It was five degrees when I arrived on the banks of the canal this morning, and the air temperature remained bitterly cold for the four hours I spent fishing. I had no worms so I had to alter my approach from the usual choppy and caster mix, resorting to feeding micro pellets on the three lines that I was fishing instead. Also on the bait bill were half a pint of casters and a half a pint of dead red maggots. A few astute canal anglers that I know swear by dead red maggots for bonus fish, although I have personally found that live ones have worked far better for me in the past.
I took a long walk and found myself fishing at least a mile from any of the other swims I have fished before on this canal. In fact, this closed season has been excellent for exploration of the Taunton to Bridgwater, as I've fished various spots along 8 miles of its length, in less than a month. What I was really hoping for today was bream. I've so far found them a bit tricky to locate, but the colour of the water looked ideal, and I was fishing between the only two areas on this canal that I have taken them from previously. Not sure what is causing this extra colour in the canal of late, as we've had no rain for some time, but it is certainly not a bad thing.
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I primed a swim in the middle of the canal (which has so far this season proved to be a consistent area), as well as two far bank lines. All were fed with micro pellets, dead maggots and a few grains of sweetcorn. I loosefed casters on the 8m line only.
I have my reservations about micro pellets, especially when fishing baits other than pellet, paste or meat over the top, as I find fish become preoccupied with the micros. Then, just the other day, I was chatting to an angler who revealed he'd had an excellent session last year on the Grand Western Canal, catching 12 tench and 4 bream, by feeding micros and fishing corn over the top. What was interesting was that he never fed a single free offering of his hookbait. In any case, I slipped on three dead red maggots and shipped out to 8 metres to await the inevitable interference from small rudd.
Less than ten minutes in, I had my first bite and was surprised to find myself attached to a tench of perhaps 3.5lb. Whilst playing this tench, it uprooted several lily pads which I did not realise were growing, submerged, all over my swim. Once I shipped back out after landing the tinca, however, I found it very difficult to find clear areas where my rig could settle properly. This made presentation tricky, and I went some time before any more bonus fish showed. I did manage to pick up some roach on caster though.
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As usual, the far bank lines attracted lots of rudd. It's very rare on this canal, or the Tiverton Canal, that you could fish maggots on the far bank line without having to do an awful lot of shipping in and out. I did get a bait through on one or two occasions, and had two nice fish off the right hand, far bank line, in the shape of a 1lb rudd and a 2.5lb bream. This was after I'd taken a big skimmer off of the line down the middle. Shortly after landing the bream from the long pole line, a very large fish rolled over my bait at eight metres. I though it was a bream, but when I dropped back in and had another good tench soon after, I assumed it was a case of mistaken identity.
My last bonus fish came half an hour later, after I'd topped up and gone for a short jog to try and warm up. It hadn't helped that my swim remained in the shade for the duration of the session and the wind was a cold Easterly. The water was not cold however, and each fish I caught was warm to the touch. My final bonus fish, like all the others, was caught on three dead red maggots. I thought it was a pike at first but soon revealed itself to be a hard-fighting bream which I was sure would nudge my recently set Taunton to Bridgwater Canal best of 5lb 1oz. On the scales it did nudge that weight, before settling at a respectable 4lb 14oz. Lovely fish, these big bronze bream.
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I took a long walk and found myself fishing at least a mile from any of the other swims I have fished before on this canal. In fact, this closed season has been excellent for exploration of the Taunton to Bridgwater, as I've fished various spots along 8 miles of its length, in less than a month. What I was really hoping for today was bream. I've so far found them a bit tricky to locate, but the colour of the water looked ideal, and I was fishing between the only two areas on this canal that I have taken them from previously. Not sure what is causing this extra colour in the canal of late, as we've had no rain for some time, but it is certainly not a bad thing.
I primed a swim in the middle of the canal (which has so far this season proved to be a consistent area), as well as two far bank lines. All were fed with micro pellets, dead maggots and a few grains of sweetcorn. I loosefed casters on the 8m line only.
I have my reservations about micro pellets, especially when fishing baits other than pellet, paste or meat over the top, as I find fish become preoccupied with the micros. Then, just the other day, I was chatting to an angler who revealed he'd had an excellent session last year on the Grand Western Canal, catching 12 tench and 4 bream, by feeding micros and fishing corn over the top. What was interesting was that he never fed a single free offering of his hookbait. In any case, I slipped on three dead red maggots and shipped out to 8 metres to await the inevitable interference from small rudd.
Less than ten minutes in, I had my first bite and was surprised to find myself attached to a tench of perhaps 3.5lb. Whilst playing this tench, it uprooted several lily pads which I did not realise were growing, submerged, all over my swim. Once I shipped back out after landing the tinca, however, I found it very difficult to find clear areas where my rig could settle properly. This made presentation tricky, and I went some time before any more bonus fish showed. I did manage to pick up some roach on caster though.
As usual, the far bank lines attracted lots of rudd. It's very rare on this canal, or the Tiverton Canal, that you could fish maggots on the far bank line without having to do an awful lot of shipping in and out. I did get a bait through on one or two occasions, and had two nice fish off the right hand, far bank line, in the shape of a 1lb rudd and a 2.5lb bream. This was after I'd taken a big skimmer off of the line down the middle. Shortly after landing the bream from the long pole line, a very large fish rolled over my bait at eight metres. I though it was a bream, but when I dropped back in and had another good tench soon after, I assumed it was a case of mistaken identity.
My last bonus fish came half an hour later, after I'd topped up and gone for a short jog to try and warm up. It hadn't helped that my swim remained in the shade for the duration of the session and the wind was a cold Easterly. The water was not cold however, and each fish I caught was warm to the touch. My final bonus fish, like all the others, was caught on three dead red maggots. I thought it was a pike at first but soon revealed itself to be a hard-fighting bream which I was sure would nudge my recently set Taunton to Bridgwater Canal best of 5lb 1oz. On the scales it did nudge that weight, before settling at a respectable 4lb 14oz. Lovely fish, these big bronze bream.
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