Night fishing on the river

[larsagi2010]

Well.....

 

Firsty, I have decided Night fishing is not for me

 

I arrived at the river later than anticipated and didnt really have enough light to get set up properly, at which point I discovered a handheld torch simply isnt adequate enough and a headlamp IS essential! trying to tie knots and set up with one hand holding a torch and the other one fumbling around just doesnt work with my sausage fingers!

 

As much as I thought I kept putting things in the right places, more often than not they would end up somewhere else just when I needed them!

 

After carrying way to much equipment across a field or 2, I realised by the end of the session I could have left the following items at the car:

 

1 of my rods

landing net

unhooking mat

most of my groundbait

scales

camera

a lot of my tackel

 

the reason being I blanked and didnt even get a bite, neither of us did!

 

Then the rain started, luckily I had an umbrella so kept myself and gear dry...

 

We then heard something the size of a buffalo rummaging around in the trees and bushes behind us which was a little weird and freaky, armed with a bankstick we kept fishing (admittedly a little on edge) and after a short while we decided that day fishing is the way for us and packed up!

 

Thank you for all the help and advice, and I am sure once better equipped I might attempt it again!

 

Cheers,

 

Stooby...

 

If you go into Tesco on the home department Energiser have a head torch on sale at £11.99 it has an elasticated adjustable head strap, 100% waterproof and had 7 White LEDs and 3 red ones, you can select white or red. You can turn LED's off and on giving yourself more/less light as required. When all LED's are on its so bright its like looking at the sun only worse! So it will give you all the light you could possibly need. Oh and as its LED the batteries last ages.

 

I would recommend fishing about 8pm to midnight, from experience it seems to go quiet at like 1-2am. Then when you go home at say 12am get some good particle bait in the water and go back at like 6 in the morning and you will see loads of Tench fizzing and Carp rolling.... They have found your bait and got confident due to no disturbances and gone into feeding mode. Just approach the bank quietly with a stalking rig and you can get some nice fish!

 

 

Oh... What river did you fish??

[AddictedToScopex]

Hopefully you wont let this experience put you off. I have had the vast majority of my larger fish at night, particularly barbel and it can make for a great fight when light is low. I did tell you to take some extra undies for 'lets leggit' moments lol. It can be unnerving when you hear something and cant place what it was. Anyway as you said, go back a little better prepared next time and you will very likely reap the rewards. It can be very exciting watching a starlight begin waving frantically in the pitch black as something pulls on your line.

 

P.S. Its always wise to travel light down the river. I learnt this the first time out when i had my huge rod bag, session bag big chair and food bag and had to walk around a mile and a half to my peg. I wont be making the same mistake again!

[larsagi2010]

Hopefully you wont let this experience put you off. I have had the vast majority of my larger fish at night, particularly barbel and it can make for a great fight when light is low. I did tell you to take some extra undies for 'lets leggit' moments lol. It can be unnerving when you hear something and cant place what it was. Anyway as you said, go back a little better prepared next time and you will very likely reap the rewards. It can be very exciting watching a starlight begin waving frantically in the pitch black as something pulls on your line.

 

P.S. Its always wise to travel light down the river. I learnt this the first time out when i had my huge rod bag, session bag big chair and food bag and had to walk around a mile and a half to my peg. I wont be making the same mistake again!

 

 

Couldn't agree more. I too have had some really nice fish at night including a 2 x 3lb and even a 4lb Perch! and that was on the Shropshire Union Canal on ledger. A mate of mine has had some nice 10-17lb Carp at night also on Ledger from the Canal. The river is not something I have night fished a lot, but I know from searching for Carp in the Dee a guy has had a 12lb Common, and an 8lb Ghost/Mirror on his first session on a stretch near me, and on his second trip he landed a 22lb Common. He fished 8pm untill 11.30pm on a Mulberry Boilie both times.

 

I would also agree with with the above about travelling light down the river. I would generally take literally what I would surely use and nothing more. I normally take my rods/reels, rod rests/alarms, Umbrella, headlamp, Flask, and I have a small tackle box that consists of 4-5 different weighted ledgers, I have my hooklengths already made up Swivel to hook so I literally just thread the line through the rod, push on a ledger/bead and then tie it to the swivel which already has the line/hook tied to one end. I take maybe 2-3 spare hooklengths with me just in case I get a few snags. And a rucksack that consists of groundbait/maggots/sweetcorn/boilies ect:

 

I don't take a chair, I just sit on my little tackle box and huddle under the umbrella. No word of a lie I often go to my night fishing sessions on a 125cc motorbike! I have my rucksack on my back, tacklebox and flask ect: in the backbox, and I strap the rodback holding the rods/umbrella bank sticks ect: to the side... Really light really easy

 

And the bike means I can go across the fields and through the footpath gates so I can park right along the river. The headlights on the bike also help when having my picture taken as I put them on and stand in front of the bike with the camera on a 12 second timer on the handlebar fairing..

 

Works perfectly for me!