Predators In Canals

[terry t shirt]

It occurs to me i've fished much of the Grand Union canal from Tring through to Just south of rugby all my fishing life. I know there must be pike and in the northern sections Zander but i have never even had a fish snatched at by a predator let alone seen one.

Knowing they must be there even though never seeing one would you try to target them.

[chavender]

just the mear suspicion would be enough for me ,if you don't try ,you'll never know .

[Phone]

tts,

 

I don't know how old you are - but - 0 for a lifetime would chill me to the idea. The most pronounced advantage an angler has is conficence.

 

Phone

[JV44]

It occurs to me i've fished much of the Grand Union canal from Tring through to Just south of rugby all my fishing life. I know there must be pike and in the northern sections Zander but i have never even had a fish snatched at by a predator let alone seen one.

Knowing they must be there even though never seeing one would you try to target them.

 

Terry if the boat trafic has dropped and the canal is clearer esp after some frosts then lure fish the area you are trhinking of and if that produces some areas with more hits/follows than most then go back and bait fish it ,After the frosts the crays activity drops away so deads or lives are more viable without being stripped ....that would be my plan anyway Steve

[Ken L]

I've used two approaches on canals that work but both require reasonably clear water and so are basically winter tactics.

The first is ultralight lure fishing with tiny plugs and spinners. This obviously involves fan casting and then walking 10 - 15m before moving on to try to locate where the fish are. This can be very effective with as many as 30 - 40 perch as well as the odd pike in a day.

The other is trolling with a side planer which generally allows you to cover more water searching for larger fish with larger lures whilst avoiding the constant splashdowns associated with normal lure kit.

 

I found to my surprise that my local canal (when I lived in Birmingham) held some good perch and pike to 14lb. I landed double figure pike using both methods but a big fish on a proper UL rod was fairly crazy.

I really must give it a go this winter as the canal where I am now has a good head of chub and the possibility of zander in addition to the pike and perch.

[Phone]

KenL,

 

""The other is trolling with a side planer""

 

You mean from a boat?

 

Phone

[Ken L]

You mean from a boat?

 

Nope. Our canals are typically 10 - 15m wide and were built for bulk transportation in the days before the internal combustion engine. Consequently, they have a tow path (where a horse would literally tow a laden barge along the canal) and I have fished a planer by simply walking slowly along the canal towpath with the lure trailing a couple of metres behind a home made planer. Adjusting your walking speed and the distance from the board to the lure will dictate the running depth and the amount of line between the rod tip and the board controls the distance that it runs out from the bank.

With practice, you can get the lure to track the boat channel or the far bank even where there are variations in the width of the canal.

[terry t shirt]

The problem with the grand union is it very very rarely goes clear even in the depths of winter you'll still get narrow boats moving along its length. As for age Phone i've been fishing this canal on and off for over 30 years now. Its only common sense that tells me the predators must be there. But i have no proof having never seen or heard of a pike coming out of it in the 40 miles of it that i have fished in the past. So this is the real dilemma would i be flogging a dead horse. The only good news about the venue is the lack of crayfish so deadbaits could well work as i suspect the preds in there are likely to be scavengers.

[Ken L]

i suspect the preds in there are likely to be scavengers.

 

I wouldn't bank on that. The senses of our predators are very acute and the are quite capable of actively hunting in muddy water.

Assuming zander and perch are amongst your targets in addition to pike, i would be inclined to stay mobile and fish small livebaits. If lives and lures aren't for you, definitely go with freshwater deadbaits over salt.

[The Flying Tench]

. But i have no proof having never seen or heard of a pike coming out of it in the 40 miles of it that i have fished in the past. So this is the real dilemma would i be flogging a dead horse.

 

presumably you know whether there are perch from match results. And wouldn't the local fishing clubs and angling shops know about the pike? It would seem inconceivable that there aren't any, but admittedly it's surprising you haven't caught any jacks etc on maggot or whatever.

 

 

a bit of info here, terry:

 

http://www.fishingmagic.com/forums/predato...erts-bucks.html

 

 

KenL, just how small are the lures you use in winter?

Edited December 4, 2011 by The Flying Tench