Fish and Bird life

daji · Feb 12, 2014

I often watch the birds in the garden feeding and notice on some days they are more abundant and appear more ravenous than other days. What i'm wondering is if there is some link between bird activity both above and on the water and what is going on under the water?

In particular can the activity of water fowl give a clue as to how productive the day will be fishing?

I understand that air temperature differs from water temperature and a comparison between warm blooded and cold blooded animal activity might be pointless but does anyone have any ideas or experiences regarding this?

Or am i a ******* idiot?

sam vimes · Feb 12, 2014

I'm not sure that there's a particular correlation in quite the way you are thinking. The closest approximation would be that fish, just like your garden birds, will sometimes gorge themselves silly on a readily available food source. After that, the fishing can sometimes be very poor for a couple of days. There are plenty of heavily fished waters that I would generally avoid on Mondays and Tuesdays, especially in the summer.

However, a whole heap of predatory birds (grebes/cormorants/goosander) in certain locations is often a good indicator of where the smaller prey fish might be located. I frequently take note of where such birds choose to fish. Unlike us, they don't have time to waste in areas devoid of fish.

In a similar vein, the location of a load of diving tufted ducks and coots may well indicate a food source that the fish are also taking advantage of. On many waters it may just be an area that someone has previously put in a lot of bait, but it may also be a natural food source.

daji · Feb 12, 2014

sam vimes said:
In a similar vein, the location of a load of diving tufted ducks and coots may well indicate a food source that the fish are also taking advantage of. On many waters it may just be an area that someone has previously put in a lot of bait, but it may also be a natural food source.

Makes a lot of sense and something i'll watch out for in future

S-Kippy · Feb 12, 2014

There is certainly some correlation in certain circumstances. As any trout angler will [or should] know swifts in particular [and all others of that ilk] will gorge on hatching buzzers and where buzzers are hatching the trout should be feeding.That's certainly true of the reservoirs I fish and at buzzer time I always follow the birds.This is also true of waterbirds when olives are hatching. Both fish & birds are exploiting a sudden abundance of a natural food source. Find the bloodworm beds and you are halfway there and the birds will help you do that.

Not sure it translates across quite so well to coarse fishing where,unlike fly fishing,the bait is not generally imitating a naturally occurring food source.You might argue that we create a similarly exploitable "abundance" through loose feeding/groundbait though I admit that's a bit of a wobbly theory which I just thought up.

I dont think it's quite as simple as whether or not the birds are 'avin it....but certainly if they are exploiting a food source attractive to fish then its worth trying to jump on the back of that if you can. One thing is certain though...if the fish are locked onto a natural food source they can be the very devils to catch. Who has not experienced the frustration of [say] tench gorging on [say] bloodworm to the exclusion of everything else no matter how carefully presented ?

daji · Feb 12, 2014

Wobbly theories are always welcome Skippy

mick b · Feb 12, 2014

daji said:
I often watch the birds in the garden feeding and notice on some days they are more abundant and appear more ravenous than other days. What i'm wondering is if there is some link between bird activity both above and on the water and what is going on under the water?

In particular can the activity of water fowl give a clue as to how productive the day will be fishing?

I understand that air temperature differs from water temperature and a comparison between warm blooded and cold blooded animal activity might be pointless but does anyone have any ideas or experiences regarding this?

Or am i a ******* idiot?

Great, someone thinking outside the box.......keep it up!

As someone who has worked most of my life working outdoors I have also noticed how garden birds will eat my feeder empty on one day and on the next they hardly touch it..

If it was pigeons feeding on my drilled wheat they would be there every day until they had gobbled up every grain that wasn't under the soil..

mg:
So I theorise my garden birds are feeding somewhere else, rather than having a lazy day.

Birds do attract fish, on some occasions....
On a big lake that has a bird roost, fish will always be found under the roosting site in the morning and fish will always be found downstream of feeding Swans being two examples.

On a heavily fished water the days following a 'big' weekend can be a waste of time as S-Kippy rightly says, but sometimes fishing well downstream of a really heavily fed swim can prove productive for one or two really big fish, IF a very cautious approach is employed.

Ive also noticed that river fish react to the high tide when Im fishing close to the tidal zone even though there is a sea lock between me and the estuary...

More questions than answers......again.

mg:

daji · Feb 12, 2014

Some nice tips there Mick so thanks :thumbs:

A lake i fish has an area where Ducks sleep at night (which im guessing would be called a duck roost) but i've never seen people target this area. When the weather improves a little i'll give it a go.

I'm also guessing feeding swans disturb and stir up the bottom of the river which results in fish lying in wait for passing morsels?

S-Kippy · Feb 12, 2014

mick b said:
On a heavily fished water the days following a 'big' weekend can be a waste of time as S-Kippy rightly says,

I wish I had,Mick but it was "Sam" said that not me....but I'd have to agree.

