canal fishing

[deanbmw]

i went down my local cannal yesterday. got there at 10 o clock and for 2 hours it was a bite every cast. a good haul of perch tench and roach...most of a good size...used mixed maggots ....if some one had fell in i think they would have been eaten as well, the way they were feeding it was frighting....then from 12 till 3 not a single bite...small hooks and just put 4 or 5 maggots at a time round the float.

[John Ellison]

I don't quite understand why fish switch on/off the feed as you say deanbmw. It is certainly is the case. I fished a 180 pegger on our Canal in the company of some very competent anglers, no-one had a bite in the first hour and a half and then everyone began catching at the same time, all along the length. 180 anglers then can't all have overfed/underfed. Also, I've known if a bloke starts fishing and catching and you turn up ten minutes later and start fishing beside him, it often happens that you will be lucky to catch at all! I have fished canals a lot in the winter, the ones I fish are generally totally featureless and are 95% roach venues.

Punch is good method. Fish a bulk spread and three number 13 droppers equidistant over the last 18", an ultra lightweight hook image IM2 and look to catch on the drop. Start at depth and if your shot are being 'held up' shallow up 6" at a time until your bites cease, then add 3" back at a time untill you find the best depth. Use finely liquidised bread as feed, it's better than commercial brands by far, and cheaper. Bait up with a deep punch that does not compress the pellet of bread too much, but if they are really having a chew, feed a more compressed pellet.

If you can imagine what's going on under water and fish are swimming through your fine feed, every time they pass, they will be stirring the fine crumb from the bottom and that's the reason you often catch more off the bottom than on it.

Needless to say it's very fine tackle you'll be using number 2 or 3 elastic maximum. Good luck.

[AndyM]

lancslass - which stretch of the Rochdale canal are you fishing? as that's the canal which I fish most often. Certain lock stretches might not be fishing at all well due to the renovation work which has gone on over the last 5 to 10 yrs to allow boats to navigate it's total length, hence some parts were drained totally (even upto a couple of months ago when they had to replace a load of faulty gates), hence fish stocks could be fairly low, reducing the chances of catching at this time of year.

[Steve Burke]

Lancslass, are you after a big bag of fish or just big ones?

 

I'm not qualified to offer advice about the former, but for anyone after specimen fish from canals I'd suggest you do the complete opposite of the conventional wisdom of small baits and ultra-light tackle - especially in winter!

 

In my experience it's not so much the visibility of the tackle that's the problem but the effect it has on the behavior of the bait. By fishing tiny baits I agree that you have to fish ultra-light, especially in clear water. Why not then try fishing a bigger bait instead? You don't then need to fish tiny hooks and gossamer line.

 

In fact, on cold days in winter I find big baits almost always outfish small ones anyway. For the reasons why I disagree with conventional wisdom see my article at http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/steve05.htm

 

In fact you could get some nice surprises at any time of the year on a canal by using baits such as a whole lobworm or a big bit of flake, especially in poor light such as at dusk. It's odds on that this approach has rarely been tried before on most such waters and could be very successful.

 

For instance, older hands will remember Albert Oldfield's stunning catches of big roach on the Macclesfield Canal a few years ago on big lumps of bread. The locals had no idea that such specimens even existed in the water!

 

[ 21. November 2003, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]

[lancslass]

Hi Steve..To be truthfull I've never caught a big fish Its usually roach and perch that I get on the canal, I would love to catch a "Big Un" though.I've not been fishing long so anything I land is brilliant

 

Taken care

lancslass

[Alan Roe]

As the weather really closes in the baits that I would take with me are bloodworm and joker and a few casters.

 

Most canals have two distinct shelves the nearside one and the farside one, also there are two distinct areas where the boat chanel meets the sides of the cut, this area is known as the 'crook' of the swim.

 

What I try to do is to fish in an area wherin the sun shines on my back during the day as it will tend to warm the water over the far self, even if only by a little.

 

I would start by carefully plumbing to find the far crook of the swim and feed that with a little bit of the joker. Whilst doing that, I would begin fishing on the near shelf to pick up any bonus fish that might be there.

 

During this time I will regularly drip feed a little more joker to the far crook. Every twenty minutes or so I would also feed half a dozen casters onto the far self.

 

After the first half hour I would start to fish the far crook part of the swim and it is in this area where the bulk of the catch is usually made.

 

During this time I would continue to feed the casters on to the far shelf remember no more than 6 at any time.

 

For the last hour of the match or session I would fish a caster on the far shelf and it is here where you can often pick up a bonus of some decent roach these will usually be the larger quality fish and it is these that often decides who wins the match!

 

This is a fairly standard match anglers way of attacking canals in winter also remember to fish to any cover or features, however small, in your chosen swim as these things attract fish.

 

I would also point out that to fish this way requires the use of a pole as this gives the degree of control necessary for the accurate placing of both feed and hookbait...........

 

But if you want to go for big fish a spinning rod a fixed spool reel loaded with braid a couple of wire traces and a selection of lures and go walking and spinning for pike! there are plenty on most canals and it's a great wat to spend a winters day!

 

[ 22. November 2003, 10:44 PM: Message edited by: Alan Roe ]

[lancslass]

Thanks Allan and everyone for the help

 

Lancslass