. Here you should not hesitate with a sweep. A bite of a large tench is a different matter. Since I, frankly, have never caught a large line, I will again refer to S. T. Aksakov, who very colorfully describes the biting and playing of this fish in the book "Notes on the Snacking of Fish":

"… they (lines)they take it quietly and truly: for the most part, the float, without the slightest shake, imperceptibly for the eyes, floats from its place to one side, even often backs away to the shore - this is a tench; he took a hook with a nozzle in his mouth and quietly leaves with it; you grab the rod, hook it, and the sting of the hook pierces some part of its soft, tight, as if swollen inside the mouth; the tench rests its head down, raises its tail up and in this position moves very slowly along the muddy bottom, and then, if you begin to drag; otherwise, he is able to lie like a stone for several times in the same place. When you feel that the tench is very large, then it is unnecessary to rush and drag too hard: you can break the hook if it stuck into the pubic bone of his mouth and fell for breaking; keep the line slightly taut and wait for the line to decide to walk;then start driving and drive for a long time, for he is very strong and does not get tired soon; beware of the grass: he will now rush into it, get entangled and ready to stay there for several hours. Then do what you should do with a big fish."

Almost all authors of publications about this fish write that tench can reach a length of 60 cm and a weight of 6-7.5 kg (most often the maximum weight is 7 kg). I believe that the primary source of just such a figure is taken from the capital edition "Animal Life". I quote literally: "Lin reaches a length of 60 centimeters and a mass of 7.5 kilograms."

I am not a very big liner, and therefore I do not undertake either to confirm or deny such dimensions of the line. Therefore, I propose to return to the book I have already mentioned by STAksakov "Notes on the fish eating." This is what the most authoritative fisherman writes about the size of the line … “It must be said that I do not quite believe in the large size and weight of many fish that fishermen talk about; here, for example, the tench: how many I have outdone them in my life, how many have I seen fished out by others or caught with different fishing tackle; how could I not meet at least one, if not at fourteen, then at least ten or twelve pounds? The eight-pound line that I saw and weighed on the steelyard was two quarters long with an inch … "(For information: a pound - 409.5 grams, a quarter - 17.8 centimeters, an inch - 4.45 centimeters).

With the help of simple calculations, we determine that the tench weighed by Sergey Timofeevich was forty centimeters long and weighing 3 kilograms 276 grams. It should be borne in mind that it was a long time ago, we will figuratively consider it even under the "Tsar Pea" (the years of Aksakov's life 1791-1859) At that time, fish (including the line) were "in bulk", and the anglers were not darkness, like now. Yes, and then they caught not as sophisticated as now, tackle.

So is it possible in our lean fishing time to catch a tench weighing 7.5 kilograms? I don't think so. In support of this fact, I will refer to the All-Russian Society of Fishermen, which annually holds the Record Fish of the Year competition. So there are lines of about two kilograms. And one more thing: even when I asked professional fishermen who caught fish with nets for a fish processing plant, no one remembered a tench weighing more than 2 kilograms.

Therefore, I strongly advise my readers, fishermen, who are going to fish a line, not to indulge themselves even with the illusory hope of catching many lines or at least one weighing 7.5 kilograms. Catch at least two-kilogram ones and rejoice, because 4-5 lines caught is already a great success. Tench meat is very tasty, in the ear it is rich, good and fried. And he also has an exceptional advantage over other fish: it is not necessary to remove lumpy scales from him. Gut it, wash off the sticky mucus and throw it into the cauldron - the scales will quickly dissolve in the boiling water.

Sitting at the table, enjoy not only a dish of tench, but also the memory that you managed to outwit such a cautious and rather rare fish.