River or canal night fishing.

[barbelblanker]

Evening all, no I didn't dissappear off the face of the planet.

I just went somewhere warm and scared the s@@t out of myself for three weeks. That's right, Orlando. It was warm and I did indeed scare the heck out of myself (not a lover of heights on man made structures though flying is fine, odd I know but that's the way it goes).

Walmart fishing aisle was good though. Stocked up on plugs, jelly worms and now filled three spools with braid.

Now I'm back though I am itching to get fishing but have a problem in that I can only really fish in the dark. Not something I usually do in freshwater (though practically always do for shore ).

This is a question really.

I have accesss to canals and some parts of the river severn as well as one lake near Bridnorth thanks to having got in Kinver Freeliners this year.
I've had a happy summer not doing enough tench fishing (next year, next year).

So what do you reckon I should be going for in the dark then ?

I won't be doing all nighters, probably early evening till about 9 or 10. Roach and chub would be good. Not too bothered about barbel though if they are about it would be good.

Cheers,

Pete.

[cheef87]

id do some barbeling while its still mild im still doing really well although im sure itll slow down in a few weeks,maybe one rod for pike and one on maggot,meat/pellet etc would be a good choice??

[BoldBear]

Hi BarbelBlanker,

I hope you enjoyed your trip to the other side of the pond.

I would prefer to fish a river at this time of year, the fish should be starting to feed in earnest and getting enough food in them to help see them through the winter months.
I know you are not really fussed about catching barbel but this is when they seem to pack on weight.
The Roach, Dace and Chub should also be packing on weight before the hard frosts appear.

I would take advantage of the frost free evenings while we still have them, as any time now they will be upon us.

We could do with a lot of rain to put some extra water into the rivers and flush them through because of the unseasonal dry weather we have been experiencing lately, but I would look for some deeper runs with features where food will tend to congegate where there is some shelter from the main current then I would expect to have some good evening sport.

I know that you can still catch fish in stillwaters and canals but because the fish in them don't need to replenish weight lost through having to swim against currents all day long the fish often seem to slow down a lot quicker once the cooler evenings and nights arrive.

NB. I'm probably a bit biased too as I prefer moving water anyway. and I keep most of my stillwater and canal fishing to the spring and early summer months.

[headless]

Zander

Darrell

[barbelblanker]

Had an email with the amazingly helpful Steve Williams of Kinver and have decided to go for a barbel/chub approach. He's also suggested the stretch of river to try and a few tips. If only every club secretary were as helpful. Top marks yet again to Mr Williams.

Hopefully getting out this Thursday and will not have the standby phone go off like the last time. May even find a nice radio black spot in that big valley , for an hour or two.....

[barbelblanker]

OK I went.

In the end I chose the Hampton Loade section of the Severn but not the BAA one I had been getting to kow last year as the BAA does not allow night fishing on the majority of it's waters. There are exceptions but these involve an extra ticket and too much faffing for my liking. Kinver Freeliners allow night fishing anyway and I've joined them too. Just for balance though the BAA have a MASSIVE number of waters so I am not having a go at them, they are a great value club.

Decided to go for a barbel/chub approach as this is , believe it or not, my first EVER night river session and I wanted to get a feel for what it was like before I get really stuck in. So tonights jaunt was more of a trial run to check out a few things . Namely,

1. How cold does it get between sunset and a few hours later.
2. How easy is it to move round without artificial light.
3. How much of the river can I see from the bank.
4. How much of the river can I see once I am in position.
5. How easy is it to actually go about fishing once in place.

As I was on-call for work I had to make sure I was somewhere with phone reception. I also needed to be within short walking distance from the car . Just in case the electricity bills jammed on the way out As it was I didn't get called out so I could have walked further, a well.

So got to the car park at about 17:25 and paid me £1. Donned more clothes than a michelin man, then promptly loosened them all off again so I didn't sweat too much. Loaded up and walked to the only swim I know on the stretch. My logic was simple really. It was close and I had no idea what was in the rest of the river this end as I was last here (my one and only time) in June. Ish. In day light. It's now dark.

