Do you follow a set fishing calendar?

[Dales]

I am sure those of you who like a bit of Pike fishing are probably starting to sort your Pike gear out in preparation for the winter season, but do you follow any set pattern to what species you fish for during the rest of the year and if you have a set pattern do you stick to it religiously.

 

Do you start out with Tench in the spring, then have a cut off date when you turn to Carp in Summer and then stop come the 1st October and get your Pike rods out. Or do you just mix and match your species depending on how you feel at the time.

 

During the summer I have no set pattern to what I target and chop and change my species from one weekend to the next and just enjoy being out and about and any fish that come along are most welcome.

 

However once the 1st November comes, it's Pike and Perch that take over and I will fish almost exclusivly for these species up to the end of March.

I very rarely fish at all during April or May due to work commitments and normaly go on holiday in June for 3 weeks so may get 1 session in that month. So my fishing season really kicks off in July and so I have 4 months to fit all the other species in to and so during this time I dont go all out for any thing in particular.

 

So do you have set seasons for each species or set dates when you change your targets or do you just drift where your mood takes you?

[wayne baker]

I am quite set in my ways. Though i do take the odd diversion now and then. Most of the summer i spend barbel fishing, And a bit of tenching. Come October my thoughts start turning towards pike, And the barbel get substituted for chub perch and roach on my local river when i feel the conditions are right.

Saying that i havent got much piking in this winter yet. Still waiting for a few frosts. And my local river is still looking far from desirable at the moment. I have managed a few chub at dusk and a few perch so far from the river. Once we get to the end of this month i will start my piking proper. On a local 17 acre lake where i fished last winter and had a couple of nice fish.

[Dick Dastardly]

In one yes!

[Anderoo]

Definitely! I can't imagine fishing for the same species or using the same method all year round. Generally my year looks like this:

 

January - Chub

February - Chub, Perch

March - Chub, Perch, Trout

April - Bream, Tench, Trout

May - Bream, Tench, Trout

June - Bream, Tench

July - Bream

August - Bream

September - Bream, Perch

October - Perch

November - Chub

December - Chub

 

Those are the main 'specimen' species but all through the year I will have lots of small river trotting, and during the winter I usually have the odd grayling or zander trip, and do some sporadic piking.

 

I do very little fishing during July and August. Spring/Summer is usually a few long stillwater sessions (apart from the fly fishing), and Autumn/Winter is a lot of short sessions on the rivers.

 

These dates obviously move about a bit depending on the conditions.

[Worms]

I'm quite the opposite to Anderoo, I fish for whatever might be about whenever suitable/legal! Obviously some sessions are dependent on seasons but there's usually a surprise to be had somewhere!

[Chris Plumb]

I pretty much split the season in 2. With June 16 - Oct 1 spent after tench and crucians in still waters and barbel on the rivers. Come the autumn & winter the focus is on perch, chub and grayling - and at the back end of the season if I'm lucky - big dace.

 

 

C.

[arbocop]

  Chris Plumb said:

I pretty much split the season in 2. With June 16 - Oct 1 spent after tench and crucians in still waters and barbel on the rivers. Come the autumn & winter the focus is on perch, chub and grayling - and at the back end of the season if I'm lucky - big dace.

 

 

C.

 

My seasons are similar except for the crucians and tench - I'm almost exclusively rivers, and nearly always trotting. Well the last two seasons since I've returned to fishing in all my spare time. However, like Anderoo I have a bit of everything thrown in for good measure, including sea fishing and fly fishing.

 

I've still not been out for three weeks though, the rivers are filling and Im afraid I'm going to miss it all. My next trip might be the fish-in at Timsbury. I keep thinking about fitting in a sesh somewhere and somehow, but due to work, short days and family it doesn't look likely. I've even frozen some mashed bread ready to go!

[Alan Roe]

I also tend to follow a seasonal patttern with my fishing spring and early summer tends to be trout fishing followed by a mixed bag depending on the weather in the summer but will include tench carp aand some barbel as we move int autumn it tends to become more barbel focussed but salmon also tend to come on the menu then after the first of November it tends to be grayling and chub with some beach fishing for cod thrown in

[Kappa]

Mine is very similar to Anderoo:

 

January - Chub, Perch, small river trotting

February - Chub, Perch

March - Chub, Perch, Trout

April - Bream, Tench, Trout

May - Bream, Tench, Trout

June - Bream, Tench

July - Everything

August - Everything

September - Perch, small river trotting

October - Perch, small river trotting

November - Chub, Perch, small river trotting

December - Chub, Perch, small river trotting

 

 

I never have any idea what to do with myself in July and August, maybe next yeat I'll start fishing for catfish to fill the gap....

 

Rich

[gozzer]

I never have based my fishing on the calender, the weather changes too much from year to year.

A late or early spring can throw your plans awry. Same with those years when we don't really have an autumn, and winter comes in with a bang. Then we have cold wet summers and mild dry winters. I always preferred to base it on weather conditions than a specific time of year.

 

John.