Are bubbles a sign of fish - or filter feeding?

[Zerkalo]

Bubbles over where you've fed always seem like a good sign but I've read elsewhere and seen in some Tench videos it's not always a good sign.

Apparently it can mean 'filter feeding' on the silt. Can anyone explain this any better?

 

[Sam Vimes]

Bubbles can be an indicator of feeding fish, but not always. Many assume that bubbles indicate fish that are feeding on the bottom, but it's not always the case. Bream have a nasty habit of fizzing even when they are feeding well up in the water. That's what I'd call filter feeding.
With tench, they generally do feed on the bottom, but fizzing over silty bottoms can be frustrating. It's usually down to the fish being picky about what they are taking, or a hookbait being too deep, or too shallow in the silt layers.

I've seen bubbles caused by fish moving over and through weed. That weed can be well off the bottom, or just a thin covering on the bottom, and the fish (tench in my observations) showing no sign of actually feeding at all.

 

[John Step]

I am a bit suspicious of bubbles always indicating fish presence. How many times do you see bubbles rising to the surface from the silt in shallow water where you can plainly see there are no fish.

 

[Mr Barry S]

I've done a fair bit of Tench fishing (favourite fish) but have never found fizzing / bubbling to be conducive to good fishing... I find at this time of the year that Tenching is dropping off, though I know people do catch them in Winter from time to time

 

[rudd]

Bubbles over where you've fed always seem like a good sign but I've read elsewhere and seen in some Tench videos it's not always a good sign.

Apparently it can mean 'filter feeding' on the silt. Can anyone explain this any better?

Yes and crucians also do it when feeding on groundbait.
Tench like to bury their head right into the silt and continually suck it into their mouths and blow it out releasing bubbles of both gas from the bottom and from their gills. In effect they are filtering the silt for food particles.
Another sign is fish rolling over the area - reason is they are clearing their gill rakers of silt, trapped when feeding.

I've done a fair bit of Tench fishing (favourite fish) but have never found fizzing / bubbling to be conducive to good fishing... I find at this time of the year that Tenching is dropping off, though I know people do catch them in Winter from time to time

Had an 8lb Female last night and one of around 2lb and a brace of a 6lb male and female the night before.

 

[Northantslad]

A few bubbles then good I find, fizzing or rapid bubbles nuisance or not even fish at all.

 

[Zerkalo]

I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen bubbles and thought it was a good sign. I'm actually a bit gutted that it might be 'filter feeding' as it goes against the 'classic bream/tench bubb;es' I'm sure I saw shots of on Go Fishing before the float went under. Seems like filter feeding is a thing for Tench, which I haven't had much chance to target specifically, but what about Bream?

I fed a load of Groundbait last time went Bream fishing and saw a load of bubbles and thought at least I know I'm hitting the spot with the feeder, but I didn't get a bite until the bubbles eased up.

 

[smiffy]

I regard fizzing as a sign of feeding Tench and,more often than not,I’ll get one or two. Streams of bubbles are different and often the bottom.
You need a Tench venue with lilies to really prove it to yourself that the fizzing is feeding Tench. Fish as close as you dare to the lilies and feed to the edge of them. The Tench will come out from under the lilies and fizz exactly where you’ve fed and you can,almost,guarantee you’ll get one. They will be feeding on what you’ve fed otherwise they’d be fizzing all around the lilies. Catching in open water can be much more frustrating,waiting for the fizzing fish to find your feed,especially if there’s a lot of natural feed in the water.
So. Fizzing where you’ve fed is fish feeding on what you’ve put in. Fizzing elsewhere is fish feeding on there way to where you’ve fed
Bream are different. I normally rely on a bit of watercraft and,hopefully,spotting one or two fish roll. On one weed free gravel pit if fish I often catch in an area where I see single bubbles coming up over a decent area in open water. It’s not guaranteed but I regard it as a reliable sign that something is causing the bubbles to come up and it’s possibly Bream. What I do,weather permitting,is look to see what’s happening over my feed once I’ve started catching and those same single bubbles will concentrated in the area I’m fishing......sometimes.
Bubbles might well be fish filter feeding on natural feed but unless they are really wised up you will still catch on what you are offering as long as you’re presentation is good. I feed pellets and corn when Bream fishing but still get most of my fish on worm?
So stay positive,bubbles are a good thing?

 

[rudd]

I regard fizzing as a sign of feeding Tench and,more often than not,I’ll get one or two. Streams of bubbles are different and often the bottom.
You need a Tench venue with lilies to really prove it to yourself that the fizzing is feeding Tench. Fish as close as you dare to the lilies and feed to the edge of them. The Tench will come out from under the lilies and fizz exactly where you’ve fed and you can,almost,guarantee you’ll get one. They will be feeding on what you’ve fed otherwise they’d be fizzing all around the lilies. Catching in open water can be much more frustrating,waiting for the fizzing fish to find your feed,especially if there’s a lot of natural feed in the water.
So. Fizzing where you’ve fed is fish feeding on what you’ve put in. Fizzing elsewhere is fish feeding on there way to where you’ve fed
Bream are different. I normally rely on a bit of watercraft and,hopefully,spotting one or two fish roll. On one weed free gravel pit if fish I often catch in an area where I see single bubbles coming up over a decent area in open water. It’s not guaranteed but I regard it as a reliable sign that something is causing the bubbles to come up and it’s possibly Bream. What I do,weather permitting,is look to see what’s happening over my feed once I’ve started catching and those same single bubbles will concentrated in the area I’m fishing......sometimes.
Bubbles might well be fish filter feeding on natural feed but unless they are really wised up you will still catch on what you are offering as long as you’re presentation is good. I feed pellets and corn when Bream fishing but still get most of my fish on worm?
So stay positive,bubbles are a good thing?

