Tinca tinca - Tench
Ponds, canals and slow-flowing rivers with muddy beds and plenty of weed
are ideal habitat for tench. They are cyprinids - members of the carp
family.
Tench fishing is a summer pursuit, as these are warm weather fish and
in winter they tend to become dormant. They vary from bronze through olive
green to almost black, depending upon habitat. Golden tench have been bred
selectively and in the wild they are very vulnerable to predatory birds.
The British record tench, caught in a Middlesex gravel pit in 1987,
weighed just over 14 lb (6.4 kg). Tench do not usually live as long as
carp and they tend to grow more slowly, but specimens more than ten years
old are quite common. They feed almost exclusively in the sediment, taking
chironomid larvae, worms and other mud-dwelling creatures.
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