Best time to fish?

What is the best time of day to fish for still water pike at this time of the year? I love early morning fishing but have been told there is not much point if pike are the target. This was certainly true in Denmark where I was until recently but now in Netherlands which has more similar climate to UK.

This is purely my own personal experience, but when ever I have been deadbaiting, either locally on the canal, river Ribble or on Lake Coniston, the pike started to take my baits around 11 am-ish and for a couple of hours after that.I have never caught over night or very early morning either on any of the venues I have fished for them either.
chris

Many will no doubt disagree, but my own finding's are that from now untill the close of the season, the optimum time would be between the hours 10 untill 2. This has been repeated over and over for many years of pike fishing,(lures), on a wide selection of waters.

Are you still using the Spinnerbait Andy?

Thanks Chris and Derek and certainly in Denmark 1000 to about 1400 was reckoned to be the best time period. And yes Derek I am indeed still very keen on spinner baits and I always give them a go first on a new water. But just bought a long rubber eel look-alike which my new local tackle shop says can be deadly in my new area.

I think the answer is very dependant on the type of water, size, direction of wind, depth etc etc.

If I took an average across all types of water, still and flowing, I would say from dawn to late morning, closely followed by the last hour before dusk.

Hello again Andy,
I went out on my local canal this morning for pike, getting a bait in the water by 10.15 am. Twenty minutes later I was into my biggest canal pike of about ten pounds, as they are mostly very small jacks around here. Then an hour later I moved up a bit then caught another pike of around 4 pounds. Then I had a dropped run an hour later. All of this happened within the time frame myself and Derek spoke of. From then on about nothing at all for the duration up to about 2.30ish. The weather was changeable too, wind coming from the east, some warm sun when it was clear, then when the cloud came over it went very cold quickly. No rain though thankfully. Another thing to take into consideration this time of year is the amount of leaves floating and semi submerged in the water, which can cause problems with presentation,and I suppose affect you chance of a hook up too.
Chris.

It can vary from water to water, even though 10am-2pm does seem to be a good time for most places, I fish a couple of waters where it isn't the case.

One of those waters it seems that you can set your clock by a 9am run on deadbaits and if you haven't caught by 11am you might as well go home! The other place, a quite busy canal basin (and mooring spot) you can sit there all day with no signs of pike at all but at 4pm all hell breaks loose.

On another water I fish very regularly at this time of year 10-2 does seem to be the best time but it is not the only time you will catch by any means, me and my mate have had fish take the bait on the first cast of the day in the middle of winter when it's only just light enough to see a bung at very close range.

If you like early morning fishing mate do it, you might be suprised, and even if you have to wait til 10 for some action getting there early gives you the choice of swims, which is the reason I am usually setting off in the dark regardless of the time of year

Thanks all. It seems, as always, loads of variation and as this area is new to me I shall just have to get on the water early and see how things play out. Hoping of course there are some fish to be had in chosen water

Hi Andy,

Again only personal experience but my local stillwater seems to respond to the extra two or three degrees that a winters afternoon often brings, and depending on the weather forecast for that particular day this could vary between late morning and late afternoon depending on what weather is following after and if there is a drop again in temperatures.

I would say aim for the warmest part of the day in bitterly cold weather but always check the forecast for the day you intend to fish as the warmest part isn't always the afternoon.

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greeny1321 said:

The other place, a quite busy canal basin (and mooring spot) you can sit there all day with no signs of pike at all but at 4pm all hell breaks loose.

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It's funny you should mention that, I have a sister who has a narrowboat moored on the River section connecting the T&M canal at Wychnor where I often fish and it can seem fishless all day... come the last hour before dark it's pretty much the same thing with runs coming from everywhere!

Depends on the water..... I like to arrive at a water as dawn breaks. Fen drains seem to fish well on first light till 10 am. a second feeding spell appears to be between 2 and 4pm.