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Canal Carp
by Fred Davis
The wheel has turned, the wind of change is upon us. The Grand Union Canal once full to the brim of prime pristine roach shoals has been depleted, be it by cormorant predation, clearer water or under stocking, so much so that the L.A.A have just given up 15 miles of what used to be prime canal fishing. So where do most London anglers go? Some go to the commercials, some die-hards still fish the canals, some have even given up the sport. It was with astonishment that I read in one of the weekly rags that a fellow angler was saying that he hoped the London canals were not stocked with carp because they simply don't work in canals!
Well it was some time ago that Carp fishing on canals kindled my interest, I remember we were practising for a winter league at Grove church and I had arranged to meet team-mate Tony Roper. Anyway I arrived two hours later and Tony greeted me with a smile he said he had about 7 to 8lbs of roach on pinkie, I said that I was going to fish for lumps (I had done so much squatt fishing it was like shelling peas, I needed a change) Anyway first put in and I had a slab and then another, third put in resulted in a 15lb 5oz carp, Tony nearly fell off his box! My appetite had been wetted, and over the coming years we tried a few boundaries, including Marsworth, but did not catch enough carp to maintain our interest.
Then a phone call out of the blue from Loll Breach resulted in a trip to the Luton canal and I managed 70lb but had to pack up and attend an AGM. Loll carried on and had 120lb! I have plundered these carp shoals for the last 3 years and the excitement and sheer pleasure these boundaries give to anglers is a credit to Luton AC who look after them.
Recently Slapton was drained (due to the fact that you can no longer fish because of the electric cables that run parallel to the towpath) and the fish netted from this long pound were distributed to other pounds, indeed Grove church received 1,700 lbs of carp. Other pounds were also topped up, so not surprisingly the fishing is first class. Pleasure fishing in the summer, well a ton is always on the cards!
After a quick look last week to determine if the canal had warmed up enough to catch carp I decided to have a two hour session I managed 3 carp for 25lb, so decided to have a full 5 hour session. However it was on April 1st that whilst watching the weather I noticed that the rest of the week was going to get colder and looking out at 12 midday it was brilliant sunshine, although we had a frost first thing (the first for a few days) I thought I would give it a go, mainly because if I could catch now it might give you all an insight into how this place might fish in the summer. I arrived at the boundary and was tackled up by 1pm so fished to 6pm for this feature.
The boundary fished was Ivanhoe which is day ticket to the left of Ivanhoe bridge on the towpath side and members only to the right hand side, however the boundary is stuffed with fish and I have bagged up from a variety of pegs.
The way I fish it is long pole over to the boats, about 15mtres spraying 3mm pellet, whilst fishing 6mm expander Jelly pellets on the hook (Ringer bag Up). I am a great believer that the constant rattle of pellets going in attracts the carp so feeding little and often normally brings success. The carp average 6 to 8lb but go up to about 20 although a few around the 12lb mark are normally caught when bagging. As the canal can be subject to a blow, a good pole is required. I normally use a Diawa 412 but am giving the spectron a work out today, mainline is 0.18 WB Clarke (or better known by it's original name silstar). We originally used 0.16 but found that the carp could make short work of this, seeing you off especially when under boats. The floats I prefer are the Preston durafloat (silver float) which has a rugby ball shaped body that is ideal as the canal flows back and forth. My shotting pattern is simply a bulk with no droppers about 8/10 inches from the hook, which is a Preston PR28. Hook size varies but for expander it's a size 14. As for the elastic on the canal I only use Preston 14, as after much experimentation it's the best for this type of fishing in my opinion. My top tip for canal carp long pole is to keep the line between pole tip to pole float to 6/8 inches to maximise number of bites hit, although the canal does tow it is better to follow the float and hit the bites than use a longer line.
 
Feeding is little and often and I started this session feeding 5 or 6, 3mm pellets on a very regular basis to a far bank moored boat, taking care that no feed actually peppered it.
 
Obviously when fishing at range on the long pole, it is advisable to use a footplate and keep everything well balanced, many anglers have had to give the game up due to back trouble! When the carp are really having it, a few spare rigs will always come in handy in case of breakage's.
 
Not long after the start, the first carp succumbed. As you can see from the close up, they are fin perfect and extremely fit. A lot of anglers have problems playing carp on canals as when you lift into the bite they will do one of two things. Either stay put for a moment or bolt along the barge and keep going. Lots of anglers hang on and wait for the inevitable break, what I find is that if you follow the carp with the long pole it will change direction. If it bolts to the left push the pole to the left and the fish normally stop and then go to the right in front of you. Having got it close it may bolt back to the boats, a slight lift will stop it and it will swim towards you. If you keep the pole low sometimes, as did this carp, they will swim to the surface, straight into the net with no hassle. The golden rule is keep the pole low and let the elastic do the work .
 
After 5hrs of feeding I had 7 carp in the net and 4 skimmers for around 45lb I had lost 3 carp (possibly foul hooked) another 18lb+ which would have given me 60lb. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with this bag but then again it was 1st of April. We had a frost first thing and the temperature had dropped as the day went on, by 6pm I was freezing. Still it will slowly warm up in the weeks to come and then the ton will definitely be on. In the summer the luncheon meat and cat meat can work well but tactics for summer change with a stepped up feeding rate being required. Margin tactics sometimes play a part for targeting some really big carp, and of course the fish fight a lot harder. Well who knows a feature on summer canal carp tactics and the canal ton may be next!!
Fred.
Thanks Fred, Gary
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