How to catch more fish on sunny days

IT’S time for our must-read Sunday blog. Every Sunday we welcome coarse fishing all-rounder Colin Mitchell.

For many years Colin was a senior Angler’s Mail magazine staff man and he has enjoyed a long, interesting journalism career. He understands match fishing, pleasure fishing, carp fishing – the lot.

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HOW TO CATCH MORE FISH ON SUNNY DAYS

DON’T you just love the sun? A nice bright, sunny day, not a cloud in the sky… Perfect for sunbathing but rubbish for fishing!

But keep an eye on that weather forecast because warm weather can lead to some spectacular catches. Just don’t expect them in the middle of the day!

Get yourself out of bed well before the crack of dawn and cash in as the fish feed up before that sun rises.

Sunset is a banker feeding time, and suits guys like me who struggle to get up for the very crack of dawn!

Or wait until the sun is starting to slip behind the trees and get on the bank to cash in on the last few hours of daylight, or just into the darkness.

I hate sitting around the house (or working) during the day when the weather is lovely but that’s what I have been doing, waiting for the night.

I’ve not joined the ranks of werewolves, vampires or the walking dead but I have certainly got more of my prey than most anglers recently!

I’m not one for those early morning bashes. It’s not that I can’t get out of bed but more like I know they can be over too fast and you spend the rest of the day shattered.

Going in the evening means I get my kit ready during the day for instant action and can stay as late as the fish feed.

I’m often arriving at venues when most people are going home, although recently I’ve arrived to find just myself and a handful of other anglers on the bank.

My mate and I had lakes to ourselves the other night, a total of more than 120 swims, although we just plonked down at the windward end of the lake not far from each other in a nice looking area.

To be honest, at this time and after blistering sun all day it’s just a matter of waiting until that brightness fades a little. It’s like a switch: sun down, fish on.

Swims that don’t even offer a bite come alive. I just sit and wait and keep feeding. And that is key: feed.

There’s no point just sitting because you know the fish won’t open their mouths. You have to be read for when they do… because then they gobble up bait like no tomorrow.

Don’t feed a mass amount at one go. That won’t work either.

Drip, drip, drip…build a bed of bait that will be spread over a bigger area than you think as it falls through the water, filters out and also drops down shelves.

And once those fish do start munching, keep the feed going in at a nice stepped-up rate.

Oh, and fish down the edges! Margins are the place where the fish come to patrol at night. They know there will be leftovers from daytime anglers.

Left over bait (often thrown in against the rules) plus bits of feed just dropped in the edge as hooks are rebaited are the big attraction.

Fish are not that stupid. They know at certain times of the day that banks are quiet, food will be in certain places and they feel safer.

It doesn’t matter how deep the margins are – try them! I’ve caught in just a foot of water and, contrary to normal fishing, the commotion of catching regularly doesn’t appear to scare of their mates.

They are so keen to scoff the free feed they don’t want to go… unless a specimen pushed into the swim to see what the action is about, and pushes them out.

A lull in bites usually means there is a bigger fish about. Prepare to battle!

COLIN’S TOP SUMMER FISHING TIPS

• If you fish during a sunny day: look for venues with coloured water as the sun won’t be as bright under the surface.
• Trees and features that offer cover are always good spots, more so during bright conditions.
• When the carp aren’t feeding bream probably are. Bream are slower than carp to bait so when they do get a chance to munch without pressure they often do.
• Daft as it might sound, open water can often produce in sunny weather when the spots you expect to fish fail to offer a bite. Maybe the fish are sunbathing!
• Never ignore the upper layers of warm water. Fish do not always feed on the bottom – which is even truer when it is bright and sunny. Try suspending a bait just under the surface and feeding very little but very often.

COLIN MITCHELL WILL BE BACK WITH HIS POPULAR PLEASURE FISHING BLOG NEXT SUNDAY.

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