Old school night fishing

[steve2]

Just been rereading one of my Fred Taylor, Tench fishing books does any one still float fish at night using a torch to light up the float or a torch to highlight the bobbin. I use to fish this way back in the day.
I assume that this is no frown upon so as not to disturb the sleeping anglers in their tents.

 

[binka]

I've never illuminated a float by torchlight but have regularly fished below a lamppost on a local town centre dam and used the light from that instead.

Does that qualify as a really big torch?

It certainly didn't deter the fish any and being very silted up and shallow, less than two feet deep, you would think that this was the kind of place where it would.

I'm wondering if light is a bit similar to the resistance issue in that it's not as much the light itself so much as rapidly changing light that might (if ever) put the fish off?

 

[thecrow]

I have fished with a float illuminated by a cycle lamp, iirc it was no better fishing than daytime in the same swim, as Steve says the light didn't put the fish off, as this was on a local park lake there were other activities we watched that were better carried out without being illuminated

I have often wondered if all the fuss about shining lights on water and frightening fish was true as I have seen lots of nature type programmes where fishermen have purposely shone lights onto the water in order to attract fish

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Going back many years to my earliest night fishing trips I never used a light at all preferring to just touch leger when it got totally dark.

 

[chub_on_the_block]

If i wasnt lining up a torch to light the float i was lining it along the rod to light up the quivertip/swingtip. Worked well, till the torch batteries ran out. Alternative was the squeezy bottle top.

floatfishing at night was transformed when betalites were introduced. I still prefer to float fish at night when i can - as most of my fishing of this type is for tench at close range or in margins. Going to sleep and being woken by a buzzer is a cop out!

 

[Keith M]

I have often wondered if all the fuss about shining lights on water and frightening fish was true as I have seen lots of nature type programmes where fishermen have purposely shone lights onto the water in order to attract fish

I don't think it affects shoal fish quite as much and I can see that it can on occasion cause inquisitive fish to be inquisitive; but it can definately have a bad effect on a lot of our fish. I think it's when the light is moved or the light is constantly being switched on and off or the angler is moving around in front of the torch that spooks them just like sudden footfalls can also spook them.

I remember when I proved this to my friend Terry a long time ago when we were catching small Carp up to around 11lb max in a small Carp pool near us.

The first time I took him there he bought a big torch with him which lit up his swim and although we still caught a few fish during the night (not as many as usual) and saw ripples coming from Carp on the far side of the pond the fish definately kept their distance well out of his torch beam.

The 2nd night I talked him into fishing without his torch and the Carp came right up in front of his feet on the surface. Plus he could now see everything around him plus the rest of the pond because his eyes had become used to the dark. Plus we caught a lot more Carp.

Like me he now only takes a very small shielded torch with him for rebaiting and never shines it out across the water.

I supposed on a water that regularly sees lights like streetlights or car lights going past or regularly sees a lot of anglers all with headtorches switching on and off then fish may possibly get used to them, but I don't fish these sort of places and I know what I'd still be using or rather not be using.

Anyway I've drifted off the subject a bit so I apologise

I've used a small torch shone parralel to the water surface to light up my float or swingtip and Ive used a spoon over a tin plate and I've touch legered (and still often do) and used isotopes on my floats and my bobbins and used a home made buzzer indicator and I've also used a heron bite indicator which used to go off on its own, but when the first optonic came on the market it changed everything to the better for me.

Keith

 

[chub_on_the_block]

I agree with KeithM that the effect of torchlight on water will vary with a number of factors. In a deep swim, say over 10ft, i doubt a fish on the bottom would notice much unless the light was shone down from above. But on waters where fish dont see artificial lights I think the scattergun beams and flashes from torchlights can really spook fish. This is different from a torchlight shone along the water surface to a float.

 

[steve2]

Reading these books it would appear that that they took good catches of all types of fish. What I don't like about using beta light floats is the reflection in the water, it is almost like looking at two floats and with eyes like mine sometimes four floats.

