GONE FISHING....

[Janet S]

Ok, you lot. I need your help!

 

After years of cruising the canals and cursing miserable po-faced fishermen, I've now had a mid-life crisis.

 

I went out yesterday and bought myself a rod and all the bits. I now intend to find a bit of canal and drown a few maggots, and try to prove that all anglers aren't miserable! I will move my rod swiftly out of the way of any boat, and smile nicely as I watch you cruise by!

 

As a total beginner, knowing absolutely nothing about fishing, I'd appreciate any help and advice I can get. I don't know anyone else who fishes, so I expect it will be a steep learning curve! I got some helpful advice from the guy in the Angling Shop, but I really don't want to have to pester him every five minutes! I'm intending to fish mainly on the Leeds Liverpool canal, as well as any others we cruise on, and also on the River Calder. I had a go on the river last night, and got a few nibbles - I know they were nibbling because my worm kept getting shorter! Didn't manage to land anything though. I seemed to spend more time untangling my line than actually fishing. Thoroughly enjoyed it though. I'm sure things can only get better!

 

Any information would be great. Thanks guys,

 

Janet

[Moley]

Have you got your Environment Agency rod licence?

It's about £24 and you can do it online through environment-agency.gov.uk

 

Have you got a keep net? This is not for fish, it's for beer beer beer

 

Barbless hooks are a damned sight easier to get out of your own fingers.

 

Otherwise, there are plenty of helpful websites, will find some when I've got chance, but tying the knots and types of rigs are something you really need showing, not telling.

 

Best of luck though.

[Bones]

and be careful with pike - they are sprightly young things with sharp teeth!

[Janet S]

Have you got your Environment Agency rod licence?

It's about £24 and you can do it online through environment-agency.gov.uk

 

Have you got a keep net? This is not for fish, it's for beer beer beer

 

Barbless hooks are a damned sight easier to get out of your own fingers.

 

Otherwise, there are plenty of helpful websites, will find some when I've got chance, but tying the knots and types of rigs are something you really need showing, not telling.

 

Yes, I bought full year's Rod Licence. (Good job too, as Water Bailiff came along river bank last night).

 

Got pre-tied barbless hooks in a couple of sizes, and a selection of floats.

 

I've tried the internet today, but haven't found anything particularly useful yet. I'll keep trying if the phone'll stop ringing with people wanting to book holidays!

 

Janet

 

Didn't bother with keep net, as I'm not expecting to catch anything for a while!

Edited July 5, 2006 by Janet S

[Alec Gatherer]

Ask in your friendly local tackle shop if there are any local clubs they would suggest. Then approach the club stating your position as a comely young wench who wants instructing in the piscatorial art, then alert the local plod as they will have to provide crowd control for the queue of applicants. Avoid any potential instructors who have a fixation with how to hold their pole - could be a hidden agenda.

I qualified as a game angling instructor in a former life - so if you're game....

[Bones]

there are a couple of tips here.

 

http://www.carlsons.co.uk/home.asp

 

I am pleased you bought this topic up. I have all the fishing gear, and although I started to fish when I was in Oxford, things happened and I ended up having to put it on the backburner. I think I shall follow your lead and get my gear out again, and that was a fabulous suggestion by Alec G to find a club - I might give that a go.

 

Although you need a rod licence, if you fish from your boat you don't need a permit - is that right? I am sure it is.

Edited July 5, 2006 by Bones

[JohnOnTheWey]

Yes, I bought full year's Rod Licence. (Good job too, as Water Bailiff came along river bank last night).

 

Got pre-tied barbless hooks in a couple of sizes, and a selection of floats.

 

I've tried the internet today, but haven't found anything particularly useful yet. I'll keep trying if the phone'll stop ringing with people wanting to book holidays!

 

Janet

 

Didn't bother with keep net, as I'm not expecting to catch anything for a while!

 

We are a strange lot aren't we? I mean boaty types who fish.

 

I've fished canals on and off for the last 45 years, from the Bridgewater to the Basingstoke (which would be my favourite were it not for the bloody crayfish.) Absolutely best time I reckon is the 3 hours starting at dawn (varies with the time of year, though), and then the 3 hours ending at darkness (not just sunset). Nighttime is pretty good too, if you can hack it.

