My way with bread, part 2, canals

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.

A return to the dark side

Of late I have started to notice that I was enjoying my fishing less and less, largely due to the fact that at this time of year most of my matches were on commercial venues and the carp are usually still grouped up causing Underwater Bingo. I was also starting to find that with my job I was having less time to spend a day on a venue and practice/ pleasure fish and I was more and more fishing match after match on different venues and not learning from my mistakes etc.

I decided to take a radical turn in my fishing and bought a pair of Radical Old School 2 1.75lb TC rods and Radical Heat free-spool reels, these I set up on a pair of bite alarms and set off firstly to Wadmill Lake at Todber Manor Fishery.

I set up between the second and third island and ran a couple of 30g inline method feeders onto the 8lb mainline and terminated both rods with size 12 Guru QM1's on 0.20 Hybrid mono. Feed was a 50/50 mix of 2mm and 4mm pellet softened the night before and moulded around the feeders with 8-10mm boilies as hookbaits.

I caught steadily and had a great day as an old fried Deano Watts had descended onto the venue with a few of his friends for a friendly day session. Banter and brews were flowing well all day and I managed to catch 10 Carp to around 14lb (including the 'Lemon') 

and a couple of bream to 6lb 10oz. Deano and co. managed 8 between the 4 of them but we all had a good laugh plus I ran to the swims (so got the flyer)  at the start of the day as I roughly knew where the fish would be.

About a week later I was back down Todber, this time for an overnighter ( got my bed chair back out of storage), I got to the lake at around 4pm and moved to the opposite side of the lake from where I was the week before due to the 20mph northerly winds and already near freezing temperatures. Again I set up the two rods on method feeders with softened pellet feed and boilie hookbaits, this time I had upped my mainline to 12lb to try and let it sink more and also added a couple of feet of leadcore above both of the feeders. In hindsight I would have been better off leaving one rod alone to see if there was a difference in catch rate, but hindsight and that. Hook lengths had also changed to 15lb braid and a size 10 curve shanked hook as I had managed to bend a QM 1 the week before. 

The evening started well and whilst waiting to move into the peg I really wanted I managed to mug a couple of quick fish, once the day shift had packed up I moved into the hot area out of the increasing wind and settled in for the night. It was largely quiet, and I only managed 8 carp (1 at 3am!!). But in my defence the air temp did go down to -4.5oC and the water temp dropped a couple of degrees through the night. Hard work payed off though and if I dropped the feeder in front of a fish it would usually rattle off quite quickly.

Sunset over Wadmill

The Robin did not go hungry!!

My final trip out consisted of a visit to Shearwater for the day with my new found skills, long story short, two swims, no carp, 20 bream and nearly a swan after it swam through my lines at the rod ends. Another pleasant day though and I experimented alot with hook bait size and buoyancy on the method this time. I was not too upset about not catching a carp as the guy next to me managed 6 in an hour just before I turned up and then did not have another bite all day. At least I avoided the blank!!

Looking for a last gasp carp

Withy Teams of 4, 02/03/2013

Again I had been selected to fish Selwood Lake, and when John returned from the draw with peg 4 I thought that it would either have a few carp or it would be a bad day in the office.

The peg has an island around 25m away and a long margin to the left that is around 3-4ft deep and acres of open water in front so it is usually a good draw.

I set up a 30g scoop feeder to fish to the island on my standard 10ft bomb rod, 0.20mm mainline, a 0.18mm bottom to an 18 PR36 and a bait band. Feed for this was mixed 2 and 4mm coarse pellet softened and hookbait was either a hard 6mm pellet or a grain of corn.

I set up a deep margin rig for down to my left that would also double up as a dobbing rig in the early stages of the match, this was a 4X12 Big H Border float on 0.18 to a 0.14mm bottom and a size 1 Tubertini 175, this was set on Blue Cenex elastic through 1 section and I fished bread, corn and maggot on this rig. For the silvers I decided to fish pellet as I thought that this would give me the best chance of the odd rogue carp and I found two spots that were the same depth, 1 at 6m and the other at 14m. The rig for this changed a couple of times through the day but the best was a 0.2g ‘Dino Floats’ Duke, with 0.16 mainline and a 0.10 bottom with a size 18 Tubertini 808. This was set on pink Cenex elastic that is soft enough for the skimmers and also powerful; enough to control the odd carp, on these lines I fed 2mm and 4mm pellet softened through a tiny kinder pot.

