NEW YEAR ON THE CANAL

                                   



Frozen canal

         Welcome to the latest blog and the first blog of 2015 it was the 5th of January 2015 and we are just getting over a very cold spell . The canal had been frozen solid for about 3 or 4 days. It had started to defrost on the morning of Sunday the 5th of January I couldn't wait to get out on the bank I was up at first light and the barrow was loaded ready to head to the canal . I headed along the tow path towards the canal basin after the cold spell over the new year but today was quite with a very light wind blowing from the north . I arrived at the swim that I was going to fish which was on the right hand side of a turning bay which is on the left of the bay was a bed of dead reed were there is always some water running in via a


frozen canal

frozen canal

inlet and I think this means that maybe the water is a slightly bit warmer maybe not a lot but just a slight bit could make a difference also I have noticed this area always take a little bit longer to freeze that's my thoughts any way back to the fishing . So I was going to place a bait to the right hand side of the weed bed/inlet and the other rod was going to be placed just past the middle of the turning bay to my left hand side . So with the sticks in the ground and the alarms on it was time to get the rods out the right hand rod was 15lb korda sub line with around 6 to 10 inches of tungsten rig tubing attached to a lead clip via a size 8 swivel and a 1.5oz flat pear lead to a 6 inch stiff link tied with a knotless knot with a rig ring to attach the bait just below via bait floss or hair braid ect. On this rod i was going to fish a 12mm Steve Reynard boilie tipped with a single piece of korda yellow IB corn and a yellow bait stop. This rod was cast to the spot on the right hand side of the weed bed/inlet  about 8 foot off of the far banks were it starts to deepen of a little bit  I put a small pva mesh bag with crushed Steve Reynard's boilie dipped in a sweet pva dip befor casting out after casting out I placed a back lead on it as I prefer to always fish a back lead on the canal because of boats ect I placed it on the rest and that was one rod out fishing . The second rod the same set up as the other rod apart from the hook length which was a 8 inch length of korda coated braid with about a 4 mm piece of coating striped off just above the eye of the hook which was a raptor size 6 with a rig marol bait screw attached via a small d loop on the shank of the hook. On this rig was a size 14 mm duo pop up supplied and sold by clone valley tackle and bait.

 

This rod was going to go on a spot just to the left hand side of the bay cast out about 16 meter across the bay which was just past the middle I crushed up 6 or 8 15mm duo bottom baits in a crusher and made a small pva mesh bag and injected between 5 and 10ml of duo liquid glug into the centre of the pva mesh bag attached it by pulling the hook length back through the bag and then cast it on the spot that was both rods out and I was at last fishing it was time to sit down and have the first cuppa of the day and it was well enjoyed.

2 HOURS INTO THE SESSION



15lb15oz canal common

So 2 hours had now past without a single beep on either rod also I had not seen a fish show since I had been her when all of a sudden the right hand rod which was on the spot near the reeds and outlet
just screamed off with out any warning and I lifted the rod tightened the spool and was into my first fish of 2015. Wow what a feeling not to catch a carp but to be fighting my first ever winter carp on a hard canal it was a good 10 or more minutes befor I had it in the net what a cracking fight it was as you can guess I was now buzzing with what I thought was a cracking upper double what a start to the new year and on the first session as well. once it was on the mat it was a perfect looking common that was in pristine condition and not a single mark on it maybe never been caught befor when I got in on the scales it was 15lb 15oz cracking canal common. After returning the fish within about 5 minutes the left hand rod gave out a single beep and then this rod screamed off as well I thought when I lifted into the fish no way it cant be another canal carp that would be unreal 2 winter carp in a session infect it is unheard off but then I realised it was a bream of about 5lb this fish was on a single 14mm clone valley duo pop up I cast both rods onto the same spots and chilled out and reflected my mind on the common I had with another coffee it was now 3pm and nothing had happened since I returned the bream N I wasn't complaining but it was around 10oC when I had the carp at around 11am the tempture had dropped by about 7oC now and it was around 3oC I decided it was time to pack up and head off home. I was still buzzing from the carp it was a great feeling .