The swim I choose was a bit deeper than the rest of the stretch. It was also not an abseil to get to. As i mentioned , this is the first time so, I didn't want to try to run before I could walk.

I settled in taking my time and put up two rods. Both avon type with 12LB main line . One was going to be a maggot feeder and the other a barbel sausage bait thing with a feeder and pellet (plus a whole concoction of ingredients that I blitzed in the food processor yesterday) groundbait. Maggot rod went downstream 15 yards and the other about 20 yards up.

They settled and I put the bait runners on.

Tidied up so everything was close that needed to be and the bait was in the bait bucket and settled down.

To cut a long story short I blanked.

There was a lot of weed making its way downstream that made fishing the main flow difficult. I cast around a bit but suspect the feeders ended up in shallow water. After trying a smaller hook on the maggot feeder and not even getting a knock I packed up at about 20:40 and headed home.

Much food for thought.

First I will take one rod and target just barbel next time. Big smelly bait, cast and move if they do not show.

Second I was pleasantly suprised how much you can see on a moonless overcast night , once your eyes adjust. Certainly enough to move around safely, as long as you aren't too near the river that is.

Thirdly , the lack of light did not hinder the actual process of fishing much, just needed to be more deliberate and take your time.


The weather was actually very mild, though the wind got up.

Having said that I was dressed for the event.

I will definately be giving this night fishing thing much more attention over the next month or so as it helps solve a bit of a "I want the car" issue at home. Kinver have two other sections I can fish near here (Hampton Loade is members only and only till 10, after dark, no day tickets past dusk). One is nearer stourport and the other is opposite the BAA Hampton Loade section. As it is a four hour after work session is still a distinct possibility.

Certainly not time wasted and ejoyable even if I did blank. Again :)

[BoldBear]

Sorry to hear about the lack of fish, but glad it wasn't a complete loss.

Originally Posted by barbelblanker

First I will take one rod and target just barbel next time. Big smelly bait, cast and move if they do not show.

I agree the single Barbel rod and smelly bait approach, and searching for fish in likely swims does sound a much better option.

Originally Posted by barbelblanker

Second I was pleasantly suprised how much you can see on a moonless overcast night , once your eyes adjust. Certainly enough to move around safely, as long as you aren't too near the river that is.

Thirdly , the lack of light did not hinder the actual process of fishing much, just needed to be more deliberate and take your time.

I have always preferred to fish without a light at night (other than a tiny switch-on pen-torch used when weighing a fish away from the water) and on most nights I can see almost every twig and leaf on the ground around me once my eyes have got accustomised to the dark; whereas if I where to use a torch I would only be able to see what is in the torch beam and everything outside of the beam would be in complete blackness.

I remember when I was younger practicing tying hooks in the dark in the cupboard under the stairs using my tongue to feel for the line and hook eye and could tie a sze 16 hook in complete darkness, which helped enormously especially if there was a bailif around LOL... I can still tie a small hook in the dark.

NB. Years ago if someone turned a torch on and shined it towards the water or up into the branches they would get a barage of abuse from any other anglers fishing there, but nowerdays it seems that everyone fishing at night has a head torch and/or a lamp lit on the ground.
If only they would try fishing with no light as you did, they would soon see how much they had been missing and how much they could see without a torch blocking out their night vision.

Great report.

Keith (Boldbear)

[chazyboi]

deffo river too many nutters on canals at night lol

[cheef87]

unlucky bb i would fish the deeper slower/steady swims now its colder very sparsely feeding just 3-4 pellets in a feeder every thirty mins with fishmeal groundbait and rove around find the fish which wont move around much now

[barbelblanker]

I've been a member of this forum for a couple of years now. One thing that I love about THIS forum especially is the generosity of the people on it. Their willingness to share and help is astounding. I appreciate the help and advice people offer here greatly. Thank you.