First time canal lure fishing - Am I all set?

[kasabian21]

Hi,

I'm going to be doing a bit of lure fishing on my local canal, which I believe has half decent perch, chub and some pike in it. I'm mainly after the perch, but I'll take a pike if it comes along! I've heard of a couple of big pike being caught but on the whole they aren't very big at all according to those that have fished it before.

Am I all set to go with the following:

- Spinning rod and reel
- 15lb line
- 15lb wire trace (12")
- Korum snapper lures
- Forceps
- Pliers
- Landing net
- Unhooking mat

Which knot type is best for tying mainline to the wire trace?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[The Sogster]

Hi Kasabian,

You should be fine, although 40lb braid is generally the vogue for spinning now I believe.

I use a swivel on the mainline and a snaplink on the trace both rated at 25lb. I tie the swivel on using a palomar knot.

 

[billythefish8]

For normal canal lure fishing, I feel that your rig is a little on the heavy side, and would be more suited to bigger waters. I always found that the slower the retrieve, the more takes I got. This obviously means lighter lures to prevent snagging the bottom. Lighter lures mean greater difficulty in casting, and so to compensate for this, I would go for a 15 to 20 pound braid, instead of the 15 pound mono. Try using a mepps type lure, without the heavy barrel. The ondex lures are unbeatable for canals. One little tip that will catch you dozens of zander if they are present, and will also improve your pike catch rate, is to buy a few of the small (minnow size ) rubber fish and hook one onto one of the treble hooks. If zander are present, you will experience a series of "plucks" on the line before one of them actually takes the hook. My record was 6 in 6 casts, all around 5lb each,on the Oxford canal at Brinklow. Best of luck; it can be a whole lot of fun, but is always better in clear water conditions; not the chocolate mess caused by too much boat traffic.

 

[kasabian21]

Hi Kasabian,

You should be fine, although 40lb braid is generally the vogue for spinning now I believe.

I use a swivel on the mainline and a snaplink on the trace both rated at 25lb. I tie the swivel on using a palomar knot.

Thanks for the advice! I'll look up the palomar knot now. Cheers!

 

[keora]

You'll need some cross lock swivels to tie to the end of the reel line, then you clip the loop on the end of the trace wire into the crosslock.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=c...-CROSS-LOCKING--CLIP-AND-SWIVEL.html;1439;960


You could do with buying a pair of cheap leather gardening gloves to protect your hands when you unhook any pike you catch any.

 

[Derek Gibson]

Full credit to you mate for considering the pike's welfare, but let's not forget your own.

Antisceptic wipes, plaster's, in the event of some mishap. ''Nick's'' from gill rakers etc, better safe than sorry. There's some nasty diseases out there.

 

[pointngo]

what is your rod rated at mate? For normal 3-6ft deep canals you don't need heavy gear. Not seen the Korum lures up close but I'd be surprised if they weren't a bit heavy for shallow canals. If they are you'll end up having to retrieve them too fast to keep them off bottom.

most canals have plenty of snags in them so better to use relatively cheap jigheads and rubber shads, spinners or small spinnerbaits... you can move onto crankbaits when you know where the snags are. A 3" shad on a 5g, 3/0 or 4/0 jighead will catch you any predator in a canal and allows you to control the depth and speed of retrieve. A smaller 2" shad on a 3g, 1/0 jighead will catch you more perch on a shallow canal. The murkier the water the slower the retrieve generally works best. For perch, hop them along the bottom as well.

As said, 20lb braid is a good bet for canal fishing but if you are using mono then 15lb is probably a bit overkill.

Derek makes a very good point with regards to canal fishing... there are a lot of rats around canals so the risk of Weils disease is high. Use waterproof plasters on any cuts on your hands and carry an anti-bacterial handwash to use when you get new cuts or before you handle food.

