Water Temperatures

steph mckenzie · Jan 6, 2013

Seeing as Water Temperatures play a big part on whether fish will feed actively or not, or Temperatures suit some species of fish better than others, especially in the colder months .... how many of you use a Water Temperature Gauge and which do you use?

I've never used one, but, i would like to understand more around why you would, and how that would affect your fishing, if at all.

peterjg · Jan 6, 2013

I use a water thermometer at lot especially in the colder months. For roach I find that a temperature of 42F or above is OK though I have on occasion had very good days when the temp was as low as 40F. For big carp the water temp has to be at least 47F though smaller carp will feed at much lower temperatures - the reason being (I think) is that the big carp are no longer growing but are just maintaining their metabolism where as small carp are still growing. These are not rules just basic guidelines. If the WT is less than 42F it is probably best to fish for pike or chub - should know better because I still fish for my favourite roach!

tiinker · Jan 6, 2013

I have use a thermometer for over forty years the old mercury kind and for the last fifeteen years a Ruben Heaten electronic I have found it useful but use it more for recording conditions in my note book rather than a guide as when and where to fish on a paticular day I think as long as you have bait in the water you are in with a chance.

mick b · Jan 6, 2013

I use the Hardy mercury thermometer that comes encased in a brass tube.
I brought it 40 or more years ago for under a fiver, the last one on fleabay made over £50!
I don't know of Hardy's still make them but at £50+ for a 2nd hand one they probably wouldn't sell many anyway.

When I fished on Friday last the river water was beautifully warm.

laguna · Jan 6, 2013

I used to log surface water temperatures at the bankside using an old glass thermometer and noticed the fishing improved if we had 3-4 days consistency. Any sort of fluctuation, +/- cold snap or a brighter sunny day in between seemed to affect the fishing.

The trouble with taking readings is that we are only sampling the upper surface waters and says nothing about what its like far out and on the bottom in winter where the fish tend to hang out.

A cast-able (and retrievable) thermometer?

tiinker · Jan 6, 2013

laguna said:
I used to log surface water temperatures at the bankside using an old glass thermometer and noticed the fishing improved if we had 3-4 days consistency. Any sort of fluctuation, +/- cold snap or a brighter sunny day in between seemed to affect the fishing.

The trouble with taking readings is that we are only sampling the upper surface waters and says nothing about what its like far out and on the bottom in winter where the fish tend to hang out.

A cast-able (and retrievable) thermometer?

There are sevral on the market Ruben heaton do one and a useful depth finder both cast-able

laguna · Jan 6, 2013

tiinker said:
There are sevral on the market Ruben heaton do one and a useful depth finder both cast-able

Wonderful, thanks.

jasonbean1 · Jan 7, 2013

being mainly a match angler and the experiences that brings the way temperature affects feeding is often so unpredictable.

match last week on the canal flow and colour with a drop in temperature canal fished ****....not expected but with the temp drop colour and flow meant for nothing

match yesterday on the canal steady rise in temp over a number of days and still plenty of colour, everyone expected it to fish really well...it fished **** again...

so you just never know and some of my best catches in matches or pleasure have come in the most adverse of conditions

Jason

barbelboi · Jan 7, 2013

I have an old mercury thermometer on a hand line that I tend to use mostly during the very cold weather on smaller still waters – usually farm ponds and estate lakes. It doesn’t take too long to take the water temperature from various spots to find areas with a slight increase in temperature and is usually time well spent.
Jerry

steph mckenzie · Jan 7, 2013

Thanks for the answers guys, i'll have a look round a thermometers and perhaps i'll just have to have a play around with the Temps to see what if any difference is made.

no-one in particular · Jan 8, 2013

Have to offer you some advice on this mate, don't do it for a few months, build up a good record over a couple of years at least. Don't think its about telling you when to fish or not but, it has a lot of merit in helping you think about which species to target when you go fishing according to the conditions..I can vouch for this aspect of the exercise. While your at it, you may find it helpful to record other conditions as well like weather and water colour etc. It wont take you any extra time and difficulty and these will also come in useful one day. You don't need any elaborate thermometer, a good cheap one with a good length of line and a weight attached does as well. If you break it it can be replaced for a couple of quid.
Keep your records on a excel worksheet, a couple of minutes typing when you get home and you can use these sheets with formulas to sort your records into some useful ways when you have built up a bit of a database. When you have and if you need any help with this I can help if you want. I have a lot of experience in this. Just let me know.

