Staffs. Canal Fishing...Help Please!

[nigs]

Hi
I've been fishing for over 40 years (salt & fresh) but have never fished a canal.
At the end of August we have rented a cottage that has a garden banking on the Caldon Canal in Cheddleton Staffs.
(BTW. the pub is only 250 steps from the cottage :w)
Can anyone give me any advice regarding species to be found, permits required , techniques etc.
Please help I'm desperate as I cannot find any good info on the normal search engines.

 

[Bluenose]

Typical canal species will usually be small fish, gudgeon, roach, perch, skimmers with the possibility of maybe a chub a carp, pike or a bigger specimen from any of the aforementioned.

Techniques: The pole rules supreme usually, but if you'e fishing a float rod, feed one or all of 3 swims, bottom of the near shelf, tight against the far bank and right down the middle. The bait feeding permutations are endless but as an example you could feed caster to the far side, say for example 6-12 casters every 5-10 minutes, leave it for an hour or two then fish across. In the mean time fish squatt and pinkies down the edge, feed little and often, and if you fancy another option chopped worm and caster right down the middle and fish over that with caster or worm.

Typically, light floats are the order of the day, canal greys, 3 no 4 or sometimes less, 1lb hooklenghts and size 20/22 hooks.

I can't help with permit advice mate but a local tackle shop will help there.

 

[bennygesserit]

there is a really informative thread here My way on the canal | Gofishing.co.uk

 

[nigs]

Thanks for the excellent & quick replies.

Any other info, particularly about the caldon canal will be very gratefully received.

Thanks again
Nigs

 

[clayton wood]

Hi Nigs

If the pub is the black lion the water will be Potteries angling society. Think permits are about £30 from local tackle shops. Tackle shop in Leek would be best place for advice and permits.
As well as the canal, the river churnet runs next to it and there's a couple of pools in the nature reserve at Consall, tickets from the reserve. They're about half a mile from the black lion you'll pass them going from the road to the pub.

 

[nigs]

Thanks for the invaluable info from everyone.

The pub is the boat inn.
According to the property (cottage) owner the canal can be fished from the garden presumably with just a rod licence.
I will certainly take your advise about a visit to Leek tackle shop though.
Also the link regarding canal fishing is excellent.

 

[clayton wood]

The boats a nice traditional pub. If the canal's not fishing there's basford pools about 1 mile away http://www.fisharound.net/location/public/3333/Basford-Coarse-Fishery
Over the road from the boat is churnet valley railway good trip to the black lion and lovely walks in the churnet valley. Guide To The Line

 

[canalman]

With canals all you need is a coarse fishing licence (which you can get from your local post office). The most common species are perch, roach, and rudd. These can be caught using maggots, worms or bread. I fish my local canal everyday and catch 1.5 pound perch. The best place to catch perch is in shady areas such as under overhanging trees, next to barges etc. Roach aren't fussy about the ammount of light in the water or the heat. You can catch these anywhere. Perch are predators with a spined dorsal fin, stripes, and the other fins are orange. They have a chemical in their eyes which help them to see red so its best to fish with a single red maggot on a size 20 hook to nylon. Dawn and dusk are the best times to fish because it is thier main feeding times, but I catch them throughout the day but at a slower rate. Hope I helped!

 

[nigs]

THANK YOU ALL

for the great tips you gave me.

We had a brilliant time in Staffs. Fishing from the bottom of the garden, a couple of hours in the morning and the same in the evening.

We sat there like three generations of Garden Gnome, Myself (50 yrs), my Mum (74 yrs) and my Son (16 yrs).

As we expected a lot of the fish were tiddlers mainly Dace & Rudd but we did manage to pull some very good Perch around 1-2lbs that really made the holiday.

Between the 3 of us we caught around 110 fish over 5 days.

Thanks to everyone that offered help and advice.

Nigs, Paul and Margaret

 

[Bluenose]

Well done mate and thanks for letting us know how you got on.