spooky or not?

peter crabtree · Oct 22, 2010

Autumn is here again and the leaves have started falling. A friend of mine who likes to fish for roach with me on the Thames said to me last year that he thought submerged leaves in the flow spook the roach, and won't try in earnest until the leaves abate. I suppose a big brown leaf coming down towards a fish sitting in the flow
could be conceived as a predator.
What do you think?

David Rogers 3 · Oct 22, 2010

I'd always assumed it was leaves decomposing on the river bed that made the fish feel a bit off their feed. This time of year has always had a reputation for being a bit slow on many rivers, which appear to fish better after a flood or two has given them a "good clearout".

Paul H · Oct 22, 2010

Never really thought about that, whether they spook off leaves or not I suppose it can't be much fun for them. A bit like walking down the street in a flurry of hailstones isn't much fun for us.

S-Kippy · Oct 22, 2010

Whether it bothers them or not it certainly bothers me. Once the leaf starts falling in earnest I pray for some sharp frosts and a big gale to get rid of the damn things. I just cant fish a river full of leaf...drives me nuts !

quickcedo · Oct 22, 2010

S-Kippy said:
Whether it bothers them or not it certainly bothers me. Once the leaf starts falling in earnest I pray for some sharp frosts and a big gale to get rid of the damn things. I just cant fish a river full of leaf...drives me nuts !

Ditto.......

flightliner · Oct 22, 2010

peter crabtree said:
Autumn is here again and the leaves have started falling. A friend of mine who likes to fish for roach with me on the Thames said to me last year that he thought submerged leaves in the flow spook the roach, and won't try in earnest until the leaves abate. I suppose a big brown leaf coming down towards a fish sitting in the flow
could be conceived as a predator.
What do you think?

Peter, I,m not sure that I agree with your friend,be it leaves, weed, twigs, supermarket bags, tampons , condoms whatever-fish just accept things coming towards them as a perfectly natural occurance. Take today as an instance, I was on the Trent fishing for roach and it was littered with fallen willow leaves as well as other more saturated ones that were coming down below the surface yet the roach were there in abundance along with a few bream-- it was the same earlier in the week when things were even better.
It didnt seem to bother them at all.
The thing is, that if you leave it until they have cleared you could be missing what for some is one of the best times of the year for a good bag of redfins,-- take care.

captainbarnacles · Oct 22, 2010

I fish my local club lake , where there is what i call my special tree. under that tree there is years of rotting leaves and some from i suppose last year . When i retrieve to rebait i pull in those leaves , yes anoying maybe ,but , also i can pull in 5 or so bream tench maybe 50 roach if i want to fish for them. But i have to be under the tree in the leaves , fish a foot outside it and you dont get a bite. Under the tree is full of bubbles fizzing away all day where there feeding and grubbing around. So to my mind where theres leaves theres food and where theres food theres fish, so come on get in them there leaves. Rivers eare tree lined ,leaves fall every year at the same time ,fish know this so why should they be frightened of a natural occurance. I,ll go where the leaves are , tight lines all

Alan Tyler · Oct 22, 2010

What kind of tree is it, Bob?
Not all old leaves are the same - beech leaves, in particular, are loaded with phenols; chemical warfare which inhibits competitior species germinating in beech leaf litter.
Interesting that the chaps who hate leaves most seem to be from Bucks - beechwood central...

S-Kippy · Oct 22, 2010

I'm afraid my pathological aversion to leaf has got nothing to do with results or species. I simply cannot be having with the damn things because they just get in the way and utterly nob me off. I once had the great misfortune to fish a match on the local canal the morning after a hard frost. You could not get a bait in the water because of the bl00dy things. I won it with 1 perch and hated every minute.

I will not now fish the rivers until the leaf has gone & I dont care what I'm missing.

spooky or not?

peter crabtree

AKA Simon, 1953 - 2022 (RIP)

David Rogers 3

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