          ANOTHER DAY ON THE CANAL                                                       11/1/2015


          





duo pop ups and glug from cv tackle and bait

Welcome to another blog from my fishing on the grand western canal hope all you readers are well and getting loads of bank time I am heading on the canal for my second session of 2015 I was going to head down towards the basin. I was going to fish to the right hand side of the bay which I fished in last week. I am not going to bore you with all the talk about my set I as 99.5% of my fishing are done with the same rig as I talked you through in my last blog (above) the only thing that changes from time to time are the hook length braid fluorocarbon and hooks ect. I was going to fish one rod on the right off a over grown bush in the water and the other rod just past the middle channel of the canal on the left of the swim in front of a dead weed bed I made up a small pva mesh bag of crushed Steve Reynard boilie and put on a 12mm boilie with a single piece of korda IB pop up corn I cast out and placed it on the rest the other rod was going to be the same a small pva bag of crushed duo bottom baits and a single duo glugged pop up on a bait screw this one was cast just past the middle on the left of the swim both rods were now out fishing. I managed 2 bream on the left hand rod both on the duo pop up by clone valley bait but nothing had happened on the right hand rod not even a bleep I was now thinking maybe it was time for a change on the right hand rod I was thinking I had to do something as this was not going to get me a run. I had faith in the Steve Reynard bait as I had done ok in the past on them as I have the duo but I change the single 12mm boilie to a size 18mm Steve Reynard again with the pop up korda corn and a small bag of crushed baits. I cast it just past the over hanging tree were I knew the was a slight deeper spot towards some over hanging Ivy. It was about a hour befor the right hand rod twitched and a single bleep form the atts receiver then a few seconds later the alarm screamed and the rod tip ripped around I lifted into the fish and yessssss I was into another winter canal carp then I realised it was one of the bigger canal carps as I tighten the clutch on the reel it was still ripping of line from the spool it was now heading towards a fallen branch from a large tree which was in the bay the fish had now moved from in front of me and up through the next 2 swims  befor going solid and snagging me up in the fallen branches I couldn't stop it. I tried pulling and then slackened off and left the slack line for a while the fish was now off  the rig was snagged up and I had to pull for a break on the bright side the fish was safe as it a transferred the hook into a branch I will never get my head around how they do that hahaha After a few rude words and a chat with my mate I sat and had a coffee I was gutted well gutted was a understatement. I would defo say it was a big fish may have even been a new canal pb defo felt a nice 20 any way I fished just the one rod for the rest of the session which was only another hour or so I decided it was time to call it a day I could not  get the carp out may head I was just wondering how big it may have been and probably will be for the next few week I headed off home as I was freezing and gutted oh well until the next session .

 

 

 

                                 STORMY DAY ON THE BANKS                                             14/1/2015

 

Welcome to a very stormy blog on the canal the forecast was a very windy day with heavy rain showers expected to turn to sleet and even heavy snow later in the day. I didn't arrive on the canal until a bit later then normal around 10am ish I planed to get sorted in-between the heavy showers. When I arrived on the bank my mate was already set up in the turning bay I fished to the left of him as I could set my brolly system up just to the side of a large hedge were I though it would be a slight bit more sheltered but how wrong was i. I got the rods out on one rod I was going to fish a single 14mm duo pop up available from cv tackle and bait i was using a size 6 curved hook attaching the bait by a rig marole bore bait screw i attached a small pva bag of crushed baits on this rod and cast it to my left 3 quter of the way across the canal. I started setting up the second rod i was going to fish the same as the other rig but a size 8 curved rod with a size 12 mm Steve Reynard boilie tipped with a piece of pop up corn I place a small bag of crushed bottom baits but it must have been about 20 minutes befor i managed to cast this rod out because I was under my brolly system holding it due to the gale force winds and heavy rain I think the wind must have been gusting up to about 80mph it was bad I was being battered  it finally started to ease up a bit so I cast the second rod out on the right hand spot








storm heading  towards us



Being hit by storm force wind rain hail and sleet

Well nothing had happened by around 2 pm apart from being smashed to bits by the storm force winds so I decide I would refresh the hook baits with the same as I was fishing befor then I  cast  them back on the same spot with fresh pva mesh bags ect. I settled back in under the shelter out the crap weather I kept checking the met office app on the i phone for up to date weather/warnings and they had issued red weather watch for a very deep area of low pressure heading towards us it was due to hit the Devon area area at around 4pm and looking at what we had through out the day this a potential to be a really bad storm and i didn't fancy having to pack up right in the eye of the storm so me and my mate had a coffee and a chat and decided it was time to call it a day and shoot off befor it got any worse. but as we decided to start packing up my mate had a run it was one of the many bream that live along the canal basin in my eyes even a bream is better then a blank the bream was safely returned and we packed up i managed to get home and pack the gear in the shed just as i stepped inside the door the heavens opened and the storm had arrived I hope you have enjoyed the blog until next time tight line and be safe thanks for reading and thanks to cv tackle and bait for the great bait and tackle they supply keep it up cv boys

 

The next blog we will be talking about the rigs and hook as well as bait approach on the canal

 

be safe guy tight lines

 

 





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