Fall (Autumn) & Winter Tactics

[Newt]

This past weekend, I took my favorite fishing partner (my wife) for an afternoon's session. I really wanted to put her on some fish since she can't tolerate cold weather and I knew it might well be her last outing with me for a few months. I picked a spot that does well for us in warmer weather but that I'd not tried in the cool. I made up groundbait and had hopes of getting some fish in the swim active and in a mood to bite. Well, my record as a very bad baiter is still intact. 3 hours and we had 2 small fish to show for our efforts. I gave up on that idea, raised the anchors, lowered the trolling motor, and off we went in search of hungry fish.

 

Since I was determined to put her on fish, I did not do my usual of fishing along with lures while she fished her preferred method of lobworm under a float. I put out a rod with a lob and concentrated on keeping a decent distance from shore and keeping my rig within a foot or two of the ever-changing bottom depth.

 

The end result was that she caught lots of fish, I caught no fish, and I had tons of time to simply sit and think and that gave me the idea for posting this thread.

 

Forum topics often do not proceed as their originator hopes and this one may be among them. What I hope to do is put together a collection of tips, tactics, etc. that have a chance of being effective for catching fish in cool-to-cold weather.

 

We've had a number of isolated topics recently asking for help or ideas so I think it would be nice if we could gather how-to ideas in one place. Those of us who fish all year long can learn from each other and those who prefer milder weather will have something to read while they wait for Spring.

 

I'm certain that some of the 'regulars' will offer ideas since there are some of us who love to post here. But I also know we have members who rarely (or never) post and I'd love to see them weigh in with questions, answers, or their favored cold water tactics.

 

Hopefully we'll get some general ideas, some species specific ideas, and still others dealing with how to approach certain types of waters.

 

If none of this happens ... well I've had topics go KLUNK before.

 

So if you aren't bored to tears yet, I'll post a bit about patterning fish and the see how things proceed from there.

[Newt]

Patterning fish

 

If you are not restricted to a peg or mobility limited, this is a great time of year to move around some. Not many anglers so you likely won't be bothering anyone and at worst, moving helps keep you a little warmer.

 

Patterning is something good US pred anglers do as a matter of routine. It is based on the fact that on a given day (or hour) on any lake/river there will be active fish who are hungry and in search of a meal, suspended fish who won't bite if a bait is dangled in front of their nose, and a group of fish that aren't really looking for a feed but will eat if an easy opportunity presents itself. Spring/summer/early fall will usually see a higher percentage of fish in active mode but there are always some.

 

For reasons that I cannot really understand, it seems that active fish of a given species will tend to like the same sorts of places. If you catch a couple of fish near overhanging branches you can probably do well by trying all the overhanging branches around the lake. Catch one or two over gravel beds and those would be good places to try.

 

While you are trying all the overhanging branches, if you find that you get fish when there is deep water under the branches but you get nothing when it is shallow, you have further refined your pattern. Gravel in 5 feet of water produces but gravel in 1 foot or 10 feet does not and you have further refined your pattern.

 

A particular pattern may hold for only an hour or two or it may hold for days. Once you find the fish you should concentrate on those sorts of places until it becomes obvious that the fish have changed their minds and then it's time to start looking again. If there are limited numbers of places on your water that are similar enough to be worth a try, then it may be time to pick one or two that produced best and put out some bait since if there were active fish there, there are probably also some of the 'tweenies' that you can coax into a more active feeding mode.

 

Back to my days outing with Jan - after an hour of trying near the shore with a gradual slope to maybe 8 foot depths and only a couple of bites, we moved to a section with deeper water just off shore. Well happy days, she started getting bites more frequently and we both paid very close attention to conditions where the bites happened. It finally turned out that the active fish were holding in 2-4 feet of water as long as there was a log under them and the water was at least 10 feet deep.

 

We concentrated on those spots until dark and she had a banner day with lots of fish caught and released. Most were bluegill but as a bonus, she caught a perch that was at least 5 times larger than any we had ever seen in that lake. Not large by UK standards but when most of the perch you get are 2-4 ounce fish, a 1 lb 5 oz fish is a monster.

 

The best thing we had to show for the first few hours at anchor and tossing out bait was a visit from this fine fella who obviously knew we couldn't move quickly and were no threat to him.

 

 

We did have some other anglers in the area and I'm guessing these two were trying to locate crappie (a fish you don't have) at 10-20 feet with jigs. Crappie are good eating but poor sport so I don't ever target them but lots of folks do and with this tactic they probably picked up an occasional bonus largemouth bass for a little excitement.

