Tench rakes and what do you think?

I'm after a good rake design and I'd like some of the Tench crew in here to scrutinise my Tench techniques.

I've been on a bit of Scottish Tench campaign at the moment with 1 fish to my name, which isn't bad really for 3 sessions.

I have a new water with a swim clearance problem and I need a rake. It doesn't have to be huge because the water isn't massive and there are only so any areas we want cleared. Just enough to get a rod (2 at a push but probably a legered rig with a waggler fished over the top at greater distance, so no interference or complications) in each swim, would suffice.

Have any of you got THE plan for the best tench rake?

Now for the Tench Mix...

I was Tenching yesterday and met and angler who lived nearby so we got chatting....really nice bloke.

He was very cool and reckoned a rake was the way to go. He reckoned my intentions and rigs so far were 100% spot on and it was just a matter of time before I scored.

His only criticism was the amount of groundbait I was using. It wasn't ENOUGH! He said double what I'm using and darken the mix with black powder or worm cast, mole soil or something. He says the Tench love it but the silvers hate it (the white patch, won't swim over it effect). Black as possible he reckoned but my ground-mix was bang on he thought. Just not the colour.

I would be using...

900g bag of suitable groundbait.
900g of Strawberry Fizz or similar (but didn't have any yesterday)
About 1 -2 full loaves of brown liquidised crumb for bulk.
Half a Kilo of cooked hemp
Half a Kilo of cooked maize (cos it's that we bit darker and tougher) or a tin of Dynamite Strawberry corn or just plain GG niblet corn (ho ho ho!) but that's made red easily with food colouring...didn't leave out the juice either.
Dynamite Strawberry Additive for the groundbait water and straight from the bottle for glugging my corn baits. Man that stuff smells good.

Some freebies, especially red maggot, corn (red if possible), red caster and redworm or even lobs (chopped and the cast) if available. It was lovely to my nose.

A wee squirt of Dynamite Scopex through my maggots. That smells nice too.

My rig was a converted block-end feeder (it empties slowly and casts better than an open-end feeder) with the cap removed and a heavy lead attached, made into a semi-fixed bolt-rig, using a Grippa stop as the stop (slides off pretty easily should anything adverse happen but enough grip for the bolt-effect) with a 3-4 inch 3lb hooklength and 2 pieces of hair-rigged corn (fake and real) , steeped in Dynamite Strawberry additive and stopped with a bright red boilie stop. The hook was a size 12 Drennan corn hook with a bunch of red maggots on for effect. By removing the Grippa stop it's just a running leger rig.

There's a strawberry and red theme going here.

The chap I spoke to said that was ideal and it would definitely work. It was just my luck it never got taken (too sunny he thought) but he said keep the mix a bit darker and just keep doing what I'm doing and I'll catch them nps. Says I'm right on track. He said red food colouring also goes a long way and really it's worth adding a full bottle.

It was good day for learning. We did catch plenty of Rudd, Roach, Perch and Hybrids. For the Tench though, I just need to find a good supply of worms and maybe cup out some chopped worm and VDE Predator Plus for the 'explosion' after raking but the food colouring should cover that methinks. I know how far that stuff goes from the kitchen trade. Food colouring is cheaper and Predator plus doesn't smell of strawberries.

Cheers men (and lady).....Andy.....

I used to fish a farm pond, there was a section of Harrow attached to a rope that was used........

I would 'knock up' a primitive grappling hook type of thing at work, if I was in your situation

How about a cheapo pair of rake heads from the local hardware store welded to each other (back to back) and attach some rope?

Regards the red theme: apparently red is the first colour of the spectrum to disappear when submerged in water. This is why the 'experts' say to use red coloured line. In fact Anglers Mail gave away a spool of it last week. (I opted for the green)

If red is indeed the first colour to disappear in water, then how come red maggots are so successful? I ALWAYS use reds when coarse fishing.

Anglers Mail contradicted themselves by running a feature where the angler was using the red line (don't forget, the experts say it's not visible in water) and was fishing for bream using a RED groundbait mix

Just because it doesn't appear as red, as we know it, at depth, it may have a different contrast to the surrounding terrain, which would still make it visible.

You dig?

HaHa well spotted Andy W.

Andy Webster wrote:

Andy Macfarlane wrote:I have a new water with a swim clearance problem and I need a rake. It doesn't have to be huge because the water isn't massive

I just LOVE the notion of the bigger the lake the bigger the rake needed...

Yeah, I can just imagine taking a dredging machine to go fishing on some waters

What's so amusing about that?

I helped clear a lake a few years back and the customised rake was nearly 5-6 feet wide and took 2 men to operate it.
This lake is much smaller and and a garden rake attached to a rope would suffice, so yes, the size of the water can dictate the size of the rake. Rakes do come in different sizes (have a look in B&Q) and the plants within those lakes often require lighter or heavier rakes. Pondweed lifts easily but lily requires something heavier built and most probably with saw blades welded on.

When you clear a large bit of water one day and the garden rake you're using isn't making any headway, you'll say,

"I wish we had a bigger rake"

....Andy....

You are right in what you say Andy but just couldn't help being light hearted about it.

No offence meant.

How could i take it any other way lefty, especially from the likes of you, in your straightjacket....lol

.....andy.....

Oh, you noticed then?

It's our lass and the kids that have done that to me.

Makes typing and casting a rod a little difficult though...............