Artem Novikov of the MakeShiftLures YouTube channel has been at it again, once more targeting tench with unusual homemade baits! We’ll let him tell the story…
Not too long ago I was out fishing for tench at my favorite lake. Last time on that lake I was using a lure that looked more like a fly than a jig. This time I wanted to fish something that looked like a jig in a conventional sense that most people with a spinning rod would fish. Where you would have a jig weight and a lure behind it. When I think jig fishing my mind always jumps to crayfish patterns as jig is meant to be worked on the bottom and crayfish also spend most of their life on the bottom of the lake. With that said I tied up my favorite crayfish pattern, paired it up with 2g jig weight and headed out fishing.
I got to the lake before sunrise to clear and feed a spot. Fog on the lake was looking beautiful and mysterious. When the sun came out I was watching the water and casting to any rising bubbles that feeding tench would make by feeding on the bottom. The goal was to put my jig in front of a path of feeding fish and work the jig slowly in hopes of a bite.
Feeding tench move fast and often by the time I see bubbles and cast a jig to them they have already glided away to a different spot. And what a rewarding feeling when all the calculations come together and crayfish jig sinks down at the right moment in front of feeding fish. Then with a few twitches you finally get a bite, to experience a good battle on light spinning gear (3g to 12g casting weight rod) with half a meter tench.
Not the most productive way of catching them as I managed to catch 2 fish that day. But very rewarding to catch tench on something that only a predatory fish like perch and pike should bite.
