Canal Carp

[Ron Clay]

Nice story in today's AT of the 35 lb carp taken from the Grand Union canal by Chris Berry.

In my local canal there are some whoppers that have hardly ever been caught. You would be surprised at the quality of fish in some of the canals these days. In my local canal (South Yorks Navigation) there are carp over 20 lbs, pike over 20 pounds, plenty of 1.5 lb plus roach and I have heard reports of a 3 lb perch recently caught by a match angler.

Worth a try I would say

 

[Rob Brownfield]

I've caught some good carp in the Lea navigation, and I remember John Wilsons brother, Dave,from Waltham Abbey showing me a picture of him and 3 very high 20's from the canal there. Wonderful fishing if you can locate them as most have never seen a hook.

 

[Stewart Bloor]

I think there are lots of waters around that hold surprises, and not just carp either. Regarding the Grand Union, I'm off there tomorrow, wouldn't mind catching a nice carp.

 

[David Will]

The Grand Union around the Watford area holds Carp of all sizes.As kids we were catching pastie sized fish and that was over twenty five years ago.Tring is another area , but top of the list must be the Slough Arm.In addition to Carp the large Perch and Chub are worth targetting.

 

[Peter Morton]

Last year they drained part of the Paddington arm of the grand union in central london to do some building work.They found 2 30's and several 20's that the controlling club had no idea existed.
There must be numerous stretches with similar potential,however a lot of London's towpaths can be pretty intimidating places,especially after dark,and definitly not to be tackled alone.Food for thought though?

 

[James Bradshaw]

Re. what Rob said about the Lea Navigation... there are a couple of spots I'll be giving a go this coming season... I took my dad to one of my favourite ''haunts'' 2 or 3 years back... I was all kitted out for carp... he was fishing for roach with hemp on an OLD (ie. pre-elastication!) pole... need I go on?! Yeah - he caught one... 2lb line straight through, grain of hemp on an 18 hook... okay, so it barely scraped double figures (must've been a baby that a mummy carp let out ''to play'' that night! (They go 20lb+ there)) Me? I had a small tench...! (Sound familiar?! lol!) (Maybe I should rethink my tactics!) But they're there to be caught - I know where they are, and I'm gonna have me one out sooner or later... and I'd rate my chances of having a 20lb+ from there higher than from the big gravel pits I fish... location is easy if you take a bit of time to GO TAKE A LOOK...

 

[Rob Brownfield]

James...there are some big carp in the weir pools on the Lea too...but dont tell anyone!!

 

[Philip Inzani]

There are some Canals out there that are well underated. Problem is that often they run next to a nice bit of river and everyone desends on that rather than the sluggish boring looking canal next to it. Grand Union threw up a 42 pound Mirror last year. How many others go unreported?

Problem as always is location. If I was going to go for it I would be taking a very close look at match results...anyone won or framed with a big Carp?....any reports of anglers being smashed by big fish? etc etc