Lobworm

Hi all,

A few days ago I had my first 2009 bash at my local canal Wyrley & Essington near Pelsall. Cashmores have rights to it and TK does the match bookings.

I'm a pleasure rod and line man who fishes with simple rigs and only takes enough gear to fill a rucksack.

Thought I'd report what a wonderful stretch of canal this is. On a 3BB waggler with 4lb main line and an 18 hook on 2.6lb I managed to spend a good few hours of busy fishing at a bend in the canal towards the Fishley end of Cashmores banks.

I have the float attached by elastic so that I can shorten/lengthen the hook length without much effort and most of the sinking shot about a foot and half from the hook.

Anyway to cut to the chase, using sinking marble size balls of bread as my ground bait I fed a central deep point in front of me and during my 4 - 5 hours fishing on the bottom I pulled out 3 tench (2lb, 3lb and 2.5lb) and a 4.5lb Bream on sets of 3 red maggots with a few thrown in on each cast. The fish were incredibly shy only allowing me to hook them if I let the float truly sink out of sight for a few seconds before a slow but firm strike.

Sadly for the first tench, although he was healthy and very strong he had lost his lips a long time ago and looked like his jaw had been seriously damaged some years ago. Luckily for him this hadn't stopped him thriving even though he was damn ugly. This tench gave the best sport bending the rod and fighting to the last, and no surprise the Bream (although bigger) rolled over and gave in as expected, matching my best weight on this canal for the whole of last year.

Apart from that I occasionally shortened my rig (when things went quiet) to fish the far bank shallows and then slowly lengthend it out to return eventually to the edge of the centre deep channel. This bagged me 7 tiddler rudd in the shallows near the reeds and slightly further in and deeper 3 good sized roach.

A smashing afternoon, even though I got soaked in the heavy showers and spent the few quiet moment picking lumps of bream slime off myself.

I'll be back next weekend (missus willing) hoping the fish are up for it again.

tk

Good to hear you've been having a few tugs Lobworm

Tight lines and keep us posted how you get on

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Even when I draw a half decent peg fate conspires against me...............

fish farmer

That canal is one of the best in the country. i miss fishing it now I live near Worcester. Me and a couple of mates plan to fish it for old time's sake soon.

We used to get plenty of tench on corn, worm and bread. When we were kids, me and my brother used to make our own groundbait by crushing a breakfast cereal called Wheataflakes, grating bread and digestive biscuits til our fingers bled, and mixing in some bran too..... and it worked! I progressed to vanden eynde groundbaits as my skills improved over the years and 'Secret' was always a favourite for the tench. Some big carp in there too - my biggest was 21lb, but heard of bigger coming out.

Keep em coming Lobworm, it's nice to hear the old cut just keeps getting better.

tk

When you do manage to arrange a session Fish farmer, pm me and I'll pop down to see you if I can make it.

I've seen the photographic evidence of two different 23lb'ers that have put in an appearance over the last season and heard of a rumoured 33lber

__________________
Even when I draw a half decent peg fate conspires against me...............

tinca phil

could this be the same tench you caught ?

Attached Images

IMG_0316.jpg (72.5 KB, 30 views)

tk

Hum..........



Be interesting if Lobworm thinks it is Tinca Phil..........



From Lobworms peg description he caught it at least 1/2 mile away from where you hooked it along the Common.



Over too Fishfarmer for his expertise on this one - do canal tincas 'travel around' or tend to have 'regular' haunts

__________________
Even when I draw a half decent peg fate conspires against me...............

Lobworm

Hi Tinca,

Equally ugly fish, but not the one I caught, Mine looked a little more like Winston Churchill.

tk

I cant wait to capture Winston the tinca

__________________
Even when I draw a half decent peg fate conspires against me...............