10 TIPS TO USE CYCLES AND RHYTHMNS TO BOOST YOUR CATCHES

1

Target turbot during daylight with a moving bait: turbot are active visual predators and light is the main factor shaping their feeding activity. Moving prey generate a greater response than static prey. Light is a key signal to stimulate their search for food. The turbot uses its senses during light to anticipate prey; although it cannot efficiently anticipate prey present during darkness, it can still detect its presence in the water.

2

Feeding time preference is influenced by seasons in some species: bass show a preference for daytime feeding in spring, summer and early autumn whereas they prefer nocturnal feeding in late autumn and winter. The switch to nocturnal living shown by bass in winter is under the influence of a circannual clock (occurring over the period of one year). Bass movement is clearly nocturnal during the spawning season and mostly daytime outside of the reproductive period.

3

Target smoothhounds at night and avoid doggies in daylight: studies show that smoothhounds swim slower at night and travel shorter distances thereby being more plentiful at a particular location. It was also shown that most of the activity of dogfish was found to be during the night – an observation confirmed by many anglers whose dogfish catches take place during darkness.

4

In estuaries, mullet frequently show daytime preferences in feeding with peaks of activity occurring at dawn and around midday. Interestingly, these are unrelated to the state of the tide.

5

Surprisingly, cod frequently display a daytime rhythm of swimming activity with a slightly lower swimming speed at night, indicating that they search more actively for food during the day using vision rather than smell or taste. Bait fishing for cod is therefore more productive at night while fishing with lures may be more successful during daylight.

6

The feeding intensity of ballan wrasse is related to temperature. It is low in February but then increases gradually in tandem with increasing temperatures. Following the spawning period in June there is then a significant increase reaching a maximum in August which parallels maximum temperatures. During November feeding activity decreases which then rapidly declines to a low winter level in December and January.

7

Feeding cycles in mackerel vary seasonally; they stop feeding almost completely during winter. There’s a reason summer evenings are often when the shoals of mackerel come on the feed; the pattern of feeding activity is greatest during the afternoons through until sunset.

8

Try seasonal bait changes to target gurnards: both grey and tub gurnard show seasonal feeding behaviour feeding more heavily on fish prey in the autumn (mainly anchovy and black goby), whereas in spring and summer the major portion of their diet consists of crustaceans.

9

For big conger wait until it’s dark: feeding cycles in adult conger eels typically involve feeding around two to three times a week but strap conger need to eat more frequently to support their rapid growth. As the sun sets, conger become more active, venturing out from their daytime hideouts so that almost 85 per cent of their activity occurs during darkness.

10

Fish with large eyes like pollack tend to feed mostly in low light conditions. Dusk and dawn are often called ‘pollack light’ for good reason. Pollack like some tide run, so the best of the fishing will be in the second and fourth hour of the tide (mostly neaps and midheight) when the current flows steadily. Combine these two features of light and tide together and your chances of catching this species are considerably enhanced.

We know that fish forage in the wild whenever there’s food available and there’s plenty of evidence that their feeding activity is ultimately driven by evolved, in-built clocks. Increasing our knowledge and understanding of these species-specific biological clocks will, undoubtedly, result in increased catch-rates. One of the great attractions of fishing lies in the variety of species that are available for us to catch. Understanding and exploiting the internal biological clocks of our target species provides another exciting challenge for us all to enjoy in our quest for angling success!