''Favoured time of day''.

Derek Gibson · Mar 2, 2016

Do you have, as the title suggests a particular time of day to be by the waterside. I know that most will be under the restraints of work and family, but given the option what would your choice be, morning, afternoon or evening?

Species and time of year will have a bearing on any decision, but I would appreciate your imput guys.

chrissh · Mar 2, 2016

Dawn just when the sun coming up the birds start to sing …even better on the bank the only sound you here are the wildlife and a fish or to jumping and splashing

Peter Jacobs · Mar 2, 2016

I have always loved the very early morning, that point of first light when after a night in the bivvy you awake¹ after a few hours sleep and see the morning mist rising off of the lake.

The rush to then bait and re-cast my rods before putting the kettle on the stove for the early morning cuppa . . . . .

Everything is waking up around you and the rises on the surface of the water move you to an increased level of confidence and expectation.

There is, to my mind, nothing like it . . . . . .

¹ for the last 20 years or so I always bring my rods in before getting int my sleeping bag preferring not to have baited hooks in the water while I sleep.

peterjg · Mar 2, 2016

My favourite time is the early morning, it's wonderful to see everything changing colour from blacks to greys to dark greens to full colour.

I don't night fish much now but I have done well over 1000 nights carp fishing. Nights on the pits I fished were certainly the best times with a chance of a run up to around 10am.

In summer, mornings seem best for tench and roach but in the winter it would seem that roach fishing is best from when it starts to get gloomy into full dark for an hour or two. Big roach, more than any other fish, are more light sensitive when feeding.

barbelboi · Mar 2, 2016

10.30am – 3.30pm ish – the fish are there twenty four hours a day so I fish at my convenience and endeavour to adapt to the river conditions at the time..............

wanderer · Mar 2, 2016

Bite time Derek, early mornings up to nine , evenings up to 1 hour after dark, Barbel and Carp, Tench and Bream , all night, roach at dusk, cant understand the guys that fish in the middle of hot summer days and complain the venue is empty, try the zigs, floating crust, or come back when the fish go down.

Bob Hornegold · Mar 2, 2016

First hour of darkness and early mornings !!

Bob

rayner · Mar 2, 2016

I don't like early starts those days ended when I finished work.
Now I can fish when I like I do exactly that, I fish a time that suits me the fish have to accommodate me. Not that they do

Keith M · Mar 2, 2016

I used to regularly getup during the week before work at around 4am and fish my local gravel pit for Tench & Crucians till around 8am (and sometimes on my local stream for Barbel & Chub) before going to work. and the Tench & Crucians which usually fed with abandon at that time of morning seemed to stop feeding at around 8am just before the day anglers arrived (or at least disappear into deeper water out of reach) and very few Tench would ever be caught by other anglers during the light of day; and most of the anglers just didn't know what they were missing. Then once the light started to fail again in the late evening when most of the anglers had packed up and gone home for their teas; the Tench would start feeding within float distance again, mopping up the bait that had been thrown in by the anglers who had packed up and gone home.

But now that I am an old git and can't seem to get out of my pit till after 8am my favourite time is now from around 5pm until an hour or so after darkness falls.

Nowerdays I very rarely ever fish through the middle of the day except for during the colder months in winter.

Keith

binka · Mar 2, 2016

Just before dawn is my favourite time to be set up and enjoying a cuppa before the first put in as soon as it's light enough to see the float or a tip, closely followed by dusk and that first hour of darkness if I'm staying that long.

That's the good thing about winter fishing, I usually get to fish through both but it's a bit of a marathon in the summer months although I still do it.

dann · Mar 2, 2016

Dusk and just after in the summer for me, I would probably enjoy early mornings too but its too early to be getting out of bed

terry m · Mar 2, 2016

Late afternoon through an hour after dark every time.

I love early mornings when overnighting, but I struggle to extract myself from bed to beat the dawn when I am not night fishing.

This question made me reflect on the fact that I very rarely go fishing for a whole day lately. My proximity to the Avon and Stour, plus the gravel pits around Ringwood means that short sessions, typically 4 hours have become the norm.

seth49 · Mar 2, 2016

Dawn for me too, it's a magical time to be by the waterside.
Pity my mate can't get up that early in summer.

rubio · Mar 2, 2016

First and last light, like most is more productive for better quality, and maybe sheer numbers too. Dawn and the flush of colour that washes into view, as already mentioned, is a fantastic feeling; but then so is a lie in.
Evenings for me just cos it's more convenient.

S-Kippy · Mar 2, 2016

Dawn...in the summer of course, I am no Binka.

And in winter...dusk. The last hour just as the light starts to go.

The bad one · Mar 2, 2016

From a purely potential catching perspective it has to be an hour before dark and 2 hour after it on the waters I fish. But I do like first light as it comes up, it's so atmospheric, peaceful in early summer. As like others have said, way to early for me these days to get up at silly O'clock, unless I'm night fishing and can wake up look out of the bivvy at it.

tigger · Mar 2, 2016

The potencial time of day for catching fish varies from water to water, species to species and time of year.
Contrary to most other peoples findings I find midday (in bright sunshine) to teatime in the summer produces my best results for barbel and tench and chub during the summer months (these have been my main target species for some years now).
Autumn and winter (for my fishing) is always best towards the latter half of the afternoon when the temp's have reached their highest, fishing into darkness for an hour is ok, but then the temp's drop off and things cool down rapidly...so it's hometime for me then

.

As I said, optimum fish catching times vary from venue to venue and the time of year, several of the waters I fish will produce 99% of tench on dusk and into the night.

john step · Mar 2, 2016

Yup, like others I don't get up too early any more...it makes me feel like sh*t.
Winter daylight
Summer overcast days ..all day
Summer hot bright days late afternoon into dark mostly although I do belong to a deep reservoir group where the tench can come along on the hottest day if I can stand to be out in it.

Tee-Cee · Mar 2, 2016

To be abroad in the early hours is truly special at any time of year. I can appreciate the early mornings of the summer months with mist rising off the lake or river with the only sound the gentle splash of a quill hitting the water, but no less the crunch of frost covered leaves underfoot as winter deepens and temperatures drop.
In the warmer months it is as much the leaving home as light breaks in the eastern sky and the drive through empty streets en route to a tree lined pool that does it for me. Nobody about apart from the odd fox .......

I shall do again tomorrow in the cold of late winter with as much enthusiasm and excitement as I've always done. Even now, after all these years.............

chub_on_the_block · Mar 2, 2016

In summer - dawn. I like to arrive with time to set up before first light. Getting out of bed can hurt a bit but even the drive through empty roads to get to a water has a special air to it.

I rarely do all-nighters as i usually end up staying awake most of the night and feel awful by dawn.

In winter i tend to fish up to dusk, maybe for an hour into dark. The dawn coincides with a busy time on the roads.

''Favoured time of day''.

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