Canal Fishing Tips – Kennet and Avon Canal

Generally speaking, most stretches of the canal around the Pewsey and district area are quite shallow and because of this the shoals of fish are easily spooked and moved on by the careless angler. Back in the 1970’s  Ladysbridge and perhaps the stretch at Honey Street Sawmills had a good head of fish in them.

Others such as the Wharf  in Pewsey and nearby Milk house Water had much fewer. When fish are feeding well the water is usually cloudy and a weak tea colour. The wind can help to colour the water in all these venues and that helps with catches as it provides cover for the fish in the shallow water.

When late Autumn and Winter come along you tend to get frosts. This chills the air and water temperatures and badly effects the shallow water, putting the fish off feeding. At these times the water in the canal tends to become clear, making it easy for the fish to be spooked by people walking along the towpath.

As a group of anglers begin a fishing match, they draw their pegs and make their way to their allocated swims. As all this action suddenly takes place, the sight of all these forms showing themselves above the horizon of the fish’s sight they spook and start to move away from the disturbance. What does happen on these occasions is that the fish are herded along the canal until the last man at the far end reaches his swim.

In the winter months the matches on the canal are quite often won by the first few pegs or the last ten pegs at the far end unless you are fortunate to have a holding spot in your swim such as an overhanging bush or a little bay where it is wider than normal. When pleasure fishing on sunny days in the winter it is possible to see where fish are feeding as the water will have a slight tinge of colour in it. By walking the full length of the stretch you can plonk yourself down in one of these areas and probably catch a few fish if you are quiet and careful.

 They may only feed for a couple of hours while the sun is shining and slightly warming the water for the fish. Once moving, the fish usually feed to keep their weight stable. If you are fishing in a match you do not have that luxury as you have to fish the peg you have drawn.

There is however quite a few things you can do to increase your chances of catching. I have a few tips which I have found to work in these circumstances. These tips alone will not make you a super angler who always catches, but they will improve your chances and put you on the road to some better catches.

The first thing is to have a golden arm when drawing your peg, but I cant help you with that, but you already know who you are. It pays in a big way to keep away as much as possible from the very edge of the bank where it meets the water.

 Always tackle up away from the edge and try not to show yourself above the skyline. Try to discourage other anglers from walking up and talking to you in your swim. If anyone is passing your swim try as much as possible to ask them keep a low profile if possible. Don’t be in too much hurry to set every bit of tackle up before about ten minutes to the off. If you are lucky enough to draw in the first 7 or 8 swims you come to, you know that every angler has walked past your peg and it is highly likely that your swim has been compromised and that your fish may be have been subjected to the herding I have already mentioned. I have a confession to make at this stage.

If I feel that I have been affected in this way, I try to tackle up fairly quickly and if I have 10 minutes or more before the start I get up and walk to the far end of the stretch keeping a low profile while getting there. On the way back to my peg I make a point of standing to my full height and wish every angler good luck as I pass them by.

Always lay your keep net parallel with the bank, before easing it into the side of the canal and making sure you tether it at the bottom end. Never throw your net across the canal. If a boat was to pass through your peg it could easily take your net with it. The splash as your net is thrown out will move the fish out of your swim and into your neighbours. You could be saying goodbye to catching any fish before you even start to wet a line.

Most anglers do not like boats going through their swims but it is not always bad luck. If the water is clear the boat churns up the silt on the bottom to reveal food and the coloured water provides welcome shelter to the fish shoals. Always loose feed as soon as the boat has passed through and cast into the wake of that the boat is producing. It can often produce bonus fish for you. It must always be remembered that the disturbance of the silty bottom in your swim could cover up your baited area and move fish that were there into the next swim along.

It is a good idea to loose feed the far side of the canal especially if there are reeds there as when a boat passes through the fish are likely to seek shelter there until it has past. When the water is clear, any bank side activity is going to have a detrimental effect on the swim. Hammering a brolly stick into the ground is a big no no!

The odd few fish can make all the difference to winning and losing in clear water cold air conditions. Keep your eye on other anglers each side of you. If you see them hook into a fish or perhaps lose one, catapult loose feed into your swim. Any fish that have been frightened by the commotion in your neighbours swim could be on the way to your swim.

