Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
CLEAN UP ON URBAN CANALS
When it’s cold and the water is clear you can avoid the dreaded blank by heading to warmer urban waters, says Graham West
Graham West & Matt Godfrey head to warmer winter water to bag nets of silver fish on the ‘cut’
“What a cracking fish. I’m delighted to have caught it but certainly not surprised
GIN-CLEAR water, bright skies and chilling temperatures hardly inspire confidence but there are some venues where such apparently dire conditions can result in glory. Throughout the summer months fish stocks are spread evenly throughout the nation’s canal systems but that all changes once winter sets in. Every species detects a major change in weather and sets off on a journey to find water that will enable them to ride out the bitter conditions in relative comfort. That venture leads to them to urban hotspots where the built-up surroundings and moored boats add an extra degree or two to the water temperature. Suddenly, all the fish in a section end up tightly packed in to a few pegs and, if you find them, the action can actually be better than in the summer for pretty much any species. While many naively ignore canals because of a false perception that they are a tough nut to crack at this time of year, Graham West can often be found set up on the towpath. The Browns Angling and Preston Innovationsbacked star has enjoyed countless prolific sessions on ‘the cut’ when the rest of the angling fraternity have been sat shivering while watching a motionless rod tip. “It is incredible how tightly the fish shoal up during winter and if you use a little watercraft to locate them, it can be a bite every chuck from roach, perch and skimmers, no matter how cold it gets,” enthused Graham. “In my experience, your best bet to find these shoals is to head to a town centre where the shops, offices and road bridges give the water a thermal layer that makes the area so attractive to the fish.”
Inner city haven
The canal system around the Midlands is where Westy spends much of his winter fishing time, with the Grand Union a firm favourite. When I called to enquire if he knew of any gems that would guarantee a few bites for the cameras, he answered without hesitating. “The centre of Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. It is always teeming with fish and if I had to head somewhere that was a winter banker, that’s where I’d set the satnav for.” With a short walk from car to bankside and a cheap day-ticket available, there are certainly plenty of reasons to give this stretch a go. A date was pencilled in the diary to see what all the hype was about. Surrounded by factories and housing estates with several barges moored along both banks, it ticked all the ‘winter hotspot’ boxes.
“This stretch normally has plenty of colour but today it is really clear. That would usually bother me but not here because I know there will be lots of fish that can be triggered into feeding with simple tactics,” he says reassuringly. Two rigs came out of the box , both of which were geared towards catching a wide range of species.
Bites all day
Most would be happy just to avoid a blank but Westy has much loftier expectations. While small silvers are his prime target early on, he’s confident that bigger fish will soon appear. “There’ll be plenty of bonus perch and skimmers in front of me as well as the small roach. I’ll feed chopped lobworms and a few casters towards the edge of a moored boat which puts me down the track in the deepest water.
My second area is the bottom of the far shelf where I’ll fish squatt or pinkie over a few balls of Sonubaits Super Crumb Black Lake.” Action was instant on the small fish line – a clear sign that he had located exactly where the fish were shoaled together for winter. Small roach averaging an ounce apiece came every drop within seconds of the float settling and spraying a few freebies by a catapult every now and then proved enough to keep the fish competing. Numerous runners, cyclists and dog walkers passed behind throughout the day, adding further reminders as to how close to the centre of town we actually were. The disturbance didn’t bother the small fish one jot – but would it have an impact on those bonus lumps that were hopefully lingering close to the boat? Top kits were swapped, a section of lobworm was impaled on the size 14 Preston Innovations GPM-B hook and the float was lowered in. A few tense moments passed before the desired result, with the float tip thundering under and several feet of 7H elastic streaming out of the tip upon striking. The culprit plundered off down the canal and after a few nervous lunges towards the boat, a chunky perch of 1lb 8oz was banked. “What a cracking fish. I’m delighted to have caught it but certainly not surprised.” That perch proved to be the biggest fish of the day, although several smaller stripeys were banked and contributed to a low double-figure overall net weight. “If I’d have sat 100m away from here there is every chance I’d have struggled but I’ve had a brilliant day by looking for obvious holding spots. Canals aren’t seen as a banker in the winter but head to town centres and get 2019 off to a flier.”