 

[kasabian21]

what is your rod rated at mate? For normal 3-6ft deep canals you don't need heavy gear. Not seen the Korum lures up close but I'd be surprised if they weren't a bit heavy for shallow canals. If they are you'll end up having to retrieve them too fast to keep them off bottom.

most canals have plenty of snags in them so better to use relatively cheap jigheads and rubber shads, spinners or small spinnerbaits... you can move onto crankbaits when you know where the snags are. A 3" shad on a 5g, 3/0 or 4/0 jighead will catch you any predator in a canal and allows you to control the depth and speed of retrieve. A smaller 2" shad on a 3g, 1/0 jighead will catch you more perch on a shallow canal. The murkier the water the slower the retrieve generally works best. For perch, hop them along the bottom as well.

As said, 20lb braid is a good bet for canal fishing but if you are using mono then 15lb is probably a bit overkill.

Derek makes a very good point with regards to canal fishing... there are a lot of rats around canals so the risk of Weils disease is high. Use waterproof plasters on any cuts on your hands and carry an anti-bacterial handwash to use when you get new cuts or before you handle food.

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to respond - very much appreciated.

My rod is rated at 10-25g and the korums are 8cm and 10g or 15g I think, so perhaps too heavy as you suggest. The deepest part of the canal is around 7ft, with the shelves being 4ft, so I'm not sure how that would affect the setup?

I have 15lb mono and 10lb mono at my disposal - would you say 10lb would be better?

The main reason I've gone on the heavy side with regards to tackle is that there have been 20lb pike caught in the canal and I wanted to be on the safe side, just in case.

As for my own welfare, luckily I grew up fishing canals, unmanaged lakes and spending most of my time outdoors in fields and woodland so I'm well versed in dealing with what it can throw at you! I always go in the right 'clobber', i.e. wellies, waterproofs, gloves etc...and a small first-aid kit will be safely inside my jacket pocket.

 

[Paul Morley]

You'll know after your first visit which way to go, braid is expensive but if you really want to lure fish, it will bring another dimension to your fishing. The lean towards plastic soft baits is great advice, inexpensive, effective and with a single up-facing hook, not so many snags and easier to unhook. So you're ready to go - post after your session and tell us how you found it...?

 

[pointngo]

Hi mate, no problem. Your rod seems about right although a dedicated perch/chub rod would be rated lighter (and be softer) and most pike rods would be rated higher and be faster (stiffer).. it's a good compromise though.

you might find the korum lures work at the depths you say.. if they are too heavy you'll soon know because you'll be dragging them along the bottom all the time. Taking the belly treble off will help stop you getting snagged but canals are generally lure graveyards. 20lb braid is used so you can bend the hooks out when you do snag up. That's another advantage of using a jighead and a shad.. only one hook and it points upwards so it helps avoid snags.

the stretch in mono means that you'd be unlikely to bend a hook out and eventually the mono will break, whether that's with 10 or 15lb, so I'd go with the 10lb if I were you as it will have a bit more finesse and make it easier to feel and work the lure. 10lb mono is plenty to land 20lb+ pike on and 15lb would most likely reduce your perch and chub catches.

if you decide to get right into lure fishing you should seriously think about getting some braid as it has many advantages imho.

hope I helped some mate.

 

[kasabian21]

Hi mate, no problem. Your rod seems about right although a dedicated perch/chub rod would be rated lighter (and be softer) and most pike rods would be rated higher and be faster (stiffer).. it's a good compromise though.

you might find the korum lures work at the depths you say.. if they are too heavy you'll soon know because you'll be dragging them along the bottom all the time. Taking the belly treble off will help stop you getting snagged but canals are generally lure graveyards. 20lb braid is used so you can bend the hooks out when you do snag up. That's another advantage of using a jighead and a shad.. only one hook and it points upwards so it helps avoid snags.

the stretch in mono means that you'd be unlikely to bend a hook out and eventually the mono will break, whether that's with 10 or 15lb, so I'd go with the 10lb if I were you as it will have a bit more finesse and make it easier to feel and work the lure. 10lb mono is plenty to land 20lb+ pike on and 15lb would most likely reduce your perch and chub catches.

if you decide to get right into lure fishing you should seriously think about getting some braid as it has many advantages imho.

hope I helped some mate.