Bait moving down through the water might entice them to stop at your free food diner. Generally speaking the clearer the water the less ground bait should be used.  When you have a bite always strike to either the left or right and keep the tip of your rod low to the surface of the water. This should stop the fish crashing onto the surface and would be less likely to disturb the shoal. Once you are playing the fish, continue to keep your rod tip low down and try to draw the fish quickly away from where you are getting your bites. As you are playing the fish, remember to continue to catapult or throw loose feed into your baited area.

Never stand up to play your fish as you then show yourself above the skyline. Hopefully, if you fish in this way, the less likely you are to lose your shoal to either of your neighbours.

Fishing the likes of Ladysbridge and Honey Street in the Summer months was a completely different kettle of fish, if you pardon the pun. The comments regarding bank side activity and siting of keep nets still apply of course and are good habits to have wherever you fish. Watching many anglers I have noticed that they tend to fish the far side shelf of the canal first, while dropping back to the middle or near side when the far side inevitably dies on them. Because they have played the fish they have hooked on the far side in the nearside in front of them, when they come to switch they find that the commotion has already scared off the fish there. This leaves them with no other option than going onto the far shelf again hoping to pick up the odd bonus fish.

Often you find that several pegs produce roughly the same weights and start to die after about a couple of hours. The anglers that manage to keep their swims alive are the ones who pick up the points and the pools money.  My tips to help you be one of the anglers who manages those few extra fish are as follows. As before, keep your eye on other anglers and if they hook or lose a fish, make sure you loose feed the far shelf each time. Do not fish the far side for at least an hour or until you are sure that there are no bites coming from the nearside or middle line.

 

Use ground bait sparingly unless you know there is a large shoal in front of you. Feed a swim on both the left and the right on your nearside. Keep that far side shelf fed little and often. On most occasions you will catch a few pounds of fish from just in front of you and from the left and right near side swims. These will be the fish that make the difference by the end of the session. Remember my tips regarding the playing of your hooked fish as that is very important. You might be very surprised to find that because you have rested that far side and created little or no disturbance, a shoal of fish have settled there and because you have been feeding regularly they are confidently feeding. You will most likely have half the match to catch and overtake the others around you who have shot their bolt and ruined their nearside swims or created too much disturbance and pushed their fish into your swim. You will still need to fish very well to put yourself into the frame but you will have created the best chances of doing so.

I personally used this method to win my section of over a hundred anglers fishing in the Kennet and Avon Canal Teams of 4 Championships. There were 4 sections of a hundred or so spread over 4 different venues of the canal. I weighed in 20+lbs at Honey Street Saw Mills. My mate weighed in 24lb to come 3^rd in his section at Ladysbridge from the bay. Of our other team members, one came 5^th in his section and the last team angler came 15^th in his section, but his was a very good performance as there were around 40 anglers with dry nets at Milkhouse Water 

which was the hardest section.

We thought we had won the Championship which was decide on points gained first and in the event of a tie, on weight. We were knocked into second place on a weight recount. A great memory for me and I felt like I was walking on air after the match. We won quite a few quid as well so that helped pay for overheads.

Before ending this chapter I have remembered a few other tips which might help you when fishing the canal. When the water is clear you often see fish swimming along through from one side of your swim to the other. They are seeking shelter and trying to hide from the anglers view. Sometimes a bit of cloud in the water can do the trick and stop them in their tracks. You can create a cloud of some sort in a couple of ways and I can assure they have worked for me a few times in the past.

You can use very wet sloppy ground bait with the addition of some semolina powder. You will be surprised how big a cloud you can make in front of you using this method. I have seen fish seek out the security of the cloud and remain there. I have seen other anglers using the poles that you sweep the chimneys with to push along the bottom to stir it up and create a cloud, but I have never actually used it myself. It’s easier with semolina powder.

The last method is to use bloodworm on a tiny hook. It’s a natural bait which breeds in the canal. The worms are bright red in colour and most canal fish will take it when all else fails. I have collected bloodworm from the canal myself but that is another story. 

In those days it was not easy to get from tackle shops and if you could it was very expensive. These days it is far easier to get, but not as much fun as collecting it yourself. These little creatures cling to weed in the canals and live in the silt. The fish love them. One last tip is in the Autumn fish the canal a couple of days after a big blow when it has been windy for a couple of days. What this does is that the wave action on the canal colours the water up and provided there has not been a frost or cold rain going into the canal, the fishing can be quite good. 

I hope that my tips will persuade you to give the Kennet and Avon Canal a bit of a go and I hope it will give you confidence to do well. Tight Lines!!