When i look back we took the canal a bit for granted i think, and there is no doubt that the slough cut is (or was ?) one of those stretches with more to offer than some parts.
In those days it always displayed a good health what with its lovely weed beds and so on, but also this wide variety of fishes. I never had an idea how big a pike could be in there, it had plenty of jacks and you'd often see people spinning sprats and so on. But we did venture toward slough now and again and had some great days - good areas were many along it. If the water quality was such that roach of that sort of size could exist then it is possible that the odd big pike could supposedly, but i wonder what they really caught that time.
One of the great values of such a fishery of course would be how natural it was, this can be wrong, but on its own devices mainly i'd assume
@ Blue Label
Sounds great fun indeed and nice achievements there. Everything fascinates about fishing, and the canal match fishing culture i always found interesting, as it was the match scene that was my main motivation in the very beginning. Never got round to canals though, i fished opens on the thames and mole and so on, and specimen hunting just took over. But many a time back then i had micro hook and blood worm plans in the making. I have still got a couple of green Tortue spools of half and 3/4 pound line that were nearly used for this, and probably i have got some of the floats that would have been the tool still.
. Verging on 20 pound is a big pike for a canal though, i expect that one had dined on a few prime roach.
