Canal Outing

Decided to take my first trip down to my local canal today. Wandered down and was set up and fishing by about 8.30. I didn`t have to wait long for my first fish and predictably it was a gudgeon. Not a big one but I was happy to see it nonetheless. Aside from avoiding a blank it also gave me a chance to try out my new camera.



It proved to be the first of about 15. I took a snap of this one because the colours were beautiful in the sunlight but they don`t show quite as well in the photo.



I was only planning on a short session and I was just thinking about packing up when my mate turned up with his dog who couldn`t resist getting in on the action.



Ended up with about 20 fish in total, mostly gudgeon with a few roach, perch and maybe a rudd or hybrid. Enjoyable little session although it was at times a little chilly.

I,ve forgotten what lovely little fish the Gudgeon is-its been so long since i caught one!!

Cracking result! Gudgeon became quite a rarity in the last fifteen years or so. Nice to see them back.

Is that the 'South Yorkshire' pub in the background?

Who couldn't hold a special place in their heart for the humble gonk each time they catch one and remember their childhood days?

Great to see

nicepix said:

Cracking result! Gudgeon became quite a rarity in the last fifteen years or so. Nice to see them back.

Is that the 'South Yorkshire' pub in the background?

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Hordes of them in the canal, certainly in that basin.

Good spot, it is the South Yorkshire pub.

dangermouse said:

Hordes of them in the canal, certainly in that basin.

Good spot, it is the South Yorkshire pub.

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Good to hear that they are thriving somewhere. On the rivers they've all but disappeared.

I had some noticeable captures along that stretch of the canal. Not fish though mg:

Lucky you were using an appropriate rod to handle those lunkers...

nicepix said:

Good to hear that they are thriving somewhere. On the rivers they've all but disappeared.

I had some noticeable captures along that stretch of the canal. Not fish though mg:

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You can catch all sorts down there mate, some of the towpaths should come with a health warning!

Nice gudgeon picture Neil, theres some fat little beasts in that canal. who knows with a bit of luck you might be taking snaps of a new British record one day

Cracking portrait of the Yorkie Neil,
besides the Wedding Photography, which I used to do as favours for friends and family, I used to do pet portraits every now and then, especially dogs and horses.

I love Gudgeon, not far from me is Hardwick hall and I often go down with the dogs and sit watching them in the river Doe, its teaming with them I am pleased to say!

Cheers Mark, I was very pleased with how it came out. He was sat on my knee when I took it.

dangermouse said:

Hordes of them in the canal, certainly in that basin.

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Dangermouse, I,m rooting for you to get a biggie --- three ounce plus!!!

Haven't caught a gudgeon in too long - nice going.

flightliner said:

Dangermouse, I,m rooting for you to get a biggie --- three ounce plus!!!

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Cheers Flight I did weigh 2 that day, the first one came in at a stunning 0.7oz and a bigger one that I thought I had a photo of was 1.4oz. Finding a 3oz+ gudgeon may be more of a challenge than I first thought, but I`ll certainly give it a go.

After having to cancel my weekend fishing due to inexplicably pulling my back (no idea how I did it), and with the weather taking a turn for the worst for the rest of the week I headed out to the canal again. I set off and was halfway there when I suddenly realised I`d left my landing net at home. Fortunately it`s not a long walk so back I went to fetch it.

Before I set off I`d decided I wasn`t going to fish my regular swim. It`s a good spot but a tree on the right hand side means that the sun doesn`t come onto you until late afternoon and I fancied sitting in the sun. I was hovering between setting up at the capstan peg where I`ve had a few good perch or "The Slab" which is on the other side of the tree and gets the sun for most of the day.

In the end I opted for "The Slab" and was soon set up and ready to go. It didn`t take long for the gudgeon to show and three were landed in quick succession. When the float shot under for the fourth time I struck and was pleasantly surprised when I connected with something that definitely wasn`t a gudgeon and put a nice little bend in the rod.

A short while later this bream/hybrid was resting in the net. Not big by most standards but a cracking fish for the canal.



Not a great photo unfortunately and I really should have put something alongside the fish for scale, although the 24" net gives some idea of size.

That turned out to be the biggest fish of the day but for the next six hours I continued to catch gudgeon, roach and skimmers amassing well over 10lbs worth of silvers in total.

The best fish of the day though was this little beauty



Nothing special in size but the first tench I`ve ever caught from the canal.

That baby tench can only have come from a much larger tench, get on the chopped worm and caster to catch his mum!

Hi Neil, that little tench is most definitely good news! There might be loads in there but they do exist

I'm a bit skint at the minute and need to renew my license, soon as I do though I fancy a session down there. Gonna try the chopped worm and ground bait approach and maybe a big fat lob on a leger.

Now it's warmed up it sounds like its picking up a bit?

aintreeangler said:

That baby tench can only have come from a much larger tench, get on the chopped worm and caster to catch his mum!

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tincatim said:

Hi Neil, that little tench is most definitely good news! There might be loads in there but they do exist

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I hope it is a sign they`re breeding in there. I know tench have been caught before but not very often. That baby is exactly the size of the ones in Baker`s pond so I`m wondering if KDAA have stocked a few in the canal. I`ll ask the bailiff next time I see him.

tincatim said:

I'm a bit skint at the minute and need to renew my license, soon as I do though I fancy a session down there. Gonna try the chopped worm and ground bait approach and maybe a big fat lob on a leger.

Now it's warmed up it sounds like its picking up a bit?

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Just let me know when you`re ready and we`ll have a session. I want to give that other place a shot too, either early morning or perhaps an evening session.

I think things are picking up. Talked to someone a couple of weeks ago and he`d only managed 14 fish all day from my peg, I had more than that in 3 hours last week. The water is pretty warm, none of the fish I caught yesterday were cold and there`s a good 9ft of water in that peg.

Yesterday ranked as one of the best days I`ve had on there. Another angler was fishing further up the canal, he packed up before me and told me he`d only caught a couple of fish. Then again he was fishing the slab last week whilst I was in my peg and he said he hadn`t caught much, only one or two.

Fed fairly heavily yesterday, both maggot and hemp. I suspect the hemp was the reason I had such a good day, I think it kept the better quality fish in the swim.

Could well be the hemp mate, I figure that we know what maggots produce so a little experimentation is in order. If the experiments fail then you can always feed a separate maggot line.

I'm half hoping for a session this weekend, I can get a day licence and half a pint of maggots to keep it cheap and I have hemp and groundbait. I'm sure I can dig up a few wrigglys from the garden too. I'll let you know if I'm likely to get the time.

That baby tench is a little beauty. Really put a smile on my face - thanks a million.

tincatim said:

I'm half hoping for a session this weekend, I can get a day licence and half a pint of maggots to keep it cheap and I have hemp and groundbait. I'm sure I can dig up a few wrigglys from the garden too. I'll let you know if I'm likely to get the time.

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Weather doesn`t look great atm but I`ll join you if you`re going down.

dorsetandchub said:

That baby tench is a little beauty. Really put a smile on my face - thanks a million.

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yw.

There are loads of them like that in my club pond.