Innovative lure maker Artem Novikov of makeshiftlures reports on a super overnight tench session in the Midlands:
On Sunday into Monday, I was out fishing on the Inny system. I usually go to one tench lake that I know well, and it doesn’t let me down often. But this summer I wanted to explore new waters and see if my home-made lures/baits would tempt tench in other places.
Upon studying the internet, I quickly learnt that the River Inny system has some good tench fishing. In particular, I had my eye set on Lough Iron. As it seemed hard to get to and perfect size and depth to produce big Tench.
For bait, I wanted to make something simple but effective, so I came up with a floating pea lure out of a piece of green foam. I have punctured 8mm cylinder in foam with metal leather hole punch. Then rounded off the sides with scissors. Glued it to a piece of mono fishing line and attached it to the hook with thread.
Parked at Lough Derravaragh, I launched my inflatable boat with an electric motor for a two-day fishing session. To get to Lough Iron, it took me around 3 hours, as I was saving the battery charge by going slow, and the motor propeller kept getting stuck in weeds, which meant unexpected stops to clear the debris.
When I finally arrived at the Lough, it was stunning and looked every bit a coarse fishing sanctuary. I had picked a spot close to the bank and cleared the bottom with a rake. Feed the spot with my usual mix of digestive biscuits, breadcrumbs, Weetabix, and green peas to match the bait. To my surprise, there was no fish activity in the evening. After sleeping in the boat, I was very pleased to wake up to find my clear spot muddy from feeding Tench.
I managed to make out some tails of feeding fish, so I gently lowered my floating pea lure about 2 meters from the boat. It took a couple of minutes for them to locate the lure, with a firm take afterwards. It is a great feeling to see your plan come together and feel big fish at the end of your line. All the tench were fighting extra hard, with head shakes, splashes, and drag-pulling. Sometimes it would take the fish a few minutes to bite; other times they would locate the floating pea in seconds for an aggressive take. There were lots of bites; I managed to hook 3 fish and land 2, with the 3rd breaking me off in the lily pads. Both fish were 3kg (6.5 pounds) 50cm and 52cm long. The morning bite was short and sweet from sunrise until about 8:30am. Then the fish had disappeared as if they were never there. I have yet to figure out how to make tench come back for the afternoon and evening bite.
On the way back, I completely drained the battery on the electric motor and had to row for a couple of kilometres. But it was all worth it; what an experience on Lough Iron.