chav professor · Jan 8, 2013

jasonbean1 said:
being mainly a match angler and the experiences that brings the way temperature affects feeding is often so unpredictable.

match last week on the canal flow and colour with a drop in temperature canal fished ****....not expected but with the temp drop colour and flow meant for nothing

match yesterday on the canal steady rise in temp over a number of days and still plenty of colour, everyone expected it to fish really well...it fished **** again...

so you just never know and some of my best catches in matches or pleasure have come in the most adverse of conditions

Jason

Kind of mirrors my experiences.... temperature is a variable out of my control. I go fishing and try and maintain the same degree of optimism whatever the conditions.

Patterns and trends can emerge for certain rivers - but had good results in conditions I felt would have been better spent doing something else.

The worse result, is expecting to do well in 'perfect' conditions only for the fishing to be dismal.

For consistency - I look for stability in the conditions - be that harsh cold or extreme heat... But I would go anyway and take my chances.

The main consideration is trying to choose an appropriate method and species given whatever conditions happen to meet you.... I don't know if anyone else gets this, but I get a gut feeling for the day pretty early on - pretty much within the first hour.....

geoffmaynard · Jan 8, 2013

Is temperature enough though? Surely pressure is at least as relevant?

The bad one · Jan 8, 2013

geoffmaynard said:
Is temperature enough though? Surely pressure is at least as relevant?

Quite Geoff! And there's a kinda reinventing the wheel here much of the work has been done for you if you do a bit of research and reading of good quality textbooks and angling books.
As a taster for you, deep waters over 20 ft summer and winter are always 42-45 F on the bed. The surface waters of the same waters can and do vary wildly due to solar radiation or the lack of it.
Strong winds oxygenate waters and can super saturate the water. It triggers feeding.

no-one in particular · Jan 9, 2013

I wouldn't say pressure is as least relevant. There are direct impacts on a fishes senses like water temperature, water colour and indirect influences like pressure although there are links to it all. Low pressure often means more rain and therefore more colour in the water for example... I measure it by the amount of variation shown in the results and there is more variation in results for water temperature. The other problem with pressure is how much are the results influenced by the fact that with high pressures you generally get sun, and clear skies and lack of rain and with low pressures you often get cloudy, overcast wet conditions. is it the conditions associated with the pressure or the pressure itself that gives the results? Not an easy one to determine.
Best thing is to record the pressure and the species you catch for at least a couple of years and then see what results you get. If you want to see some of my stuff its on WEATHER-CRAFT for FRESHWATER FISHING

john conway (CSG - ACA) · Jan 11, 2013

Water Temperature does affect fishing.
From my River, records were I have taken water temperature readings: -
Out of 296 Barbel caught only 2 were caught when the water temperature was below 6 Deg C i.e. 0.675%
Out of 1156 Chub caught 203 were caught when the water temperature was below 6 Deg C i.e. 17.56%
In the summer Barbel can be put under high stress if a prolonged fight is carried out when the water temperature is above 20 Deg C
All species of fish have a temperature window when they will breed, if this is very short and or it is accompanied by high water levels (floods), then a complete year class can be disappear. If you do not take note of these conditions then you will not be aware of the consequences in 16 plus years time when these missing year classes would be your targeted fish.
Water temperature determines the amount of oxygen in the water, the lower the temperature the more oxygen, hence the problem with stressed out Barbel in the summer.
Although fish are cold blooded and do not use up energy as we do keeping warm, the cold does affect digestive systems and mussel efficiency. Some species become docile in cold water. Under cold water conditions you need to drop your bait on their noses, they are note going come searching for it. This requires you to locate the fish or shoal and not just rely on drawing in your fish by taste (smell). The reluctance to move generally means the fish will be in deeper and slower moving water (why waste energy swimming about).

And so it goes on!!