Wandering off track a bit I've always wondered whether birds disturb feeding fish or not ? Logically not as they must be used to them but if you've ever had 50+ Canada geese crash land right on top of your carefully positioned baits it does make you wonder.

tiinker · Feb 12, 2014

Last summer the ducklings were very late because of the late spring and I often had a family of six ducklings mallards diving in my shallow two foot swim. This did not deter the tench that were feeding there only four feet from the bank. They were diving down for the feed that was on the bottom clearly visible.

daji · Feb 12, 2014

S-Kippy said:
Wandering off track a bit I've always wondered whether birds disturb feeding fish or not ? Logically not as they must be used to them but if you've ever had 50+ Canada geese crash land right on top of your carefully positioned baits it does make you wonder.

a great sight though

tiinker said:
Last summer the ducklings were very late because of the late spring and I often had a family of six ducklings mallards diving in my shallow two foot swim. This did not deter the tench that were feeding there only four feet from the bank. They were diving down for the feed that was on the bottom clearly visible.

i would worry about hooking a duck rather than them spooking my swim

peter crabtree · Feb 12, 2014

I've often watched birds feeding in my garden. Sometimes of the day they seem to all come down at once and other times they're all gone.
If i had to describe my personal observations there are some certain similarities between fish and birds.
I look at the robins for instance and they seem to feed early morning but more especially at dusk. Similar to roach. The Woodpigeon home in on particles like farmers crops of grain. Avian bream?
Just my thoughts.....

tiinker · Feb 12, 2014

daji said:
a great sight though

i would worry about hooking a duck rather than them spooking my swim

Not a one I assure you as soon as dawn started to break they would be- there with mum and they got to know very quickly that when I packed up at 8-30 they would get a bit extra from my left overs. My sons used to keep ducks at home and there was nothing unusual to find them swimming in bath when their garden pond was frozen. Always liked ducks.

sam vimes · Feb 12, 2014

Do diving birds spook fish? A picture (or film) paints a thousand words.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZmX25pf84Q]Underwater Carp fishing. Do waterfowl spook carp? - YouTube[/ame]

The biggest issue is that you run the risk hooking them. Even deep, coloured water is not necessarily safe. Tufted ducks have been known to dive to 30'+.

There's not much you can do to counter them other than fish nearer to your bankside position than they are prepared to venture. Once the birdlife gets really used to anglers, you can be onto a hiding to nothing.

daji · Feb 12, 2014

peter crabtree said:
I've often watched birds feeding in my garden. Sometimes of the day they seem to all come down at once and other times they're all gone.
If i had to describe my personal observations there are some certain similarities between fish and birds.
I look at the robins for instance and they seem to feed early morning but more especially at dusk. Similar to roach. The Woodpigeon home in on particles like farmers crops of grain. Avian bream?
Just my thoughts.....

^^ this is something i have been doing, trying to match bird species with fish. Nice to know that someone else is losing the plot too

I would have thought of the Pidgeon as carp or bream like. Greedy rotund blighters, bullying other fish from the food source. i have struggled with the magpie but think it could be compared to a wily old Perch. Bold, very visual, always lurking and opportunistic.

tiinker · Feb 12, 2014

I knew of a carp angler who had a pet duck that he found as a duckling and looked after it . I t would sit at the end of his bed chair and waddle off for a swim now and then . Woe betide anyone who threw anything at it other than a bit of bread. A deep voice would boom out HOI THATS MY DUCK.

robtherake · Feb 13, 2014

S-Kippy said:
...but if you've ever had 50+ Canada geese crash land right on top of your carefully positioned baits it does make you wonder.

Flippin' awesome though, isn't it!

mick b · Feb 13, 2014

S-Kippy said:
I wish I had,Mick but it was "Sam" said that not me....

Sorry Sam, a senior moment..

mg:

tiinker · Feb 13, 2014

We have a swan on our lake he is called Arnie. He is over 20 year old the swan people that come over the lake say he is amazing. He got a new pen last year his third. He chases every thing bigger than a duck off the lake. A few year ago some idiot removed the swan eggs and we ended up with about eight juveniles and god knows how many Canada's on the lake. The grassed areas of the bank were nothing more than green dung heaps. There is nothing like a pair of swans on a lake to keep those bloody crapping geese out. The swans can be a pain I know but better a swan family than a load of last years youngsters and a Canada plague.

mg:
PS The swan people reckon it may be the high quality bait and food that arnie get from the anglers could be responsible for his size and vigour.

barbelboi · Feb 13, 2014

S-Kippy said:
I wish I had,Mick but it was "Sam" said that not me....but I'd have to agree.

Wandering off track a bit I've always wondered whether birds disturb feeding fish or not ? Logically not as they must be used to them but if you've ever had 50+ Canada geese crash land right on top of your carefully positioned baits it does make you wonder.

That reminds me of somewhere Skip

- although didn't seem to be as many last year....................

gregory presley · Feb 13, 2014

Hi every one how r u , I hope all are fantastic. i am new in this forum, I love fishes and i love to catch them and cooked. love to eat.....hmm Birds???

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