 

[robtherake]

I have fished with a float illuminated by a cycle lamp, iirc it was no better fishing than daytime in the same swim, as Steve says the light didn't put the fish off, as this was on a local park lake there were other activities we watched that were better carried out without being illuminated

I have often wondered if all the fuss about shining lights on water and frightening fish was true as I have seen lots of nature type programmes where fishermen have purposely shone lights onto the water in order to attract fish

Peter Stone went into some detail about the use of lights as an attractor for certain species in Gravel Pit Angling. Both roach and chub were among the species that responded positively to lights, with the roach (IIRC) keen to investigate a beam tilted to penetrate quite deeply, resulting in some impressive bags.

 

[thecrow]

I think as Keith said its more the movement of someone in front of the light or the light being moved about, the moving in front o a light is really no different to skylining during daylight imo.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Yes, I think Stoney ( not a personal friend, though) used a torch to good effect, and I seem to recall he had big still water chub under lights... must've cost him a fortune in batteries!!

I still think of my evenings in youth fishing for roach and very big gudgeon from the Regents park canal using light from the street lamps, although not the long walk back along the towpath to reach Camden Town Station, and then on to Finsbury Park. Although a 'dodgy area' at the best of times I never had hassle, although many smirked at my rod bag and Efgeeco box on the underground!! Bloody cheek!

Never really liked lights, but they did help if the bushes started to russle in the early hours.................


Now come on chaps - how many of you will admit to being s**t scared as some time or another when some unspecified noise started up behind you??

I recall hedgehogs being an absolute pest!!

Happy days, though..

 

[Pete Shears]

I remember making up wagglers with beta lights fitted for night fishing - when it was really dark they sent your eyes crazy - going up,sideways,tilting.I think it was because there were no reference points to gauge distance just that pale green light forever dancing around.
I did find that usually I cast out too far and the fish would come within inches of the bank at night if you were quiet.
I did have a letter from **** Walker - hand written & illustrated - describing how to whip beta lights to still water & river floats although it has gone missing with moving house umpteen times.

 

[thecrow]

Now come on chaps - how many of you will admit to being s**t scared as some time or another when some unspecified noise started up behind you??

I remember some very heavy breathing behind my bivvy in the early hours of a very dark night, after about 5 minutes I had to get out with my torch and look, I don't know who was the most startled me or the bloody deer that spooked away from the torchlight.

 

[Philip]

I never liked the idea of using a torch to illuminate anything, preferring betalights and Isotopes.

However I am another one who thinks that if the light is constant its ok. Take a walk round a Marina at night and you often see fish in the lights of the moored boats.

Generally speaking I have found Roach bites end abruptly as dusk turns to night almost like a switch has been flicked off. However I can also think of 2 or 3 swims which are dimly lit by street lights were I can expect Roach to continue to feed right into the night and I continue to catch them trotting with a beta light on the float.

Its when a light is flashing about I am not so keen and I always try and use a torch sort of towards the bank if I can so it does not shine out onto the water.

 

[barbelboi]

I don’t believe they do scare as after all when a fish looks up, it will during the daytime have the bright sun shining on the water, and then at night a full moon can also be bright. I would assume that they have very sensitive eyes and it may also take a while for their eyes to get used to changes in light.........

 

[flightliner]

.......


Now come on chaps - how many of you will admit to being s**t scared as some time or another when some unspecified noise started up behind you??

I recall hedgehogs being an absolute pest!!

Happy days, though..

I remember all to well the night I was woken up by a guy wearing a latex horrer mask, the one of the old guy with hair hanging from his face.
It was the groaning that woke me up and the torch underneath his chin for effect was so scary !

 

[geoffmaynard]

When I was a kid in the early 60s, we all used to have a bike. The rod was strapped to the crossbar and the gasmask-carrier fishing-bag carried all our tackle. The headlight torch on the bike was used to light up a piece of peacock quill float when it got dark and we never had scared fish problems. Caught everything from carp to gudgeon, every stillwater species you can imagine on either worms or bread; we couldn't afford to buy maggots.

 

[peter crabtree]

Tried fishing in the dark once, I wasn't scared but hooking a squatt onto a size 24 was impossible...

 

[Tee-Cee]

Gas mask carrier, used as a fishing bag. Gawd, now that takes me back a few years. I well remember keeping dry under a wartime cape with a sou'wester hat which allowed the water to run nicely down the neck if the turned up brim sagged...........just wonderful!

Some young folk just haven't lived!