Night fishing venues

Find a night fishing venue near you

With such a great variety of fishing venues across the UK, it’s not surprising that that some of them also offer night fishing. Night fishing has grown in popularity with anglers in recent years and likewise with the number of fisheries that have made night fishing available. Not all fishing venues allow night fishing and most have very specific rules around night fishing tickets – so let’s find out what you can expect if you fancy finding a night fishing venue near you.

Why go night fishing in the first place?

One good reason to go night fishing is that it gives you a better chance of catching a new ‘Personal Best’. Whilst it is widely acknowledged that the optimum times to go fishing are usually at dawn and at dusk, in summer some fisheries either don’t open early enough or close late enough to take advantage of these halcyon hours. A night ticket enables you to fish late into the evening and first thing in the morning – times which often aren’t available to day-ticket anglers.

Another reason is that by stitching an overnight session between two day sessions you spend more time on the water. The more time you spend fishing the more likely you are of catching the bigger specimens. Unless you are fishing a true specimen water where the majority of fish are big, the chances are that only about 10 per cent of the fish in your chosen venue are going to be truly memorable. As a result you need to put the time in – particularly on larger lakes – baiting up one or two swims and keeping them topped up to give the bigger fish time to find your offerings and drive out the smaller fish.

Check out our guide to night fishing

If you have never night fished but fancy giving it a go, why not start by reading Stu Lennox’s article ‘A Beginners Guide to Night Fishing’. It will give you the basic information you need to a successful first outing and help you ensure you are prepared.

Do all fisheries offer night fishing?

Although not all fisheries offer the opportunity for anglers to fish their lakes at night for security or insurance reasons, a large number of commercial coarse fisheries do. Often these tend to be out-and-out ‘Big Fish’ waters which specialise in providing angling for specimen sized fish – usually big carp or catfish – or larger day ticket fisheries which also allow anglers to fish through the night on some of their lakes.

What sort of night tickets are available?

There are basically two different types of night ticket available – those that simply allow you to fish a venue overnight – and those which incorporate night fishing into longer stay tickets such as 24, 36, 48 hours or longer.

How much do night tickets cost?

Prices are usually are usually based on an angler using two or more rods and are determined by two factors – the size of the fish in the lake and the popularity of the venue. For a straightforward overnight ticket you can expect to pay anything from £12 to about £20 depending on the venue and the size of fish it holds. For a 24-hour ticket expect to pay between £20 and £30. As an average, stays over 24 hours usually work out at about £1.00 an hour, so a 48-hour ticket would be between £45.00 and £50.00, a 60-hour ticket between £55 and £65 – and so on.

How do I pay for my night fishing ticket?

Whilst some of the smaller and more informal fisheries will only allow you to night fish once they get to know you and are happy to collect your peg fee on the bank, other only allow night fishing by prior arrangement or advance booking. Many of these allow payment on arrival – either in cash or by card – but the advent of more advanced payment systems means an increasing number of fisheries now want you to book and pay on-line before you arrive.

What sort of fish can I catch when night fishing?

The short answer to that is basically anything you can catch during the day! However, it is normally anglers looking to catch specimen fish who take the trouble to invest in the equipment you need for night fishing, things such as a bivvie, camping bed, cooking equipment, bite alarms and all the other paraphernalia which makes a night or week in the open.

As for the fish, night anglers are usually after specimen fish such as carp, catfish, tench and big bream which generally require anglers to put in time by the water and bait up swims which will give them a greater chance of attracting bigger fish.

Which night ticket fishery should I head to?

Pick a venue which holds the range and size of fish species you want to catch. There’s no point in going to a water which holds predominantly roach and perch if you want to catch carp or catfish.

Depending on where you live, start by searching our Region and Counties section on the Home Page of our website. This is broken down into Regions such as the Midlands, South East, East Midlands, etc. Each of these Regions is then further broken down into Counties where details of fisheries in individual counties are given.

Here’s a few night ticket venues to get you started

You’ll find full details and photographs of venues throughout the UK when you search on our website, including those that offer night fishing. We’ve also included some below that will get you started.