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Water temps

R

Roland Jones

New Member
Hi All, I've been lurking on here for long enough so thought I might throw a question out to the masses!

With the onset of Autumn clearly upon us and with the inevitable drop in temperature of late, do you think this will affect the fish in anyway?

Obviously levels are going to be up in the forthcoming few days but with the colder water i'm wondering if the fish will switch off until it steadies.

Any thoughts/experiences shared will be appreciated.
 
Roland - I am no expert in this field at all, but my experience has been that it's less to do with water temperature and more to do with air pressure, wind speed and direction, and cloud cover. I have caught fish of all sorts during the peak of winter when water temps have been very low, but a still and overcast day has woken them up a bit from their crisp and clear winter's day slumber.

No doubt others will come in and prove me completely wrong with something like science :rolleyes:...
 
It has always been a bit of a 'psuedo-science' in regards to water temps, air temps etc. There are just too many variables at play.

The magic water temp used to be 7 degrees C (45f). But taking water temps and only going when the water temp is 'right' could end up meaning you don’t fish very often in the winter.

Consistent conditions in winter are normally what your after. Then look out for any sharp increases in temp or big sourtherlys blowing a load of nice rain in.
 
Yeah, all good points. Thanks.

I think where I have been coming from (i'm back Barbel fishing after a 15 yr layoff) is that the 2 Carp lakes I have been fishing recently will have completely switched off due to the cold rain here today in the NW. I was wondering if it might be the case with Barbel too.

Anyhow, I have convinced myself it won't matter and the car is now loaded for a session tomorrow night.
 
I think you'll virtually always have better results from a river when water temp is rising rather than falling, and I don't fish for barbel when water temp is below ~5'c..but you never know until you try:) Below ~8'c I tend to concentrate on slower, slightly deeper, sections.
My preference is for a falling river and rising water temp...and my least favourite conditions are rising water and falling water temp.
But I reckon the only 'hard and fast' rule is....there are no hard and fast rules.
 
A sudden rise to high pressure 1020+ is a killer in my experience and it takes a couple of days for the fish to start feeding again.

At the moment Roland I do think the temp drop will affect results until the fish become acclimatised.

Once the temp has somewhat settled just look for a bit more water coming in and ideally a rise of a couple of degrees in water temp....whatever it was before or stable temps for a few days.

I've had three doubles in a day a few times on days where the air temp was freezing the line in the rod rings. The only proviso on this is that often the bigger fish come out in what are considered as poor conditions.
 
Graham Elliott said:
I've had three doubles in a day a few times on days where the air temp was freezing the line in the rod rings. The only proviso on this is that often the bigger fish come out in what are considered as poor conditions.
Click to expand...

Blimey Graham, three doubles in a day!! Was that after getting some tips from Jeff?:rolleyes:
 
Why worry about the temperature. I fish all year round and prefer the dark, cold winter days as no other bugger is as mad as me ( Softy southerners and so on). Remember Barbel are not the only fish in the water. I've had some of my best fights in the winter
 
There you have it Roland, top advice from some top blokes.

To sum it all up (and it all ties in with my findings, for what that's worth) the major 'good chance' pointers are...

Low pressure, rather than high.
Settled conditions for a number of days, whatever the temperature.
A rise in water temperature of a few degrees, even though that contradicts the second point.
A reasonable amount of warm, coloured water entering the river.

BAD things are...

Falling water temperature...a real killer.
Low, clear water and bright conditions (which of course invariably means high pressure)
Cold water entering the river (reservoir top up can be bad)

HOWEVER...most importantly, if you get the opportunity, go fishing no matter what. The fish don't read this forum, and despite the above being reasonably true, the fish sometimes turn on when everything seems to be against it.

Because of that, I am fairly sure that they are closely related to women...but I am not taking it any further than that :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Dave - I reckon it's point two followed by point three, but if point three doesn't happen then point two, itself, may be enough. :)
 
Also, I don't think the rain's cold enough (still in double figures) to have a big impact on the barbel's feeding habits. Wait for the highly-coloured falling river following the rain, and you might be in for a decent session.

I fished an hour and a half for a 9-8 fish last night up here in the NW. :)
 
I keep an eye on temps but tend to follow the levels more keenly. As others have mentioned I favour a falling river level if possible but an evening on the bank beats an evening in front of the telly!
 
I have the perfect solution to falling temperatures, getting n a plane to Florida in the morning!
 
Great stuff, really like the "fish don't read the forum" quality :)

Some good food for thought appreciated as always. I'm going tomorrow afternoon as the river will be falling so it's fingers crossed.

Enjoy Steve.
 
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