8th may 2014

                                      WINDY EVENING ON THE TIVERTON CANAL

                                                                 

         Welcome back to another blog on the canal today it was a wet and windy day but the afternoon was meant to be brighter and dry but with strong wind i decided to fish a stretch on the canal known as the deadstreatch i got up there at about 4 pm and started setting my gear up about 4 pegs down from William Arther's foot bridge it was not to bad but there was a strong wind but third  was a bit more sheltered  then the rest of the canal because of the win today i was going to fish the waggler down the middle of the canal were the boat channel was i plumbed up and fed about 4 or 5 balls of bread crumb lightly squeezed and fired out a few maggots i only fished maggot and to cut a long story short i had a ok session i fished for 3 and a half hours and had half a dozed roach from about 4 oz up to just over half a pound an few skimmers and on the last cast i hooked into a tench but pulled out of it after a few seconds that would have been my first canal tench of the year i was gutted but i had enjoyed the session and started packing up i have about 4lb or 5lb of fish and packed and headed home thanks for reading and tight lines

                                                       Sunday 4th may 2014

                              BACK FISHING ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL


           Welcome back to my latest blog its been a while since my last blog but i am back on the banks now the weather is getting better so today i decided it was time to start doing a couple hours this evening the barge was due back in at 4:30 so i decided to go up and fish a area behind the school on a spot were i fish a lot last year and had some good session i was just on the left hand side of school bay were there was a large weed bed on the right at the far bank and the rest was full of reeds and weed i set my box up and got the bait sorted i was only going to fish the bread so i decide i would fish the waggle this evening so i got the rod out the sleeve and put the reels on i then saw the horse drawn barge was coming so i stood in the hedge and it passed i started setting up my rod i was using a self weighted waggler that only took 3 no 6 swan shots and 2 number 8 dropper shots i tied on a size 16 whisker barbed hook and plumbed up using a sgg i was going to fish it over depth by about 2 inches it was only about 2 ft deep as i was fishing on the far bank shelf i feed 5 or 6 medium balls of bread crumb and left it while i set the net up and put the keep net in. after it settled  down i started off fishing on the waggle fishing on the bread flake i didn't have my first bite for about 10 Min's but then i had the small skimmer pic below and carried on fishing for about another 2 hrs without a bite but every time i looked to my left there was a kayak or motor boat coming which didn't help but after the boats had gone back i fed another couple ball of crumb and carried on fising the flake i went on to have one more fish a bream which is pictured in the pic below i missed a few more bite again on the flake before it started getting dark but i then had to start packing as it was dark but for the first evening on the canal i really did enjoy it and it was the first of many evening session i hope i have a couple of evening sweep coming up over the next few Fridays so i will try and bring you as many blogs as i can nut until next time be safe and tight lines .

lee

DAYS FISHING ON TIDCOMBE BENDS

16TH MARCH 2014

 

Welcome back as the weather is still good i am glad to say i am getting out fishing more which means you lucky readers get more blogs any hope you enjoy my latest blog from fishing at tidcombe bends today on the grand western canal I arrive at tidcombe at about 9 am I walked up and had a look at the area and the wind was light up on the bends as it curls round and is a bit more sheltered then most areas along the town end of the canal I decided this was the swim I was going to fish I started setting up I was only going to fish one are with a light pole rig at about 6 meters I fished a match top 3 kit with a number 3 elastic through just the top 1 section I was using a 2lb mainline to a 1.4oz hook length to a size 22 silver fish hook the float I was using was a lake 0.40gr Orange tip wire stem float I plumbed up at 6 meters straight out in the boat channel I was fishing it a dead depth and after plumbing up I fed a 250ml pole cup of white crumb and left it for a bit while I set up the rest of my gear after getting sorted I started off by fishing a 4mm bread bunch I was catching fish on and off for most of the day with the bits being spread out with a couple of hours at mid day when the bites really did slow up but from 3pm they started to feed again I ended up with a bream of about 3lb and a couple skimmers and 15 or more small roach up to about 6oz anyway I decided that at 4:30pm it was time to pack up and call it a day so hope you enjoyed the blog you feed back would be welcome at (leeshort34@live.co.uk) thanks for taking the time to read and if you out fishing be safe tight lines

lee

ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER GOOD SESSION ON THE CANAL

                                                          

13TH MARCH 2014

 

 

 

