Catching bigger fish

Hi all,

I've been persevering with angling for a couple of months now... Even ventured out through the night the other night... I must say totally unprepared!! No night fishing equipment, tiny wee torch... Catch was at a minimum as a result...

Anyway, I have slowly found my catch size in general has increased, not by much, my "pb" as it were is now a bream to give or take 2lb (and thats on the generous side!!).

My question is.. How do I increase in the size of fish I catch? I'm sticking at fishing various points within walking distance along the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes. I know there are larger fish of various species in there, unless every angler I talk to along there is b*llsh*tting me!! ;-)

I have been using 4lb line, 2lb hook lengths to a size 14,12,10 hook. Usually on a couple of bits of corn. Or maybe meat, although the corn has been the best.

I'm putting out groundbait mixed with crumb, some 4mm expander pellets seem to help as loosefeed. I'm enjoying myself immensely, even on the odd occasion I blank. Since my trouble with the troublesome "tiny" perch that keep on swallowing my hook I have stayed away from maggot completely.

Any and all advice would be appreciated

Thanks

Andy

Andy.
when I fish the canal for bream, I used to use sweetcorn on a 16 hook, 2lb mainline and a hooklink of 1.7lb. This caught me loads of bream around the 2lb mark.
Then I stepped up to 4lb line, with a single piece of French Maize on a size 12 hook. And fed micro pellets. Every bream afte rthat wa sof the bigger kind. some were over 4lb. Which was good for my stretch of canal.
French Maize deffinately attracts the bigger fish.

It's that kind of knowledge you only develop with time and experience... or by hassling people on here to tell you!!

When I loose feed pellets how many should I be throwing in and how often? I'm assuming that I need a fair few on the canal bottom to get the fishing feeding in the area and to keep them there.

What is a good loosefeed? Does everyone have differing preferences? Should loose feed be the same as on the hook or is it a case of making your hook bait "standout" among the feed on the bottom?

Will lighter tackle make a difference? In so much as a smaller hook being less obvious to a larger fish?

hemp is a pretty good loose feed. Try mixing it with the corn as hemp is also a good attractor and will get fish in your swim. This way you can use corn or even hemp on a small hook. (16-20)

Andy, I think you may be trying to run before you can walk, perhaps a little patience now will benefit you more in the future. Theres no such thing as instant experience it has to be gained by all the various means at your disposal, books, angling magazines and weeklies(especially the 'how to' types), fishing forums like this and the most important of all by doing it yourself.

Size matters not at all, you can't order big fish only, the ability to catch fish in all sorts of conditions and venues is far more important and every now and again you will be rewarded with a decent size fish. Canals in the main contain mostly small and medium sized fish with the very occasional specimen and a 2lb bream is a pretty decent fish for a canal.

If I were you I would stick to the maggots and casters because, although they aren't a selective bait, they will still catch you far more fish (including the bigger ones) than bigger baits like sweetcorn and pellets. Punched bread is another sure canal fish catcher.

The Grand Union canal at Milton Keynes is one of the best canal stretches in the country and I would suggest you have a walk along there when theres a match on (every weekend) and pay close attention to what the match boys are doing, you will be amazed at what you can learn from just watching. One point though, when you are watching an angler stay as far behind him as you can, he won't thank you for standing on his shoulder especially when he's landing a fish. Most match anglers are pretty helpful if they know you're a beginner and will give you any amount of info.

Thanks Graham... Appreciate it

andy, im 14 and have been fishing just over a year im not exactly an experianced angler! it took me about 1/2 year before i caught a fish over the 1lb mark! like graham says you need to research the area your going to be fishing ask about for what baits work well and and with time, comes experiance( on the waters i fished when i started i just caught skimmers but if i go back now i catch small carp to the 6lb mark in abundance)! practice makes perfect!
christian

thanks mate... I'm not looking for the 20lb carp or anything....

Just tips to improve catch size... Like i said, does lighter tackle improve presentation. do a bigger bait on a smaller hook make a difference??

The main reason I stay away from maggot is the small perch in the canal are taking my hook bait way down inside and i'm having to cut them free leaving the hook behind... which i hate doing and would rather not use if thats going to happen... unless i can eliminate the smaller "irritating" perch taking the maggot, any advice on that would be good

cheers

these would definatly stop those small perch but i dont no if they would affect your catch rate i dont if these work for the smallish fish but you can get rubber maggots which are often used for barble fishing! infact i think they may only be affective in a steady flow? i dont no if these would be any good ? any one help?
sorry im all in a muddle now :S !

casters seem to eliminate those seriously small fish on all the waters i fish! they could be of some use!

