It makes you think.

mellow yellow · Dec 17, 2016

Today I went to see a friend who fortunately has a house fronting onto the Wye. Standing on the garden looking out onto the river a chatting away we noticed a few rises from small fish close-in. As we stood there more and more fish rising. The more we stood there the more fish rising and within half an hr the place was alive with small fish. What struck me was that small roach etc on that part of the Wye are few and far between, secondly why did they seem to increase in activity the longer we watched. It was only then I got the clue, My pal only ever goes to the river bank in his garden these days to throw in old bait. I think the fish saw or heard us and thought it was tea time. So its all about association then? Until a few years ago I was fortunate enough to have a property on the Gran Union Canal near Berkhamsted. I had a habit of throwing-in left over bait too. I always put a big halogen light on as it was nearly always after a Tench or Bream session miles away. After a while it became my party piece for friends. I would just turn on the light and within minuets all you could see was wall-to-wall Chub and Bream in the clear water queuing-up. I never fished for them, not once would, have been like shooting fish in a barrel.
So.... Im going to explore my association theory further.
My plan is to bait-up with groundbait and pellets and each time Im going to throw in a Starlight or two as well (Cheap as chips on Ebay) But not fish at all for a few weeks. In the clear water they will be visible for a long way. If I do that for a while when I do put a hook in a bait I wouldn't mind betting It will just take a starlight glued to the feeder to guarantee a Barbel or Chub every time.

What say you guys?

Alan Tyler · Dec 17, 2016

You'd need to do a control before you start, with a starlight on an empty feeder...

mellow yellow · Dec 17, 2016

Yep, Good idea a control. Two rods and see if one outfishes the other. Be interesting.
Also thinking how about the fishes other senses? We take advantage of the sense of smell and sight but its known fish have an amazing feel for vibration. Then theres actual sound. How about an addable device..bleeper or buzzer maybe?
Food for thought.
Dogs are trained with a whistle. Pigeon fanciers rattle a tin or corn and all the birds appear as if by magic.

binka · Dec 17, 2016

mellow yellow said:
Then theres actual sound. How about an addable device..bleeper or buzzer maybe?

Now there's a can of worms waiting to be opened.

It's long been debated whether fish can actually hear anything or just pick up on the aforementioned vibration, personally I'm undecided on it.

I know for sure that when I used to smoke I could clear carp off the surface with a cough for a fifty yard radius

Philip · Dec 17, 2016

mellow yellow said:
Today I went to see a friend who fortunately has a house fronting onto the Wye. Standing on the garden looking out onto the river a chatting away we noticed a few rises from small fish close-in. As we stood there more and more fish rising. The more we stood there the more fish rising and within half an hr the place was alive with small fish. What struck me was that small roach etc on that part of the Wye are few and far between, secondly why did they seem to increase in activity the longer we watched. It was only then I got the clue, My pal only ever goes to the river bank in his garden these days to throw in old bait. I think the fish saw or heard us and thought it was tea time. So its all about association then? Until a few years ago I was fortunate enough to have a property on the Gran Union Canal near Berkhamsted. I had a habit of throwing-in left over bait too. I always put a big halogen light on as it was nearly always after a Tench or Bream session miles away. After a while it became my party piece for friends. I would just turn on the light and within minuets all you could see was wall-to-wall Chub and Bream in the clear water queuing-up. I never fished for them, not once would, have been like shooting fish in a barrel.
So.... Im going to explore my association theory further.
My plan is to bait-up with groundbait and pellets and each time Im going to throw in a Starlight or two as well (Cheap as chips on Ebay) But not fish at all for a few weeks. In the clear water they will be visible for a long way. If I do that for a while when I do put a hook in a bait I wouldn't mind betting It will just take a starlight glued to the feeder to guarantee a Barbel or Chub every time.
What say you guys?

It is interesting but I don’t think you need the starlight.

I think the fish will make an association but it will be with the bait going in rather than the starlight being there. If you carry on fishing several sessions with just a starlight and put no further bait in then they will slowly see through the “con trick” as such and the numbers coming to the swim will slowly dwindle.

I have done and do allot of prebaiting and there is no question whatsoever in my mind fish will become clock conscious in that they will come to a swim at the time they think the bait will be there. Its one of the reasons why (if you can) you should try and stagger the times you prebaits swims to keep the fish on their toes so to speak and constantly come to the swim as they can never be quite sure when the bait will arrive.

With your friend on the Wye obviously I am making some assumptions but I suspect the same would happen there…even if they are making an association of seeing him to start coming into the swim, if your friend stopped putting in bait then the number of fish coming when they see him would begin to drop.

As for fish hearing sound..I have witnessed carp spooking to the sound of hunters gunshots. I doubt they would have felt the vibration but they certainly spooked as the shots went off.

sagalout · Dec 18, 2016

I have noticed over the years that I can be catching well and then someone comes along and starts talking at me and the swim goes dead.

S-Kippy · Dec 18, 2016

sagalout said:
I have noticed over the years that I can be catching well and then someone comes along and starts talking at me and the swim goes dead.

It worked then. I'll try that again next time.

rayner · Dec 18, 2016

It's a well known fact that fishes in commercial fisheries come into the margins in the afternoon.
Most savvy anglers load the margin in the later part of matches and make the majority of their match weights in that time. So it's nothing new.

---------- Post added at 06:01 ---------- Previous post was at 05:59 ----------

sagalout said:
I have noticed over the years that I can be catching well and then someone comes along and starts talking at me and the swim goes dead.

This is exactly why I don't like lurkers. They couldn't case a jot if they ruin your day.

no-one in particular · Dec 19, 2016

I always wanted a riverside place so I could do this. I fished a river for years with houses on the opposite bank and knew one or two anglers used to do this from their gardens and one or two old dears who always came down and fed the ducks in the afternoons. It always seemed there were more fish around those spots. In fact one spot was very good for some rare river tench to about 6lb; most welcome. And on another river a bridge where people regularly threw in bread for the ducks was the best swim in the whole river. I think fish can associate the time of day and a feeding station. Animals in zoos are like that, they know when feeding time is.
It wouldn't surprise me they could learn to associate a light or a noise with feeding time, they can certainly sense vibration.

It makes you think.

mellow yellow

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Alan Tyler

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mellow yellow

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binka

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Philip

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sagalout

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S-Kippy

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rayner

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no-one in particular

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