Canal Carpin'

[Nathan]

Hi,

For the past 2 years i've tried tackling my local canal for its resident carp. I'd prebaited a spot boilies, particles & pellets to get them used to feeding. I had some fairly good results but towards the end of the year i was picking up repeat captures when i know there were more carp there that i hadn't yet caught. Is this because certain carp stick to certain areas? I thought the regular introduction of food bay make them more willing to move...?

For this year i was going to try the same plan of attack but on the next stretch along but its a very long stretch with some unfishable areas (6-7 foot tall reeds line the bank). Most people only fish the first section of this stretch bcuz its near a car park (typical!!). If i were to travel a bit further i'd be out the way of prying eyes & could keep my spot quiet for longer.
Can anyone give me some pointers on how to go about this? Last time i picked the quietest spot i could find & that was where i baited up but this stretch is fairly quiet along its length with the exception of the car park area so no area really stands out to me. are the baits i prebaited with ok or should i be trying something else? There are a few 30lb commons in this stretch & i love to be able to bank at least one this year.

 

[geoffmaynard]

The reed beds sound like a feature worth exploring. Can you fish to them from the far bank?

 

[Nathan]

You could possibly fish the reeds from the far bank but i'd be in a farmer's field. Maybe i should pop round & get his permission first. I'll PM you the GPS location if you want to have a look...

 

[maver man]

dont over do baiting up a few handfuls a day or every other day to get the used to the bait and feeding comfortably, avoid particles-imho i think if the fish are scouting for a bait it should be worth all the hastle ie. a good bait that has a good nutritional content, bait up a few spots and try a few spots you havent baited up and use a hi-viz pop-up.

Hop this helps.

Adam.

 

[quickcedo]

I live on the canal and have spent the last 8 years feeding and tracking the resident Carp. I have found Carp turning at a narrowing and no amount of feeding would get them to go through. They had there patrol route and over 2 years of feeding closer and closer still would not. Hi-viz pop ups have never caught me a canal Carp, they dont see enough different baits in order to recognise these as potential food. My pre bait is a mix of Vitalin, Pigeon conditioner and pellets. My suggestion would be to keep things as simple as possible. The fact remains (just checked my records) that the vast majority of my fish have fallen to baits like Butter beans, Chickpeas and bread when sight fishing. My pb canal Carp is 30lb 3oz and have now taken close to 100 fish. As for the amount of prebait during the warmer months I will happily feed 4 - 6 large handfulls to each swim each day for a week or two prior to fishing. 1-2 handfulls in colder months. Yer pays yer money yer takes yer choice.

 

[Nathan]

Previously i was baiting up with half a small bucket of mixed parti's (hemp, maize, pigeon conditioner etc) along with a few boilies & pellets to ensure there were a few larger feed items. The particles were used more to get the fish clearing the spot of any rubbish on the bottom. I would then fish the primed spot the following day. I've had ok results but i was hoping to find the key to improving my catches

---------- Post added at 09:43 ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 ----------

I live on the canal and have spent the last 8 years feeding and tracking the resident Carp. I have found Carp turning at a narrowing and no amount of feeding would get them to go through. They had there patrol route and over 2 years of feeding closer and closer still would not. Hi-viz pop ups have never caught me a canal Carp, they dont see enough different baits in order to recognise these as potential food. My pre bait is a mix of Vitalin, Pigeon conditioner and pellets. My suggestion would be to keep things as simple as possible. The fact remains (just checked my records) that the vast majority of my fish have fallen to baits like Butter beans, Chickpeas and bread when sight fishing. My pb canal Carp is 30lb 3oz and have now taken close to 100 fish. As for the amount of prebait during the warmer months I will happily feed 4 - 6 large handfulls to each swim each day for a week or two prior to fishing. 1-2 handfulls in colder months. Yer pays yer money yer takes yer choice.

That's interesting to know, there are a small group i see regularly in summer that are always in the same spot - the problem was everyone else used to fish there as well. I had hoped by feeding a spot away from other anglers i may be able to draw them to me.
My PB from the canal is a 21lb 5oz common caught last year so if you've had a 30 you're doing well!
Chickpeas are an awesome bait, i've actually seen a common (maybe the same one i caught) completely vertical in the water 5 mins after i'd baited up with salted chickpeas - i was so angry with myself for not taking a rod just incase!! Wont make that mistake again!

 

[Tilman Bieselt]

The amount of bait you "have to put in" in order to get the best results depends on the amount of fish that are feeding on your bait.
Chub do eat boilies and so do bream and barbel.

A 5lb Carp will eat 100gr of bait in no time.

If you have a group of 20 Carp in your stretch, that would be 2Kgs of bait per day, plus the silver fish ...

I don´t think that 5 Kgs of Particles a day would be to much if you have a good number of Bream, Roach and Chub (barbel ?) in your area. If you look at what some match anglers put in on a day, you see that it is a lot.

