Why is it so hard?

For the last couple of weeks around here in Torbay the fishing has been hard, even the normally easy waters I frequent are not producing in any numbers. I don't really understand why. The water is still reasonably warm and I thought the fish would be feeding up for winter.

Anybody able to enlighten me?

Its ok here

I have been catching quite a lot of good roach and smaller bream for the last couple of weeks. The water temps have been good around 57 degrees which is good for time of year. I fish in the south east so, is it a local thing that your finding it hard? Are you going for the wrong fish?

I seem to be doing o.k. Maybe the change in weather has something to do with it.

markg said:

Are you going for the wrong fish?

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I am fishing on the bottom for anything that will take me bait (4mm expanders, sweetcorn, 6mm hard pellet), there are a few carp, tench and roach coming out but nothing in any numbers and it seems to be very time oriented i.e early morning or late afternoon.

No luck at all with lures for pike, but that maybe me, I am useless.


One of the easy waters I fish I would expect 15 carp in a morning session at this time of year and with these temperatures, but thursday morning I caught three and no bites after 0830. Nobody else did any better.

It just seems really strange the way nobody is doing well on the local easy waters.

Is it mainly carp you're after.

Its seems you are mainly a carp fisherman; although this can be a good time of year and the temperatures are good it doesnt mean the conditions are ideal for carp. October can be good for crucian carp but, these probably dont interest you and as said I have been doing well with some good roach and a few bream lately. Wind direction/speed, water colour, barometric pressures, even moon phases can all have an effect on different species as well as air, water temperatures and time of year. Many will disagree with that but, I have been keeping records of these things for a long time now and I have found it to be the case.

It could just be angling pressure. If they're known as easy waters they could have been fished hard lately.

Or it could be someone is filling in the waters with prebaiting and the fish are turned onto their bait. You would never know if that was happening as it would nearly always be done on the sly.

How about giving them a natural they would never turn down, like a massive wriggling bunch of bloodworm?