An introduction to
CANAL
CARP FISHING
By
Richard Price
Catching the carp that inhabit our stretch of canal can be demanding, but satisfying. It would take pages and pages to go into fine detail on how to catch this most elusive species, but to narrow that down into one page, I have to put it into three main headings and briefly outline each one.
LOCATION
Firstly
and most paramount is location.
Plenty of bank side walking and you should be able to spot carp cruising,
or feeding along the back of the canal.
Anywhere there is cover in the form of reed beds or over hanging bushes
will be a likely spot.
Often you can see the rushes swaying violently where unseen carp are
pushing their way through.
Well-sheltered
turning bays and lock/bridge cuttings are also a good starting point.
Try if possible to get above the water, i.e. up on top of the bank, up a
tree (if this is safe) or looking down from a bridge.
Wearing polarised glasses you will be in with a good chance of spotting a
carp or two, which you just wouldn’t have seen from standing on the towpath.
For
a typical session I would firstly make sure there are carp in the general area,
Then find a swim which offers holes or breaks in the far bank vegetation,
preferring to get the baits tight in these natural holding areas.
This is because the carp will often venture just out of their cover to
feed.
Always
be aware of the possible presence of carp in the near side margins too,
especially early in the morning before the boaters, joggers and dog walkers
start to appear!
METHODS
Catching
carp from the canal has not become a finely tuned art as yet, so there is no
need for highly complicated rigs and all the latest gadgetry.
Simple ledger rigs whether running or semi fixed suffice.
For most canal situations, I would use an 8” trace of braid (Merlin is as good as any) attached to a size 6 hook. Fox series 2 would be my choice. Tie the hook on leaving a hair of approximately 1” the knotless knot, diagrams to follow shortly! On the other end attach a size 8 swivel.
Now
the lead arrangement.
The
Korda semi fixed lead attachment systems are fantastic innovations in carp
angling, and I would recommend their use. A
half to one ounce lead is plenty heavy enough for the canal and again Korda have
an excellent range. Main line
should be at least 10lb, heavier for snag fishing, and you can cover the last 2
feet of this before your braid with rig tubing, though this is obviously down to
personal preference. I always use
it when fishing against reeds, as I feel the carp see it as just another stem.
At this point I would strongly recommend against using lead core as this
needlessly complicates things, and if fished incorrectly can lead to tethered
carp in the case of a breakage.
Your rods should ideally then be fished in conjunction with alarms, with some sort of drop back indication attached. I have not covered float fishing, free lining or surface fishing in this as the above would be my favoured method for the canal, but I will cover these methods in future writings.
BAIT
& FEED
Finally
we come on to bait and feed.
There are a multitude of baits to choose from that will tempt the carp
including, sweet corn, bread, meat, worms, pellets and maggots, but undoubtedly
the most effective bait to target carp specifically with would be the boilie.
The
choice afforded to us in tackle shops can be bewildering to say the least, with
literally hundreds of colours and flavours to choose from.
My advice would be to stick to the big companies such as Nash, Nutrabaits,
Richworth, Mainline or Hutchinson and get a choice of boilies as your wallet
allows! A good choice in your bag means plenty of options.
A
good guide would be to go for about 15mm sized boilies, with a choice of fish
meal and fruit flavours.
I have found that the fish meals work better in cold water and the fruit
flavours such as blueberry work better in the warmer months.
Going one step further, if I was to recommend one boilie for all seasons
it would be the Nash whisky in 15mm, as this seems to consistently productive.
Fish
your boilies on a hair, one 15mm or maybe two 10mm.
In cold water it helps to carefully shave off the skins so as to release
the flavours more quickly.
Loose feed should be kept fairly tight to your hook bait, and
experimenting with small pva bags does work, though not really necessary in such
short-range fishing.
Use some boilies the same as your hook baits, and pellets or corn can be
good particle baits to set your trap.
All the above advice works equally as well if you’re fishing pop-ups,
again this is matter for experimentation and personal choice.