Setup for Canal fishing

[chrislee342]

Hi All

 

I am looking at getting into fishing and the canal is only a 5 minute walk away so thought this would be a good starting point.

 

What would a typical setup be for use on the canal?

 

Would float fishing be the best way to fish the canal?

 

Any info on hook sizes, baits, lines, anything that people think is essential to fishing the canal?

 

All help appreciated

 

Thanks!

[DavyR]

Hi Chris - It would help to know which canal, as there's a world of difference between fishing say, the Oxford Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal!

 

There seems to be a revival of interest in canal fishing recently, judging by the sudden rash of posts on here. The advice you'll get will vary depending on whether you intend to fish "match style" during daylight hours or "specimen style" after the boats (if any) have ceased operations for the night.

 

I only do the latter (on the Macclesfield Canal) and from springtime until the first frosts my first priority is to avoid the attentions of signal crayfish as far as possible. This generally means fishing for roach and bream with liquidised bread as feed and flake or crust on the hook. During the late autumn and winter months when the crayfish are less active, I switch to worm for the perch at dusk and back to bread once it's fully dark.

 

If you fish a canal with no crayfish in it, you can use whatever bait you like as they generally all work.

 

I use a standard float fishing approach, with the float (tipped with a Drennan Night Light after dark) set at dead depth or just off-bottom. I allow any "tow" to pull the bait in to the bottom of the near-side shelf and keep the feed going in "little and often".

 

This approach works well for roach and bream and also picks up occasional tench and carp.

 

Fishing during the daytime is a different ball game and not something I enjoy due to the activity of boats, joggers, cyclists, etc. If you prefer to do that then you'll need much lighter tackle than the 4lb line and size 12 or 14 hooks that I use. The average size of the fish you catch will probably be smaller as well. Don't consider fishing after dark unless it's a "safe" area with no dodgy characters loitering around!

[chrislee342]

Hi DavyR

 

The Canal I plan on fishing is The Wyrley & Essington Canal.

 

There are always a few people fishing on the one stretch but not too many as you carry further on down. I plan on fishing the stretch where the main bunch of people fish as I'm guessing a lot more bait goes in this area so I'll have a better chance of catching, which is what I need to get back into the swing of things.

 

I plan on fishing during daylight hours, I am not too concerned on the species or size of the fish that I catch, as after I have got back into the swing of it, I will start to target the Specimen fish of the better quality.

 

I do not think there are many, if any, crayfish in the area as I have not heard of anyone hooking any. Plus the main bait people seem to be fishing with is maggots, the occasional person using pinkies. I do see people using sweetcorn, but I think I am yet to speak to someone who has had any success when using it.

 

Is it better to fish on the far shelf or the near shelf? Or will you find that different species will be in different areas?

 

Also you say I will need lighter tackle for fishing during the day. Is this as the smaller fish are more wary and can see the heavier line in the light which spooks them? Would a 4lb line with size 16 hooks be too heavy for daytime canal fishing?

 

Thanks.

[DarrenBranks]

Hi chirs and welcome,

 

Right now I'm right into canal fishing and I've started to tweak everything I'm doing to get better results, but to start you off I would say get a few stick floats, some appropriate shot, hooks starting at size 22 through to 18 and some light leader for your hook lengths. Then a tub of maggots and a walk for a few hours throwing in your float here and ther to find the "best" spot, find that and just feed little and often until you run out of fish to catch but it's more likely you'll go home first. I wouldnt worry to much about hooks just yet as I've had some nice nice perch on size 26. Now for the juicy stuff the setup, me personally I use a 2g waggler on 4 pound main line going down to 1lb fly leeder onto size a 20 with most/all my shot at the base of my float. Switching between maggot and worm is what I prefer but as people on here have shown me and I'm sure youll hear to, bread, sweet corn, cheese and others can throw up some good results on the day. Well that's my input hope I helped, keep posting

 

 

Darren

[DavyR]

I wouldnt worry to much about hooks just yet as I've had some nice nice perch on size 26.

 

At my age, I wouldn't be able to see a size 26 hook, never mind tie one!

 

I've never fished that canal Chris, but this thread from another forum might be of use:

http://www.maggotdrowning.com/forum/topic....amp;whichpage=1

 

As Darren suggests, in general the smaller/lighter you go during daylight hours, the more bites you can expect. This is really because the fish that are actively feeding then are more easily spooked and are likely to be only catchable on small baits like a single maggot or pinky. Trying to fish these on hooks bigger than 18/20 and lines stronger than 1-2lb bs makes the bait act differently to the loose feed and results in fewer bites.

 

The main boat channel (aka the "track") and both shelves can all be good taking spots, but boat traffic can make it difficult to fish anywhere other than the near shelf. If you can find any features to fish to, such as moored boats or reed fringes, so much the better.

[chrislee342]

Hi Darren,

 

Thanks for the input.

 

I think I'll take a walk with my rod and see if i can find any sweet spots.

 

Would you say that if a spot is good on the one day it would be good on the next?

Like if I find a sweet spot does that mean I've found a holding spot where the fish like to stay?

Or will it just be down to luck on that day?

 

 

Sorry in advance for any stupid questions.

[DavyR]

Would you say that if a spot is good on the one day it would be good on the next?

 

Not necessarily - most canal fish appear to be fairly nomadic. Certainly on the Macc Canal it doesn't seem to matter too much where you fish - the patrolling shoals will home in on your feed, so long as you keep trickling it in.

 

Holding a shoal (especially a bream shoal) once you've got one in front of you can be difficult, though. If you start catching bream and you want to catch more (not everyone does, especially dedicated roach anglers), it can pay to up the feed rate and maybe put in a bit of groundbait as well as your loose offerings.

 

Not much use if you have boats regularly churning up your swim, of course, but a good ploy for evenings (especially in the summer, when most of the boat people have gone to the pub).

[chrislee342]

Thanks for the link DavyR, very informative.

 

It was that spot shown in the pictures on the thread that I actually rode past on my bike the other day.

It looked like a good area so I stopped and climbed onto the bridge to take a better look.

You could see a good head of fish around the area, I even saw a couple of decent sized carp basking by the near shelf as I carried on down.

 

Definitely a spot I will consider fishing some time. If only it wasn't an hours walk from mine Not so bad when you haven't got loads to carry!

 

Oh well, I'll start at the point closest to me and work my way down I think

[DarrenBranks]

If you want to be independent as in find your own sweet spot, I would take a rod, reel, spare tackle, bait, and your food all in a small back pack. Then just walk. Other option is before you lug a whole sessions worth of gear down, go and ask the guys that are already pulling the fish in. Ask where they recommend, where's fish holding spots, where do the fish hold up on cold weather and hot but it's most likely you'll see them on the surface or just under.

 

 

I wish you the best of luck in finding your spot

 

 

Darren.

[Akimbo Rob]

another bit of advice for you is to study google maps near your canal and look for wider sections or sections which look fairly quiet, I've started pressing print screen and open the copy in paint and mark on the map different sections you've caught fish and what bait, i also paint red sections where not to fish in evenings due to chavs and drug users, in the end you will have a good knowledge of your local canal and where to probably catch the better number of fish during a session I've got tonnes of maps of the leeds and liverpool canal on my pc, i'm quite amazed just how many i've done lol

heres a basic one for you to look at and get the idea