Gareth E
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Posts posted by Gareth E
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Thanks for the replies. I'm glad the T&M was mentioned, that's where I've suffered the problem. At King's lock a fellow boater opened the paddles, I was roughly in the middle of the lock. Such was the forward pull that full reverse wasn't enough to stop me hitting the lock gate. Only 11hp engine you see, and it takes a while to gain full revs in reverse.On the other hand I didn't seem to have the same problems at Bosley locks.
A solution for me might be to always refuse any help and only partially open paddles. This will make me look a bit selfish and anti social perhaps, when it's busy.
Bit of a dilemma really.
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One great thing about fishing canals is that the species you're likely to catch vary quite a bit, in different lengths. The fishing in one bit can vary quite a lot from a stretch just a mile away, even if there are no locks in between.
My experience this summer over 30-40 miles of canal:
Below Bosley locks: Roach of 1.04, 1.04 and 1.06. The only roach I've caught over a pound. A few perch of varying sizes.
Congleton: Lots of small fish, all species apart from carp, pike and tench. A few rudd from here, I haven't caught them elsewhere in the canal.
Scholar Green: Similar to Congleton but lots more gudgeon. The roach tend to be bigger than at Congleton.
Rode Heath: Swarms of gudgeon that make fishing maggots or casters impossible. Large numbers of decent roach including a catch of 20 for 10 pounds in 2 hours on hemp and tares. No perch at all.
Middlewich: Lots of small examples of most species including eels, the first I've caught in years of fishing the canal.
Church Minshull: Good numbers of perch 1 to 2 pounds and possibly bigger as I was snapped twice on 3lb bottom. These could have been larger eels though, which start to show here. Some eels fight a bit like perch; some don't. Caught a 2lb perch at midnight on half a roach intended for eels, my first perch at night.
Barbridge: Similar to Church Minshull but probably more bigger perch. A few bream also. Eels, some of them quite big, become a bit of a nuisance.
That's it. So if you work out your local stretch it's worth trying elsewhere, there are always new things to discover!
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Cheers for that. I was thinking of manually setting the generator at a fixed voltage rather than allowing it to drop to float. I'm happy to monitor things and switch the generator off rather than having it ploughing away when the batteries are pretty well full. Would 14.8 volts be a decent approach with this outlook?
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Well thanks for pointing that out so tactfully!
I was merely sharing some the the finer points of canal angling I was lucky enough to be taught during coaching from some of the country's top anglers when I fished in a Division 1 national team. The idea is indeed that the float disappears under the shyest of bites from small fish - the good angler knows what's going on after that, because he'll have a fish on. If you "see how things develop" (actually the much more "generally held view") you either miss the opportunity or you increase the likelihood of hooking the fish deep and needing a disgorger, which is neither desirable for the fish nor efficient for the angler.
Enjoy your regular fishing though, Gareth; I certainly don't think you need to do it the same way as me to have fun. Do the fish a favour though please, and consider whether you could improve your technique every time you reach for the disgorger, eh?
Edited to add: you did notice I was adding further information to advice given to the OP to try fishing with a whip, didn't you, and that I'd specifically excluded carp and predator fishing? See, I'm still puzzled as to why you'd just drag up an aging thread to say I was 'wrong' so bluntly, rather than simply that my technique was different to yours.
You're right, sorry, I wasn't very tactful with my reply.
Let me try to put my point across more politely
If you have a float dotted right down it's either there or it's under. If a fish sucks the bait in then spits it out the float is still under, despite it rising up after the fish ejects the bait. Angler is none the wiser so strikes/ lifts, unnecessarily.
On the other hand if he has more float showing he will see this and can react accordingly. He still has the option of lifting into a fish following a slight downward movement, one that would sink a dotted down float.
It's worth remembering that the amount of resistance to a biting fish is the same, whether the float is dotted down or stuck up 3/4 of an inch or more. That's assuming that it's the same float of course.