 

If you have loads of patience and are already fed up with catching small roach, perch and so on, ditch the maggots (which are a pain to keep fresh - and they need to be) and try something like sweetcorn, luncheon meat and bread. Much cheaper, and they sort out the more interesting (and larger) specimens. Canals are havens for tench,carp and bream and once you've managed to land one you'll realise what the payback is for all that patience.

 

I can talk fishing for as long as I can talk narrowboats, and if you need any specific hints/tips (though not about the LL - never fished it) then PM me if you like.

 

John

[Janet S]

It's the permit thing that's got me worried. We travel all over the place when we go hunting for canals to walk. Some occasionally have signs for private fishing, but there's never anyone to speak to to ask about day tickets etc.

 

I can see me bobbing about in Wet Betsy in the middle of the cut, fishing from the boat. Pray I don't catch a large pike or I may end up in Liverpool!

 

Janet

[JohnOnTheWey]

there are a couple of tips here.

 

http://www.carlsons.co.uk/home.asp

 

I am pleased you bought this topic up. I have all the fishing gear, and although I started to fish when I was in Oxford, things happened and I ended up having to put it on the backburner. I think I shall follow your lead and get my gear out again, and that was a fabulous suggestion by Alec G to find a club - I might give that a go.

 

Although you need a rod licence, if you fish from your boat you don't need a permit - is that right? I am sure it is.

 

Not true I'm afraid Bones. Some riparian owners also make it quite clear that you're not even allowed to fish from your boat at all, permit or not.

 

John

[dor]

Don't buy a 30 ft rod to reach across the canal, use a six foot rod and fish from the other side.

 

Always use the red maggots, they taste of strawberries. Some shops sell them dyed, so taste a few to make sure.

 

Old proverb: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and you get rid of him for the whole weekend"

 

The least experienced angler will always catch the most fish.

 

Is it true that the reason men go fishing is that it is the only time someone says to them "wow, that's a big one"?

 

Fastest thing underwater? a motorpike!

 

 

 

OK I'll get me 'at.

[Janet S]

The least experienced angler will always catch the most fish.

 

 

We went camping by a trout stream last weekend. I had a four foot kiddies fishing rod bought on our narrowboat holiday in May. Loaded it with a piece of sweetcorn, chucked it in, and pulled out a large brown trout. Not huge, but had to cut its head and tail off to get it in frying pan. Absolutely delicious, and that tug on the line when I caught it got me totally hooked.

 

Janet

[Pat]

Hi there! I have also recently bought a fishing rod, and although our stretch of the canal is packed with fish, I have never cought anything. Its like a big long ongoing joke. I'll be sitting on my boat with my rod out (fishing rod, that is) catching nothing, with fish jumping all around me and cormorants and herons stuffing their faces right in front of me! What am I doing wrong? I've been using everything from sweet corn to beef, but no luck. I was wondering if it has something to do with the depth of the hook? How far under the waterline should my hook be floating?

Thanks for any angling advice. In fact, we should have a who can catch the biggest fish over the weekend competition!

[Janet S]

fed up with catching small roach, perch and so on,

 

Chance would be a fine thing!

 

I've only caught one fish so far! (and that was with a kiddies toy rod!)

 

My nice shiny new long thingie hasn't had a bite yet!

 

Janet

[Liam]

and that tug on the line when I caught it got me totally hooked.

 

Janet

If it got you hooked... what did it do to the Trout then? lol

[shane]

hi try using a very small hook size 20 maybe vey light float shotted down so just the tip is showing and very light line perhaps 4 or 6lbs b/s and a small bread flake for bait but try not to cover the tip of the hook, and as your float is well down in the water try to lift your rod into the fish as soon as you see the float move under i hope this helps .

 

 

 

btw i havent caught a fish since friday 13th january so i dont gaurantee my tips will be of any use

tight lines

shane

[JohnOnTheWey]

hi try using a very small hook size 20 maybe vey light float shotted down so just the tip is showing and very light line perhaps 4 or 6lbs b/s and a small bread flake for bait but try not to cover the tip of the hook, and as your float is well down in the water try to lift your rod into the fish as soon as you see the float move under i hope this helps .

btw i havent caught a fish since friday 13th january so i dont gaurantee my tips will be of any use

tight lines

shane

 

I don't mean to be a smart-arse here, but I do have to say that 4-6lb breaking strain is actually a tad agricultural for canal fishing. Also, a 20s hook is OK if you're after the roach I mentioned earlier and you're quite satisfied with that.

