The best time of day on the Moor?

[johnesmithson]

Lots of us seem to fish all through the day in the summer, but since we are trying to catch very wary trout in crystal clear water, I'm wondering about changing tack and concentrating either on the early morning or late evening. It would be interesting to see how much of a rise there is at those times (when I'm usually in the car and a long way from the river!). I've been struck by the lack of surface activity on my recent visits, even when plenty of flies are hatching. In my seatrouting days I remember picking up some pretty decent brownies by accident when the bats were starting to do their rounds. Thanks for your thoughts, Johnny

[halfstoned]

Nearly all my fishing on the Okement has been done in the evening after work ( often until dark) I found that there was no real pattern to the fishing, certainly no evening rise to speak of, cold clear evenings understandably not so good. I kept thinking if only I could fish more during the day when the fish must have been rising everywhere! Not sure about early mornings, might give it a try sometime.

[boisker]

I’ve often found after waiting through for an evening rise at dusk that nothing happens. On really bright days the middle of the afternoon can be tough, but once you get to early eve, say after 6pm I generally find they can switch back on... I think the change in the angle of the sun is enough to bring them back out and feeding.
Like most people I will fish when I have chance fhough so if that means the middle of the day in bright conditions... so be it.... in those circumstances I’ll try and choose a beat with some tree cover or at least the odd willow over hanging/scrubby long grass banks and fish the shade, riffles and tight to the bank.... works well, they are still feeding they just hold in different areas.

[terry]

I think one problem at the moment is the big swings in temperature. We have summer temps. during the day and as the sun sets we have spring temps.back again. I've
noticed that currently up on the moor very little surface activity at all any time of the day. I wonder if the trout are still to acclimatise, after all we had 12" of snow only a couple of months ago and the last few weeks it's been very warm for May. Hasn't affected the insect life though so maybe I'm talking tosh. Just a thought.

[johnesmithson]

I think you may be on to something there Terry: everything has been late so far this year after that winter, from the garden bulbs to the migratory birds. So maybe the trout just haven't really woken up yet. Here's hoping!