Single bubbles over an area are also made by Roach.

 

[smiffy]

Single bubbles over an area are also made by Roach.

Quite possible. It could also just be natural gas released from the bottom or an underwater spring. You have to weigh all things up and look at the area over which these bubbles are and wether they are not all over the lake. Add a bit of watercraft to it,local venue knowledge,pay your money and take your chance?

 

[Ken the Pacman]

Bottoms bubble naturally (ooerr missus) for several reasons but fish can only cause bubbles by releasing air from their swim bladders or from food containing air pockets. The oxygen they breath through their gills is in solution and can evaporate but not for feeding purposes.
Most of the bubbles caused by fish feeding are caused by rooting in the bottom debris or weed and are often a cause of coloured water for the same reason.

 

[Brian the Fish]

There is no such thing as gill-feeding or filter-feeding with our fresh water fish.
The gills serve only one purpose, that is to extract oxygen from water and pass carbon dioxide.

 

[Corn Master]

Today I fed half a tin of corn before going in on paste. Waiting for the fizz to start for 10 minutes seemed like an eternity. Paste fishing and fizz go hand in hand for me

 

[Zerkalo]

There is no such thing as gill-feeding or filter-feeding with our fresh water fish.
The gills serve only one purpose, that is to extract oxygen from water and pass carbon dioxide.

I've came full circle since this thread and now back to thinking - bubbles = fish feeding.

 

[Neil ofthe nene]

I'm off to the club lake today. Over the years there I have come to recognise the difference between carp, skimmer and crucian bubbles. Yes they all mean fish are feeding and are an encouraging sight. I admit that while carp are obvious there is a subtle difference between skimmers and crucians.

Not all bubbles are fish feeding though as has been said. Some are just natural marsh gas (methane) produced from decomposition on the bottom.

And as for the dreaded fizzing I have only once converted that sign to fish and on that occasion dumped a full 200mil pot of corn on top. The fizzing stopped and the next fish a few minutes later was a 10lb carp.

 

[Corn Master]

I'm off to the club lake today. Over the years there I have come to recognise the difference between carp, skimmer and crucian bubbles. Yes they all mean fish are feeding and are an encouraging sight. I admit that while carp are obvious there is a subtle difference between skimmers and crucians.

Not all bubbles are fish feeding though as has been said. Some are just natural marsh gas (methane) produced from decomposition on the bottom.

And as for the dreaded fizzing I have only once converted that sign to fish and on that occasion dumped a full 200mil pot of corn on top. The fizzing stopped and the next fish a few minutes later was a 10lb carp.

Depends Neil. I don't feed micros with about 90% of my fishing. For a start I hate cruicians. Constantly pecking away without much reward when converted. Corn can get alot of fish fizzing and as we know bigger lose feed means bigger fish push out the smaller ones. Yesterday for example, when fishing paste if my corn had been eaten then smaller fish moved in to pick away at the struck off paste and what was on the hook. This is easy to see as it's all registered on the bristle. Dump in another half a tin of corn and I started hooking carp, big skimmers and barbel again. I have completely moved away from micros in these circumstances as they just promote the smaller species to feed may also lend itself to foul hooked fish. And I will never feed micros in depths of 6 feet and over when fishing corn or hard pellet. Having small particles spread all over creates larger areas of fizz which means the options for fishing slightly ajar of it are slim to nil

Where I normally aim to get 3 paste swims out of a peg (which ain't always possible due to silt or very uneven swims) I can get through 25 or 30 tins of corn. Constant topping up lines even if I'm not fishing them will see jacuzzi like eruptions almost all through the session

Gas bubbles are obvious as we know

Good luck today ?

 

[fishing jazzman]

Where I fished yesterday, the pool I fished mainly contains carp, skimmers, F1's and roach. Had loads of bubbles where I was feeding and couldn't catch a bloody thing, just had silly little knocks, but no positive bites. In the end I decided not to feed for a while and then tried again when the bubbles had stopped without putting any feed in, had two nice carp almost instantly.

So my question is, could it be something to do with over feeding your swim?

 

[Corn Master]

Not really. Like I said I can go through an enormous amount of bait. Hitting bites is more to do with the amount of silt, a positive rig plus heavy baits/loose feed

 

[Auto]

Not really. Like I said I can go through an enormous amount of bait. Hitting bites is more to do with the amount of silt, a positive rig plus heavy baits/loose feed

Slightly off topic but I have a question about corn. How do you go about preventing some of the corn floating? Do you only feed corn that is already sunk in a container or is there something you can do to ensure it sinks ?

 

[Corn Master]

Frozen sweetcorn can be a problem but generally find the cheap Aldi or Tesco tins are fine