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Monday Top 5 - Autumn Tips
Bait Choice With water temperatures cooling it's worth starting to change you bait. Baits such as high oil pellets and fishmeal boilies are generally less effective due to the oils and attractors not releasing as readily in lower water temperatures. They also take the fish longer to digest due to the cooler temperatures slowing down their metabolism, which can lead to them feeding less as we approach winter. Try using standard low oil coarse pellet or bird food based boilies, which are more digestible, and will still pump out attraction in cooler water temperatures, whilst allowing the fish to digest the bait quickly. As we hit the middle of autumn try switching to more natural baits, along with sweetcorn, as these baits often provide great results as the fish gear up for winter.
Find Them Even more important, due to fish generally being less active as autumn goes on, you'll need to locate areas where the fish will ‘hold up’, for example near snags, deep margins or in areas of deeper water. If you are able to find these areas you can catch numbers of fish, and, with regular bait, you can keep fish concentrated and feeding in the area all through the winter. There are a number of ways you can locate your quarry, one being leading around to find likely areas. You could use a Deeper or Fish Spy to gain an insight as to where the fish are. You can also watch other anglers, and see where fish are being caught from. All these tactics, as well as always watching the water, will help you gain a full picture of where the fish are likely to be.
Running Water As daylight hours reduce you can often maximise your time by switching to the rivers for a day's mixed species fishing. Rather then sitting behind buzzers, head out and explore the river. Have a float rod, ledger rod and lure rod, as well as a few essential items of end tackle, a net and a mat, and go and explore. You can catch a whole host of species and really make the most of the shorter days. Think outside the box and try it for yourself, my record is seven species in a day!
Organisation You need to have your tackle and bait organised for autumn now, as it will soon be here and you don’t want to waste fishing time not being ready. Have a target or focus for your angling, and make sure all the pieces of the puzzle are ready, then you can spend as much time as possible fishing. Also don’t just think about tackle; make sure your clothing and bivvy, sleeping bag and bedchair are all up to it.You’ll thank me for it in the long run.
Predators Pike, perch and zander fishing season is almost here. The dropshot rods, lure rods and deadbait tackle needs to be primed, ready to go and target those fresh water predators when they are at their fattest and most impressive. Don’t overlook the autumn for some sensational predator action.
