Bude Canal, Cornwall

What’s in the canal and what are the best ways to fish it?

There are three A Team fish in the canal, one of them being a 20lb common, a 20lb fully and a 23lb mirror. They don’t see the bank that often so getting one of them is a bonus. 

Location is one of the most vital aspects when it comes to canal carp fishing! My three main top tips when it comes to locating canal carp are –

1: keep your eyes on the water at all times, any signs of feeding fish could result in you landing your quarry.

2: don’t bait too heavily, most of the time I only fish for a bite at a time. A small handful of hemp, corn and crushed boilies over an area where I’ve located the fish normally does the damage.

3: keep mobile; the majority of my angling revolves around me travelling light and keeping mobile and what I mean by that is take minimal gear. Try to leave unnecessary fishing gear at home and always be prepared to up sticks and move! Canal carp mainly travel in little shoals so once you’ve caught one, the majority of them push off out the area and it’s a case of locating other fish. 

What spots do you look out for when canal carping ?

Moored boats, bridges, basins and turning bays are Fish magnets, but never ignore the margins! 70% of the fish I’ve caught from canals have been from the margin! 

Summer spots

My favourite hot spot in the summer has to be the shallows – majority of the fish push up the shallows as soon as the sun comes up. The average depth of water is between 2 to 4ft and can be very silty, so a light lead is crucial to stop your lead and rig plummeting in the gloopy mess. 

Winter Spots

My favourite winter spot has to be the basin – I find in the winter the fish shoal up and congregate around the boats for warmth and sanctuary. A solid bag tight against Barges and Pedalos normally does a couple of bites in the coldest of conditions. 

The Best Method

The best method and tactic is keeping things simple. I mainly use a bolt standard blowback rig fishing in conjunction with Scopex Squid 12mm to 15mm boilies! They don’t have a favourite bait so that is my personal preference. I will fish hemp, corn and flaked boilie in the margins so I can see when they’re on the spot – usually they kick the silt up when they feed hard in the edge, so it’s a case of semi spooking them out the area with a little bit more bait then lowering the rig on the spot as carefully as possible waiting for them to come back in.