WELCOME TO THE LATEST BLOG ON THE CANAL I COULD NOT BE SAT IN ON A FINE DRY SUNNY DAYS LIKE IT WAS TODAY SO I DECIDED THERE WAS ONLY ONE THING I COULD DO AND THAT WAS TO GET THE GEAR AND BAIT SORTED AND HEAD UP TO THE CANAL FOR A SHORT SESSION ON THE DEAD STRETCH AT THE TIVERTON END I DIDN'T PLAN ON GETTING UP AND DOING A EARLY SESSION SO I ARRIVED AT THE PEG AT ABOUT 10AM AND IT WAS SUNNY AND ALREADY WARM SO I SET UP SLOWLY I WAS ONLY GOING TO FISH ONE TOP KIT I SET UP A MATCH TOP 3 KIT WITH A NUMBER 3 BROWNING LATEX WHITE ELASTIC THROUGH JUST THE TOP ONE SECTION I WAS USING A LAKE 0.40GR POLE FLOAT ON A 2LB MAINLINE TO A 1.4OZ HOOK LENGTH TO A SIZE 20 HOOK I STARTED OFF BY FEEDING A MEDIUM CUP OF LIQUIDISED BREAD ON THE SWIM AT ABOUT 7 METERS I PUT ON A 4MM BREAD PUNCH AND SHIPED OUT AND HAD A BIT STRAIGHT AWAY IT WAS A GOOD FISH AS IT WAS PULLING OUT A LOT OF ELASTIC WHEN I GOT IT TO THE NET IT WAS A BREAM OF ABOUT 3LB THE REASON IT WAS FIGHTING SO HARD IT WAS FOUL HOOKED UNDER THE GILL SO WITH THAT IN THE NET I WENT BACK OUT AND HAD A FEW SMALL ROACH AND THEN HOOKED INTO ANOTHER GOOD FISH IT WAS ANOTHER BREAM OF ABOUT 4LB SO I FEED A BIT MORE BAIT AND AS IT WAS ONLY A SHORT SESSION I ONLY FISHED ANOTHER HOUR I HAD A FEW MORE ROACH WITH THE BIGGEST UP TO ABOUT 6OZ AND ANOTHER SKIMMER OF ABOUT 7 OZ AND THE 2 BREAM FROM THE SESSION IN THE SESSION SO FOR 3 AND A HALF HOUR SESSION I HAD A GOOD SESSION AND NET OF FISH SO I PACKED UP AND LOADED MY GEAR ON THE TROLLEY AND HEADED HOME HOPE YOUR ENJOYING THE BLOGS PLEASE FEEL FREE  AND LEAVE ANY FEED BACK AND COMMENTS WITH THOUGHTS ECT THANKS AND UNTIL MY NEXT BLOG IF YOU ON THE BANK BE SAFE AND TIGHT LINES

LEE  


GOOD DAYS FISHING BETWEEN THE BRIDGES ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL

9TH MARCH 2014

 

Hello and welcome back to my latest blog where i am fishing again on the grand western canal which starts in tiverton devon.Now with the weather looking good my self and a couple mates decided to meet up and have a days fishing on the canal so i left home and headed to the canal i was meeting the others on a stretch of canal at halberton which we call between the bridges a short stretch which is a good area in the summer we were hoping it was going to be good fishing today as well as in the summer i met up with martin and we started setting up Colin was going to join us in a hour or so.I started setting up i was going to set up 2 top kits both with quite light elastic one a number 3 to 4 purple elastic through just a top 1 section of a match top 3 kit and a number 3 browning latex elastic again through just the top section of a match top 3 kit so now it was time to get some rigs on the tops on the number 3 elastic I was going to use a drennan 4x12 float with a 2lb mainline and a 1.4 bottom to a size 20 hook this rig was going to be a rig for fishing up in the water so there was no need to plumb the depth so I hooked it up and put the kit in the roost and the other top kit I put on a lake 0.3g pole float on a 2lb main line to a 1.6oz bottom to the same as the other a Preston 20 hook this rig I was going to fish dead depth so I plumbed it up and again clipped it up and placed it on the roost I fed 2 medium cups of bread crumb and left it while I had a chat with martin and Colin before I went back and started fishing I had fish straight away it started off with small fish but as the day went on I started getting bigger fish I chopped and changed from fishing up in the water and on the bottom changing from 4 to 8 mm bread punch at the end of the session I had 10 roach and Rudd between half a pound and a pound with about 60 to 80 small fish it was one of the best session I have had on the grand western canal in years Colin had a few small fish and martin a few better Rudd but I didn't seem to be able to do any thing wrong the fish had seemed to have shoaled up right in front of me but I really enjoyed the days fishing and 5pm came so we decided it was time to pack up and head off home so I will be fishing this area again in the next few weeks so thanks for reading the blog please feel free to comment on my blogs and if your on the banks lakes canal ect be safe and tight lines

 

lee

FISHING ON THE RIVER EXE WALK WAY IN TIVERTON

 

28TH MARCH 2014

 

WELCOME TO ANOTHER BLOG WHICH IS GOING TO BE A SHORT BLOG AS THE FISHING WAS CRAP HAHAHA :) I DECIDED I WAS GOING TO FISH THE TIVERTON TOWN WALK WAY ON THE RIVER EXE IT AS BEEN IN FLOOD FOR 2 OR MORE MONTHS WITH ALL THE BAD WEATHER WE HAVE HAD AND IT WAS STILL QUITE HIGH BUT LOWER THEN IT HAS BEEN FOR A WHILE WE HAD A BIT OF RAIN THE NIGHT BEFORE I MAY HAVE PUSHED THE WATER LEVEL UP A COUPLE INCHES SINCE I WALKED ALONG THE OTHER DAY WHICH IS NOT GOOD BUT I DECIDED TO TRY DOWN ON THE STRETCH BELOW THE WEIRE IN THE FAST MOVING WATER TO START WITH AND THEN MOVED UP TO THE TOP END OF THE WALK AS THAT WAS A LOT SLOWER WATER I FISH THE STICK FLOAT ON A 13 FOOT MATCH ROD AND A CENTER PIN REEL USING AND FEEDING RED AND WHITE MAGGOTS FOR ABOUT 4 OR 5 HOURS I REALLY ENJOYED IT AND WILL BE FISHING THE CENTER PIN MORE NEXT SEASON SO BACK TO THE FISHING THE FISHING WAS BAD I HAD ONE BITE WHEN I MOVED UP TO THE SLOWER MOVING WATER I DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING BUT COLIN DID MANAGE A SMALL TROUT AGAIN ON THE SLOWER WATER ANY WAY SORRY FOR THIS BLOG BEING SO SHORT BUT THE WEATHER IS LOOKING GOOD FOR NEXT WEEK SO I AM HOPING TO GET OUT AND BRING YOU SOME MORE LONGER BLOGS ANYWAY UNTIL MY NEXT BLOG IF YOUR OUT FISHING ON THE RIVERS CANAL LAKES BE LUCK BE SAFE AND TIGHT LINES