Hope that's better.
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I've done a fair few locks single handed without too many problems. However, a few times, when going up, I've had my boat move forward, my fender then hits the lock gates. Not hard, but harder than I'd like. I've tried opening the paddles just a little which prevents the boat moving forward. Actually, it tends to move backwards rather than forwards. However when I open them fully the boat still moves forward.
What I do now is position the boat right up against the gate. After partly opening the paddles I then haul on the centre rope to keep the boat as close to the gate as possible. Then, when I open the fully, the boat doesn't have far to go so can only gently kiss the gate when the boat goes forward.
If there's no one around I don't open the gates more than a little, so there's no problem. But if it's busy...
The other thing is that I'm not 100% comfortable having the boat right up against the gate. My boat is only 35ft, there's plenty of spare lock space.
Any tips at all?
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I've just ordered a Sterling Pro Charge Ultra 20a. My charging will be with a generator. Should I set the charger at 14.4 volts to charge my sealed batteries, or could I go a little higher without causing damage?
Thanks.
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This is good advice as a place to start again - and it looks like you're gonna get quite a lot that's somewhat less than useful or supportive!
You're gonna need really fine tackle for general canal fishing (as opposed to carp or predator fishing) as the fish are small and shy. You'll be surprised how small good canal floats are, and how far you shot them down. When you see folks fishing with a big lump of orange sticking out of the water, they're the numpties; if you can see little other than a whisker (often only not sinking because of a wee bit of petroleum jelly on the bristle to hold it on the surface tension) that's someone doing it right. If you Google whip fishing, I'm sure you'll find most of what you need to know. The more interest you take, the better you'll get at it too.
Remember, 90% of fish are caught by 10% of anglers, so you'll be lucky to get properly good advice from the majority of anglers, let alone those who've never done it, or done it so badly that they packed in! Good luck
What you say is the generally held view. However, it's wrong. If you have a certain float the 'resistance' to move it down in the water is the same regardless of whether the float sticks out of the water half an inch or the merest dimple. Of course, if it's the merest dimple any movement of the float will take it under. A good thing? not at all. Once the float is under you have no idea what's going on. On the other hand, if the float is sticking up some distance and dips a little you can still see it. You can then use your experience to decide whether to strike, or perhaps see how things develop.
This is from an angler who has fished for 40 years and still does, at least 5 days a week.
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All seems to have been quiet from CRT as regards moorings for the winter coming up. Have I missed something, have they stated what will be offered?
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Been looking around still nothing obvious out there for less money. I have found some battery chargers that have a fast charge/ boost option. I'm wondering whether this, if selected, would maintain the high voltage throughout the charging with a generator and therefore do the job I want. Here's an example :
Despite spending some time looking, including on Maypole's website I can't find any reference as to what the boost setting actually does. Does anyone know?
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Thanks for the replies. The Sterling would do the job it's just a bit expensive. I've been looking for a battery charger that isn't 'automatic' for less money but can't find one.
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My first post on here.
I need to replace my battery charger to charge with my 650w generator. Looking around, most chargers are automatic and will drop the voltage to float level before the batteries are fully charged. I think I need a charger that I can set manually to always charge at 14.4 volts. I've seen the Sterling Pro Ultra 30a, this has this facility but costs nearly £300.00. I saw this on Ebay:
Has anyone used anything similar to charge batteries? If so I was wondering, if amps were set to 30 and batteries near full charge is the meter on the unit likely to show reduced amps, helping me to know the charge state of the batteries? Any other comments on using something like this, rather than a proper charger? Cheers.
Moorings on the Macclesfield
in Holidays Afloat
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Generally agree with most of this but personally I would avoid mooring at High Lane. It seems tempting, the A6 crosses the canal but few boaters moor there, for a reason.
Also you'll find longish stretches where it's really shallow at the side. As a general rule if you don't see any boats moored along a length you'll struggle to get in.