Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.107 (Bread and Zander)

I’ve always wondered why the canals I fish are devoid of anglers because there are some nice fish to catch and there is that mystery in fishing which is lacking in fishing a commercial for example. You have so much of it to explore that there isn’t the issue that if there is a rare example that there is another angler present, solitude is a mere 5-minute walk away.

The local stretches to me are alive at the moment with everything waking up from its slumber. The fish are spawning or have spawned and those bream especially are on the munch and are there to be caught.

The flora and fauna is also growing so fast you can almost see it grow if you stare at in long enough, so that means they are a pleasant place to spend time next to, especially when you are getting bites.

For this early morning roving session, I fancied exploring an area that won’t have ay narrowboats navigating its waters for a good while because of a lock gate is having to replaced. It’s a month away from the new river season and I would be surprised if it’s fixed by then, so time to fill one’s boots.

So a predator rod with a roach deadbait and my small guru pellet waggler set-up where I’d fish some bread tight to some reeds. The float is made from foam so with a large shot anchored a couple of inches from the hook it’s easily castable and the set-up is super sensitive. Some sloppy bread is fed once the bread is in position and that clouds up the water.

Anyway what I didn’t expect was that on-route to the area to fish was another angler who was already fishing !! I was there a 6.30am and he’d been there at dawn. He’d managed some perch and also some bream fishing close in from the bank using maggots. Because of the lack of boats the water is now starting to clear with a good foot or so of visibility.

Whilst I was having a natter the amount of fish activity was quite incredible really with bubbles galore in much of the swim. So I needed to go and catch some fish of my own didn’t I. I headed up to the very top of the area I wanted to fish which was a good 40 minutes walk, and then I’d work my way down.

Anyway, as I was nearing the area, what the hell, yes another angler who had just set-up his gear. Unheard of in these quarters but then the weather was glorious I’m sure that helped. 

He was floating fishing with maggots as well and he also had a sleeper rod out with a pellet for something more likely to put a bend in the rod.

I started off in a winding hole where I’d positioned a deadbait near to some cover and I fished the pellet waggler (fished overdepth) over at the far side of the canal right next to some reeds. It just looked good for a bite and I was correct in that assumption because within 20 minutes or so I managed to catch 3 small bream all of similar stamp.

The last fish gave a good account for itself and disturbed the shallow swim so much the bites dried up which gave me the nudge to get on the move. I fished quite a few areas with not much success with the deadbait having no interest whatsoever. Hmmm….

So in the end I decided to retrace my steps to the start and then go beyond to more familiar waters where I’d had zander from before and also some nice hybrids. Within 5 minutes of the deadbait being positioned in the oxygenated water the float was off on its travels and I’d hooked in to a nice fish.

It gave a good fight and in this area the zander are unusually dark and this one showing that to good effect. As I was getting the fish unhooked, I realised that the pellet waggler rod had now disappeared and upon lifting the rod realised that there was a fish on the end. It was nice hybrid of a couple of pounds and I’m still amazed just how well these fish flight.

With two fish caught in quick succession again the bites dried up, so I headed to bream bay where in the past has produced some nice fish up to 4lb or so. This is a wider bit of the canal and it’s also full of reeds so the fish tend to hang out here.

The amount of fish activity was plainly ridiculous but sadly I only had half an hour before curfew so I had to make the limited time I had caught. I need not have worried though because after a nice bream showing its spawning battle scars I also managed another hybrid soon afterwards both from the same swim.

By this time the sun was high in the sky and blanketing the surface with its rays, so I was surprised the fish were in a feeding mood. Sadly, time called play but it was an enjoyable session I must admit and the weather being good makes a massive difference to that, long may it continue.

Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.106 (Maggots)

Jon Arthur's recent Youtube upload was a painful watch I must admit, a really nice guy and family (His brother Mick is a good mate of mine) but a heat of the moment misjudgement in a FishOMania qualifier has spiralled and you can clearly see it has affected him mentally and it looks like physically too.  

He's properly beaten himself up over it and will probably haunt him for the rest of his match fishing days, especially when no doubt there will be those finger pointers most likely jealous of his success, and it's one of those situations that he would play back differently if he could go back in time.

That's why <----------Mick---------------------------------------------------competitive match fishing---------> because I'd have no qualms about cheating whatsoever 🙈 in-fact I remember fishing Tunnel Barn once for a Shanghai AC match and I'd plumbed up the depth 5 minutes before the match has started, removed the plummet and flicked out the float rig in to the margins and a fish had hooked itself on a bare hook a few minutes afterwards. 

Obviously me being me I'd tightened up the clutch and let the fish take some line, where upon the sound of the horn 30 seconds later I'd scooped the 3lb manky F1 in the landing net. 💪

Fish with two rods, yeah I'm sure I've done that too, if I think about it, but then I did 'accidently' leave the bomb and pellet rod in after going back to the float again. No issues fishing the canal this way though because I was back up Wild Garlic Way where I'd have a sleeper rod out for the carp and a float rod with maggots for anything that came along. I fancied catching a fish this time though because I had a nightmare here the other evening when I couldn't buy a bite. 

