"Night" fishing in winter

[John Weddup]

"The problem is going to be how to avoid eels. I like and respect them but don't like catching them!"

 

Don't worry about eels in the winter you should never see one. In the summer you do not get trouble if you use sweetcorn or bread so these would be good baits to avoid them.

 

I regularly use big lobs, an eels favourite, but as the days get colder eels don't feed like they do in summer infact I think they hibernate to a certain degree.

 

John

[Dick Dastardly]

In the summer you do not get trouble if you use sweetcorn or bread so these would be good baits to avoid them.

 

John

 

Best tell the eels at Wingham that John!

[bingo]

Best tell the eels at Wingham that John!

 

And the ones in the river I fish!!! Caught loads this year. Mostly luncheon meat but sweetcorn too.

[peter mccue]

Agree with the posters who mentioned Chub fishing after dark, it can be superb!

 

One of my best sessions after Swale Chub came on a bone chilling night last December. Not a cloud in the sky, full moon & as soon as the Sun went down, the sand bank I was on developed a crust! As bright & cold as it was though, I had a great 2hr spell catching fish to 5lb 4oz in a bag of around 30lb which contained three 4's. All this from a swim that as far as I could tell, hadn't produced a fish all day. They had clearly waited for darkness, despite the full moon, before deciding to feed.

 

I've caught well on a number of occasions now in very similar circumstances, & the one thing that stands out is that the fish were caught in 'pressured' swims. But whatever the reasons, fishing after dark in Winter works a treat....so go do it!

 

One more thing, no need for fine tackle after dark, & I didn't find anything to beat a big chunk of bread.

[Chris Plumb]

Another thought/tip for those winter evenings - and summer ones come to that, is get yourself a really warm hat - I have a nice fleecey one and a throat muffler - my mates tell me I look a wally but I'm always nice and snug!

 

 

C.

[BoldBear]

Fishing into the night in winter can be very productive; not least because water takes longer to cool down than warm up and although the air can be cold the water may still be a few degrees higher.

I tend to use very smelly baits (not oily) in the winter after dark which seem to work better on our river.

 

I dont fish all night in the winter unless it is during a particularly warm spell (which is not very often these days); only till about 9pm.

 

What small river do you fish?. I fish the upper reaches of the river Lea where it is only a stream but it is full of Chub, Barbel and roach with a few nice Carp but on a really cold winters night Its the Chub and roach that normally make an appearance.

 

Good luck and tight lines.

Edited November 5, 2007 by BoldBear

[bingo]

Fished last night because the weather has got milder and milder. The river is very low though. I decided to go for roach. I made the 'mistake' of watching the Autumn episode of a Passion for Angling (again!) so now I'm obsessed with big roach!

 

I caught 3 nice roach. All between 8 and 12oz approx. Nothing special but lovely to catch. 2 at dusk. Then nothing for 2 hours but at 8.30pm-ish I saw signs of fish topping. It was pitch black but it's amazing what you can see and hear. I had about 10 last casts because I knew there were fish about and kept on missing lighting quick bites (bread, size 12 on a light, single SSG, running rig) but got another in the end.

 

It's really not easy fishing so light after dark and everything is 10x harder but it was interesting. I moved a few times because the fish moved but I kept to a section approx 80 metres long.

 

To be honest I find it much easier when fishing heavier tackle (barbel) after dark but I will try again. Bread isn't the easiest of baits even in day time because you have to real in after every tap/missed bits because you know tyour bait will have gone offf the hook.

 

Obviously a headtorch is essential but I don't like flahing it around everywhere and only use it for baiting the hook.

 

I couldn't treat this as a winter session though because it was so mild. Almost warm!