Water temperature and affect

sagalout

sagalout

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Not wishing to hi jack Stealphs thread on thermometers but it has raised a point I would like answered if anyone can [insert gauntlet thrown down smiley thing /insert], so here is a new thread.

Sean stated that he had found chub, pike and graying less suceptable to the cold. Why would that be? In my ignorance I had assumed that all cold blooded animals where equally affected by the cold but I realise now that they ain't.

Why :confused:?
 
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keora

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Grayling can exist in much colder climates than temperate Britain. They are present in Northern Russia, Finland and Sweden where winter temperatures are much lower than here.

Pike have a similar geographic spread, so I imagine that the long process of natural selection has meant that these species have adapted to feed in cold weather.
 
geoffmaynard

geoffmaynard

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sagalout said:
Sean stated that he had found chub, pike and graying less suceptable to the cold. Why would that be? In my ignorance I had assumed that all cold blooded animals where equally affected by the cold but I realise now that they ain't.

Why :confused:?
Click to expand...

You can probably add roach, dace and trout to that list too. Any other winter species?
 
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Catfishingham

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sagalout, The other side of the coin, I have found that warm water fish concentrate in the shallower water on the west side of a lake early in the season. The west side gets more sun and warms up quicker. I would fish the west side of the lake untill the lake has warmed
uniformly. IMO

Cat
 
Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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With any prolonged cold spell most fish will eventually feed, the best way to experience this is on lakes and commercials. It appears that once they acclimatize themselves to the conditions they revert to normal feeding patterns but of course fish don't feed as much or as long as they do in warmer conditions.

On many commercials it is true to say that the target fish change from carp to silver fish because they are more willing feeders. Carp do feed as well but in winter they seem to shoal up in a particular part of a lake sometimes even in the confines of one peg and they don't move around much at all. Maybe a particular part of a lake is slightly warmer or it could be that there is more natural food i.e. bloodworm and carp love bloodworm sometimes to the point of obsession, you will never want for a bite from carp when fishing bloodworm on the hook which is why most match fisheries ban it.

This is not the result of a scientific study but experience of fishing commercials in winter, most match lakes have a regular winter pattern.
 
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keora

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Fish in commercial waters appear to feed more readily in winter for the reason that they are often stocked at four or five times the density that the water can naturally support. There will be very little natural food for them so it's more likely that anglers will catch them

In a stillwater where fish are stocked at a lower density, they will feed a little in cold water, but since there aren't as many of them, it's harder to catch them.
 
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quickcedo

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Predetors seem to adapt to falling temp. quicker, is this because the more dormant prey fish are then easier to catch? As for the shoaling is this for protection from predators, as the prey fish metabolism slows they are more vunerable therefore revert to the "bait ball". Whilst I agree that fish can be found in the areas that warm the quickest, I believe the reason COULD be to increase metabolism for safety, a bye product of this is the need to feed.
 
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