If you prebait for at least a week in advance every second day, that will be sufficient in most circumstances.

I´d put some boilies in as well, depending of the amount you want to spend.
And try particles as a hookbait as well, sometimes they do put more ffish on the bank. And not only the smaller ones ...

And try a long session for at least 24 hours. Sometimes the carp travel along their routes over a period and the longer you stay in the swim, the higher are your chances that you will be there when they are passing your spot. They will rarely stay in one spot, no matter what or how much you feed. Keep that in mind as well when you are thinking about the amount of bait you put in.

Just an extreme example: I know quite a few people fishing the Rhine river nowandays and they put in 25Kgs of Maize every second day and up to 4 Kgs of Boilies. And this only enhances the chances of catching the carp instead of overfeeding them, because there are a lot of bream and barbel feeding on the maize ...

Feeding tactics is a science in its´own right and only experimenting will get you the best results.

I have tried a lot of feeding techniques and sometimes its better to feed a lot while on other waters and occasions it is better to feed only a handful of bait.

 

[quickcedo]

Tilman, as usual some interesting and logical points.
Nathan, If you use Chickpeas on the canal and you prep them yourself ie from the dried state, them try rehydrating them in either the water from prepping the pigeon conditioner or the water left over from boiling hemp, both have proved themselves time and time again for me. British canal Carping can be a hit and miss affair at best, so keep at it. Remember I have the ultimate advantage, I live on a narrow boat. I can set up rods and sit inside waiting for a run usually whilst chatting on FM. Spoilt aint I.
One last thing to think of, dont forget that boats which are lived on are constantly feeding fish. The sink waste goes straight into the cut and, most food scraps go over the side, so look to see which end of the boat has the kitchen.

 

[Tilman Bieselt]

Tilman, as usual some interesting and logical points.

Thanks, Mark. I just try not to waste too much virtual ink with nonsense

And i think there is no harm done in spreading some knowledge. I´m no Mr.Knowitall, but i do what i can to get there

I have some experience in river fishing, although i don´t fish the river Rhine anymore, there really hasn´t changed much in many respects.

Back to topic:

If you have always fished during the same time-span, then it is possible that only changing from daytime to night-time will bring different fish to the spot.

 

[quickcedo]

Yeah the fish I tried to move through a narrowing were easily observed, they were fed different amounts at different times and with different feed. I tried, I mean I really tried. The reason was simple, my boat is permenantly moored about a quarter of a mile the wrong side of the narrowing and i wanted more and different fish to go at from the comfort of home. I still fish for them, I just paddle down in the canoe. Fishing from the canoe is great fun. I did try it from a coracle once (never to be repeated) No control over hooked fish, they just tow you around until you can get to the bank, but I digress.

 

[Specihunter]

Umm from what I have been told the oxford canal is stuffed full of carp and the GU has bigguns.

 

[quickcedo]

Well Mr Speci, that sounds like a challenge to me. Yes there are carp in the oxford canal but your challenge should you wish to accept is to find and catch a carp over 15lb from the pound where my boat is moored.
As they said on mission impossible. . . . This message will self destruct in 5 seconds...

 

[Specihunter]

Challenge accepted

 

[quickcedo]

Of course that's without any help from me re location.
Check the match results to see how many come out in a year. Me thinks you may find this harder than you think. Still I wish you the very best of luck.

 

[Specihunter]

well this will be fun during the close season

 

[quickcedo]

Yep, I will be generous with this and allow you the entire close season to achieve. you can fish as often as you like for as long as you like. And I still think you will struggle. That said you'll prob do it on the first day.

 

[Specihunter]

done and deal

 

[Nathan]

That sounds like an interesting challenge & one i may take up myself (altho i'll be on the aylesbury arm of the canal rather than oxford).
Speci, keep me informed as to how you get on.

 

[quickcedo]

I think I've managed to convince Mr Speci to write a blog when the challenge starts. He's already coming up with excuses about Crafish and the like. Lol.
Nathan despite what you may read in the press re canal Carping it can prove very difficult and is def. worth the challenge, especially on stretches you don't really know. But when you get it right it can be most rewarding as you are not catching known named fish, indeed there are still parts of the cut where Carp have never been caught. So take the challenge and let us know how you get on, in fact why not write your own blog on it. You have the months of the river closed season to catch a 15lber.

 

[preston96]

I think I've managed to convince Mr Speci to write a blog when the challenge starts. He's already coming up with excuses about Crafish and the like. Lol.
Nathan despite what you may read in the press re canal Carping it can prove very difficult and is def. worth the challenge, especially on stretches you don't really know. But when you get it right it can be most rewarding as you are not catching known named fish, indeed there are still parts of the cut where Carp have never been caught. So take the challenge and let us know how you get on, in fact why not write your own blog on it. You have the months of the river closed season to catch a 15lber.

Mark..........do you know that Speci is the love child of a fishing God?

Thats the only thing that can explain his luck!.........and yes i mean LUCK!