Fly fishing for coarse species is growing in popularity all over the world, especially here in the UK. Once thought of solely as a method for catching trout and salmon, it has now been adopted and perfected by other branches of the sport, offering an exciting alternative for targeting our favourite species!
Ethan Rush has had tremendous success using the fly to catch a range of coarse fish, but one of his favourite targets is the tench. They might not be the first fish that come to mind when you think of fly fishing, but with a bit of know-how and the tips shared in this article, Ethan will show you how you can catch them too!
Location
Location is paramount when targeting specimen tench on the fly rod where venues with relatively good clarity such as big pits suit the pursuit of tench on fly.
When I begin a session, I take some time to observe the lake and identify any 'fishy' looking areas. These areas are often shallow, weedy plateaus surrounded by deeper water or snaggy margins where fish are likely to hold. Features such as fallen trees or lily pads are good areas to look for. Once a few areas around the lake have caught my interest, the next step is to find signs of recent fish activity.
The first sign is often clear patches on the lakebed where it almost looks like a rake has been dragged across the bottom. This gives me confidence that fish have been feeding in the swim recently. Another give-away, especially in murkier water, is clouds of silt that has been disturbed by feeding fish.
Once a few of these telltale signs have been spotted, the last step is to sit tight and watch for fish feeding in the swim. Most of the time fizzing and bubbles followed by a large tail waving close to the surface is the first indication of fish but sometimes in really clear venues, entire fish can be seen patrolling the area, rooting around in the silt. This is the time to begin fishing.
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Tactics
A careful approach to presenting a fly to a feeding tench is always my go-to tactic as tench spook very easily on the line or the silhouette of an angler in the sun especially in clear water. I will try to stay as low as possible and try to keep casting to a minimum.
Timing is also important as I will only present the fly when the fish is rooting around on the bottom, not when it is moving mid-water. This will prevent spooking the fish. Once my target fish is preoccupied feeding, I will cast the fly in a 'drag and drop' movement where I cast the heavily weighted damsel fly far away from the fish and drag the fly mid-water until it is closer to the tench.
After this I will carefully drop the fly in the path of the fish. Often this results in a spooked fish but if the drag and drop was successful, the only thing left to do is to watch for the fly being taken.
It's often quite hard to see the fly with multiple fish stirring up the bottom and natural coloured flies so I will tend to watch the reaction of the fish rather than trying to watch the fly. When a feeding tench is close to where the fly dropped, I will give the fly a little bit of natural movement by wiggling the rod tip as this will shuffle the fly across the bottom. This can just get a little reaction from the fish as it's food appears to be escaping!
A good sign of a take is a tench that makes a sudden movement to eat or deviates from its feeding path to grab something. Sometimes these takes from a hunting tench are surprisingly aggressive! Once I think a tench has taken my fly I will strike into the fish and hold on for the fight on light gear.
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Tackle
Adequate tackle is important when targeting big tench on the fly as they put up a very strong fight on fly tackle and will try and get in every snag on the lake bed, so a rod with good backbone is what I tend to use.
A 10' 6wt trout rod is perfect for tench fishing as it can pressure fish out of a snag but still provide enough cushioning to not break the light line. I use a long rod as often I'm fishing close quarters on fish feeding in the margins and I can carefully lower the fly rather than have to cast it on a shorter rod.
A reel with smooth drag is a good choice especially whentrying to stop a fish going into snags and I will always have a matching 6wt floating fly line loaded on the reel. Long leaders around 15ft are essential as I want the fly line as far away from the fish as possible to avoid spooking fish and I use mono tippet ranging from 3lb up to 7lb depending on the size of fish and how snaggy the venue is.
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Fly choices
As for flies, the pattern doesn't really matter and most of my flies imitate a damsel nymph or dragonfly larvae on a #10 or #12 where olive or brown are my go to colours. The weight is the main thing that varies in my flies and I have a selection of different weighted flies ranging from heavy tungsten weighted flies for targeting fish in deeper water to very lightly weighted flies for spooky fish in shallow water.
To further this, my flies all must ride hook point upwards while they are fishing to prevent the flies from snagging or picking up weed which could ruin an opportunity on a feeding fish. Even though most of my flies imitate aquatic insects, I will always carry a few bloodworm imitations as an alternative fly option especially if I'm fishing murkier water.
Top tips
Although tench on the fly is a real challenge there are a couple of tactics that really up your edge when targeting this unusual species on fly. The main one is not trying to target lots of fish at once in situations where multiple fish are feeding in front of you as this can be overwhelming and most of the time leads to spooked fish, but locking sights on one particular fish and sticking to that one fish until you either catch it or spook it.
Another principle is taking a more patient approach and not casting as soon as you spot a fish. This can really be helpful in reading the fish's body language to piece together a plan on how to catch it and spot when the best opportunity to present the fly is.
The final little principle I like to stick to is not being scared to move on once an opportunity is missed. If I've spooked a shoal of tench I will just move on and not get too caught up in targeting the same group of fish as this normally ends up in other missed opportunities and great frustration! To sum up, I try not to get too lost in different fly patterns and tackle but rather observe the tench and watch for opportunities to catch one of these green beauties.
