Autumn is a great time of year for fishing as the fish eat more intensely than in other seasons. Fish of all kinds are preparing for cold winter so they need enough energy reserves to survive it. Because fish need as rich and nutritious food as possible, baits such as various types of worms (earthworms, maggots, …), snails and the like are an excellent choice in the autumn.

For this day float fishing I used earthworms as bait. I didn’t care how much I caught but as a challenge I was interested in what I would catch on earthworms on the water where I hadn’t fished for a very long time.

Simple fishing float set up

For today fishing I decided to use a light float – weighing 1gr. I used split shots weights for weighting.

My recommendations for light fishing floats: 👇

I used earthworms as bait. In my opinion the best bait for winter fishing and also for free because you can catch them yourself. Even such a lazy fish can’t resist this natural bait.

I used a size 14 and 16 hook. I caught most of the fish on a 16 size hook.

I used a float version for the fishing rod (more suitable for heavier floats and wagglers). Because I was in a hurry to go fishing, I didn’t even think much about which rod I took with me. Next time, a better choice will be a match fishing rod, which is intended for fishing with lighter floats, and a better feeling with a rod when fishing for smaller fish (roach, bream, rudd, small carp, chub, bleak, tench…).

Fishing reel size 1000 and fishing line thickness of about 0.18mm is the right choice for this method of fishing.

A excellent choice for float fishing: 👇

Fish love eat earthworms

Hungry beauties.

Fish on 🙂.

Occasionally I fed around the float with 2 – 3 smaller balls of groudbait.

Wild life around water

My boyfriend rescued a drowning dragonfly (common darter (Sympetrum striolatum) ) from the water with a float. Dragonfly dried in the sun for a while and then flew away. At least for a week or so they will live until the cold comes and their life cycle ends.

I was also visited by European tree frog (Hyla arborea). This one was really big so I quickly filmed it and put it back in the tall grass. Winter is slowly approaching and these green beauties will go into hibernation until spring.

I caught 5 species of fish on earthworms

Common bleak or simply bleak (Alburnus alburnus)

Common roach or simply roach (Rutilus rutilus)

Common rudd or simply rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) 

This fish has several names: Riffle minnow, schneider, spirlin (Alburnoides bipunctatus).

Common chub, European chub, or simply chub (Squalius cephalus)

Live baits (natural) are and always will be the number one bait in the world of fishing, but unfortunately they are no longer allowed to be used for bait and lure in certain countries around the world. we anglers have no choice but to use artificial baits (plastic worms, plastic earthworms, plastic maggots, synthetic bread, etc.). A lot of these plastic baits fall off the hook and end up somewhere on the bottom or surface (if they are floating) of a lake, river or pond (plastic disintegration lasts at least 500 years). These baits can be accidentally eaten by a fish, bird or any other animal (which, of course, is not good for them).

I know that nowadays it is impossible to avoid the use of plastic, but why use it where it is totally unnecessary and less effective, because no plastic bait can replace natural – live bait (nutritional value, smell, …). Fish know what is good for them, try it 😉.

Stay healthy.

Till next time …

…… tight lines and wet nets!

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