 

LEE

FISHING ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL

26TH MARCH 2014

 

Welcome to another of my fishing blogs on the grand western canal my mate and i decided to fish the top end of the dead stretch on the grand western canal (www.grandwesterncanal.co.UK)

 

we were going to fish on the dead stretch just before you get to tidcombe bridge were there is a big turning bay for the boats and barges etc to turn in this we chose a couple pegs that are know to some times be very good but other times it can be very hard but when u this pegs fish well they fish really well and you can have a good days fishing my mate Colin fish on of the pegs we are on today early last week he had a great session with 8 or 9 skimmer bream and 10 really good sized roach so were had good feelings about todays session and hoping it was going to fish again today like it did last week

 

We met up at the top of the dead stretch and picked were we wanted to fish we both got set up and I wAs going to feed liquidised bread and fish the bread punch over the top after setting up the pole rig on a top 3 match kit I got it all plumbed up and I fed a cup of ad crumb and left it while before I started fishing anyway to fill you in on the fishing it was not a good session it was a hard day the bites were very few and far between but at 3 pm I had enough and decided to call it a day I had a total of 10 bits all day and a total of 10 small fish and they were very small fish they were all roach and I did pull out of a good fish on the far bank swim which I am sure would have been a skimmer I think Colin ended up with one roach of about 6oz and 7 smaller one we packed up and had a chat about the days fishing which would have taken all of about 10 seconds but like I said we both said before we started it was going to either fish really well or bad and it fish bad we decided we would keep in touch and sort out another fishing session soon anyway until my next session be safe and tight lines

 

Lee  

 

FISHING AT PADBROOK PARK

24TH FEBRUARY 2014

 

Welcome back to another blog today for a change this blog is going to be on a pond instead of on the grand western canal with the weather a bit more quitter and the wind a lot lighter then it as been for about the last 3 months the long heavy rain we have had for the last 3 months are now very heavy short showers instead of long days of strong wind and heavy rain. So we are now near the end of February and spring is around the corner with the weather getting better I am hoping to get down on the rivers before the closed season in a couple of weeks.Anyway back to today's fishing I have spoke to Colin in the week and we decided we would meet up on Tuesday and head off to fish a new pond that we had never been to before but we been talking about trying for the last few weeks we were told that they only get about 40 anglers fish it every year as they don’t advertise there lake there just advertise there golf course and hotel the fishing is just a bit of extra cash if people turn up so with the pond not seeing many anglers we were hoping to have a good day it was a very old lake and there was a lot of the really old fish with a few new stock fish we had been told the record carp for the lake was up at around 24lb so it was looking good and we were both looking forward to it as it would be the first session away from the canal since before mid December last year and also the weather was looking better then it had been for the last 3 months and about time it did get better we Arranged to meet at 9 am Colin was going to pick me up down the road from were I live at the shop we were going to be travelling light with little gear just what we needed I took 2 rods a garbilno carp picker feeder rod and a dawia harrier 13ft match waggler rod a bag with my my reels in and some end tackle other bits and bobs and bait flask and food ect and landing net and carp unhooking mat which was folded inside my nash h gun folding carp chair we loaded the gear in to the car and headed of to the local tackle shop (exe vally angling) to get some bait. Which you would think would be nice and easy well you would be wrong there as we walked in the tackle shop with our bait tubs Andy that worked there smiled at us and said hope you don’t want maggots boy they all sold Saturday everone wanted them as there was a club match on one of the local club waters that did mess up out plans a bit as we were heading to a new water and when I have never fish a pond or fishery before I like to go with maggots the first time.

