Canal Fishing with Bread Punch

[Stealph Viper]

I am still new to Canal Fishing even though i have fished them once or twice.

What i would like to know is what size bread punch would you start with. I have a selection of Drennan Bread Punches from 2mm up to 8mm. The hook sizes i have range from a size 22 to a size 18.

I plan on feeding liquidised bread on the near shelf and the far shelf. I am also going to try Pinkies and Hemp (mainly as loose feed)

On the near shelf i am going to use a whip and the far shelf my pole with a number 3 elastic through the top 2 sections.

The fish are mainly Gudgeon and small roach but there are also some nice size Roach, Perch and Skimmers.

I also read somewhere that microwaveing slices of bread for 10 seconds and then rolling them out for the bread punch, is this necessary ?

 

[peter crabtree]

Just use bread straight from the packet,medium or thick sliced. Feed a walnut of liquidised from your cupping kit and fish over it with your smallest punch. Increase the size of punch and hook if bites are quick.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Microwaving bread makes the bread doughy so it holds on the hook better and not at all necessary, start small and increase the size if you are catching regularly.

Be careful how much liquidised bread you feed, less is best and always bear in mind that bread is an instant bait, we used to try it for 30 minutes and if there was no action forget if for the match, straight away or not at all is the way to go.

Hemp needs to be trickled in a bit at a time at regular intervals but it can take an hour or longer before they start to take it. Try it at regular intervals until they come on - or not as the case may be.

Main attack in winter on canals is squats, the colder the weather the more vital they are, Pinkie on the hook can bring results too and don't think you only catch small fish with squat, all sizes of fish will readily take them. Caster for the roach is something all canal anglers should have at all times, just turn a few maggots yourself for the few days before you go unless you can persuade your tackle shop to supply in half pints or by the dozen if you are like Woody

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

You've had the best advice from Peter and Graham there Steph, the only other couple of things I'd add is:

Don't squeeze the liquidized bread too tightly (if at all) as the tighter you squeeze the longer it will float.

Keep what you don't use and freeze it, it gets better each time it's brought out.

Feed a couple of grains of hemp every 30 secs or so, don't try fishing it for at least an hour but keep it trickling in (pick some elderberries too if there's a bush near by and try it on the hook after the fish show on the hemp).

 

[Stealph Viper]

Thanks guys,

Definately food for thought there (excuse the pun)

Another quick one, if you don't mind.

Would you use a strung out shotting pattern or would you use a small bulk of shot and then two small dropper say in the last 18 inches.

The float i have for the near shelf has a very fine Bristle and only weighs 0.20g and has a wire stem and a thin body.
The float i have for the far shelf, has a thicker bristle (just so i can see it) weighs 0.30g and also has a wire stem but the body is slightly thicker.

 

[peter crabtree]

Very basic,strung out if they are having it on the drop,bulk if they are on the deck. I would use the smaller float for the far shelf,if you cant see it paint the bristle white ,tippex, or black for white water.

 

[Stealph Viper]

Hi Peter,

I struggle to see the far bank, never mind the float hahahahaha

I do have some very slim body pole floats with a slightly thicker bristle, but they don't have a wire stem they have a carbon stem, will it make much difference to my overall presentation.
Perhaps i could use a caster style pole float and just fish casters on the far bank shelf.

Yes i do have glasses but i still struggle to see them really fine pole tips, perhaps binoculars taped to my eyes would be sufficient.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

You are fishing the pole on the far shelf so float weight has no bearing.

If you want the best out of a canal you really need to feed 5 places regularly with dribbles of bait never try to put all your bait in at once it can have the opposite affect to what you think. In all feeding on a canal less is better, think little and often. Make sure you plumb each position accurately and mark the depths with tippex on your pole this enables you to vary your presentation i.e. half inch off the bottom, one inch overdepth etc. Hemp is usually best presented half inch off the bottom as a starting point but some days they want it laying on a couple of inches, experiment. Do the same with other baits and remember accuracy is even more vital on a canal than a lake or river, fishing can be hard in winter conditions on a canal. Places to concentrate your attack.

1. The near shelf.
2. The bottom of the near shelf
3. The track.
4. The bottom of the far shelf.
5. The far shelf.

Sometimes half way down the shelf can be productive but remember your feed may roll to the bottom of the shelf. Use any feature on the far bank as a good indicator of where to fish i.e. overhanging bushes, trees and best of all a boat.

 

[Stealph Viper]

Thanks for all that info, i shall definately give them all a try.

I will be honest, i am generally quite a lazy Angler when it comes to chopping and changing things while i am fishing.

