Sunday 7th April 2013

                 On the punch on the local canal                       

        So its been a while since i got on the banks because of the bad weather with all the snow cold day and nights and the bitter easterly wind i just haven't wanted to get out there but its spring now so they are saying . So i decided to go on my local stretch of canal for a short session on the bread punch i got on the canal tow path with my gear loaded onto my barrow around 6:50pm there had been a hard frost the night before and the temp at 7am was still at - 3.5 all the banks were white with frost but that bitter wind we have had for the last 10 days had Finlay droped and the canal was flat calm.I walked down towards the basin i was planning on fishing on the 1st peg to the left of the broken bridge on the basin side so when i got to the peg i wanted to fish i had a look along that stretch of the canal before i set my gear up it looked good all along the basin but i stuck to the first peg were i stoped on . I started to set my gear up and get my bait sorted i riddled my liquidised bread as its something i always do.I decided to set up 2 top kits  the 1st one was a top 3 kit with 3-4 purple elastic through the top 2 sections i set this top up with a light 0.3g fine tip float on a 2.5lb main line to a 1.4lb hook length to a size 22 micro barbed hook i plumbed this rig a about 5 meters out this is were the barge goes thought so it the deepest channel on the canal i know this streatch were i am fishing hold roach and skimmers all year around . The other top kit was a power top 2 with blue hollow elastic sz 5-7 i was going to fish this rig along the far banks so i set it up using a 0.5g maver carbon stem pole float with a bright orange thick tip  with 2lb main line tied to a sz 18 small barbless hook i plumbed this rig at the far Bank plumbed up at 11.5 meters  this was around half a meter off or the reed bed along the far bank the deapth was only about 1 and a half feet i was hoping that maybe a tench of a few bream willl show on this far bank line or maybe a better stamp of roach.I fed a small nugget of liquidised bread on my 5 meter line and 2 larger nuggets on the 11.5 meter line i started off fishing this line with a 2 or 4 mm bread punch after shipping out i only waited a min or 2 for my first bite which was about a 2oz roach for around the 1st hour i was getting fish every put in most of the fish was roach with a few skimmers ranging between 2 and 8 oz.I then fed another ball of liquidised over my 5 meter line and fish the 11.5 meter line on the far bank i started off a small bread punch after a few mins i had a small fish ad had bite and fish every put in but all the fish were all between 2 and 4oz so i decided to feed and fish over my 5 meter line because i was getting the same size fish or larger fish then i was at 11.5 meters with catching the same size fish on the 5 meter line i could catch a lot quicker on the 5 meter swim the i could on the 11.5 meter line for the rest of the session i stayed on my 5 meter line on the light rig with 3-5 elastic. I carried on fishing on a 4 mm and 6 mm bread punch i was still catching a fish or getting bites most put ins .By mid day the cold east wind was starting to get up so i decided to pack up i packed up my gear and loaded it onto the barrow i had around 30-40 small roach and skimmers raging from 3-10ozs .this was the 1st session since 20th January 2013 and i really enjoyed it and am looking foward to get out again soon i am look at doing a lot more fishing over the spring and summer i started using a company for my bait as i want to try to give the worm a go on the canal as not a lot of people fish the chopped worm on the streach i fish so i thing if u fish it right it will all kick off on the worm i now order my bait from anglingbaitclub.co.uk . hope u enjoyed this latest blog i am hoping to have a short session end of the week and the week end so if i get out i will have my next blog up on Friday thanks for reading and

tight lines

lee