Any help for my Local Canal for bigger fish?

[hydey5]

hey guys can anyone give me tip for my canal to catch the bigger fish if you know what mean


Thanks

Tightlines

[BoldBear]

Hi Hydey5

Catching quality fish on a Canal

Early Mornings are usually the best time to catch decent fish before the barges have really started to chug through and stir up the bottom too much; or late evenings when the barges have started to berth for the night..

Try looking for features to fish next to like lock overflow streams as they rejoin the canal below the lock; I know a few of these on the Grand Union Canal where huge Chub reside.
Other places to try are: where streams enter the canal or under overhanging bushes or rows of far bank trees as these are also big fish holding spots where Chub, Carp and large Roach often spend there days picking off insects and caterpillars as the drop into the water and are safe from any wandering barges. Also there are large Perch who are camoflaged in the dappled light.

It is a good Idea to plumb the depths of your swim so that you know where the near and far shelves are and their relevant depths as this is important if you want to get the most from your swim.

There are three areas which are well known areas to fish on a Canal:

1. Tight against the far bank:

This is a good place to find Chub which patrol tight against the far bank or Carp.

Either use a light leger or use floats like a canal grey or an onion or a dart and shot it so that in flight the float will fly ahead of the hooklength with 80% of the shot up under the float with a couple of dust shot further down starting at just over half depth.; don’t be tempted to feather your line as it lands or the hooklength will start to go forward before the float has landed and will tangle on the far bank.

2. On the top or bottom of the far shelf:

Quality Roach shoals can often be found here and if you fish fairly fine and keep feeding small amounts of feed at regular intervals you can get them feeding well.

Bream shoals normally move along the bottom of the far shelf like herds of cattle
mopping up any food they can find;
A good groundbait designed for Bream is usually a must if you want to stop them in one place rather than moving on.

3. On the bottom of the near shelf:

You sometimes find shoals of good Perch moving along the bottom of the near shelf hunting for small gudgeon and minnows. Sometimes in a match you can see one angler catching one then the next angler and so on as the shoal moves along the bank.
If you see this then don’t hesitate to empty half a pint of maggots or more in front of you because you may be able to keep them in front of you long enough to catch a few big ones. Shoals of Perch are usually made up with similar sized Perch so if you hook a large one then theres a chance that there are several others nearbye.

I hope this has been of some help to you.

Every Canal is different but the above is what I found on my part of the Grand Union Canal near Watford, but it should still be true elsewhere.

Tight Lines

Keith (BoldBear)

[hydey5]

Thanks for the Info Keith :)

Will try this in the afternoon about 6 :)
What time do you reccomend in the afternoon?

[NICK R]

Before i fish it i would spend time walking the bank ,locate them first
Go at different times of the day to see when they are more active ,
take a bit of bait with you and place it where you locate them so you have a spot ready to fish

[hydey5]

Should i go to my usall Spot where i catch Decent Fish and quite big perch lol?

[hydey5]

Do you think here would be good??

[cg123]

hydey - im from not too far up the road from you (tipton) and i find a good canal to fish is the 1 that runs the back of the coneygre playig fields in tipton, if you can get there around 6ish in the morning you are sure to bag up

[al84]

good luck mate tell es how you have done when i fish me canal in morning i try get up at 5 in morning as its very calm seems very active then till 8 half 8

[hydey5]

ahhh tipton wheres this cinygre field place ill try it out :)