 

 

This is typical of the places we eventually found fish where a blown down tree near the water placed a nice log in the water.

 

 

And here is the 'specimen' perch Jan caught.

 

[Peter Waller]

A lot to take in there Newt, it'll get a re-read later. But what struck me was your perch, loads of stripes!

 

By the way, the term 'fall' is an ancient Scots term. Basically it refers to that critical time, shortly after closing time. In reality the 'Fall' takes place seconds after being kicked out of a hot, stuffy pub when folk hit the cold air.

 

[ 09. December 2004, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[tony tinca]

Patterning fish

 

If you are not restricted to a peg or mobility limited, this is a great time of year to move around some. Not many anglers so you likely won't be bothering anyone and at worst, moving helps keep you a little warmer.

 

Patterning is something good US pred anglers do as a matter of routine. It is based on the fact that on a given day (or hour) on any lake/river there will be active fish who are hungry and in search of a meal, suspended fish who won't bite if a bait is dangled in front of their nose, and a group of fish that aren't really looking for a feed but will eat if an easy opportunity presents itself. Spring/summer/early fall will usually see a higher percentage of fish in active mode but there are always some.

 

For reasons that I cannot really understand, it seems that active fish of a given species will tend to like the same sorts of places. If you catch a couple of fish near overhanging branches you can probably do well by trying all the overhanging branches around the lake. Catch one or two over gravel beds and those would be good places to try.

 

While you are trying all the overhanging branches, if you find that you get fish when there is deep water under the branches but you get nothing when it is shallow, you have further refined your pattern. Gravel in 5 feet of water produces but gravel in 1 foot or 10 feet does not and you have further refined your pattern.

 

A particular pattern may hold for only an hour or two or it may hold for days. Once you find the fish you should concentrate on those sorts of places until it becomes obvious that the fish have changed their minds and then it's time to start looking again. If there are limited numbers of places on your water that are similar enough to be worth a try, then it may be time to pick one or two that produced best and put out some bait since if there were active fish there, there are probably also some of the 'tweenies' that you can coax into a more active feeding mode.

 

Back to my days outing with Jan - after an hour of trying near the shore with a gradual slope to maybe 8 foot depths and only a couple of bites, we moved to a section with deeper water just off shore. Well happy days, she started getting bites more frequently and we both paid very close attention to conditions where the bites happened. It finally turned out that the active fish were holding in 2-4 feet of water as long as there was a log under them and the water was at least 10 feet deep.

 

We concentrated on those spots until dark and she had a banner day with lots of fish caught and released. Most were bluegill but as a bonus, she caught a perch that was at least 5 times larger than any we had ever seen in that lake. Not large by UK standards but when most of the perch you get are 2-4 ounce fish, a 1 lb 5 oz fish is a monster.

 

The best thing we had to show for the first few hours at anchor and tossing out bait was a visit from this fine fella who obviously knew we couldn't move quickly and were no threat to him.

 

 

We did have some other anglers in the area and I'm guessing these two were trying to locate crappie (a fish you don't have) at 10-20 feet with jigs. Crappie are good eating but poor sport so I don't ever target them but lots of folks do and with this tactic they probably picked up an occasional bonus largemouth bass for a little excitement.

 

 

This is typical of the places we eventually found fish where a blown down tree near the water placed a nice log in the water.

 

 

And here is the 'specimen' perch Jan caught.

 

hi im fairly new to this site and just starting to get stuck in reading all the topics and jumping in when i think ive got something usefull to add and im really enjoying it so far . yes i think winter fishing tactics is a very usefull subject because you have to use every bit of your fishing knowhow to get a result , i do alot of match fishing and winter is where it really sorts out the men from the boys . in the summer you can get away with trying all sorts of tactics and throwing all sorts of bait at em and get a win and then think that youve done something special . but in a matter of a few weeks when the water temps start falling your left sat there thinking what the hells going on as blank follows blank ( i know ive been there ) but there are certainly ways you can improve your chances.Below are a few things that work for me (or at least give me a chance) i know its gonna sound like sucking eggs to most of you but it may help someone

 

The first thing that we all like doing is chucking out some groundbait whether it be sweetcorn luncheonmeat pellets maggotts etc but its a different creature to that of a few weeks ago in warmer times and they are not gonna come running when dinner is served. They are not gonna be fooled because they arent hungry and when you chuck loads in all you are doing is giving yourself away and they will spook for the day, this time of year i kick off on the quiver into open water with double maggott on straight bomb and cast around every 10 mins covering all of the swim until i get some sort of indication be it a proper bite or liner then i know that at least theres fish in the swim , then i will wind in and put maybe a small maggot feeder on or even better a small 10p size pva bag of maggot or mini pellet and cast back to that same area . Some people like to add krill to their maggotts to boost them a bit.

