Feeding Spells

I have long been a believer in "feeding spells", ie: that some fish will come on to the feed for a period then go off. In particular this seemed to apply to pike and chub but a session on the Ribble on Tuesday started me thinking:

Two of us were fishing just 10 yards apart, there had been little action during a bright afternoon but we eagerly awaited the gathering dusk and darkness. Although our main target was Chub Tony had been fishing pellet during the afternoon whilst I fished maggot but by dusk I had swapped over first to flake and then cheesepaste and flake cocktail. Both of us were getting odd pulls and knocks but Tony finally had a good take and pulled into a nice fish which proved to be a bill of 7lb whilst he was playing it my rod also went off and I landed a smaller barbel.

The activity was followed by a a quiet spell with no rod movements until my rod pulled over and I netted a Chub of 5.01 (a new pb for the river) whilst I was unhooking this Tony landed a chub of 5.12. Obviously the celebrations over these two fish lasted longer than usual but by the time we got back to fishing all was "dead" again and continued so until we packed up at 8pm.

As we walked back to the car I remarked that I would have liked to stay on as there would surely be more feeding spells. But what does that mean? Do the fish actually "turn-on" from time to time or, given that we each had caught barbel then chub in a very short time span is it simply that they moved into our adjacent swims as part of a patrolling activity - certainly I have seen barbel, carp and rainbow trout acting in this fashion but pike often seem to feed once or twice a day and chub give that impression at times also.

Sorry to be so long-winded but what do you think? And does it matter?

Tes I think this is a common occurence.On the Thames on the stretch I fish during the day you can catch Chub but mostly they are smaller fish, up to 3lbs.Just as dusk begins the bites dry up for an hour or so when the bites begin again except they are from bigger fish.This continues for a couple of hours when things tail off.A while later it is back to the smaller Chub.This then continues till 9pm ish.After this things get very dull no matter how long I stay, move swims etc.On rare occasions which usually coincide with the right moon phase you can catch the bigger fish from the off.The Barbel on the other hand will feed around dusk if conditions are right till an hour into dark.If you have not had one in the dusk period it is unlikely you will catch one at all.Again in exceptional conditions they will feed through to 11pm midnight but this is very rare.I know others fishing other bits of the thames will find different patterns.When I did a lot of stillwater Roaching dusk and to a lesser extent dawn were the hot times with rare exceptions.Piking on a dull day on gravel pits would suddenly turn on when the clouds broke and the sun shone through.On the other hand in the fens the best days were when it was bright sunny and frosty at dawn and stayed like it.Perch on stillwaters - I have often fished all day for nought but at dusk taken a few in a short space of time before darkness fell.Carping on one pit sees all action stop after 1pm but begin again around midnight in summer only for mornings and afternoons being best Autumn time.However floater fishing on the same water was best in the dead periods in summer on one pit but on an adjoining one rubbish after midday.It is important to recognise these patterns particularily if like me your time is limited.Making the most of feeding patterns is a great skill.All part of watercraft.