What fish do a vanishing act in your area...

[Anderoo]

If they are holed up somewhere (say, the deep, slow section) but not feeding, fishing for them there may be a waste of time. Perhaps when they feed they leave their sanctuary and go to a nearby bit of water that looks, on the face of it, unsuitable. Then, once they've had enough food, they move back to the slow, deep bit.

 

They may spend 95% of their time in the slow, deep bit, but the 5% of the time when they're catchable, they're elsewhere.

[AddictedToScopex]

If they are holed up somewhere (say, the deep, slow section) but not feeding, fishing for them there may be a waste of time. Perhaps when they feed they leave their sanctuary and go to a nearby bit of water that looks, on the face of it, unsuitable. Then, once they've had enough food, they move back to the slow, deep bit.

 

They may spend 95% of their time in the slow, deep bit, but the 5% of the time when they're catchable, they're elsewhere.

Yes I agree that they are of course catchable elsewhere even if only for a reduced window of time but to my mind it stands to reason that they must also be opportunistic in feeding on occasion too as food is much more scarce in the winter. If they are holed up and a maggot drifts by within easy reach why would they not have a go at it? Surely they would take it as it means they do not have to leave the sanctuary and energy saving area they are currently in? All are perfectly acceptable theories of course as we are merely speculating.

[BoldBear]

There are as many if's and but's as there are different types of water and I am fairly sure that there is no definitive answer to why some fish seem to disapear more than others with the cold.

 

I fish small running rivers and streams in Hertfordshire mostly, and although the fish are a little less liable to feed in cold winter temperatures I can't say that any of the fish I am after (Roach, Chub, Barbel, Perch and Dace really disappear completely in winter, however I must admit that I rarely go out fishing when it is less than a couple of degrees above freezing these days.

 

Even when there is snow on the ground I can reasonably expect at least one Barbel to have a go at my bait at some time during the day especially if there is some winter sun to warm up the water slightly but I usually fish a little finer with 4lb to 6lb line being the norm instead of 7lb to 8lb line and use smelly baits and much less feed; or if I am after smaller species I use much finer lines.

 

I do get blanks on the small streams that I fish but not very many as there is always the odd Chub, Dace or Perch to be had even on the coldest of days; an exception to this is on rivers that do not have much flow, or on stillwaters where fish don't need to replensish energy spent on fighting against the current; or on larger rivers where the fish have more areas to hole up, where blanks are a little more common place.

 

Also once the temperatures get really cold a lot of the fish seem to shoal together more tightly, I suspect that there is more safety from predators by shoaling tightly when the fish are not moving as quickly when their body clocks have started to slow down and they are not so aware.

 

Perhaps another reason why I find the larger rivers and stillwaters seem much harder to fish during the cold winter months is because the water temperatures don't seem to warm up during the day as fast as they do on much smaller and shallower waters; especially the larger waters that are not protected from harsh cold winds.

 

A thin layer of ice on the surface sometimes creates a greenhouse effect on a sunlit day where the water below the ice is half a degree higher and where a shoal of fish will often start to feed but generally the cold temperatures seem to put the fish and their appetites down.

 

Some people swear that fishing in slightly deeper water where the temperature is not continually changing all the time works for them.

 

Although warmer water will usually rise to the top this is not always the case; When water reaches its densest at around 4 degrees centigrade; on a deep water you will sometimes get the warmest water actually in the bottom layer of a lake, and an example of this is on one of my local gravel pits where even when the weather is at its coldest you can still catch Bream from an exceptionally deep hole in a particular swim on one side of the pit but you can still fail to catch anything elsewhere on the gravel pit. (although it's possible that this could be caused by a warm spring, I am not sure)

 

On a small stream the sun reaches the gravel or silty bottom easier and then reflects any heat from the suns rays back into the water from the stream bed (I remember from my Meteorologist days that heat doesn't come directly from the suns rays but is radiated from its absorbed rays, which is why a white surface feels cooler than a black surface (because white reflects more of the suns rays away from the surface and darker colours absorb more of the suns rays which gets converted to heat);

 

A large river with a deeper bottom will not reflect as much heat back into the water simply because the suns rays cannot reach the bottom quite as easily.

The heat that you feel from the sun on your face is actually only generated once it hits your face and then gets converted to heat. The heat isn't coming directly from the sun. and a fish may also feel slightly warmer when the sun is out and more inclined to feed although some fishes sensitivity to bright light may cause them to hide away from the bright winter sunlight.

 

Anyway I don't think that its a 'one answer fits all' problem as there are so many variables.

Edited September 28, 2011 by BoldBear

[Anderoo]

If the weather is really severe, I know I have a much better chance of a productive day's fishing at one of the local small, fast tributaries than on the larger, slower main rivers. I expect the reason is twofold, 1. I have a much better chance of showing my bait to some fish because it's a physically smaller water, and 2. I expect the fish in the small, fast river have to feed more often than the fish in the slow, deep river because they need more energy as their environment is less sedate.

[Steve Walker]

When I was a kid back in Manchester, I remember winter fishing being really hard. You have to bear in mind that we fished pretty light all year round - pound bottoms and 22 or 20 hooks being the default. The stillwaters and canals got very tough - we still caught, but much less. We occasionally got to fish rivers in winter, usually the Dane, and that was so much better. As has been said, if they're expending energy fighting the current, they need to feed. Being a bit older and more mobile (and later learning to drive) got us access to some of the nearer rivers which were just recovering from decades of pollution and winter fishing got much more productive. It was variable, though - the little river Etherow at Compstall would always yield some fish, but we used to fish the Goyt (into which it flowed) near Stockport and it could sometimes be very, very cold and very clear and an absolute bugger.

[Phone]

BoldBear,

 

In "still" water over about 10 ft deep the temperature is ALWAYS, winter and summer, about 39 degrees. Water, at its heaviest is 39 degrees. I, (and Vagabond), should point out there is no such thing as "still" water. But you can be reasonably assured most lakes, over 10 ft deep, year around are 39 f at the bottom. There are few execptions. One such execption is for warm water spring fed lakes. There are no execptions below about 20 ft. Even those spring fed lakes they have reasonably narrow current that quickly carries the water up to the top or to the middle and the vast majority of the bottom is 39 f.

 

Streams are an entirely different story.

 

Phone

Edited September 28, 2011 by Phone

[watatoad]

Seems we are mostly in agreement, fish do not have teleportation or dimension moving abilities nor do they appear to be getting a lift from any local cormorants or aliens in flying saucers...hehehe...but we may all be wrong...hehehe

 

I wonder if those little boats with fish finder on would be an idea to discover where they are hiding.

Edited September 28, 2011 by watatoad

[Andy Macfarlane]

With the exception of pike, grayling and migratory game species, practically everything up here vanishes.

 

I've often wondered how fish can seemingly take up every square inch of water during the warmer months, yet during the Winter, even with shoaling taken into consideration, the fish do seem to have a knack of disappearing off the radar completely.

 

They must shoal pretty tightly.

 

On rivers, I've always imagined the fish must move up or down river to a spot that suits them but take my word for it, I've covered miles of river during the Winter and I can't bloody find them.

[Tigger]

I remember reading about a load of roach found one winter in a Thames lock cut - I think there were about 40,000 of them.

 

 

Mmm...who counted them then ...must have been difficult even if they only moved a little bit ?

[Phone]

Tigger,

 

Simple, you count the fins and devide by 5 (sometimes 6)

 

Phone