Why do people have to fish for carp at night?

[GrahamM]

You don't HAVE to fish at night for any species, but for most species the dawn and dusk periods are best. So fishing at night means that you cover both periods in the shortest possible time. And, of course, the dark hours CAN be good on many waters.

 

[Paul Hiom]

Graham, i agree, dawn and dusk are usually the best times for most feeding fish. Carp will also feed on surface fished baits like chum mixer in the middle of the day. You cant beat a night session though for peace and quiet and most bottom feeding species will feed at night at some stage, especially carp, tench and bream.

 

[Laurie Hutchison]

Hi Graham, I'm only 15 but I have done a few night sessions in my time and I have caught my biggest carp, a 14lb mirror, during the night at a local 5 acre lake and I took the fish at 5 o'clock in the morning. So in answer to your question, night fishing is a good time to fish as Paul said the carp tend to feed at the dawn and dusk period (particularly in the margins I find) and night fishing covers both those periods thus giving you the best chance of a fish, and I think at night the carp are less precautious than in the day making them more confident in taking baits.

 

[GrahamM]

Hi Laurie, that's right, carp are less cautious at night. Night fishing is usually best on waters which come under a lot of pressure during the day. The carp wait till the noisier daytime anglers and walkers have gone home and then begin to tuck in on the free feed they've thrown in. Have you got a picture of your 14lb mirror? That's a good fish and I could use it on the web site.

 

[Laurie Hutchison]

Hi Graham, I totally agree with your points,but unfortunatly I do not have a picture of the fish as I did not have a camera with me on that productive night!

 

[nigel catterall]

I must admit there only one thing I want to do at night and it isn't Carp Fishing.....

 

[GrahamM]

There's nothing you can't do in a bivvy while carp fishing........so I'm told.

 

[Laurie Hutchison]

hey
Ihad a session yesterday in the light and caught a 13lb common and a 21lb 8oz mirror and have decent pictures of both, the 20 is now my personnel best and is 1lb 8oz off the lake record of 23lb, caught on pepparami.

 

[GrahamM]

Laurie, send the pictures in, we'd love to see them. If you can't scan and e-mail them, then send prints or negs to Editor, FISHINGmagic.com, 2 Stephens Way, Bignall End, Stoke on Trent, ST7 8PL. Some details about yourself and how you caught the fish would be good too.

 

[Laurie Hutchison]

I'll do that Graham,will you be able to show them on your website?

 

[EDDIE BIBBY]

Well done Laurie,what 2 cracking fish.cant wait to see the pictures on the site.Send them in to Graham

 

[Laurie Hutchison]

(Cheers Eddie)
So has anyone had any decent catches recently? Day or Night sessions.

 

[BUDGIE BURGESS]

I have always found that fishing for all species is best as Graham quite rightly says at dawn or dusk.In most cases the fishing normally goes quiet after midnight if not 11 o'clock.The main reason that I night fish is my personal lazyness!It is just too much grief to pack up in the dark and set up again in the morning in the dark!

 

[Joseph Foxall]

there are some are some nice carp ponds in the nw if your willing to travel which fish both day or night if your willing to travel.
avery good one is at ulverston avery large privatley owned canal, which costs 3pound day or night, with some big carp and varies other big specimanfish and no restrictions

 

[Kit Stokes]

Laurie, I too am a keen young carp angler at the age of 14. I have been fishing my local lake for 3 years and immensly enjoy the annual night fishing matches (although i have never won it) my PB Carp is an 18 pound mirror but i didn't catch it night fishing.

 

[Carp Angler]

New to the group so pick me up on any etiquetee issues.
A 35 acre gravel pit near to me produces about 95% of its fish during the day.
Some of the most productive times in mid-summer are between 12 and 3pm.
Most of the fish that I have caught from there I have seen feeding on marginal gravel spots, if you can present a bait to them before the birdlife arrives and you are well hidden and quiet (which I feel may be another discussion thread entirely) they can respond very well.
On this particular water the night anglers are just too lazy to pack up and go home.

 

[John Tait]

Graham - when I was `into` carp-fishing (now a barbel addict, I'm afraid) I always used to fish Friday nights - all year.

Two reasons for this - I have a family, and a house to maintain and a lovely wife who fully understands my need to fish - and so the fairest way for me to kep both sides happy (me and them) was for me to fish Friday nights - that way, I had my fishing, and also the time for my family and the `little` jobs around the house.

The second reason is that I used to have the place to myself. At the time I was fishing Bosley - 85 to 90 acres, and just me there !! - just as good as owning your own water.

 

[South East Angler]

I think a fish will feed at what it thinks will be the safest time for it to feed. I think that angler pressure plays a big role. On some of the very hard fished Carp waters I am told a very good time is sunday evening, or about 10am on a weekday...most of the session or overnight guys have packed up and long gone and the fish move in for a free feed.

 

[Carp Angler]

S.E. Very true point, it commonly is the angler pressure. I have fished some very hard waters,(Yateley, Wraysbury, Withy, this is not boasting otherwise I wouldn't be anonymous) but have been able to catch fish during the day at weekends when I have been mobile and moved to less pressured areas of the lake. Most anglers who set up for session fishing don't want to be mobile and so have to wait for the fish to come to them and to be confident enough to feed, this is generally at night when the fish feel less pressure.
You do not have to fish at night to catch carp. I have achieved all my ambitions in respect of size and numbers and this has been done mostly in daylight.

 

[South East Angler]

I heard a great example of this with regard to the fish at Sutton at Hohne. Basically it a day only venue but in its history only a handful of fish have come out in the extra hour when the clocks change later in the year. As you can imagine everyone thinks that they will slay the fish in that extra hour but all that is happening is that the Carp wait for the anglers to go (lines being removed from the water, bait being fired in etc) and then they move in to feed. One guy decided to play them at their own game. An hour before packing up time he reeled all his rods fired out his bait and sat there for half an hour. He then cast back in and could not believe the number of line bites he was getting in a swim that seemed to be devoid of fish all day!