The nearest tackle shop was cullompton which was near were we were going fishing but then Andy in the shop informed us that Ian at Cully shuts on Monday which put a end to that plan but Andy had a look in the freezer out the back and managed to find us a pint of frozen maggots he had put back for his self so we had them and headed off we got in the car and looked at each other and at the same time we both said those maggots are s**t hahahaha J so off we went to find padborook we headed to cullompton via the main road through halberton and willand were we finally came to cullompton we knew we had to head through the main street and head toward the new housing estate we went through the new kingfisher estate were we then say the sign for padbrook park hotel and golf course we drove up toward the main entrance for the hotel were we parked in the car we walked around the main entrance of the car park as we had to get a day ticket to fish the lake but we had to find the main golf hut but we couldn't find it after having a good look around we headed back towards were we were parked we saw 2 chaps walking towards us so we asked them if they knew were the golf hut was they pointed us in the right direction we made our way up to the golf hut via a small foot path it was about a 5 minute walk up to the golf hut we went in to the golf hut we bought our tickets which cost us £5.00 each for a day from first light until dark which was very good we had a chat with the golf manager and he pointed us in the right direction to the fishing lake it was another 5 minute walk form the golf hut up to the fishing pond I think that when we fish this place again we will be bring a trolley anyway when we arrived at the pond we were shocked at how over grown it was the pond was very sangeg with a lot of fallen trees and branched in the water so we had a walk around the pond and saw a few carp on the surface they were only small carp of around 3 to 4 lb after having a look around and there only being 3 pegs on the whole pond were you can get in and fish on the right hand side this side was still very snaggy colin fished on the first swim which was a bit more open then any of the others I fished the second swim up past the hut with the water pumping gear in on the same side as colin I was right in front of the island there was a fallen tree on the left hand side of me with a fallen branch right in front of me off of the island I was only going to set the waggler rod up to start with I set up a long 3 bb self weighted waggler straight out in front of me about 3 foot off of the island to the left hand side of the branch in the water I put on a ssg to plumb the depth and cast out I didn't have any idea what the depth was going to be I cast out and the float was gone I reeled in and moved the float up about 3 ft and out it went again I moved it up another 2 ft as it was still to shallow and now it was right I was surprised at how deep it was It was about 8 foot deep.now with the rod set up I fed about 5 balls of bread crumb and 40 or 50 grains of sweet corn and left it while I went up and had a chat with my mate was still setting up but it was looking good as he had fish showing in front of him and a few fish on the surface.I went back and started fishing on sweetcorn it was about 30 minutes before I had my first bite I had a fish on for about 30 seconds before the hook pulled out and I lost the fish it felt a good size fish as well I landed one about 15 minutes later which was around 4lb I then went on to have 3 more carp on the sweetcorn before I changed to the maggots well dead maggots it was a good change as I went on to catch another 5 carp on the maggot and ended the session with 8 carp and colin had a few more and ended his session as well with 15 carp all caught in close in the open water we both did better on the dead maggot an when we feed them we noticed the fish go there heads down and were blowing all over the area we had fed so after a good days fishing we packed up and headed home with a total of 23 carp between us we had a weigh of over 100lb between us which I think was good for a pond we had never fished and was early march and not had much warm weather to get the fish feeding yet it is a place we will go back and fish again in the summer any way thanks for reading the blog and if your on the banks soon be safe and tight lines

 

lee

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

BAD WEATHER GOOD FISHING ON THE CANAL

4TH FEB 2014

welcome back to my blog again we are now into February and with no let up in the bad weather with heavy rain and strong gale force winds which there as been no let up in since before Christmas with all the rivers un-fisherble and in flood and most of the UK are on a red high risk to life weather warning so i am still on the grand western canal fishing for the silvers it was forecast to be a showery day with light wind but with another strong storm forecast for the south west to arrive late this afternoon i headed off at about 9 am and made my way up toward tidcombe bridge were i was meeting colin at around 9:30 i only had to wait 5 minutes before he arrived at the gate at tidcombe bridge . 

grand western canal tidcombe

We started to walk up through we decided we would fish on the first corner at tidcombe which is know as tidcombe bends as it was slightly more sheltered then most places along the town end of  the canal we both chose were we were going to fish and started to set up today i was only going to set one top kit up  which would be a match top 3 kit i was only going to use a clip on pole cup not a cupping kit i was using a number 3 white latex elastic through just the one top section i was setting up this top and using a 0.25gr rizor long fine tip pole float on a 2.4oz mainline to a 1.7 hook length to a size 20 fox silver hook i plumbed this up slight to my  left hand side in a shadow of a v shaped tree branch it was deeper here then most spots along the canal i was fishing in the boat channel  after getting plumbed up i fed 3 small cups of liquidised bread and i left it for a while i sorted the rest of my bits out and went up and had a chat with my mate and after a chat and a coffee i went back and started fishing it was no 10:15 am and i was about to have my first  put in on a 4mm bread punch   

tidcombe on the grand western canal 

Before the bait had hit the bottom i had a bite right away it was a good fish and i slipped the net under it it was a bream of about 2lb 12oz it was a great start i went straight back out on the same spot on a 4mm bread punch and again within less then 40 seconds i was into another fish it was alot smaller a roach of about 4 oz i then had another bream which was a bit bigger at 3lb it was now raining and the wind was up so after a heavy shower and holding in tight to my brolly with the strong wind i went back out a a bigger 6mm bread punch and pulled out of a good fish which was most likley another skimmer or a bream i went on to catch a few more small roach and skimmers a rudd of about 4-6 oz and a smaller rudd i decided to pack up at 2 pm as i was frozen to the bone with the wind now getting stronger i was glad to be heading home with more storms forecast for the next couple days i don't know when i will be getting back out fishing any way until the next time if you on the banks in the stormy weather be safe and tight line 

lee 

GOOD FISHING SESSION ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL

22RD JANUARY 2014  

DEAD STRETCH

               Welcome back to my latest blog in my last few blogs i have wrote about the weather ect as well as the fishing so this blog is not going to have very much talk about the weather today just the fishing on the canal.So here we go fellow readers it was Wednesday the 22rd of January 2014 the forecast was not bad for today light winds and a chance of a light shower or 2 later on in the day Colin and my self had agreed to fish the dead stretch which is a really good part of the canal at the tiverton end we were going to fish the top end which was only a couple of pegs before the turning bay (tidcombe bay) so it was about 9 am when i left home and headed up there i made my way down towards the turning bay were we were going to fish.

