Canal Fishing with Bread Punch

[redalert06]

nice writeup, I am going punch fishing tomorrow for the first time this year so the posts in this thread have been usefull.

I personally use B511 for punch fishing, I think the wide gape helps to hook using the bread

when it is windy use a whip waggler, drake make some really nice ones from .2 gram up to 1 gram.

the smaller ones are fine on a 3m whip and help with the presentation when it is windy as you sink the line

if your local tackle shop doesn't sell drake you can buy them online here http://www.benwick-sports.co.uk

also it looks like you were sat fishing straight out? if it is really windy turn to 10 or 2 oclock to get the wind on your back and you'll find it a lot easier to control the pole and whip

 

[Stealph Viper]

Hi newton,

Thanks for the tips, they definately are something i will consdier using next time i am out.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

SV,

I use exactly the same approach to short whip fishing even when using punched bread, but the ryhthm is slightly different, as you rightly say, as you have to rebait after every fish.

In matches I found that punched bread combined with punch crumb was an almost instant method and would put a good few fish in the net from the 'all in' but would dry up after about 20-30 minutes.

In that case I would rest the short line but keep feeding and go back in every hour or so for about 20 minutes.

In windy conditions then a bulk plus a dropper or two resolved the wind tangle problem, so I reckon that you were spot on.

 

[Stealph Viper]

Thanks Peter,

Which combination of baits would you take with you for a typical days whip fishing ?

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Depending on the venue and the target species:

Pinkie, Maggot, Bread and small redworms.

If the venue has a large head of bigger 'silver' fish then maybe corn as well.

 

[Stealph Viper]

I have decided to again visit this stretch of Canal, tomorrow, Friday 23rd October.

I am going to try a different approach, just to see what the results will be, and to see what i can learn from them.

I am going to fish the far shelf using my Pole and my hook bait will be 4mm source hook pellets just to see if i can get in to some of the skimmers that frequent these waters.

On the near shelf i am again going to use the whip, but this time i am going to use a Roach and Silver fish groundbait and also fish and feed pinkies.

I shall let you all know how i get on.

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

A nice write up Steph, what happened to the hemp?
Pinkies are a great bait skimmers and larger bream love them, so keep them in mind for your far bank line too.
Next time your in the tackle shop have a look for a jar of Berkley artificial bloodworm both the mini and maxi size. I never go without them and myself and my son have both had our PB canal roach from the near side margins using them.

 

[slime monster]

If large skimmers are there 10mm bread punch on a wide gape 14 will sort them out

 

[Stealph Viper]

I went again today, and fished with Pinkies and 4mm Sourse Hook Pellets.

I caught some nice Perch on the Pinkies and 1 nice Roach, the rest were all Gudgeon.

I even caught Gudgeon on the 4mm Source pellets, but no Skimmers.

I'll upload a Picture later.

God only knows how you get these little blighters to stay still in a landing Net when you're trying to take their picture, sorry about the poor quality.

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

I'm not going to post in this thread till you answer my question.

 

[Stealph Viper]

Oh the Hemp, I forgot to take it out of the Freezer, plus i was trying a new technique (Fishing with Bread punch) and i wanted to see what i could learn from fishing that technique without any outside influence from other baits.

I'm not going to post in this thread till you answer my question.

You just did ............................

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

No I didn't, but I will now .

I thought you were going to try hemp for later on the session as the punch does tend to dry up for bites after a few hours if you're lucky................. or unlucky???

The pinkies will catch everything that swims but the hemp tends to pick up a better stamp of roach even when all the punch caught ones are of the same year class, it just takes a long time to get them on it, as instant as punch is hemp is the opposite but then, generally, so is the weight of fish.

 

[Stealph Viper]

I tried to hook hemp, oh my god what a nightmare.

I took the ones that hadn't quite opened and gently squeezed them so that i could insert the bend of the hook in to the gap, every sodding time i tried it the seed just went pop.

Well after much cursing and faffing about, i binned the idea as stupid and useless and i will now stick to bread, pinkies, maggots and the like.

I can feed hemp though as my big stupid hands won't crush them in to mush before i have fed them.

I think that next time i shall try Casters, just to see how i get on with them, i haven't tried them on a canal yet.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, that shall be my next plan of attack, i shall take some bread and pinkies along as well, incase the Caster and loose fed hemp draws a blank.

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

If you struggle to clamp the shell onto the hook, you can pierce the flat end with a knot picker or needle and slide the hemp up the bend of the hook with the point coming out the split, to prepare mine I take some out as hookbait when I see the seeds just start to split, then leave the rest to open wide, if I'm in a hurry I use the microwave for feed seeds and a small flask of boiled water with a handful for hook bait, by the time I'm ready to start using it on the hook it's just about perfect.

Caster are like hemp Steph, they take a long time to get on them (on the stretch I fish anyway) remember to keep them in a tub of water so they don't end up as floaters.

 

[slime monster]

I would be interested in which hook you used on hemp ,many struggle with this hook bait ,my preferance is a 16 b511

 

[Stealph Viper]

I think i really need to get used to fishing on a Canal first, and then increase the techniques i use to catch the fish.

For the moment i will stick to techniques i am comfortable with and once i am comfortable in my Canal fishing abilities i shall look at broadening them.

For example -: Fishing under depth is something i have never really tried (well not knowingly) as i just don't understand how it works, and i have no confidence in it.
I know it works and i know people use it efficiently, but i just don't have confidence in it as i have no experiance using it.
I think i shall be trying it soon though, i guess it is just about mimicking loose feed, but then people say don't feed to much on Canals

 

[Rodney Wrestt]

I would be interested in which hook you used on hemp ,many struggle with this hook bait ,my preferance is a 16 b511

Sorry Slime, I don't know the pattern number, quite a few years back I bought a huge end of line deal from my local tackle shop, being quick of wit, I, on arrival home, transferred several hundred hooks into magnetic hook storage boxes and binned the packaging (at least I kept them in their sizes). The only thing I can say is they are by Mustad, short shanked, fairly narrow gape, bronze in colour with an off set point. I have them in 22, 18, 14, 12 & 10 and still have quite a few left. I haven't had to buy match sized hooks in all this time as they have suited everything from hemp, bread, meat, worm, paste, maggot, pinkie to various artificial baits.

 

[Stealph Viper]

I am thinking about fishing the Canal again probably in the next 2 weeks, as the schools are off this week and i have got my son on Monday, Tuesday and then i start the new job on the Wednesday.

What i would like is some advise on fishing the far bank, my bait will be Casters and Hemp, my top kits have a No3 or a No5 elastic in them, i do have larger elastics in some top kits as well.

Would you use the No3 or No5 elastic ?

 

[Ben Haigh]

fishing casters, i would opt for the no5, as they have a habit of pulling some surprise fish out of the bag. it will be a leap of faith at the start of the session, if across with hemp and caster is your only approach.

i, personally, would take pinkies as well, and fish the near shelf, while feeding the far line and just drop in on the caster after a couple of hours to check, and keep trying periodically till it comes on song.

oh, and wheres the pics of the gudgeon? pictures of skimmers, and no gudgeon!!! thats a bit specie-ist! (i know its not a word lol.) good luck

 

[slime monster]

Rodney, no wonder you struggled ,everything about the hooks you used was against you to fish hemp you need a long shank fine wire wide gape hook and definitely not a pattern with an offset point ,a 16 is ideal and I never go below that on hemp .
hope this helps