The seasons and fishing

I started fishing at the beginning of summer. Autumn is fast approaching (feels like its already here). My question is Autumn a good season to fish? Do I have to change methods for example use less lose feed? In addition what about Winter excluding the obvious that it's bound to be cold

Autumn, for many is the finest season.

Rivers usually in good condition, many species at their top weights as they feed up for winter and it signals the impending arrival of proper pike fishing.

Summer is nice to get a tan, give me autumn and winter any day.

squibbles said:

I started fishing at the beginning of summer. Autumn is fast approaching (feels like its already here). My question is Autumn a good season to fish? Do I have to change methods for example use less lose feed? In addition what about Winter excluding the obvious that it's bound to be cold

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Depends what type of fishing your'e doing. There's no doubt that many stillwaters are going to get harder in general whereas rivers could (hopefully) benefit from the extra rain and fish better.

Less feed and smaller hookbaits will see you ok for the colder days

As a river angler i find the fishing just gets better and better until the last day of the season. Whereas I think stllwaters tail off as it gets colder although i'm sure many will disagree depends what your'e after i suppose.

terry m said:

Autumn, for many is the finest season.

Rivers usually in good condition, many species at their top weights as they feed up for winter and it signals the impending arrival of proper pike fishing.

Summer is nice to get a tan, give me autumn and winter any day.

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I totally agree with Terry as the autumn usually provides me with the best fishing of the year.

On my local rivers I'd expect to step up the loose feed as the fish are very active and usually feed well,.

Winter to me means . . . . . Roach, and the bigger the better, but then I'll cut back on my feed somewhat as the fish are getting lethargic and it is too easy to feed-off the fish in the colder months.






---------- Post added at 13:18 ---------- Previous post was at 13:17 ----------

As others have posted. On the rivers give me Autumn and winter any day. Summer is for lounging about drinking tea.

Stillwaters though are a different prospect and a lot depends on prevailing winds etc. I'd fish with smaller baits, hooks, and a lot less loose feed, expecting bites to be more tentative. I'd also fish with the wind behind me as cooling winds cool the surface layer first pushing this away from you. The resultant water movement then pushes the bottom layers towards you and these should be a degree or more warmer.

Thanks for the feed back so far, it's appreciated. I do mixed, rivers and Stillwater's, not had much luck with river fishing thus far blanked every time - perhaps I will have more joy in Autumn. I will get more practice in at trotting the stick float

Late Autumn is the best time. Weed has died back, the fish are feeding ready for the winter slumber, the banks are quieter and as said, it's pike season!

Don't cut back on the bait till we have had a few hard frosts. And depending on what you are after, drop a hook size or 2 and smaller baits.
Carp wise, maggots still rule in winter I find.

Trotting a stick is a much admired art. Sometimes with good reason. But I would be inclined to use a small maggot feeder or waggler to search out some fish. Seems very harsh that you haven't caught yet. Keep trying cos it's very rewarding wandering along a natural water causeway finding out what lives there. You could always try prebaiting a few swims over a session. Bread is generally my first choice.
Good luck chum

Hell yeah... Grayling! :w

I have always fished by the seasons, Summer - Carp, Tench and Rudd, Autumn - Roach, Dace, Chub and Barbel, Winter - Pike, Perch, Chub, Grayling and Barbel, Spring - Close season- fish the Reservoirs for Trout, but if coarse fishing on Still waters, it would be Tench and Carp.
The season vary as far as the weather goes and there are huge cross overs year on year.
Bob

rubio said:

Trotting a stick is a much admired art. Sometimes with good reason. But I would be inclined to use a small maggot feeder or waggler to search out some fish. Seems very harsh that you haven't caught yet. Keep trying cos it's very rewarding wandering along a natural water causeway finding out what lives there. You could always try prebaiting a few swims over a session. Bread is generally my first choice.
Good luck chum

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The river is fast flowing (River Hull) need a heavy maggot feeder to hold bottom. Also found fishing the bottom is problematic lots of snags. I should add, only fished it 3 times, I am however persistent and will continue to fish it. I've always fancied giving trotting a try, bought myself some stick floats and will give it a bash

squibbles said:

I will get more practice in at trotting the stick float

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No, no, no, no, no.......do not take up trotting mg:

It is the most addictive form of fishing I have ever experienced bar none.

Once your float runs down a crease, falters slightly and goes under you will become hooked on trotting for life.........!

In angling nothing comes remotely close to waiting and watching that beautiful moving float

mick b said:

In angling nothing comes remotely close to waiting and watching that beautiful moving float

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It was said that the only thing more pleasing than a float's appearance was its . . . . . . . . . . . .










disappearance


How perfectly true that is too!

Autumn...season of mists & mellow fruitfullness and rivers full of leaf.

Give me winter any day.

I like to keep active at times when fishing - ledger fishing is okay, but with trotting, I sense I will have more control of where I can fish quickly, try different areas of the swim I am fishing. I just hope it is something that can be mastered over time, not expecting to be expert from my first session

I'm of the same opinion as terry.m give me the autumn and winter on the
river anyday, that time of the year has a magic all of its own, running a stick
down a long glide nudging a crease with flake or crust for roach and chub is the recipe for my perfect day.


....I have fished through fishless days that I remember happily without regret.
....Roderick haig-brown.

September is the second best month for me, July being marginally better, generally speaking that is. Some big roach are often caught in September and trotting down the river for these is one of life's pleasures. Bread is my preferred bait, flake mostly but sometimes a small cube of crust on a 14 hook anchored down with a bb shot and bumped along the bottom or static in a slow moving water can produce some pretty good roach-I like a nice quill float for this. This month is the last hurrah's for Tench for me although they can continue into October but, very much worth thinking about, some decent Tench can appear this month. However, the problem with September is the nights drawing in and dropping temperatures and this can cause the fish to go right off the boil until they adjust but still, always worth a go.
The winter-the last few years its been pretty mild mostly until December when the really cold weather comes in with a bang. Then its mainly chub fishing for me with some roach although the bigger roach are fewer and far between as winter progresses. Some Novembers have been fairly mild recently and I have found some good late Rudd fishing in November but, once that really cold snap occurs that's it for Rudd I generally find.. Carp are always a option these days given the right conditions. Bream drop right off as the temps go down, October can be very good for some late Crucians but, after this month I find they go off the boil fast. December and January, mainly Chub and Roach, February can pick up with carp added especially when we get those mild spells that occasionally occur in February.
I find those last weeks of the season in March can be excellent for chub. Some of my best Chub are caught in the last three weeks of the season.

If you can avoid fishing after the first heavy frosts or during an autumn gale when theres too many leaves on the line then autumn river fishing is right up there with a mid summer dawn on a tench lake.