 

As i walked from the opening up to were we were going to fish i did not See any fish or sign of a fish move all along the dead stretch the water had now started to go clear which i see as a good think as we have now had weeks and weeks of wind rain and very bad storms so when i arrived at the end of the dead stretch were we had agreed to fish i decided to wait for Colin as i knew he would not be long as he text me to say he was just loading the gear in the car and he could park close anyway then we could decide were we were going to fish.With in 10 minutes my mate turned up i decided  to fish 2 pegs back from the turning bay (tidcombe bay) and he fished just one peg back from me so we had both picked were we were going to fish and were both happy with the area we were fishing it was now time to get started and set up and get some fishing done we both took our time setting up i was only going to set up one top kit which was a match top 3 kit this would be with a number 3 browning latex elastic through just the top 1 section with a Dacron connector i was going to fish a 0.30gr pole float with a long tip it was on a 1.12oz mainline to a 1.5oz bottom to a size 20 Preston pr311 hook 

I plumbed up the pole rig at about 5 to 6 meters slightly to my left hand side i plumbed it so that there was only a very small bit of the pole float tip showing this meant the bait would be just touching the bottom after plumbing up it was time to get my bait sorted out i put half a bag of liquidised bread into a bait tub and kept adding water until it was turned from a crumb into a sloppy mixture of bread which when i feed it will leave a nice white cloud as it falls to the bottom so i got my cupping kit and fed the swim but i only started off by feeding a medium cup of the sloppy mix on the swim were i had just plumbed up i then left it a while while i sorted the rest of my gear out i also had a coffee and a chat with my mate before returning to my box . so now it was time to start fishing i started off by using a 4mm bread punch i shipped out and let the bait and float settle on the area were i had just fed and placed the pole in the pole rest normally when using the bread punch over bread crumb you get a bite very quick in fact some time it before you have chance to put the pole in the rest but today was a bit different i had to wait about 30 to maybe 45 minutes before i had my first bite but i missed it so after putting on another 4 mm bread punch i shipped back out on the same spot.

After shipping back out i had another bite about 2 minutes later but i was taking a phone call i did strike and i had the fish on for a few seconds but the hook pulled out so that was 2 bites no fish but it was looking good as it was a better fish that i had just pulled out of so i stuck to the same and carried on fishing the 4 mm bread punch i started catching or getting bites every cast which was great and was catching skimmers up to about a pound and a half and i also had a nice size roach of about half a pound the bites did the stop and between half past 1 and 3 pm i only had 2 bites it got very hard but i ended the session at around 3 30 pm with a net of fish that i was very happy about and was good for this time of the year i took my net out and i had 9 skimmers between half a pound up to about a pound and a half  and i also had that good roach of about half a pound it was a good days fishing and shows all you need to cackle you local canal is bread punch so with all the gear packed away that was the session over so until my next blog if you on the banks be safe and tight lines if you have any question of feed back for the blogs i write please feel free to comment on this page bellow would be great to hear from the readers 

