Saturday 17 March 2012

A fishing fix on the cut

I had originally planned to lay off the fishing this weekend but when i awoke in the early hours of Saturday morning unable to get back to sleep again, i had a massive urge to hit the bank and get an angling fix. With the rivers now shut i headed for a club stretch of the Trent and Mersey canal to target some Perch.
It was just getting light upon my arrival and as expected there wasnt another soul in sight. I picked a swim with some reeds and overhanging trees on the far bank, i say far bank but the canal is only about 10yards wide so its not very far at all! an easy underarm swing put the bait within inches of the cover and i sat back expectantly awaiting events.
I fed half a dozen maggots every 2-3minutes and it wasnt long before the tip nodded around as a fish made off with my Lobworm hookbait. The fish pulled as if its life depended on it making me think it was bigger than it actually was. A small but pristine Chub of about a pound was a welcome start.
Bites proved hard to come by over the next hour and i missed a couple before finally hitting into another Chub. This one too fought like a demon and was bigger than the last fish at over 2lb, not a big fish by any stretch of the imagination but a nice fish for a canal i thought. After that i missed two more bites before packing up at around 9am.
Id wager that neither Chub had been caught before purely because the entire stretch rarely sees a baited hook from ones years end to the next. I cant believe how neglected the canal is from a fishing perspective because its stuffed with fish.
Next weekend, all being well, ill be headed to Hanningfield res 'darn sarf' to join the Coventry bloggers in an attempt at a 5lb Perch. Any Perch will do me, in fact any fish of any description will do me so heres hoping..............




5 comments:

  1. A couple of good healthy Chub there Leo,
    Its great fishing the canals when you just know the fish havent seen a hook in a long time,
    Well done on a great catch,
    And good luck with the Biggie Perch,
    ,,,Paddy,,,

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  2. It'll be great to finally meet up at Hanningfield Leo!

    With all of us out there we should find at least a few perch, and they will be very big if we do.

    Imagine the scenario though. One boat finds some perch, all the boats will then congregate in an area the size of a small farm pond in a water the size of the entire 800 acre farm!

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  3. Cheers for the comments Paddy, i hope your feeling better these days, from reading your blog it sounds like youve been struggling to get out?

    Hi Jeff, im looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the Coventry lads, after reading your blogs for the last couple of years i feel like i already know most of you!

    If someone does hit the Perch at Hanningfield itll be like the battle of Trafalgar with everybody looking to get a slice of the action! should be a good laugh anyway!

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  4. Leo, only you would have some lobworms and maggots on standby in case of insomnia!
    Nice one,
    Dave.

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