I intended to give it another go here before trying elsewhere because the carp was on patrol and Nic from Avon Angling had spotted it too when he was here as well, so the big roach didn't seem to be showing but at least I might get a chance to catch the carp because I wanted to see if it was the same one I caught here almost a year to the day. 

I'd hooked it recently on the roach gear so could do nought about it and that took bread that day like it did when I caught it off the surface, but I literally dropped it on its nose last time because it was spooky as hell when it was out in the middle of the canal, where if you flicked bread towards it, it would skoot off the other way. 

On-route to the area to fish there was a hype of activity in the reeds because yes fish were spawning again. A load of them too so that could well make the fishing a little tricky but I didn't take long to get the first bite to be honest so at least I'd not blanked,

The first spot produced a few small roach, a perch and small hybrid but as expected the bream were not showing. The carp rod had gone out next to some reeds with some bream mash and some pellets over the top but that remained silent throughout the session. I was fully expecting to see it or them during the morning as it was glorious but they were suspicious in their absence.  

The bites dried up in the first swim and being the inpatient me I decided to try a few other spots. The first next to a oxygenated lock but despite a couple of fish topping the float remained motionless. So the next port of call was tight to some near margin reeds where it's no more than a couple of foot deep. Eventually the bigger fish started to show themselves but nothing to write home about really with the 5 or so bream caught the biggest shown below.

As the morning went on the bites were hard to come by really but with the sun blazing down on a relatively clear canal, for here anyway where there was a least a foot of visibility, not entirely unexpected. 

Sometimes it's just nice to be out at this time of year when everything has woken up from the winter slumber. The fish I bet must be feeding on these tadpoles because there was thousands of them in one particular spot.  

A slightly disappointing session really considering the amount of fish that were here the other evening but I still enjoyed myself and that's the main thing. I spotted a few mayfly too so I'm hoping to give the trout a go on the lure soon because I bet they are on the munch at the moment.  

Canal Roach - The Sisyphean Task ? Pt.9

The deluge of rain the weekend during some thunder and lightning showed up my hatred of DIY and the like, you see ones gutters were full to the brim and were spilling over the side nearly tainting next door neighbour David's ornamental bush. A bush that I'm sure will be in his will someway or another.

The only thing for it was to get the ladders out, unroll the hosepipe and actually get down to some the neglected maintenance whilst the weather was nice.

What I didn't expect was a whole bucket full of gunk was retrieved from the gutters that must have been under some considerable strain judging just how heavy it was. The front gutters gunk had almost knitted itself together where a foot long weed was growing out of it to raise the red flag and the cul-de-sac covenant pointers at the Newey's lack of 'keeping the house in good order'.

 

A quick test of the gutters draining post clearing showed that it was working effectively and should suffice for another 5 years or so (joke), well until there was another risk to David's bush buddy, we wouldn't want that to happen now would we.

Anyway with some roach to catch I decided to go for a couple of hours down the canal where my best roach to date is 1lb and 12 ounces. 

I'm sure I've lot a bigger one as well that came off 10 seconds or so in to the fight, and it certainly felt like a roach on the end of the line.

I've been concentrating on bread as it tends to bring the bigger fish but maggots will be used from time to time for a more conventional approach.

A lovely evening indeed where the water actually felt warm when I had a dropped run on the deadbait within 5 minutes and felt the deadbait.

Yes of course I had a sleeper rod out as well because there are Zander here to be caught, so a roach went out over at the far side tight to some reeds.

Anyway a quick water temperature check it was 17.3 degrees 🌞 so positively tropical and the swim was like fish soup. 

I've never seen such activity on the canal before a proper eyeopener it was. The first to show where rolling bream and as the evening progressed some small fish were jumping out and also some roach I assume were breaching the surface, presumingly to feast on the insects that were in huge numbers skimming the water.

The amount of activity really was quite ridiculous but wow what a session of ultimate frustration, I just couldn't connect to any of the bites on the float set-up I used effectively the weekend. They shot under really fast, or that classic lift bite would play out in 3x the usual motion where I'd connect in to nothing.

At least the Zander were playing ball, I caught a tiny schoolie but also missed a couple of bites and also had one that looked about 4lb that dropped off in the fight.

I fished for a couple of hours until I couldn't see the float and left with my tail between one's legs because I left fishless on the main float attack. I dread to think how many bites I failed to connect to, I can only assume they were small fish that and I'm a rubbish angler.

We all have those sessions from time to time though I suppose but I was kicking myself I didn't bring any maggots because I'm sure that would have been the answer to connecting to some of these fish. Oh well at least I know for next time. There wasn't one boat either because of a lock gate having to be replaced above here limiting movement, hopefully that will stay till the closed season ends, because it was rather nice I must admit. 

Update:// Nic went the following morning and cleaned up on maggots !!