tight lines 

lee  

HARD FISHING ON THE CANAL

11TH JANUARY 2014



             WELCOME TO ANOTHER BLOG AGAIN ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL IN TIVERTON DEVON TODAY THE FORECAST IS THE BEST IT AS BEEN FOR OVER 6 WEEKS WITH BRIGHT CLEAR SKY'S WHICH IS NOT GOING TO BE VERY GOOD BUT THE WEATHER WAS DRY AND WITH LIGHT WINDS I WAS JUST LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING OUT FISHING ON A NICE CALM DAY SO I MADE MY WAY UP TO THE CANAL I WAS GOING TO BE FISHING WITH ON OF MY MATES TODAY COLIN WE DID NOT ARRANGE A TIME WHEN WE WERE GOING TO MEET WE BOTH SAID THAT WHO EVER WAS UP THERE FIRST WOULD PICK WERE WE FISH.I WAS UP THERE FIRST SO I PICKED TO FISH THE BASIN END I FOUND A PEG THAT LOOKED GOOD AND THAT I THOUGHT WAS GOING TO FISH WELL IT WAS IN THE CANAL BASIN WHICH WAS JUST TO THE LEFT OF THE TURNING BAY WHICH WAS THE DEEPEST PART ON THE TOWN END OF THE CANAL SET MY GEAR UP AND GOT ONE MATCH TOP 3 KIT OUT ALSO I WAS GOING TO FISH THE SHORT 4 METER WHIP TO MY LEFT HAND SIDE I PLUMBED UP MY POLE LINE FIRST AT ABOUT 8 METERS AT DEAD DEPTH ON THIS LINE I FED A CUP OF LIQUIDISED BREAD AND LEFT IT WHILE I STARTED SETTING UP MY WHIP AT 4 METER TO MY LEFT I ALSO PLUMBED THIS RIG UP AT DEAD DEPTH THEN I WENT ON TO HAVE A CHAT WITH MY MATE HE WAS STILL SETTING UP SO AFTER A CATCH UP I WAS GOING TO GET BACK AND START FISHING I WAS EXPECTING IT TO BE HARD FISHING AS THE TEMP HAD FELL OVER NIGHT I SHIPPED OUT USING A 4MM BREAD PUNCH BUT I DID HAVE A BITE STRAIGHT AWAY SO IT WAS LOOKING GOOD BUT I MISSED THE 1ST BITE AND THE THE NEXT 6 BITS SO I WAS A BIT P****d OFF SO I CHANGED THE WHICH WAS A SIZE 22 HOOK TO A SIZE 20 WIDE GAPE HOPING THIS WOULD MAKE A DEFERENCE I STUCK TO THE 4MM BREAD PUNCH AND HAD A BITE STRAIGHT AWAY AFTER CHANGING TO A WIDE GAPE HOOK THIS TIME I DIDN'T MISS THE BITE BUT IT WAS A VERY SMALL ROACH I HAD 4 OR MAYBE 5 MORE OF THESE REALLY SMALL FISH BEFORE I DECIDED TO FEED ANOTHER CUP OF BAIT AFTER FEEDING THE 8 METER SWIM AGAIN I WENT OUT AND FISHED THE WHIP BUT I DIDN'T GET ANYTHING I HAD A COUPLE OF BITES BUT I THINK IT WAS THE REALLY SMALL MOTHERLESS MINNOWS I FEED SOME SLOP ON THIS WHIP LINE AS THE WATER IS NOW STARTING TO BECOME VERY CLEAR AS IT DOSE THIS TIME OF THE YEAR I WAS HOPING THE SLOP WOULD LEAVE A NICE COULD IN THE WATER AND THAT THE COULD MAT ATTRACT A FISH OR 2 ON THE WHIP LINE I LEFT THE WHIP LINE AND WENT BACK ON THE POLE AT 8 METERS BUT BY NOW I WAS REALLY STRUGGLING TO GET ANY BITES AT ALL WITH THE BRIGHT SUN ON THE VERY CLEAR WATER I THINK WITH THIS YOU HAVE TO EXPECT THE FISHING TO BE VERY HARD BUT I WAS GOING TO KEEP TRYING I STARTED GETTING A FEW BITES NOW BUT THEY WERE VERY SENSITIVE BITES WHEN I WAS LIFTING INTO THEM THERE WAS NOTHING THERE AS THEY ARE VERY VERY SMALL FISH . SO AFTER ABOUT HALF AN HOUR TO 45 MINUTES OF STRUGGLING ON THE POLE I TRIED THE WHIP OVER THE SLOP I FED ABOUT HALF A HOUR AGO I WAS GOING TO FISH THE WHIP FOR THE REST OF THE SESSION AS I WAS ONLY GOING TO FISH UNTIL HALF PAST 3 SO WITH A HOUR OF FISHING TIME LEFT THE SUN HAD STARTED GOING DOWN AND IT HAD GOT VERY COLD THE TEMP HAD DROPED FROM 9oC DOWN TO ABOUT 1oC OR EVEN LOWER WITHIN A SHORT TIME OF ABOUT 45 MINUTES BUT THE FISHING WAS NO BETTER IN THE LAST HOUR ON THE WHIP AS IT HAD BEEN FOR THE DAY I HAD 4 MORE ROACH WITH THE BIGGEST SO FAR OF THE DAY WHICH WAS ONLY 4OZ SO AFTER HAVING A CHAT WITH MY MATE WE BOTH DECIDED IT HAD BEEN A HARD DAY AND AS IT HAD GOT VERY COLD AND WE WOULD CALL IT A DAY HE HAD 8 SMALL FISH BIGGEST OF MAYBE 8-9 OZ WHICH WAS A  ROACH AND I ENDED UP WITH 10-12 VERY SMALL FISH BIGGEST OF ABOUT 4OZ SO WE PACKED UP AND HEADED OFF OUR OWN WAYS ME ALONG THE TOWPATH AND ME MATE DOWN TOWARDS THE CAR PARK WERE HE PARKED THIS MORNING HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING THE BLOGS MORE COMING SOON PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT OR PLEASE LEAVE FEED BACK BE GOOD TO HEAR FROM SOME OF MY READERS UNTIL NEXT TIME TIGHT LINE AND BE SAFE 

