On the Canal

[madmax1975]

Hi all,

Tuesday or Wednesday , I'm going to be going down my local canal for a try. What fish am I like to be pulling out? as apposed to River fishing.

I'll be taking worm, maggott and some bread bait.

[coarsefish-torbay]

Probably depends on which canal you will be fishing. Some, more likely to be roach and bream, others may be chub. Perhaps only smaller fish like gudgeon, or maybe it could be tench?

Try putting the name of the canal, you will then get some very precise info...

[MotherHen]

Hi all,

Tuesday or Wednesday , I'm going to be going down my local canal for a try. What fish am I like to be pulling out? as apposed to River fishing.

I'll be taking worm, maggott and some bread bait.

 

It all depends what's in the section you're fishing really. Bream, perch and roach will all take worm and maggot but in some sections there may be carp / tench as well which would take these. What section you thinking of going to fellow Northamptonian?

[madmax1975]

I'll be in Northampton, down in between Sixfields and Blackwood Hodge roundabout , if any one knows it. There's a Rezy near there too, but not sure if you can fish there.

[Andy_1984]

keep it simple and canals can produce some rather nice specimen roach & rudd that will keep you entertained all day.

 

Use a very light 10 inch hooklength of 1-2lb breaking strain. and a size 22 or 24 hook. fish the bottom or as close to the bottom as you can get (weed permitting) with all your shot nearer to the hook. i never like putting shot on my hook length for fear of damaging it.

 

any sensitive self cocking waggler will do. the reason i use a self cocking one is because all my shot is further down the line so it can take a while for non self cocking float to cock as the shot sinks to the bottom, which could mean missed bites, especially from a rudd taking on the drop.

 

you can fish quite close in too. you dont need to cast to the sky and feed little and often, i go by the rule "a pinch of maggots" (to me thats about 5) and feed the same spot all the time around your float. throw a pinch of maggots in around your float just after you cast to the same spot.

 

if you feel your not getting the bites on the bottom change your depth about a foot from the bottom.

 

let us know how you got on

Edited September 10, 2011 by Andy_1984

[madmax1975]

keep it simple and canals can produce some rather nice specimen roach & rudd that will keep you entertained all day.

 

Use a very light 10 inch hooklength of 1-2lb breaking strain. and a size 22 or 24 hook. fish the bottom or as close to the bottom as you can get (weed permitting) with all your shot nearer to the hook. i never like putting shot on my hook length for fear of damaging it.

 

any sensitive self cocking waggler will do. the reason i use a self cocking one is because all my shot is further down the line so it can take a while for non self cocking float to cock as the shot sinks to the bottom, which could mean missed bites, especially from a rudd taking on the drop.

 

you can fish quite close in too. you dont need to cast to the sky and feed little and often, i go by the rule "a pinch of maggots" (to me thats about 5) and feed the same spot all the time around your float. throw a pinch of maggots in around your float just after you cast to the same spot.

 

if you feel your not getting the bites on the bottom change your depth about a foot from the bottom.

 

let us know how you got on

 

 

Cheers, will do.

Looking forward to getting some Perch hopefully, lovely looking fish.

[Andy_1984]

if your going for the perch i wouldnt use a 1-2lb hook length, it can be done with 1-2lb easily but that kind of finesse isnt needed for greedy perch if they are being weird perch and not taking a bait then try a 2-3lb hook length. 4lb line for perch is the norm.

 

use a size 14 or 16 hook and a waggler. as for depth ill start about 4-5ft and twitch the worm. twitching is brilliant for perch as they like moving baits.

 

its easy to twitch just cast up the canal in to some weed free water (you might need to change depth if your getting a lot of weed on your hoook) then let your bait settle. wait for about 10 seconds or less then one quick full turn of your handle to make your float move about 1ft and let it settle for another 10 seconds or less and repeat until you need to cast again.

 

perch should hopefully take your bait while your letting it settle but its not uncommon for them to take it on the move as they will readily take a spinner

 

i find twitching works really well if you cast up along the canal wall. if water is flowing hard enough to take your float a little trip try letting it wander along the canal wall and twitch the worm out from the wall then letting it drift back in toward it then twitch it out again.

 

ive done this on a hard day when it looked like i was going to blank i took a walk to a bit where there was an outlet of water causing enough force to take my float along the canal wall and twitching out from the wall saved the day