Fishing On The Grand Western Canal

                                                         HOW IT ALL STARTED




grand western canal Tiverton

          Welcome to my first blog since I been back carp fishing I am a 28 year old very keen carp angler from Devon. I been carp fishing since I was 19 but had a 3 year break in-between and went back to match fishing. Before i got back into the match fishing I was spending at least 1 or 2 days on the canal an most weekend and holidays on a local lake called snails. This lake  is on the digger lakes complex at Willand about a 15 min drive from were i live in Tiverton. I was not doing to well with the carp on the Tiverton canal but the first carp i ever had out from the canal was a 24lb mirror when i was only 16 . I was fishing a early morning session fishing the pole for the Tench when I had this carp . Anyway that's enough about the past. I had a couple carp between the age of 19 and 24 a couple mid doubles for the canal basin they both were caught doing night sessions but you are not meant to do nights on the canal but we wont say anything about that. From the age of 24 to 25 I decided it was time to move on to different things I had been fishing the canal with very little rewards I also started fishing a local runs water and was not a very big head of fish over 15lb the carp I was catching were only averaging about 8 to 10 pound I was starting to wonder what I was doing wasting my time on this water. I decided to move on to a new water and decide I would start fish snails lake on the digger lakes complex run by ben gratwick.

So I started fishing digger lakes in about September 2010 I didn't do to bad and was very happy as I had a 12lb mirror and a 16lb 8oz common on my first 48 hour session on the complex. It was a very welcome catch on my first session after the weeks of blanking on the canal. I did a couple more 24 and 48 hour sessions through out  October and November but only managed a small common of about 11lb then winter set in it was the coldest winter and the worse snow fall I had ever seen I put the rods away for the winter nearly all of the local waters were frozen and snow just keep falling. I didn't return to digger until the spring of 2011.

snails at digger lake Devon

SPRING 2011


The start of spring turned out to be very hard and the fishing very slow as nothing seemed to be getting caught anywhere and it didn't seem to change much until about June when it seemed to start to pick up a bit . I had a good session with a couple good carp to 18lb 7ozs.I was planning another 2 day session in the middle of July and I could not wait. The forecast was to be a very wet and windy weekend and how true was that it was a very stormy and wild weekend. When I arrived I was the only one on the whole complex there was fish boshing out everywhere I was looking at peg one but with the lake being empty I decided to fish the 4th swim up on the left bank a swim called the big junction this swim is one of the best on the complex with a lot of water in front of me I started by spodding the 2 spots were I was going to put a bait. I cast the two rods out on the baited spots that I had just baited and settled down in the bivvy out of the storm.
At around 7 pm the left hand rod screamed off I lifted into the fish and what a fight it was it took me near to 15 to 20 mins to get the fish into the net when I saw the fish sliding over the net I thought I was in the middle of a dream it was only the biggest fish in the lake known as baby m. The last time that this fish was out it was out at its top weight of 35lb+  in the summer but it had dropped a bit and was down to 33lb on the dot.I was over the moon I had not only beat my pb but I had landed a 30+ uk  carp I had a great session, I had a couple more sessions on digger lakes befor hanging the carp gear and getting back into the match fishing but I knew that the carp gear would no stay hung up for ever.


BACK TO THE CARP FISHING 2014


canal common 11lb 7oz

   So 3 years had past since I had the carp rods out and I was starting to miss the carp fishing but after talking to a good friend and angler David cawsey while he was on the canal fishing for the carp. I started to relies just how much I was missing the carp fishing so I  decided it was time to put the match fishing on a back burner for a while and get those carp rods back out . After I decided I would get back into the carp fishing I also decided I only wanted to fish the canal for the carp  I love carp fishing on the canal because  you never know what size the carp really go and i also love the challenge of trying to get one out a really hard canal which the tiverton canal is but it is a proper head screw and i would not have it any other way

I was excepting to have to wait quite a long time befor I got a run on the canal from a carp any way I did have a few bream right from the 1st session and most session I done on the canal.The forth session was very slow I had fished from about mid day through to dark which was about 9 pm I took one rod out and packed away I was about to pack the other rod away when it screamed off and the rod ripped off the rest and I was into a 16lb 2oz lump of canal common carp what a result (pic to the right)  I cant tell you I went home buzzing that night. I had a couple more short sessions that week and managed a few bream but it was only a weeks time that I managed to have another carp from a spot about 200yards down the bank towards the barges this carp was a lovely 11lb spotless canal common this fish was on a cc Moore 15mm live system boilie. That was my last few years of carping I have had countless bream this year and lost at least one other carp but. I am putting all my time into the canal this year. Over the next few week and into 2015 I will be testing a new bait on the Tiverton canal which is the new duo from cv tackle and bait so a big thanks to Ian Valentine  for supplying me with this bait and also to Colin  (Jedi) and Dave cawsey for all the nagging to get me back on the carp.


I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and hope I can bring you some more blogs on my type of fishing including talking about so on the canal with rig and bait talk and about all aspects of my carp fishing until next time tight line and be lucky and go bag those carrrrrrrrps :)

merry Christmas to all the readers and hope you have a great 2015 hope to see some of you on the banks tight lines

lee


http://www.cvtackleandbait.com/ check it out guys