THANKS FOR READING 

LEE 

fishing on the tiverton canal basin

9th January 2014

      Welcome back and happy new year so we are into the second week of January and now the weather as been crap with storm after storm and weeks of low pressure with 2013 coming to the end i think we all thought and hoped that 2014 would bring better weather but it didn't it brought new winds new storms and record braking rainfall with all the rivers through out the UK  on a high red flood alert and most sea front on the west and south coast and ever one near these areas are bracing there self's for record high winds and very high tides up to 15  meter at its worse anyway with watching the weather forecast Thursday Was going to be the better day of the week with just the slight chance of a light shower with light to medium winds so i decided i was going to brave it and give it a go  on the local canal. So i sorted the fishing gear got my bait prepared the night before and was ready for the morning i woke up but was in no rush i left at about 9;50 and made my way up to the canal i was going to go down toward the basin end were the boats arr  it is that little bit deeper there was a light north/north west wind blowing down through the basin.I set up just to the left  hand side  of the gwc company horse drawn barge i set my gear up i was only going to set up one top kit which would  be a match top 3 kit with a number 3 elastic just through the top 1 tip section it was a browning latex white solid elastic very soft and very good for this sort of fishing on the canal.i set the top up with a 2lb mainline  and a 1.4oz hook length to a size 20 hook  the float was a carp 4x12 light float  with a orange float tip this rig was shotted with a string of  Preston stozs i plumbed this rig up at 9.5 meters and i was set to dead depth as this is how i fish the punch so with it plumbed up I fed a small cup of liquidises bread and left it for a while I set the rest of
My gear up and had a chat with my mate fishing just to my right before I went back and started fishing i started of by using a 4mm bread punch i shipped my rig out to were i had fed my bread as i had fed bait about 20 minutes or so i was excepting to get a bite very quick and i did it was not long before my float dipped  once then again and then it sailed away bang i was into my first  fish of the day a small roach but with the sun on the water and a brisk north wind blowing i was struggling to see my float and the bites so i changed to a maver elite pole float with a thick bright orange tip which made it so much easier to see with a new rig on i went back out on the same spot and was catching roach straight away but they were all very very small fish but in the early afternoon i had a good skimmer of about 12oz or so and another straight after a bit smaller at about 8 oz but it was now mid afternoon and the wind was a lot stronger and i was struggling to hold the pole now out at 10 meters i decided to come in a bit closer to about 6 meters to my left which would help me alot with seeing the float i fed this the same as i did when i started it was now 2 pm i was frozen so i decided i would fish on the inside swim for another hour until 3pm and i was then going to pack up i fished the inside swim the same as  did the 9 meter one that i started off on i caught  a couple more fish but again they were still very small which is very strange for the basin end of the canal as it is normally known for  better roach and skimmers and the odd bream because its a bit deeper and normally fished really well even in the cold depth of winter but today was one of the bad days so 3pm came i started to pack up it had got colder started raining and the wind was very Strong i was frozen to the bone so was time to head off home i had about 15 very small roach and the 2 better size skimmers i packed up arranged the next session with my mate and headed off home so until my next

blog if your on the bank tight lines and be safe

Tight lines

Lee

PUNCH FISHING ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL          28TH DECEMBER 2013 

