[williegunn2]

Regarding the 11 and 4 o-clock rules do salmon operate GMT or BST and do they change in late March?

 

[mows]

So if not barometric pressure, what is it that makes the river look like an empty puddle?

I've been living with my river 100 yards from my back door since 1986. I can fish the river 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from April to October.

I used to scoff at the old hands when they said, "That's not a fishing day". The days you could not have forced them to the river at gunpoint. 😂 As I've gotten older, I've come to realise that they weren't too far off the mark at all.

That isn't to say that you didn't touch fish on those days. However, the takes were all soft, half hearted plucks and I very rarely actually hooked anything. It was a real slog.

This was during the summer too when pools were full of grilse. You went to a pool one day and it was like watching a pot of soup boiling with trout and grilse splashing. Then the next day it was completely dead. The next day was like a fish tank again?

I suppose its just one of the mysteries of nature. Long may she keep her secrets. 🙂

Its simple,
The clouds are on the hills behind my house.
You just cant see it.

 

[Rrrr]

Regarding the 11 and 4 o-clock rules do salmon operate GMT or BST and do they change in late March?

Ive never seen one wearing a watch to be honest so dont think it matters

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[Jockiescott]

Its simple,
The clouds are on the hills behind my house.
You just cant see it.

Funny when I see the clouds on top of the hills here, I think, "mows wouldn't be fishing today anyway". 😂

 

[nickolas]

I would definitely go along with the observation.

 

[goosander]

After 70 plus years fishing for trout / salmon/grayling and anything that will hang on the end the only thing i know is no hook in water equals no fish.
Bob.

 

[Bothy Cat]

My fishing records show most of my fish taking around 11.00 and 3.00pm also.
I visit a guy I know who has a fish pond in his back garden. The fish are up and down according to the climatic conditions and he knows the days when they won't feed or are slow to respond. So, get some goldfish, watch them like a hawk and go fishing when they are active on the surface.
I once fished the Dee in early Autumn on a calm, quiet afternoon with not a fish in sight. A fish jumped in front of me landing with a loud slap of its tail, within seconds another did the same and then higher up a third at the top of the pool. The guy next to me turned and said "something triggered that", I agreed but was it climate, mother nature or were the fish responding to each other?

 

[Rrrr]

A mate of mine swears by a fishing app that gives you percentages and probabilitys for the day. He uses it for bass fishing and wont go if it shows a low chance of a fish.
Ive tried it and consider it a load of ****e but then again im not bass fishing.

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[paddymc]

I remember Minitube, who used to be on here, talking about atmospheric/climatic conditions that in turn caused difficult fishing conditions. I think he referred to it as the “leaden light.”

 

[MCXFisher]

Many thanks. Only Cocks and light intensity is accessible ....and it is clearly a good explanation of sudden competitive behaviour ...rather like the sergeant's early and ghastly appearance in a barrack !
Can one find the other item in your Salar Blog?

Yes, look for Good Morning Ladies.

 

[goosander]

I visit a guy I know who has a fish pond in his back garden. The fish are up and down according to the climatic conditions and he knows the days when they won't feed or are slow to respond. So, get some goldfish, watch them like a hawk and go fishing when they are active on the surface.

I Have a large garden pond and can tell from them what the fish are doing [ goldfish /carp etc.] regards the trout but not the silver tourist. It is the not knowing that keeps me going back
Bob.

 

[Leo M]

In Canada I've had noticeable experiences with 10:00 o'clock fish. Mainly on the Miramichi river. Interesting read. Never heard about the bird thing.

Leo

 

[glenelg100]

It may well be due to the insect reactions.
On the Southie , i dont see the kingfishers often, but at least 50% of the time i see the kingfisher, i get a fish.

On the Tummel and couple of years back, I was standing in the river watching a Kingfisher, when a salmon took and almost pulled the rod from my hand, so maybe something in that

 

[simoncassidy]

I remember reading that if the cattle are lying in the fields chewing the cud and the birds are resting in the trees its a good time to break for lunch. Having caught fish from dawn to dusk there is definetly times that the bulk of my fish are caught. The vast majority of my Springers have been caught before lunch and as has been mentioned around 11 o'clock. For grilse the morning chorus has brought countless fish, One day in particular will always stay in my memory. Having landed 4 grilse on a friday afternoon,I called a friend of mine to get his ass in the car and head West for the weekend. He arrived and we hit the river at dawn the next morning.The river was stuffed with fish and neither of us were getting a touch it just felt dead, hours passed and around 10 o'clock the day seemed to change birds started singing and then my mate shouted "Im in" almost simultaneously my line pulled steadily away and a gentle lift got me my first of 12 grilse that day. My friend hit 19 for 3 landed and a 4lb trout. It was fish after fish in bright sunlight and crystal clear water. I could have caught more if I stayed using the winning set up but I started experimenting with dries and hitched flies to no avail. Since then bright sunlight has never phased me as long as its not one of the lazy summer afternoons when even the birds dont sing.For me the bulk of my backend fish seem to come late afternoon to last light.We have come too accustommed to doing things by time and date and ways of living that have changed so much in the last few centuries. Without a doubt we have lost touch with our hunting instincts, that most likely would have identified these times of animal activity. Everyone of us can identify with that feeling, you are going to get a pull and then! "The line slips away through your fingers". No coincidence that something made the birds sing,the fish decide I'll have that and you feel it before it happened.

