Canal help?

[jack pike 123]

Going down to toome canal on monday to do a bit of roach fishing. I dont have that much expirience on canals. any advice would be apreciated :)

[barbelblanker]

What bait you using?

If it's maggots then you will catch, you'll also get a lot of small fish.

If you use hemo and tares (on the hook) and build it slowly then you should get a good roach bag together.

Fish pole if you can but don't dispair if you can't , a rod and line will do a grand job.

Fish light (1.7 LB bottom and 20 hook, sensitive shotted float (but not necessarily light, get enough weight behind it just dot it down). Roach bites should be good ones but they won't pull a lighthouse down unless they are ravenous, stupid and usually small.

This is a huge area to cover so I'll leave it there for now. Keep feeding back and ask away.

Above all enjoy it , roach are such lovely fish.

Oh, depending on the boat traffic, width and depth, I usually start in the boat channel. So plumb the depth first and find it. It isn't always in the middle.

[silverfisher]

fished the canal a few times last year of the boat platform didnt have much luck was also tortutured by the local winos so if your on your own be careful maybe you should try up by the blue bridge had some great days there last year and the roach seem to have moved back onto the bann keep us posted on how you get on

[Maceo]

I fished a canal on Monday morning. It's decades since I last fished a canal. Not since I was a boy. I've got a ticket that includes a long stretch of the Oxford canal and I was quite nostalgic to fish a canal again.

What a load of old rubbish. Narrow towpath making you a major stumbling/crashing block for passing dog walkers, joggers and top-speed cyclists. Filthy cloudy water. Boats passing by every two minutes. Water completely changing direction and speed every couple of minutes. Maybe all that might not have been such a problem if you were catching fish - but nada! Not even a nibble in about 3 hours.

I was getting fed up before I kicked my brand new groundbait mixing bowl into the water leaping out of the way of a passing group of pensioners out walking, but when that floated off, that was enough.

I packed up and went off back to the river. Now I remember why I left fishing the canal when I was a kid. It's rubbish.

Well, I hope that maybe your canals are better over there and you have a good day. But I won't be going back to any more canals!

[jack pike 123]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I went down to toome canal last monday with no sucess. I was using a waggler float about 3 foot deep and feeding out hemp and groundbait with maggot on the hook. Had no luck so i got in the car and went to the bann rite bside the canal and caught a good few fish :)

Originally Posted by silverfisher

fished the canal a few times last year of the boat platform didnt have much luck was also tortutured by the local winos so if your on your own be careful maybe you should try up by the blue bridge had some great days there last year and the roach seem to have moved back onto the bann keep us posted on how you get on

Where is the blue bridge mate?

[silverfisher]

its the new bridge on the bypass and be careful about fishing on the bann beside the canal i think you need a game licence and game permit for fishing there the lower bann coarse permit starts from the eel traps at toome up to portglenone

[silverfisher]

fished at the blue bridge today ended up with 18lb6 some cracking roach knocking about at the moment

[silverfisher]

was out for 5 hours this afternoon again at the blue bridge ended up with 17lb1 of fish some nice perch today

[SIMPLE MAN]

well done silver,glad you managed not to blank and well done barble on some good advice mate

[silverfisher]

cheers mate the fishing on the river bann has been very bad for a couple of months with about 2lb winning the matches on it even the matchmen changed their venue to try and catch some fish its great to see the roach back from there holidays lol