At the start of the match I set my margin rig 8 inches off the deck and proceeded to look in every nook and cranny as far as I could reach to my left with bread, I did not even get a touch, so I then started to feed my pellet lines and trickled a bit of bait down the edge. Whilst this was settling I cast the feeder a couple of times to the island with no indications to speak off so at the hour mark I moved on to my pellet lines starting at 6m again with no bites and then going out to 14m where after 1 ¾ hours I had my first indication. This was when I decided to change to the rig I mentioned earlier and I got a quick run of skimmers, 3 to be precise before having to re feed the line and start to rotate around to look for a bite.

This set the tone for the rest of the match; I managed a lone roach from the margin, a couple of bits from the short line, a liner on the feeder and around a dozen skimmers and a couple of roach from on the long line. This gave me a grand total of 9lb and a handful of ounces and last on the lake, even Les beat me off the next peg with a flukey carp!!

The team did not do as badly as me so we are still in with a chance.

So that was my last match for a while as duty calls I hope that you all have tight lines this summer and I will try to put up a few educational bits on here whilst on my extended holiday.

17/01/2013 Viaduct Winter League

I got called in to fish this match as Stu was going to be unavailable, I took his place and Trev drew me out 110 on Campbell. In the summer and last year I would have been happy with this draw but all of the carp in Campbell had been shoaled up in front of peg 116 for a few months and the guy on the peg in the open  the day before had caught a carp and then tipped back!!

Unperturbed I started to set up a tackle shops worth of kit, a bomb rod for meat or bread, a waggler to fish maggot around the peg, a pellet waggler set at half depth to suspend a bit of punched meat, a margin pole rig and a skimmer rig to fish at 14.5m in front of me. I started the match as normal with 4 balls of groundbait on the pole line before I decided to explore around the peg with the deck waggler and maggot. I stuck it out for nearly 30 minutes for 3 tiny roach before I chucked the bomb out for 2 casts with no real signs of life. I went out on the pole line and struggled for a few small skimmers and roach and was going nowhere until I started casting the waggler and maggot to the middle of the lake for a few roach. The margin was unproductive and a waste of time but I did learn a few things by drawing the wrong end of the lake.

1) Sometimes there are just no carp!!

2) Take a lighter waggler rod for roach fishing

3) Don’t feed too much on a winter carp line, although I did not feed alot down the margin, after a couple of hours I felt that I should not have fed anything and just felt my way into the swim!!

I finished the day with 4lb dead and this was good enough for 3 points out of a possible 19.  150lb + won the lake and this was from 116, well done Mark.

The team suffered from a bad draw with 3 of us picking up 3 points, a 5 and John  Dewberry saving us with 16 points I believe.

Viaduct open,5 Jan 13

For this match I drew 97 on Cary, this is in my mind a good peg as it give you lots of open water to go at and therefore lots of options, I also had a blank peg to my left and had to put a swim down there so I set up the following kit:

10ft Commercial bomb rod with an Ultimatch 035, 8lb mainline to a 0.18mm bottom baited with either a lump of meat on a 14 QM1 or bread popped up between 6 and 12”. The bomb was running freely on the mainline and I use a snap swivel to attach the hooklength for speed. I decided to feed a meat line in a depression at 25m, for this I rigged up a 13ft CC Super match with a Black magic 030FD loaded with 4lb reel line to a 0.14mm Cenex hooklength; this had a 16 PR36 and a quick stop to hold the meat on the hair under a loaded 4AA straight waggler. My other waggler rod was a Superlight Match with the same reel and line but a larger loaded float to fish maggot up in the water at long range.  I also set up my Z9 at 14.5 m to fish a silver fish line, this had a 0.4g float on 0.16mm mainline to a 0.1 bottom and an 18 808hook, and this was set with Pink Cenex hollow elastic for the skimmers.

At the all in I fed 4 balls of groundbait on my skimmer line and then cast out the bomb baited with a large punched meat hookbait, I also started feeding meat on my waggler line and after about 10 minutes I had my first pull on the bomb and carp No1 was on its way to the landing net. That kind of set the tone as I managed 3 carp and a handful of silvers for around 30lb, all my carp came on the bomb, 2 on meat and one foul hooked on bread. My silvers all came on the pole line to dead maggot or caster. My weight was enough for a section win which was my entire bank but I was well off the winners on Campbell and some of the pegs opposite on Cary. Still it’s always nice to pick up a little.

Viaduct Open, 19/12/12

It was off to Viaduct for the Wednesday open mainly as a team outing so that the powers that be could pay the team entry for the teams of 5 next month, I was a little surprised when at the fishery it turned out that there would only be 6 anglers fishing!!

