is it always important to plumb the depth on the canal befor fishing it.

i have always fished about 3 foot deep and am catch9ng the small fish like gudgin and roach but would i catch more and bigger fish if i fished bottom.

the canal is the staffs worcester canal near wolverhampton, it about 20/30ft wide.

not only depth but distance, fish the opposite side on the slope ,fish like hiding away and may only venture into the middle when a passing boat churns up food on the bottom ,and plumbing anywhere gives a little more insight into the hidy holes of the fish ,there maybe a deeper hole where food congregates find that hole and your chances rise ,some canals are like deserts ,the life is around the oasis .
good luck

Also ben88, forget the mags where they say use the smallest plummet you can get away with. At first it is better to make a big splash and get a true reading rather than messing about with a BB and getting nowhere ..

infact I still buy only one size plummet . . the biggest I can find . . this does for waggie, stick and pole plumming . . . the initial splash doesn't spoil the day . . not knowing how deep it is certainly does

Bradford Angler, how true that is.
i look at this way too, lob a ball of groundbait
in and its more whoosh that the plumit

Talking about plumbing - does any one else plumb depths 20-30ft out by adding a bobber to a ledger line, casting out, tightening up to the ledger and then letting the line out in 6" lengths until it surfaces.

Of course you could always use a polaris, self depth finding float.

[img]http://www.go-fishing.org/upload/files/ka184.jpe[/img]Polaris Floats
This range of floats combines the best of both methods, float fishing and legering. The floats automatically lock and unlock with the aid of the unique ‘Frixon’ device. No shot or weights on the line make this method of fishing very sensitive to bite indication.

ben, it is always best to find out as much as you can about your swim and plumbing is probably the most important factor.

Den

The biggest limitation of the polaris type floats is that you have to fish hard on the bottom.Den has said it all when he says about finding as much out about your swim as possible.The biggest mistake most people seem to make is that they decide where to fish in the swim then plumb to set their float rather than using plumbing to find where to fish in the swim.

quote:

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Originally posted by poledark:

plumbing is probably the most important factor. Den

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Yup, totally agree, Den ... but where do you find a half-decent plumber these days?

Have a good Easter, Mate



DG

I have become less bothered about plumbing the depth on canals. What I find is more important, is that, set up your appropriate tackle and start to fish at what you think to be about right. If you are catching, that's fine. You are catching gudgeon so you won't be too far off the bottom, I find they will take a bait within 6" of the bottom, any higher and they will tail off and you'll catch more roach. Keep adjusting the depth as you fish. If you come too shallow, you will start missing bites. Add 6" again and you may start connecting again. Far more important a factor when catching bags of small fish on canals is YOU MUST and I mean MUST trickle feed ALL THE TIME. 6 pinkies or maggots over your groundbait base ALL THE TIME.
Another point about plumbing on canals is they often have a good depth of silt. I found this out the hard way whilst treading water and feeling with my toes for a pole section that had blown in.
I was amazed how soft and deep was this silt and the use of a heavy plummet in a swim like this would give a totally false reading.