In the first part I spoke about how I prepared my feed and hookbait for a match, that bait would be the same for any venue, with a few tweaks, however, in this part I intend to explain how I would use it on a small canal such as the Kennet and Avon or Staffs and Worcs.
Firstly we need to look at why I think that bread works so well and when to use it, well the answer to that is easy. I believe that canal fish on the smaller canals will usually see bread in some form or another whenever they come into contact with humans, so they recognise it as a food source from a young age.
I also believe that is colour also plays a massive part of its success as in clear or coloured water it should be slightly visible as it contrasts well. To that end I would use bread all year round on any canal in the country in one form or another. In the winter I tend to fish it down the track in the deepest water where in the clear water it can be devastating on its day, in the summer I look for two lines. The first will be on a short pole line just out of the centre track of the canal, 4 feet of depth has seemed to be the magic place for a few years now, the other is in my far bank scare line. What I mean by this is when the boat traffic is particuarily bad you may need to fish tight across in the very shallow water of around a foot deep, when this happens I have found bread to be the best bait at extracting the better roach and skimmers from their weedy retreat.
I will look at both times of year in turn starting with the winter, usually the water is cold and clear and on occasion the fish will not want to feed on hi food content baits such as worm, pinkie or groundbait. This is when feeding a small ball of bread into the track of the canal and then presenting a static 4mm punch at a fishes eye height (2-4 inches)t can be deadly. On days such as this I would err to the side of caution and feed a ball of the 2mm feed bread about the size of a golf ball, this would also have a small amount of loose bread also put into the cup to create a small cloud to hopefully pull the fish in quicker.
Over the top of this I would set up two rigs, the first would be a 0.6-0.8g pencil float on 0.12 mm mainline with a 0.08 bottom terminated to a size 20 Kamasan B511. I would use number 5 elastic through three sections set pingy. The other would be a lighter rig with a 0.07 mm bottom, finer bristle and more strung shotting pattern, this would be rigged on No3 through sections to land anything eventually. I would start on the begging rig for at least 20 minutes before scaling down onto my lighter rig, and even then if I caught more that 3 fish on the bounce I would be straight back onto the bagging rig as it allows you to land fish quicker, bomb the bait to them quicker and swing more to hand. A quick side note on the rigs, I have found in the past that roach especially will have one depth at which they are happy to feed on a given day, sometimes this is dead depth or sometimes it could be half depth. I try to use the light rig to explore the depths if I am struggling for a bite and then I can set my bagging rig to that approximate depth and hopefully catch quicker by bombing the bait to the fishes eye line. What I am trying to say is that even in very clear water the roach are usually quite happy to eat a piece of bread suspended at one depth as opposed to following the bait on the drop and taking it at the bottom of the fall . If however bites are still hard to come by then twitching the bait can sometimes spark a response, as you move the bait into the fishes eye line.
In summer my approach to the inside line would only change with regards to the depth and the amount I would feed at the start, both of these are directly affected by the amount of boat traffic and resultant colour found in the canal. What I mean by this is that with the increased colour the fish should be willing to venture slightly closer in and this means that a line just on the anglers side of the boat channel can sometimes be a great place to start a match before the boats get too busy and force the fish across the canal. I would feed the inside line with an orange sized ball of liquidized bread with some hemp and loose bread added, the hemp to provide some feed even after lock movement and the loose again to provide an attractive cloud. Then feed my other lines before coming straight back onto the bread, in the winter I would be willing to wait an hour for an indication on a bread line and still expect a good day as when they arrive it is usually in numbers. In summer, however, if I had not caught a fish after 20 minutes I would abandon the line and move across the canal to my groundbait or worm lines.
There is an exception to this, as I eluded to earlier and if the boat traffic was quite busy or there had been a prolonged spell of boats in my swim then I would ship a rig tight over to the far bank foliage with a kinder cup of liquidised bread and a 5mm punch and I would fish right tight across for fish sheltering from the disturbance of the boats. The rig is very simple, a short 4X10 float with a visible bristle, (Carpa F1's are quite good) rigged on 0.12mm mainline with a short hooklength and a bigish hook (20-18), I would use a bulk and 1 dropper to reduce tangles on the way out as you may only have seconds in between boats. I would have it set also on number 2 elastic, this is very important as it prevents fish from splashing on the surface as you hit the bite and reduces hook pulls as you may have to ship back at speed.
So there you have it, a quick look at how I would fish bread on a small canal, this is not the be all and end all of canal fishing though and on many an occasion the inside line has failed to kick off quickly enough and I have discovered that on that day the fish are over my groundbait or worm lines. All you have to do now is put it into practice, please comment if you find it does ( or doesn't) work for you.