Helped loads - thanks!

The korum lures have removable trebles so I'll just remove them if I find I'm snagging on the bottle too much.

I've just put the 10lb line onto the second spool so I'm pretty much all set! Best time to go are first thing in the morning and in the evening I'm guessing? Might try and get a few hours in tomorrow morning.

Cheers for all the responses on here - appreciated!

 

[kasabian21]

Well, I'm a blanker! Just got back from a 6 hour session up and down the canal - nightmare of a day!

I must have done a mile up and a mile back, trying all three lures (perch, roach and bright orange) in every place and absolutely nothing, except for a follow from a perch only an inch or two bigger than the perch imitation i was reeling in! It's a good job I removed the trebles as i got snagged a lot on just the top single hook.


To make matters worse I tried one last swim (which I thought was unreachable), first cast in and I got snagged up hard...another trace and lure to canal graveyard!

Awful day, but glad I went. Time to buy some braid I think...

 

[sheps31]

Don't be disheartened as you have decided to start fishing the canals at a time when they are really hard to lure fish. I have moved on to stillwaters until the rivers open as I find it extremely hard to catch anything in the turbid water

For me, as soon as the boats start up, that is when I stop lure fishing the canals

 

[kasabian21]

Don't be disheartened as you have decided to start fishing the canals at a time when they are really hard to lure fish. I have moved on to stillwaters until the rivers open as I find it extremely hard to catch anything in the turbid water

For me, as soon as the boats start up, that is when I stop lure fishing the canals

Is there any reason why it's so bad at this time of the year?

Regarding boats, luckily it wasn't too bad, I only saw 4/5 all day. What a difference a week makes! Last monday I float fished it for 9 hours and saw near enough 30!

 

[binka]

Is there any reason why it's so bad at this time of the year?

Yes.

Personally I've found it very hard going with lures for early spawning species like perch as they may well still be getting over spawning and/or be tightly grouped together, that's not if they're still in the act of spawning depending on the regional variations.

As sheps says, don't get disheartened and stick with it... your days will come if you do and your enjoying yourself in the meantime

 

[sheps31]

Is there any reason why it's so bad at this time of the year?

Regarding boats, luckily it wasn't too bad, I only saw 4/5 all day. What a difference a week makes! Last monday I float fished it for 9 hours and saw near enough 30!

IMHO, there are a few factors. I believe that perch predominantly hunt by sight which is why bites are hard to come by once the boats start stirring the bottom up. Also, you have to be on the fish. We have had sessions where I have had a 2lber first cast followed by a couple more fish as has my mate in the first hour of fishing, then nothing for the next 8 hours while covering miles of canal

If I were to target the canals now for perch I would use lobworm or prawn even though I prefer to lure fish for them.

The other thing you can do is get up at the crack of dawn in the hope that the sediment has settled between the boats mooring up at night and before they start up in the morning and you can get a couple of hours in between 5am-8am

Good luck and let us know how you get on

 

[neil1970]

Well, I'm a blanker! Just got back from a 6 hour session up and down the canal - nightmare of a day!

I must have done a mile up and a mile back, trying all three lures (perch, roach and bright orange) in every place and absolutely nothing, except for a follow from a perch only an inch or two bigger than the perch imitation i was reeling in! It's a good job I removed the trebles as i got snagged a lot on just the top single hook.


To make matters worse I tried one last swim (which I thought was unreachable), first cast in and I got snagged up hard...another trace and lure to canal graveyard!

Awful day, but glad I went. Time to buy some braid I think...

Join the club I lost three cheap lures and traces, and a drop shot rig on Saturday (my 4th or 5th lure session ever) - 2 to snags and 2 to treesmg: I think I might have to start making my traces if this goes on.

Saturday was the first time using a braid mainline (jig silk) and the difference was incredible ; sensitivity and casting distance were a whole different world from using mono!