 

A light-ish line is 500g (OK, about a pound) but that's for the hook length. Match that with 1000g main line and you may be in business. Personally I'd go for an 18s hook with these lines, and I wouldn't trust anyone else to tie them to the hook length - get a hook-tier and learn how to do it yourself. After all, you probably don't get ready-tied mooring ropes do you?

 

OK, I'll shut up here 'cos I really could go on and on ad nauseam about coarse fishing, and this ain't the place. PM me if you feel the need.

 

John

[Hairy-Neil]

 

 

Didn't bother with keep net, as I'm not expecting to catch anything for a while!

 

Keep nets are unnecessary for anything but match fishing. Give the fish a break.

[Moley]

Keep nets are unnecessary for anything but match fishing. Give the fish a break.

Have you got a keep net? This is not for fish, it's for beer beer beer

[nichimyo]

Bream. Bottom feeders. Chuck some sweet corn out around where you can see the little bubbles rising. Wait a while, then chuck a bit more out, together with a couple of bits on a hook. Let the bits on the hook sink to the bottom. Wait for the fish to find it.

Catch fish, kill, wash and gut it. Fry it. Eat it. Yum yum.

[Moley]

Bream. Bottom feeders. ... Catch fish, kill, wash and gut it. Fry it. Eat it. Yum yum.

That might be okay for Janet on the River Calder, but I'm not sure about the L&L, or any other canal for that matter

 

Don't s'pose there's much you can do with roach or gudgeon?

[Janet S]

Catch fish, kill, wash and gut it. Fry it. Eat it. Yum yum.

 

Can you actually eat what you catch on the canals? (That is, of course, if I manage to catch anything larger than a stickleback!)

 

Janet

[Pat]

Can you actually eat what you catch on the canals? (That is, of course, if I manage to catch anything larger than a stickleback!)

 

Janet

 

Don't know how dirty the canals are around yours, but I personally wouldn't eat anything that has lived in the Grand Union in London... too many dead rats and car tyres floating around.

[JohnOnTheWey]

Can you actually eat what you catch on the canals? (That is, of course, if I manage to catch anything larger than a stickleback!)

 

Janet

As I mentioned earlier, come down to the Basingstoke canal, catch a hatfull of crayfish, and you can eat like a king. It's frowned on to take and eat coarse fish. Eastern Europeans simply cannot grasp the idea of catching a double-figure (10lb+) carp and throwing it back - something of a delicacy, especially on Christmas Eve, so I'm told.

 

However, pike are good eating, and eels of course. Everything else is one of too bony to bother with (like chub), too "muddy" (like tench and bream) or downright poisonous if you don't watch what you're doing (like barbel - the roe of which can be deadly).

 

Go to the chippie instead.

 

John

[Bones]

As I mentioned earlier, come down to the Basingstoke canal, catch a hatfull of crayfish, and you can eat like a king. It's frowned on to take and eat coarse fish. Eastern Europeans simply cannot grasp the idea of catching a double-figure (10lb+) carp and throwing it back - something of a delicacy, especially on Christmas Eve, so I'm told.

 

However, pike are good eating, and eels of course. Everything else is one of too bony to bother with (like chub), too "muddy" (like tench and bream) or downright poisonous if you don't watch what you're doing (like barbel - the roe of which can be deadly).

 

Go to the chippie instead.

 

John

 

Do you need a special licence to catch and eat the crayfish? Where is the best place to get them and how?

[JohnOnTheWey]

Do you need a special licence to catch and eat the crayfish? Where is the best place to get them and how?

The last time I fished the Basingstoke (about 10 days ago), when I was plagued by the little creatures, I was about 50 yards "downstream" of Ash Vale BR station. A chap on the towpath stopped for a chat, and when I mentioned the problem he said "Next time, try near Mytchett Lake. No crayfish there at the moment. They put down a whole heap of little lobster pots and hauled out one and a quarter tons of them."

So, that's the where (Ash Vale, rather than Mytchett Lake) and the how (little lobster pots). As for a licence, you'd probably need to speak to the Basingstoke Canal Angling Society, and probably Surrey and Hampshire county councils.

If it were up to me, I'd give you a medal rather than demand you had a permit.

 

John