Re: How quick do fish grow?

A lot depends on the feed they eat,like all animals they will grow more healthy if they have the right feed to feed on,this will help in the growth rate but like Greg says they can take a long time to reach there full size,Tench have a life span of around 20 years and half of that is growing time,males grow to around 7/8lb wile females grow into double figours so you see like Greg says the females are the big ones.

A lot depends on what you mean by size,is it weight or length,weight is all down to feeding but length is down to age.

Re: How quick do fish grow?

I read that Tench are getting bigger due to warmer climate. Their feeding season is longer and coupled with the use of boilies they are getting bigger. I read somewhere that Tench are the most likely species to get the record for. I dont know the record or when it was last broken but, I can believe this to be true. I have noticed Tench being more active in April than years ago although I still find May and June the best months but, April is catching up. After May and June I find that catches are still spasmodic. So, if you fancy getting into the records books Tench may be the best fish to try and do it with.

By coincidence I was reading Izaak walton on tench last week and he writes a lot about Tench being the doctor fish. I think he said they were used by human doctors as well in that time.

I lived in france for a while and saw many coarse fish in the fishmongers, bream and roach etc. cannot remember seeing tench but, I guess they have a different pallet to ours. That will be the next EU ruling, our palletes will have to be brought into aline with thiers. And so it should be !!!

Re: How quick do fish grow?

15lb in 2001 is the latest i know of,caught at a Suffolk still water by a Carp angler on a boillie

how quick do fish grow

 Food availability is the reason most acid based river produce sea trout and not many stay at home brown trout very low natural food tables unlike the chalk streams that are abundant with natural food and produce more stay at home browns.

Re: How quick do fish grow?

14lb 15lb tench are just awesome. My largest is about 6lb and I am trying to imagine a cod I caught of 15lb being a tench and it just blows me away. I think if ever I saw something like that come out of the water, I would pass out.

I wonder if there is a limit that a species can reach. Some sort of gene they carry that will limit their size. I am thinking along the lines of taking a roach and giving it as much water as it wants and as much food as it wants, clean water and no deseases or predators... What is stopping it getting to 15lb in weight.  There must be a maximum weight per species that it is impossible to go over?