WELCOME BACK TO MY LATEST BLOG ON FISHING THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL AFTER A VERY WET AND WINDY FEW DAYS OVER CHRISTMAS SATURDAY THE 28^TH WAS FORECAST TO BE THE BEST DAY WE HAVE HAD FOR A WHILE AND WITH ANOTHER STORM FORECAST FOR THE 29^TH AND OVER THE NEW YEAR IT WAS THE ONLY DAY THAT LOOKED GOOD TO GET OUT FISHING. WITH THE NEW YEAR VERY CLOSE THIS WAS GOING TO BE MY LAST SESSION FISHING ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL FOR 2013 AND WITH THE STORMS FORECAST AND THE RIVERS RUNNING HIGH IN FACT MOST LOCAL RIVERS ARE READY TO BURST THERE BANKS ITS GOING TO BE A WHILE BEFORE I AM GOING  TO GET BACK OUT FISHING ANYWAY BACK TO TODAY'S FISHING SESSION ON THE CANAL.I GOT ALL MY GEAR SORTED AND HEADED OF FOR THE CANAL WHEN I ARRIVED AT THE OPENING OF THE CANAL I WAS EXCEPTING TO SEE THE CANAL MUDDY BROWN WHAT WITH ALL THE RAIN WE HAVE HAD BUT THERE WAS NO COLOUR AT ALL WHICH I WAS VERY SURPRISED ABOUT I DECIDED TO FISH ONE PEG TO THE LEFT OF THE WILLIAM ARTHER FOOT BRIDGE KNOWN TO ANGLERS AS THE GREEN BRIDGE OR THE WOODEN BRIDGE AS BEFORE THEY REPLACED THE BRIDGE WITH CONCRETE IT WAS An  OLD NARROW WOODEN FOOT BRIDGE THIS STRETCH OF CANAL IS KNOW AS THE DEAD STRETCH AND THE FIRST 2 PEGS TO THE LEFT OF THE FOOT BRIDGE IS 2 OF THE BEST PEGS ON THE STRETCH I DECIDED TO FISH THE FIRST PEG PAST THE FOOT BRIDGE WHICH HAD A LARGE OVERHANGING BAMBOO BUSH OVER HANGING THE FAR BANK RIGHT INTO THE WATER I WAS GOING TO FISH 8 TO 9 METERS SLIGHTLY TO MY RIGHT  TO THE OVER HANGING BAMBOO BUSH. I ONLY PLUMBED UP THE ONE TOP KIT WHICH WAS A MATCH TOP 3 KIT WITH A NUMBER 3 BROWNING WHITE LATEX ELASTIC THROUGH JUST THE TOP ONE SECTION I PUT A MADE UP RIG ON THIS TOP WHICH WAS A BROWNING 0.40GR SHORT POLE FLOAT ON A 1.7LB MAIN LINE TO A SHORT 6 TO 8 INCH 1.1LB HOOK LENGTH TIED TO A SIZE 22 BARB LESS SPADE END HOOK  I GOT THE WEIGHT RIGHT SO I WAS HAPPY WITH THE AMOUNT OF POLE FLOAT TIP THAT WAS SHOWING AND PLUMBED THE RIG UP SO I WAS FISHING DEAD DEPTH I STARTED BY FEEDING A SMALL CUP OF LIQUIDISED BREAD AND LEFT IT FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES OR SO WHILE I SET THE REST OF MY GEAR UP AROUND ME AND PLACED THE BAG OFF THE TOW PATH ECT . I STARTED OF BY FISHING WITH A 4MM BREAD PUNCH AND SHIPPED OUT TO WERE I HAD FEED MY BAIT WITHIN A COUPLE MINUTES I HAD MY FIRST BITE BUT I MISSED IT I PUT ON ANOTHER 4MM BREAD PUNCH AND SHIPPED STRAIGHT BACK OUT TO WERE I WAS FISHING AND I WENT ON AND MISTED MY FIRST 5 BITES ONE AFTER THE OTHER J FINALLY I HOOKE THE 6^TH BITE I HAD IT WAS A SMALL ROACH BUT AT LEAST IT WAS A FISH AND IT WAS IN MY NET I CARRIED ON AND HAD ABOUT 10 OR MORE ROACH ON THIS SPOT JUST OFF THE BAMBOO BUSH BEFORE I TANGLED MY RIG AND HAD TO CHANCE IT AS I COULD NOT UNTANGLE IT I DECIDE TO CHANGE TO A DIFFERENT RIG I HAD MADE UP IN MY BOX WHICH WAS A DRENNAN LIGHT CARO 1 4X12 WITH A VERY SHORT BRIGHT ORANGE TIP IDEAL FLOAT FOR THE PUNCH FISHING IN THE DARK SHADED WATER THIS RIG WAS ALSO 1.7 MAIN LINE TO A 1.1  6 TO 8 INCH HOOK LENGTH BUT A SLIGHTLY LARGER HOOK A PR311 SIZE 20 HOOK.I PLUMBED THIS RIG UP SLIGHTLY TO MY LEFT AT AROUND 7 METERS I DID THE SAME AS BEFORE BY PUTTING IN A SMALL CUP OF BREAD AND LEAVING IT WHILE I HAD A COFFEE AND A BITE TO EAT THEN I DID THE SAME AS BEFORE AND WENT OUT AND FISHED WITH A 4MM BREAD PUNCH I WAS SURPRISED THAT I STARTED CATCHING STRAIGHT AWAY THE FISH MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE AREA TO COME STRAIGHT IN ON A NEW SPOT JUST AFTER I HAD PUT BAIT IN BUT AGAIN IT WAS ONLY SMALL ROACH BUT I ENJOY BEING ON THE BANK AND CATCH WHAT EVER THE SIZE OF THE FISH I

COULDN'T COMPLAIN AS I WAS NOW GETTING A FISH EVER PUT IN WHICH WAS GREAT AFTER A BOUT 10 OR 12 SMALL ROACH I HOOKED A FISH A BIT BIGGER AND MORE ELASTIC WAS COMING OUT WHEN I LANDED IT WAS A SMALL SKIMMER OF ABOUT 12 OZ I THOUGHT THAT BY CATCHING THIS SKIMMER MAYBE THE BETTER FISH HAD MOVED IN ON THE BAIT AND PUSHED THE SMALLER FISH OUT BUT ONCE AGAIN I WAS WRONG J I WAS ONLY GOING TO FISH UNTIL ABOUT 2 PM TODAY AS I HAD THINGS TO GET DONE AT HOME WITH CHRISTMAS NOW ONLY 3 DAYS AWAY SO I HAD A HOUR FISHING TIME LEFT I CAUGHT A FEW MORE SMALL FISH AND 4 BETTER ROACH NOT BIG BUT 2 WAS AROUND THE HALF POUND MARK 2PM WAS HERE AND IT WAS TIME TO PACK UP I TOOK THE KEEP NET OUT AND HAD A LOOK AT MY CATCH FOR TODAY AND I WAS VERY PLEASE AS I HAD ENJOYED THE SESSION AND HAD AROUND 30 PLUS ROACH NOT FORGETTING THE BETTER SIZE ONES AND A SKIMMER OF 12 OZ

I PACKED THE KIT AWAY LOADED IT ON THE TROLLEY AND HEADED OFF HOME THIS IS THE LAST SESSION I DO IN 2013 SO IF I GET IT UP BY THE END OF THE YEAR I WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL THE READERS A HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2014 AND THANKS YOU ALL FOR READING AND SUPPORTING MY BLOG WITH ALL YOU COMMENTS AND FEED BACK AND HOPE YOU ARE STILL GOING TO BE READING THEM IN THE NEW YEAR UNTIL MY NEXT BLOG IF YOU ON THE BANKS BE SAFE AND TIGHT LINES

LEE

3/1/14