Canal Fishing

When you go canal fishing, all you need is something to hold the line, float, hook and bait

The rod or pole

To hold the line you need a rod and reel or a pole, I have seen some children catch fish with just a broken rod with the line tied to the end of it, my pole is 40 feet long,

The float need to be light and weighted so the it stands on end in the water, when fish takes you bait, the float will be pulled under the water and you know that you have a "bite". The float can be anything from a match stick to a store bought float, the store bought ones are normally black with a orange, yellow or green tip at the top, it is the coloured top that sticks out of the water when weighted right

The hooks come in a number of sizes, The most common sizes for the canal are 22 to 14, with hooks, the bigger the number the smaller the hook, I use size 18 or 20 for maggots (I cannot see the 22), or I use size 14 or 16 for bread,

I have never seen a fish caught on anything but a store bought hook, but it is theoretically possible

The place to pick when fishing on a canal is some were that has Lilly pads or over hanging trees, that is were the fish tend to congregate (but you will get then anywhere in the water),

It is said that you must be very quite when you are by your peg (the place that you are fishing from), but from my experience it don't make a lot of deference along the canal. I think the fish are used to all the noise of people walking and running, motor bikes and the traffic going by,

For bait you can use almost anything that will fit on your hook, the most common bait is the maggot, (these are died different colours, the most common colours are white (no die added), red and bronze), bread and worms.

You can fish (have your bait) anything from the top to the button of the water, but the most common place to fish is on the bottom or about 4 inch off the bottom, you fish in different places in your swim (The water buy your peg) from the other side of the canal to about 3 feet from your own feet, and when you get bites (a lot of the time the float will move a little bit without going under) you start to feed that part of the canal (throw bits of bait in now and again)

Once you have started to fish, you should not disturb the water were you are fishing, as you want the fish to stay in the one airier

The only exception to the above rules is Mrs Manda

She never feed the swim, she will fish at any depth, she fishes any were in her swim and she puts her rod in the water making more noise than a speedboat, AND SHE STILL CATCHES