A SESSION ON THE SHROPSHIRE UNION

[John Harding]

Good evening all,

Today was the first time I have been fishing since January, there has been nothing preventing me from fishing other than my own lack of effort, don't get me wrong I had lost none of my interest but I just seemed to have a lack of enthusiasm. On many occasions I pictured in my mind where and how I intended to fish but when it came to the day I just could not bring myself to gather my tackle together and make the effort. I did though make the effort to purchase one or two more rods for the ever growing collection and I will post details of these again.

I have been reading some of the posts on here about recent trips out and one or two perked up my enthusiasm and I decided I would have an early morning session today. I set my clock for 3.30 a.m. and intended to set off about 4.00 a.m., when it came to it though I woke up and I was again in two minds if I should go or not. Anyway I did struggle out of bed and eventually set off at 5 a.m., I decided to go to a local section of the Shropshire Union Canal and I eventually cast a line in at 6.20 a.m. It was a beautiful morning and I had high hopes of a few fish, I took my Sealey Rover and an Allcocks Match Aerial and for bait I had some hemp from the freezer, a small tin of sweetcorn and a few pellets. It took a while for me to get my first bite and the float shot under about two thirds of the way across, the fish put up a good struggle for a while and it turned out to be a nice bream of between two and half and three pounds, it took a single piece of corn. I could not get another bite across the canal so dropped the float in just off the end of the rod on the near side and in a short while I had an almost identical fish. I think that shows that it is not always necessary to fish across the canal as most of us do and there are more good fish close in than we realize. After the second bream I managed two small hand sized skimmer bream and a roach of about the same size, all of the fish took sweetcorn, I could not get a bite on pellets.

The canal at 6 a.m. :-



The first bream :-


The second bream :-


By 10.00 a.m. the boats were starting to get active and the sun was proving to be a bit too hot so I decided to pack up at 10.20 a.m giving me an exact four hour session, which I enjoyed very much.

This chap helped to use up my left over sweetcorn :-


Regards,
John.

[AshbyCut]

Delightful, Sir.

[John Harding]

Thanks Mal,

Regards,
John.

[Mark]

Well done John.

[Stathamender]

A good session. I love fishing canals being as that's where I started 60 years ago. The advice then from the oldsters (one of which I have now become) was to fish just on one of the ledges either side of the main channel.

[Luga00]

Well done, John.
Lovely day's fishing.
Russ

[PershoreHarrier]

Thanks for sharing - just sounds relaxed and peaceful - no pressure at all. I fished the Grand Union Canal in Warwickshire a lot during the 1960s and whilst there has been substantial change since then in terms of boat traffic and the like I am thinking of returning to some old haunts. Your post is especially relevant to that intention so many thanks once again.

[John Harding]

P.H. Thanks for your post and to all the others, although I am a bit biased in favour of canal fishing I would heartily recommend giving them a try. The canal fishing has been overlooked by many and I think lots don't realise the quality of fish that are available. Boats can be a nuisance, but this time of year I tend to go early morning and you can have a good few hours before they wake up. From October onwards the boat traffic eases off and you can have some great fishing, particularly roach fishing.
Regards,
John.

[Rutland Rod]

Nice read John, when younger I could be out of bed well before first light in the summer have a few hours and go to work ! now I tend to get to the bank side about 6 ish and then feel I’ve missed out on the best hours ! particularly like now when it’s so bright and hot early on. What strikes me with canals is just how many miles of water there is, much of it lightly fished if at all usually with good access even in very rural stretches and compared to most fisheries very low cost, tight lines on your next visit.
Dave