Myself, Stu Dabbs, John Dewberry, Dave George, Nic Mac (all from Browning Andover) and local angler Rolly, this was going to be an interesting day, I had no idea where to draw at the start and peg 124 stuck in my little mit, much to everyone’s dismay as it was apparently the flyer. I have however, ruined them before here so I was not too optimistic.

My plan was simple for the day, no one was pegged to my left and before the start I had seen several carp crash towards that bank, therefore I decided to fish the bomb and waggler in that direction and I also put in a pole line at 6m down the edge to my left as a backup although this never came into play so I shall ignore it for today.

My bomb rig was a 10ft commercial bomb with a 035 Ultimatch reel loaded with 0.20mm Cenex Feeder line, a running bomb and a 12 inch hooklength of 0.18mm Cenex to a 14 QM1 and a quick stop. I was going to fish meat and bread on this rig, I also set up a 6g waggler set at full depth to a 0.12mm bottom and a size 18 hook to fish maggot and explore the peg.

At the all in I fed the pole line and cast out the bomb setting my stopwatch for 20 minutes, I need not have bothered as by the end of the first hour I had 4 Carp in the net all on chunks of yellow meat for around 12lb. It got harder in the middle part of the match with not alot getting caught anywhere, Dave opposite had the wind off his back and was able to feed a little bit of bait, this seemed to help him get a few bites but his fish were very small for Viaduct. I messed around with the waggler for a while and managed to pick up 3 fish on it but I also lost 2 foul hookers so in the last hour I went back out on the bomb, it was like turning on a switch as in the last half an hour I managed to land another 4 Carp all on meat. And that was it, Dave and I had caught a few carp, I had 11 and I think he had around 13 or 14, but everyone to my right had struggled to get the fish and Rolly on peg 114 had tipped back at the end. The scales came around and my clicker said that I had around 52lb; the scales said that it was 65lb odd this was enough for the match win as Daves carp only went 62lb so they were alot smaller. As for the rest, Stu on peg 126 managed to pick up a few better skimmers to take the silverfish pot with 15lb, he also had a brace of carp to 25lb which I think was enough for third. John had managed to snare 5 carp from the end peg on my bank but it was not enough, and |Nick cast to the wrong side of his peg all day and struggled.

It was a good giggle if a little wet and windy, but it was a good warmer for the teams of 5 coming next year.

Shearwater 16/12/12

I received a phone call from team captain Barry during the match the day before telling me that the winter league round on the river had been cancelled, seeming that I already had a pint of caster, worm and my dead pinkie and maggot was defrosting, instead of going to Witherington Farm for a knock up, I decided to go to Shearwater lake to practice bream fishing.

I drove to venue early and found a swim halfway down the lake that I knew would be around 6-8feet deep.

I know this as I have markered around the venue extensively in the past, I still had to set up my platform though due to all the extra water in the venue but I had decided to only pack 3 rods and they were set up as follows:

1)  Champions Choice 12ft Stillwater feeder, Ultimatch 035 loaded with 0.20 Cenex feeder line, a running feeder rig with a 12” hooklength of 0.09-0.12mm line to a 22-16 hook. This rig was my standard Bream rig and got clipped at 40 turns.

2)  Force Commercial 11ft Carp feeder, Ultimatch 035 reel loaded with 8lb sensor, a running 30g Kobra method feeder and a 4” hooklength of 0.16mm Cenex with a size 18 Colmic 501 or 16 QM1 and quickstop. This rod was to see if the method would be better over a bed of bait and was also clipped at 40 turns.

3)  13ft Browning King Feeder All Season (no longer made), Black Magic 050 FD reel loaded with 0.20 Cenex Feeder Line,  this was terminated to a link swivel and this was connected to a small kobra long range method with a 14 QM1 on 0.16mm Cenex and a bait band.

Bream Munga

I mixed my groundbait, finished prepping my rods and then proceeded to Spomb out 10 small balls of ground bait using my standard feeder rod. I then belted out the long range method to allow the groundbait time to settle, it took a while but I eventually found that changing from a boilie to 3 dead maggots would see the tip on the long range rod pull round regularly. After 4 Bream I decided to start on my closer line and was rewarded with a run of fish, before having to go long again and so the day unfolded with me catching a total of 40 bream from 12oz to over 4lb. I had a brilliant day and learnt loads in the process such what to look for in a liner and proper bite and it proved a couple of rig ideas for me. I was also finally able to test the still water rod to the max and found that not only did it cast well but it also handles very light lines very well. The guys who went to withy all struggled and Stu won the knock up with less than 10lb.

Next time I hope that they come with me.