 

Also before casting the quiver out i would set my pole or waggler line up by potting in only say 30 maggots approx and 1 or 2 offerings of whatever other hookbaits i might try later on . Its suprising sometimes in winter that a large hookbait is often taken ,i think its because they dont want to exert much energy and 1 big mouthfull is worthwhile.

 

these tips are for every fish as a general rule and not pinpointing one species ,these are for places where the fishing is hard . Some places that are full of skimmers and roach you would adopt a much more generous feeding strategy ,but only if you are getting the fish in numbers to start with otherwise you are by far better with very little but often because once youve spooked them they aint comming back (that should be a rule of thumb)

 

Onto line , fish as light as your gonna get away with ,say roach that are gonna make up your main weight its no good using heavy lines expecting maybe the odd carp to show because then your not gonna catch the amount of roach you would by fishing very light (around 0.08mm or 3/4 lb ) lines but if you know that carp are gonna show then its about balance , alot of the waters i fish in winter are mixed with skimmers and the odd bigger bream and roach and carp so on the pole line i would use a good quality tech line of 0.12mm with a no 8 or 10 elastic so ive got a good chance of landing the carp ,ive had doubles on this , also carp dont fight anywhere near as hard in winter and you can take your time because 1 or 2 carp in the bag with all the skimmers is as good a bag as any and can win a match

 

hook and float sizes need to be addressed as well , if things are really looking bleak then you can go down as low as size 24 but i never go lower than 20 and float size 4x8 , but sometimes if its windy you need to use heavier floats just to hold a better presentation, again all about balance , ive also found that size 18 or 20 hooks stay in the fish better than 14or 16s sometimes ,probably down to lighter elastic and balanced tackle.

 

Going back to the feeder and i loved Eltons post about the swingtip and it got me rooting about the garage to find my old one . I found it and just need to get another screw thread in and im away. Its definatly a great way to pick up the shy bites in winter and im gonna be using it in the next comming weeks and i cant believe it got forgotten so cheers Elton its definatly another weapon in the arsenal. hope ur all still awake after all that lot (thank f**k hes finished)

[davedave]

You mentioned your wife catching well on float fished lob worm newt, i find that interesting because i never know where i stand when fishing worms in winter, some people ive spoken to have said not to use lobs at all in winter, others ive spoken too have said lob-worms can be used all year round?

 

Anybody got any advice on this please

[Anderoo]

You mentioned your wife catching well on float fished lob worm newt, i find that interesting because i never know where i stand when fishing worms in winter, some people ive spoken to have said not to use lobs at all in winter, others ive spoken too have said lob-worms can be used all year round?

 

Anybody got any advice on this please

 

Same advice I gace here: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Worms-t2428261.html

 

Don't take my word for it though, try it and see

 

Tony - nice post.

[Andy Macfarlane]

You mentioned your wife catching well on float fished lob worm newt, i find that interesting because i never know where i stand when fishing worms in winter, some people ive spoken to have said not to use lobs at all in winter, others ive spoken too have said lob-worms can be used all year round?

 

Anybody got any advice on this please

 

Lobs are one of the best Winter baits I know of, particularly when rivers are in spate, from rainfall or ice-melt. They're hard to beat for Salmon, which are best targeted from late Autumn to early Spring, when they're in their prime. While using lobs, you often pick up Browns, Sea-Trout, Perch, Pike, Chub, Flounder on the side. I'm pretty sure if these species pick them up in cold weather, plenty of other fish will too. Winter fish can't be fussy and fat lobworm is a substantial meal.

[Newt]

"some people ive spoken to have said not to use lobs at all in winter, others ive spoken too have said lob-worms can be used all year round?"

 

I like fishing naturals (when I'm not tossing lures) and am a big believer in putting out a bait the fish expect at a given time of year. In season we tend to have better luck with crickets, grasshoppers, etc. than worms but in winter, the bugs are dormant or dead and the fish will still see worms being washed into the water.

[Chris Plumb]

I use a lot of lobs during the autumn & winter months - and in fact hardly use them at all in the summer!

 

 

C.

[davedave]

might give them a go soon then, cheers