Water temperature dose affect fishing and also the insect and plant life upon which they exist.

cg74 · Jan 11, 2013

john conway (CSG - ACA) said:
Water Temperature does affect fishing.
From my River, records were I have taken water temperature readings: -
Out of 296 Barbel caught only 2 were caught when the water temperature was below 6 Deg C i.e. 0.675%
Out of 1156 Chub caught 203 were caught when the water temperature was below 6 Deg C i.e. 17.56%
In the summer Barbel can be put under high stress if a prolonged fight is carried out when the water temperature is above 20 Deg C
All species of fish have a temperature window when they will breed, if this is very short and or it is accompanied by high water levels (floods), then a complete year class can be disappear. If you do not take note of these conditions then you will not be aware of the consequences in 16 plus years time when these missing year classes would be your targeted fish.
Water temperature determines the amount of oxygen in the water, the lower the temperature the more oxygen, hence the problem with stressed out Barbel in the summer.
Although fish are cold blooded and do not use up energy as we do keeping warm, the cold does affect digestive systems and mussel efficiency. Some species become docile in cold water. Under cold water conditions you need to drop your bait on their noses, they are note going come searching for it. This requires you to locate the fish or shoal and not just rely on drawing in your fish by taste (smell). The reluctance to move generally means the fish will be in deeper and slower moving water (why waste energy swimming about).

And so it goes on!!

Water temperature dose affect fishing and also the insect and plant life upon which they exist.

John, a very good post. Two questions if I may:

Were you targeting chub on all of the sessions?
Would you say there was an even spread of sessions in all conditions?
Do you know roughly what the river's average temp is over a whole year?
(sorry that's three questions

)

john conway (CSG - ACA) · Jan 12, 2013

Were you targeting chub on all of the sessions?
Yes

Would you say there was an even spread of sessions in all conditions?
Yes
However, because I’m not restricted to a particular day or time I try to choose those conditions I consider will increase my percentage to catch Chub. I choose to fish at dusk and into dark, 90% of my time is spent fishing in the dark.
I choose not to fish for Chub when the river is rising, however I do get caught out.
I choose to fish for when there is no moon or good moon cover.
Prior to my partner’s poor health (Cancer she is OK now) I fished once every week twice if I could. Now I fish every week, starting on the 16th June through to the end of the season I March.

Do you know roughly, what the river's average temp is over a whole year?

On the Ribble over the last 10 years it averages out at 10.2 Deg C
Lowest 0.9C; Max 22C

The chart below may shed a wee bit more light on my comings and goings etc: -

Chub below 4lb 629 ratio/session 1.344
Chub Above 4lb 331 ratio/session 0.919
Chub Above 5lb 90 ratio/session 0.212
Chub Above 6lb 9 ratio/session 0.019
Total No of 4lb plus Chub 430
Total No of Sessions 468
Total No of Blanks 149 (Note! this No of blanks is for chub only)

Ratio/session for all Chub above 4lb 0.92

No of session per season Comments
2002/3 17
2003/4 50
2004/5 58
2005/6 53 Joined CSG Jan 2006
2006/7 60
2007/8 51
2008/9 53
2009/10 32 Carole poorly with cancer
2010/11 31 Carole poorly with cancer
2011/12 38 Carole cancer clear Mar2012: Retired Sept 2011
2012/13 25 Back to work Aug 2012, 3D/Wk
2013/14

468 Trips

geoffmaynard · Jan 12, 2013

The bad one said:
As a taster for you, deep waters over 20 ft summer and winter are always 42-45 F on the bed. The surface waters of the same waters can and do vary wildly due to solar radiation or the lack of it.

I guess this must be just still-waters you are referring to. So does this mean thermoclines don't affect temps/fish swimming at below 20ft?

The bad one · Jan 12, 2013

Yes Geoff as I took the original question to be referring to stillwaters. True stratification (Epilimnion (top layer), Thermocline (middle layer), Hypolimnion (bottom layer) ) on deep waters only happens in the summer months Geoff. From the end of October the whole water stratification column has broke down and mixed. Yanks call the whole process "Turnover." In the US it's far more dramatic when the breakdown happens because of their far colder temperatures come the Fall. The bottom becomes the top near enough over night. Ours kinda mixes slowly.
By the way the Hypo is very low in oxygen content indeed and fish rarely go in it during the summer.

In winter because the sun heating power is weak, it will only heat up about a foot of the surface water at most in very still air conditions. Any wind over about 15 mph will mix this up with the deeper colder water below it very quickly.

Rivers on the other hand are different and governed by water input temperatures.

Water Temperatures

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