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[meyre]

Yes, look for Good Morning Ladies.

Michael

Thank you. It is always a pleasure to read and often re-read your excellent 'JOW ' , very helpful, therapeutic and thoughtful .
The catch occurrence for Tomartin is interesting. Neighbouring Arndilly faces the same way and the sunlight is strongly downstream from lunchtime until 1800 hrs when it is either obscured by the left bank or perhaps low enough to spare the glare.
The pattern mostly matches yours. Pre-breakfast 7-9am, elevenses and then really little until 1800hrs. Cloudy or bright the model is the same.
Perhaps there is a need to put on a Wetcel 2 at 1400hrs and bounce a large tube among the cobbles until opening time around 17.30? IE - do something different and horrify the long-suffering ghillies....they always enjoy such deviant behaviour especially after lunch!
Such a shocking activity would match Gooseander's and others' advice to have a hook in play.
As for frolicking dunnocks and wagtails and rising trout , they add encouragement and help to dissuade one from wasting time faffing with changing the fly.

 

[charlieH]

Neighbouring Arndilly faces the same way and the sunlight is strongly downstream from lunchtime until 1800 hrs when it is either obscured by the left bank or perhaps low enough to spare the glare.

Something of a generalisation there! While the majority of the beat runs more or less north, at the top end (Piles, Warren & Arns) it's actually more west, with the latter two actually being south of west. Then at the other end the Long Pool, particularly the tail, has a much more easterly orientation. Have you noticed any difference in catch timings from these spots, I wonder?

For my part, I've had several mid-afternoon fish from the lower part of the Long Pool, at a time when the light is more or less straight down the pool. I can also think of several pre-11am fish from the head of Back of the Bog, again with the sun coming more or less straight down the pool. My best morning's fishing at Arndilly produced five fish in a single run down the Cobble Pot between about 10.30 and 12.45, with another rod coming in behind and taking a fourteen pounder just off the 'boss's seat' shortly before the 1pm bell - and in fact the last fish I caught there last year was from the tail of CP at about 12.30. Yet again, all of these would have had the light more or less directly downriver and in their eyes.

All other things being equal, I would prefer not to have the sun straight down the pool, but have caught enough fish under those conditions to know that it's not by any means a killer.

 

[meyre]

Yes Charlie that is the interesting thing , Piles left, Cobble Pot , Town Road , the Long Pool have been very kind between 7 am and when Keith marches me to lunch. BotB operates all day and Jock's left in the evening, for me, and perhaps here is Michael's point in his article on hen salmon from the Findhorn; the elevation of the sun and its angle .

So as you indicate we find the fish if not frisky then at least most willing in that period of 10-12 ish and again later in the day.

Indeed Arndilly is not a dead straight N-S canal and while I only fish it mid May and mid June & occasionally July it does appear to have a pattern. However as I guess you would concur , it would be careless to ignore such agreeable water even if the sun and river are at the wrong height, the wrist-borne barometer is falling fast and the abundant chorus of warblers etc is silent , because 90% of my fishing is spent just willing the line to gently tighten as a fish mysteriously elects to play and that only happens if the spliced wooden wand is in action.

 

[meyre]

Sunlight and time ....Just for clarity ...Tomatin and beats below Dulsie on the Findhorn or Carron on Spey and all those other rivers that point at the ancient Rhine basin ,from Wick to Whitstable, tend to look east while the fish head west.. Same way as the Miramanchi and many others where there is an 11 am +/- peak in interest. The Ribble , which I don't know, and Towy face WSW so fish have the sun at their backs in the afternoon.....for my father The Towy between 1952 / 1972 offered up salmon either before breakfast or after 1600 hrs, often on a worm or shrimp. The Don and Dee at beats various at c. 11 am and 1700 hrs on a Jeannie . A mighty graph would probably show a pattern...though it is skewed by few night-caught salmon and a propensity for fishers to spend lunch in a hut talking about rather than going about fishing.
Thus it seems that a mid-morning peak may just be a sine-curve high point in a natural day where light coincides with / allows for activity . It may be that birds and insects match this too before slacking off from lunch until tea?! I know plenty who do.

 

[MCXFisher]

Interesting Carron anecdote from June 2012: 3 rods, fishing 3 different pools, each separated by about 1/4 mile, each caught a salmon almost simultaneously within 60 seconds of 11 am. Some coincidence, perhaps occasioned by the lusty calling of cuckoos!

 

[meyre]

A mate of mine swears by a fishing app that gives you percentages and probabilitys for the day. He uses it for bass fishing and wont go if it shows a low chance of a fish.
Ive tried it and consider it a load of ****e but then again im not bass fishing.

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A version of the above is Tides for Fishing. Their Fiskometer is related to the size of tide and moon...the bigger the tide and the presence of a new or full moon at those 2 periods within each 28 days underscores 'fishiness' . It may work or simply be an encouragement or variety of lucky charm ......for me bass are even more intangible than salmon. However a strong tide will have Labrax loitering down-tide of a reef in greater numbers than when tides are slack , then they tend to wander about . Perhaps the moon influences salmonids ?