I will give it all a go and see what i can learn from my trips and how presentation affects the over all fishing.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Oh! and one thing I forgot, groundbait is almost an essential on a canal, with cloudy being the best, you want to attract fish not feed them but again little but not as often as your feed, marble size is adequate. Think of it as a cloud where the fish feel safe to swim rather than as a feed.

 

[Stealph Viper]

Would you then feed say 1 line on Liquidised Bread and Bread Punch and say another on Groundbait and Pinkies for example.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

I would only feed liquidised bread if I was fishing punched bread groundbait other than that. A kilo of groundbait will cover three or four sessions so its inexpensive, it goes without saying that you only mix a little at a time.

 

[S-Kippy]

I'd agree with Graham on only feeding liquidised bread or groundbait if fishing the punch.I used to fish a stretch of canal near me years ago where you could get good bags of quality roach on the punch and I got quite good at it. Hemp in the summer,punch in the winter.

But in the winter it was bread or nothing for the roach.Feed anything else and the punch died. We used to fish club matches...about 4 hours I guess...and if you fed properly you could catch roach from the off on the punch and all match.If they dried up then a switch to maggot would bring perch but only the odd roach.Feed maggot from the start and the punch just wouldn't work.

And the secret weapon when we fished against other clubs was a big lump of meat under a boat on the far side for a carp.There were a good few in the 6-8 lb range about then and one or two of them was normally enough to see the opposition off.

One lot we fished against we didn't get on with at all so one "friendly" match I was under orders to get a carp no matter what.I managed it with 10 minutes to go...19lb 12ozs. Should have seen their faces !

 

[slime monster]

My preference when punch fishing canals is a small waggler on the rod or pole float on the whip ,each small ball of liquidised bread being fished out before re feeding .
I cut the crusts of cheap doughy medium sliced bread and flatten them with a rolling pin then wrap the slices in silver kitchen foil .

 

[Stealph Viper]

Well thanks everyone,

I have my plan of attack, i have 3, 3 metre whips that i will be setting up, 1 to fish half way down the near shelf, 1 to fish the bottom of the near shelf and 1 as a spare.
I have my 13 metre daiwa pole with a no3 elastic that i will use to fish the far shelf.
I have got some liquidised bread crumb in the freezer that i will thaw out the night before i go and use that as loose feed, just a small pinch at a time.
I've got some 1.5lb drennan carbon size 22 pre tied hook lengths that i have doctored so that they are about 6" long.
I have also got some slightly heavier hook lengths at 2.4lb to size 20 Kamasan hooks that are also 6" long that i tied myself.

I'll feed a small pinch of liquidised bread on the near shelf and feed 3mm bread punch over the top of it, and then if the Liquidised bread does roll down the near shelf i can fish the other whip rig over the top of that and just keep alternating.

I will feed a small pinch of liquidised bread on the far shelf from the beginning but instead of targetting it straight away i'll leae it for a while but just top it up every now and then, if the near shelf swim slows down, i'll feed it a little then try the far shelf to see if that is producing, i'll give it ten minutes and if nothing, i'll return to the near shelf again.

Thanks for your help everyone.

I'll let you know how i get on as and when i have picked a day to go and i will also try and take some pictures.

 

[slime monster]

Stealth, you can get away with 18 or 16 hooks on punch and if skimmers show use the biggest punch you have ..mine is made from a ballpoint pen top to give you an idea

put the icy bread through the liquidiser again and riddle for really fine feed

tight lines

 

[S-Kippy]

I cut the crusts of cheap doughy medium sliced bread and flatten them with a rolling pin then wrap the slices in silver kitchen foil .

Funny old sandwiches Slime....might taste better with a filling !

 

[slime monster]

Funny old sandwiches Slime....might taste better with a filling !

Wouldn't halve stick to yer teeth

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

Steph, is your stretch of canal navigable? where I fish isn't so I don't have the problems many others do. I tend to fish 4 swims, one either side of my keepnet, one off the end of my net and another about midway over the canal, I leave the far bank for roving the odd cast to with bigger baits but not always.

As for the liquidized bread, I'd feed a large marble sized ball, fed through a pole cup if possible and fish it out, it will last for a looooong time, also it shouldn't be fed tight enough to reach the bottom to have the opportunity to roll down a ledge even in the shallowest swim, it's fed dry (no water added) it's moist enough to hold in a ball. Remove it from the freezer, riddle it off and it's ready to go.

 

[Stealph Viper]

Yeah, it's Navigable (is that the right word) anyway i shall continue regardless. At this time of year we don't get a lot of boat traffic with maybe only 1 or 2 boats passing through.

The stretch i fish is quite narrow allowing my to fish the far shelf quite comfortably, i shall try the near shelf first, but i won't ignore other options available to me.

There are some good sized Carp in this stretch apparently with some good sized skimmers and bream but as of yet i haven't caught any of any size and i haven't seen any either.