Fishing Calendar October 2026: Best Days to Fish

Average reading time: 6 mins

Published: 12.10.2026

October is when the summer pattern stops working on English water. The weed that held fish all summer is dying back, and the clocks go back before the month is out. The August swim is often empty now: the fish follow food and cover, and both have moved.

Why October changes the way you fish

In England October sits well outside the river close season, which runs from 15 March to 15 June, and most enclosed stillwaters and canals can be fished all year. Local byelaws and private fisheries can add rules of their own, so the Environment Agency's national rules are only the starting point.

Rivers are the unpredictable part. The Ouse at York drains a large slice of the Yorkshire Dales and rises quickly after hill rain, and the Trent at Nottingham reaches back into the Peak District, so either can be up and coloured under a clear sky.

What bites in October

Pike

Pike follow the small fish at this time of year, so look for fry rather than a favourite spot. Our city pages put them in rivers and canals, and the Peterborough page in the drains too. In coloured water our note on water clarity and colour choice says to size the lure up before changing its colour. Thom Hunt, below, says that once the water is 14 degrees or over a crankbait is one of his go-to lures, and that one fished for perch will pick up pike too; it did not work for him that day.

Perch

Perch hold to structure: our city pages put them at bridges, moorings and lock gates. Early in autumn they can still be spread along a river, so search before you settle. Our note on soft plastic lures explains how the rigging decides whether one works along the bottom or higher in the water.

Bream

Our Nottingham and York pages have bream shoaling in slower, deeper water and answering to steady feeding on a feeder rod. The Nottingham page says the Trent is better known for barbel and chub, which the forecast does not score. The York page adds that bream are the species most affected by a rising river. A feeder that comes back full means the mix is too dry or packed too tight; see our guide to feeder groundbait.

Carp

On our city pages carp are mainly a stillwater and canal fish rather than a river one. The Peterborough page points out that most fen stillwaters are not distance venues, so match the carp rod to the water. Mark Holmes, below, explains how he changes his baiting in autumn.

Fishing calendar for October 2026

Fishing calendar for October 2026: month grid colour-coded for the best, good, poor and very poor days to fish

Best	1–4, 15–19 and 30–31 October	longest run is the 15th to 19th
Good	5–11, 14, 20–22 and 28–29 October	new moon falls on the 10th
Poor	13 and 23–27 October	clocks go back on the 25th
Very poor	12 October	a single day, a Monday

Best days to fish in October

The best days are 1–4, 15–19 and 30–31 October. The longest run is Thursday the 15th to Monday the 19th. The 30th and 31st carry on into 1–2 November, also best days, so Friday 30 October to Monday 2 November is four in a row; the November calendar has the rest.

Good days fill most of the gaps: 5–11, 14, 20–22 and 28–29 October.

The poor days are 13 and 23–27 October, and Monday the 12th is the only very poor day. On those days keep the session short and fish water you know.

The new moon on the 10th falls on a good day and the full moon on Monday the 26th on a poor one, so neither phase lifts a day to best: the yearly table weighs the time of year as well as the moon's phases.

For weekends, 3–4, 17–18 and Saturday 31 October are best days; 10–11 are good and 24–25 poor. The clocks go back at 2am on Sunday 25 October, and from then sunrise and sunset both come an hour earlier by the clock. A dawn start meets daylight sooner, while an evening session after work runs out of light an hour earlier than the day before.

What experienced anglers advise

Thom Hunt: autumn pike

Thom Hunt filmed a mid-September pike day as the water began to cool. He drifts with a drogue to cover water and moves on quickly from dead areas. By his account the shallow weedy bays gave nothing for an hour and a half, maybe two hours. The first fish came when he spotted two pike on the bottom in about fifteen feet of water and hopped the lure along the bottom over them. He then moved from a 10 g to a 15 g jig head to work the last two or three feet. Later, with birds working over fry, he dropped to nine-centimetre baits on light gear, which he says turned the day round.

Angling Direct TV: autumn perch

Angling Direct TV follows a presenter fishing a tidal river for perch in early autumn. His point is that the fish are spread out, even on dull straight stretches, so he searches with a 7 g jig head and a 10 cm jig until he finds them. Then he slows down: a Texas-rigged finesse creature hopped along the bottom, because the bite often comes on the pause. He looks for overhanging trees and creases in the current, favours dark green, goes brighter in coloured water, and does not lift out in a hurry because perch follow the lure to the rod tip.

Nutrabaits TV: autumn carp

Nutrabaits TV has Mark Holmes arguing that the water, not the calendar, says when autumn has arrived: he calls a fall from 18°C to 12°C the autumn shift. During it he soaks freebies and hookbaits in the same liquid so nothing looks different, moves up from 15 mm to 18 mm baits and, once there is less silkweed on the bottom, fishes a fast-sinking bottom bait. He spreads freebies with a throwing stick, not a spod, so a carp has to hunt them out one by one.

Frequently asked questions

Is a rod licence all I need for a day on the bank?

No. In England anyone aged 13 or over needs a rod licence, on club waters and private lakes too, plus permission from the land or fishery owner, usually a fishing permit. A one-day licence for trout and coarse fish costs £7.30 on the gov.uk fees page, and fishing without one can bring a fine of up to £2,500.

How many rods can I fish with?

In England a standard licence allows up to two rods for coarse fish, and the twelve-month three-rod licence up to three. With several rods the outermost butts must be no more than 3 metres apart, and a rod must never be left in the water unattended. The water can set a lower limit, and spod and marker rods do not count unless they carry hooks; our note on carp rods by purpose covers both.

What should I do when the river is up and coloured?

Our York and Nottingham forecasts read pressure, not flow, so check the level first. The Nottingham page treats the canal as the fallback, because it barely notices the weather that moves the Trent. The York page says to fish the inside line when the water is up, because fish tuck in close and long casts usually put the bait in the wrong place.