THE BOAT CONUNDRUM
There is no doubt about it, we would have precious little canal fishing available if it were not for the leisure craft that currently use them and none at all if moving goods by water had not been the go to solution before the railways were invented. Canals belong to boaters and the fact that they hold good quality fish and fishing opportunities merely a lucky by-product of their endeavours. I always feel more than a little churlish when I complain about the one that comes chugging around the corner just as I get my first bite of the morning but the inevitable destruction of my swim always puts a damper on my day.
All this aside, angling is just a puzzle and the anglers aim is always to overcome the obstacles to catch his fish. That in itself is a traditional, almost historic, approach in a world where catching a wild fish is secondary to putting as many big, often semi-tame, ones into the net, in as short a time as possible. For many, the noble art is either a time and motion study or the relentless pursuit of glory and notoriety but I still like to plug away at catching against the odds, outdoors in pleasant surroundings, attempting to solve the enduring puzzle that is just catching a few fish.
So, we have just begun our autumn and winter season on the canals and this year, catching despite the inevitable boat traffic is already becoming a challenge. As mentioned previously, I feel that margin fishing is the key. Our local canals are so shallow, inevitably less than five feet deep in most areas, often less than four in the Ashby, that any half decent fish has to physically and metaphorically, step aside before it is pushed. They then have to stay there or face the whirling blades of the propellers. Sometimes, particularly in fouler weather, they may find it worthwhile moving back to the channel as the disturbance subsides but earlier in our autumn season there is rarely time to do so before the next one comes blundering and churning its way through the swim.
A couple of seasons ago, Pete and I were catching a few perch on a section of the Grand Union that had always produced plenty of perch for us on lures. It was wide enough to leave the rods in the rests while the boats passed but inevitably we had to wind in and the baits left in the margin to be sucked downstream by the wash. We were extremely surprised by the number of perch that took our baits as they were washed toward the surface by the flow as the line went tight.
In retrospect we shouldn't have been, at that stage we had been lure fishing canals for ten years or more and catching them by 'dibbling' our baits within a foot of the bank in eighteen inches or less of dirty water had become our signature method. I've always been a bit slow on the uptake I know, but I feel sure that this going to be our key to success as we head towards winter on our ever more congested canals.
Obviously there are two margins and I have plans for both as both have produced bonus fish for me this week. The far margin is the most obvious one to target. Match anglers have been doing it for years. The long pole is an obvious choice but other than on very narrow sections there are no cane poles that will do the job. Even carbon ones don't feel like a great solution for me, they are too clumsy to use on busy, narrow towpaths for one thing and a pain in the arse to fetch in and out when the boat traffic really gets going. I shall be looking to a light leger or a tiny swimfeeder for those in future.
The nearside however has more going for it than one might imagine. True, there is rarely a lot of cover although it can be found in places but it is much easier to fish. I hope to fish to one side with a whip, putting more effort into baiting accuracy and persistence than maybe I usually manage at range. I know it will work for perch but although small, my two biggest silvers of the morning were caught doing just this and that was after half a dozen boats had chewed me out on a fairly narrow stretch. If nothing else this will be an excuse to raid the pole collection, putting another artefact to good use. The far margin challenge already has me taping bits of cane together from my 'old knackers pile' with a view to assembling something special for the job. I'm happy to find that my fishing pleasure doesn't end when I leave the water, in many ways it is just the beginning.
All this aside, angling is just a puzzle and the anglers aim is always to overcome the obstacles to catch his fish. That in itself is a traditional, almost historic, approach in a world where catching a wild fish is secondary to putting as many big, often semi-tame, ones into the net, in as short a time as possible. For many, the noble art is either a time and motion study or the relentless pursuit of glory and notoriety but I still like to plug away at catching against the odds, outdoors in pleasant surroundings, attempting to solve the enduring puzzle that is just catching a few fish.
So, we have just begun our autumn and winter season on the canals and this year, catching despite the inevitable boat traffic is already becoming a challenge. As mentioned previously, I feel that margin fishing is the key. Our local canals are so shallow, inevitably less than five feet deep in most areas, often less than four in the Ashby, that any half decent fish has to physically and metaphorically, step aside before it is pushed. They then have to stay there or face the whirling blades of the propellers. Sometimes, particularly in fouler weather, they may find it worthwhile moving back to the channel as the disturbance subsides but earlier in our autumn season there is rarely time to do so before the next one comes blundering and churning its way through the swim.
A couple of seasons ago, Pete and I were catching a few perch on a section of the Grand Union that had always produced plenty of perch for us on lures. It was wide enough to leave the rods in the rests while the boats passed but inevitably we had to wind in and the baits left in the margin to be sucked downstream by the wash. We were extremely surprised by the number of perch that took our baits as they were washed toward the surface by the flow as the line went tight.
In retrospect we shouldn't have been, at that stage we had been lure fishing canals for ten years or more and catching them by 'dibbling' our baits within a foot of the bank in eighteen inches or less of dirty water had become our signature method. I've always been a bit slow on the uptake I know, but I feel sure that this going to be our key to success as we head towards winter on our ever more congested canals.
Obviously there are two margins and I have plans for both as both have produced bonus fish for me this week. The far margin is the most obvious one to target. Match anglers have been doing it for years. The long pole is an obvious choice but other than on very narrow sections there are no cane poles that will do the job. Even carbon ones don't feel like a great solution for me, they are too clumsy to use on busy, narrow towpaths for one thing and a pain in the arse to fetch in and out when the boat traffic really gets going. I shall be looking to a light leger or a tiny swimfeeder for those in future.
The nearside however has more going for it than one might imagine. True, there is rarely a lot of cover although it can be found in places but it is much easier to fish. I hope to fish to one side with a whip, putting more effort into baiting accuracy and persistence than maybe I usually manage at range. I know it will work for perch but although small, my two biggest silvers of the morning were caught doing just this and that was after half a dozen boats had chewed me out on a fairly narrow stretch. If nothing else this will be an excuse to raid the pole collection, putting another artefact to good use. The far margin challenge already has me taping bits of cane together from my 'old knackers pile' with a view to assembling something special for the job. I'm happy to find that my fishing pleasure doesn't end when I leave the water, in many ways it is just the beginning.
OM, I love the wisdom of your first paragraph :-)
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