canals - where to fish

[The Flying Tench]

The close season has found me fishing a canal I don't know very well, and there have been plenty of long-boats to scare the fish. Where should you fish? I remember reading ages ago that the more boats that go by, the more the fish move to the margins. So the answer would seem to be the far bank shelf, but that leaves a question. If the fish are spooked by the boats, are they going to be comfortable feeding in very shallow water? Wouldn't they prefer a bit of depth? Another article I remember reading said that the boats encouraged the fish to feed by churning up the silt, implying that you should fish 'down the track'. What do canal fisherman advise re these two apparently opposite views?

[John Ellison]

If you are fishing for gudgeon you should try to catch them as near to you as possible, one to four metres if you have 2ft of depth or more.

Put 4 golfball sized balls of any suitable ground bait in tight. Use one where you can see it fizzing so that you know exactly where it is on the bottom. Loose feed 6 pinkies ALL THE TIME over that feed. wether you are catching or not. Usually within 20 minutes sometimes much less you will catch one a bung.

Roach. If you want to fish the far shelf good luck

I seldom find it neccessary, not for a while anyway. If the water is clear then that's another story. Generally you can catch well at 6 to 8 metres. Feed Sensas Cloud mixed wet ( it's easier to throw accurately mixed wet) Dropping 10 squatts or pinkies in the mix just before you throw it and fish a light on the drop rig off the bottom and you should catch plenty of fish, just lay your rig out in the cloud. It's far easier to handle 6 metres of pole than 16. Try that mate.

Good luck.

[The Flying Tench]

John, thanks for the advice, specially on the groundbait. I guess my target is decent roach. My only pole is a cheap, rather heavy, telescopic one which i really bought for accurate groundbaiting, but it would be interesting to try fishing with it! What I'm really into this close season is trying some of Archie Braddock's ideas - I seem to remember you're a fan - dead maggots, flavours etc, with the feeder. But I'm glad i don't have to target the far shelf, because my casting isn't accurate enough and I think I'd get caught up in the bushes opposite, specially when there's a gale blowing like my last trip.

 

But there's another issue during this week (Easter week) when there are a lot of boats. I wonder if people find the fish feed more at night when there are a lot of boats? I was going to raise the question of casting to the far shelf, 'cos I'm even more likely to get lost in the bushes at night! But I think you've already convinced me it's best to start with 6-8 metres.

[GlennB]

johnclarke:

But I'm glad i don't have to target the far shelf, because my casting isn't accurate enough and I think I'd get caught up in the bushes opposite,

John - try using the clip on the side of your spool to get accuracy -

 

Cast several feet short of the far shelf, then pull off a few feet of line. Wrap the line around the clip, and cast again. Unclip, and repeat process till you are comfortably on the far shelf and clip up for the last time. If you overcast slightly each time now, the clip will stop you 'overshooting'. Obviously if your mainline is ultra-fine you might snap-off, but soft hands and the natural stretch in monofilament should see you right.

Now, if you happen to hook into a 10lb canal carp, you wont be able to let it run because the clip will stop that. If that's a real worry, mark your line at the right distance and unclip after every cast.

 

tight lines

[David Johnson]

Glen's advice is excellent for far bank accuracy. I occasionally fish the Grand Union for carp and casting as close as possible to the far bank is essential. 6" from the far bank will get you a run, 12" won't. The roach and bream anglers say the same.

 

Glen - how do you mark the line? I'd thought about using a marker pen/tippex, but both contain solvents which may weaken mono.

[kendo]

you could try using a sliding knot but remember to leave the tails long as tis will pass through the guides better.

[Newt]

johnclarke:

... But there's another issue during this week (Easter week) when there are a lot of boats. I wonder if people find the fish feed more at night when there are a lot of boats? ...

Don't know about canals but we often find night fishing to be good in high summer when speed boats and personal water craft are very active during the day. And daylight success is usually a matter of either finding areas where they aren't or fishing very tight to cover where the fish have taken for comfort/protection/whatever.

[Tony B]

My local canal is a mecca of long boats. Thats why I go fishing at 5.30 until 9.30 as this is usually when they start running here.

 

I have not a bite since I have started fishing this year, but this morning I had 4-5 really positive bites where the float went under. Unfortunatly I didnt hook into anything tho.

 

I am just using bread on size 20 hooks, about 4ft depth just off centre of the canal (closer to me than far bank). I only started fishing this deep today and it yielded positive results.

 

I mix up a round of bread with water to make a sloopy mix, chuck it in and it goes cloudy straight off and starts sinking, a few minutes later I got my bites.

 

I am going fishing in 6 hours (5.30 am) and hope to catch something! I only started fishing last year but I had some good bream last summer on bread.

[The Flying Tench]

Thanks, everyone - it's not as easy, this canal fishing, as some might suspect. One final question for david and Glenn. Fishing so close (eg 6") to the far bank means, I assume, that you're fishing with a straight lead with a reasonably short tale?

 

john

[GlennB]

John - I must admit I don't go for that level of accuracy (for the reason you state - difficult to predict exactly where the hook ends up. Plus, I'm generally pretty clumsy )

David - I use marker pen. Tippex flakes off, but I hadn't thought too much about the solvent issue. Could be grounds for an interesting experiment.