Thanks mate

i no your not after big fish but this is in relation to lighter tackle and presentation! on a lake i fish i started fishing with a 4lb (i didnt no what was in the lake) i had bites in abundance from these carp and got smashed up every time i tried to stop them ripping out line to get to the lily pads or reeds! i up ed my line strentgh to 12lb and the number of bites halfed from the carp but when i hooked one i managed to land it every time ! i put the bites 1/2ing down to the line and switched to florocarbon and bites galore again! ( florocarbon line is alot thicker than mono but has a refractive index much closer to water making it harder for fish to see ) ! with regards to a igger bait on a smaller hook ive found for examle when using a size 16 hook with a piece of large sweetcorn it does improve presentation because i get more bites but due to the small hook i hook less fish and when they are hooked i often lose them i belive this is down to the small size hook as when i up the hook size to a 10 or 12 i land a bigger percentage of my fish!

You have certainly picked up alot of info in your year of fishing mate!!

Thanks alot I appreciate it!!

a pleasure to help

You can of course join a specimen group, or if not, start one yourself.

I'm not after specimen fish... yet... although if one came along i'd not grumble.. I just want to improve the size of the fish i'm catching..

Graham said a 2lb bream in the canal is ok... what sort of sizes do they grow to in that kind on environment?

I'm happy with what i'm doing I'm trying to tease information out of people to improve myself.

If you are fishing the Grand Union, you will find must bigger bream. There are also some very good tench and roach.

I fished it a bit near Leamington and had some very nice roach over 1 lb in 1996.

Try fishing into evening with a small pinch of bread flake on a size 12 , baiting with mashed bread. Just small quantities.

If you have a pole, present your bait close the far side. If you haven't. fish under your rod tip. Canal fish are rarely "Int' middul" as Graham says in his book: Advanced Coarse Fishing". If you dont get a bite for a while, stick at it and get that mashed bread going in little and often. You may also hook into a decent bream or tench.

If you are going to spend a lot of time on canals, consider investing in a pole.

Hi Andy,
May I suggest that to avoid pesky perch and at the same time attract bigger fish you try putting 7-10 maggots(or as many as possible) on a size 12 or 10 hook. Generally, the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish. Also, toughen up on your line(main of 6lb, bottom of 3-4lb.)just in case you hook into a monster!
All self respecting fish love maggot!

Andy, I am going to assume you are float fishing on the canal, and this is what I would advise you to start with.
1. Mainline, a 2.5lb maxima well soaked in washing up liquid to make it sink quickly.
2. A 2lb pre-stretched hook length, Prestons Powerline is probably one of the best.
3. Start off with a size 18 thin wire hook and if the bites don't come be prepared to switch down to a size 20 even a 22 if its really hard. Even consider going finer on the hook length if necessary.

Make sure you hook the maggot through the little flap on the head, if you squeeze the maggot gently below the head you will see it protrude slightly on the top, this is where maggots should always be hooked. If you fish caster make sure you bury the hook in the caster and I would advise that you go no lower that a size 18, its not necessary.

Ensure that you have the correct depth and try 2 No.8 spaced out below a waggler with one No. 10 shot 12ins from the hook. Start off fishing half an inch off the bottom and if bites are scarce gradually increase the depth to a maximum of three inches lying on. If you go too deep that is when the likes of perch have time to swallow the bait making it difficult to get the hook out. Watch for unusual movements on the float such as travelling and strike at those, don't always wait for the float to disappear before striking.

I'm sure if you follow that you will catch fish and you will also learn when to alter your set up to suit the bites. Think fish and don't worry about size, they will come believe me, one time you will strike and immediately feel the resistance of a big fish and when that happens don't be in a rush to land it, take your time, theres no hurry.

I hope this helps mate.

"You can of course join a specimen group, or if not, start one yourself".

Ron, I can't believe that you are advising a beginner, a complete novice (and we were all one of those once, so theres no shame in that) to join a specimen group or even form one himself. The man wants 'instruction' not 'destruction', he's got all the time in the world for that but he's got to learn how first.