Basingstoke canal

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Blueavocet

Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by Blueavocet »

I agree BJP- the website is very dated-but bank tickets can be purchased and you have some 30 miles to chose from! There are some stonking good pubs along the way like the Water Witch in Odiham. Tackle Up in Fleet sell tickets as does the Basingstoke Canal Centre in Mytchett.

Blueavocet

Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by Blueavocet »

Folks, started the season on the Basingstoke canal and was delighted to land a 6lb Tench-my PB for this species from the canal (will add some pics of fish and canal scenes in my diary area-hopefully this weekend). I link ledgered bread flake. On the same day caught some nice roach, one pristine fellow just over the one pound mark. My tench came from the Odiham end of the canal and I know one or two other anglers who target these fish there. As the humid weather has continued since the opening day the bites have been more finicky. There have though been some splendid almost copper coloured common carp cruising the Odiham stretch too. I guess they weigh only around 10b and parade in twos and threes-but honest chaps they look fin perfect. Other promenaders have been a pair of grass snakes-what excellent swimmers they are!

My next canal target are the Rudd in the Fleet area of the canal. Some I have seen there run to around 2lb-golden, splendid fish. You can see them moving the rushes on the far bank, their shoulders sometimes out of the water.

Latest report on the Deepcut flight of locks. All looks perfect here, the water gin clear in the lower 'pools'. But it seems clear that there has been no new stocking yet. A few sentinel carp have held out on the bottom of the pools, but I don't sense new stocking having dabbled my float up and down for a few hours. The top pool, where the boat wreck lies, is producing some very pretty but tiny Rudd. There are a few bream here that do their thing at dusk. That didn't include taking my bread flake offering-the swines!

You meet lovely people on this canal. One guy came up to me and said that he met me two years ago when I was fishing with a cane rod. He has now secured a Chapman 500 of his own and makes his own floats, using a drill and sanding paper. Didn't catch his ebay name, but he has sold a few Perch bobbers. This guy is a youngster-somewhere in his late twenties perhaps. But what a treasure and what a convert to our cause. Bless him (all is vanity) he waxed lyrical about my latest Waterlog article, The Gudgeon Meister. Ego aside, here is a guy who loves simple, traditional coarse fishing-long may he enjoy doing so and may his floats bob!

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CraigM
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Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by CraigM »

You've re-wet my appetite for the Basingstoke Canal gents.

I used to fish it on a half-price, second half of the season, ticket for perch & pike at Odiham & with very light tackle at King John's Castle.

The Creel at Aldershot sells canal tickets too.

I now get a canal ticket as part of my Oakhanger membership & will pay it a pre or post work visit on Friday.

Have also had a couple of short break canal boat holidays on it with the family. It certainly holds plenty of good fish - for the most part spotted as we cruised over them, rather than on the end of my line!

It's a couple of years since I fished it so for me this will be a first session with cane :Ok: . My last fish from the canal was a 2lb 2oz perch. I'll be happy if a similar one is my first one "back".

Blueavocet

Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by Blueavocet »

Hi Craig, you can see the tench under my post 'Boats Bountiful Boats Bain'.It looked as though it had recently spawned, but there are some nice fish in this canal. As always the stretches the Odiham end are murkier than further east, I think because of the clay spoil base and the boat traffic. So if you lure fish the stretches around Fleet and further east might be good where the water seems a little clearer (tho with a Mepps they feel as much as see the bait i think). I've caught one or two healthy Perch between 1lb and 2lb in the Ash area.
Kind regards,
Blueavocet.

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CraigM
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Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by CraigM »

Blueavocet,

Finally managed to locate the above post & the vanishing old lady one en-route!

Nice fish.

Regards,
Craig.

Blueavocet

Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by Blueavocet »

I owe you all a profound apology for being away from the forum for so long, but have been looking after two elderly mothers, one terminally ill I'm afraid. As I was adopted and found the birth mother 17 years ago my lovely wife has had two mother in laws. What can I say!
We're getting close to the opening of the season once again and as usual the wait to pick up a Basingstoke Canal ticket is frustrating. They issue quite late. Never mind, this summer I am going to concentrate on the Rudd, there is two nice shoals of these fishing in the higher reaches near Dogmersfield. I have caught Rudd there of over 2lb so it is very worth while. To top that up I will have a go after them in Frensham Great pond too- some specimen fish there. You just have to avoid the weekend strollers.
I retire in September yippee- so can fish and post a lot more now. Thanks for your endless patience everyone!

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CraigM
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Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by CraigM »

Hadn't realised I'd waited eleven months for your reply :Chuckle:

Best wishes with regards to your mums & best of luck with those Rudd.

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King Of The Ghetto
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Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by King Of The Ghetto »

i read about someone catching about 100lb of tench on christmas day!

work that one out!

Lovely canal, with plenty of interesting nocks and cranies. I used to fish the flash at Ash Vale and you could catch beautiful tench all day long.

I also caught a very old redmire type looking carp at a small flash. The odd carp will always be wandering around, especially near the flashes.

Loved it, fond memories.

Blueavocet

Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by Blueavocet »

Started the glorious 16th June at Ash Wharfe, searching for some Tench. Truth be told I'd re read that section of Crabtree the night before and Tench it had to be on the 16th. It was 5 am as I strolled along the tow path and i noted that we had cloud cover but a cool breeze. Out came the Float rover and the ambidex and I float fished breadflake and maggots by turn. It was a slow start and by 7 am all I had to show was a modest Perch and a bewildered looking Roach of very modest size. As the morning progressed the breeze dropped and it felt just a little warmer. By 10 am I had moved to the other side of the wharf and settled myself in an attractive swim surrounded by cow parsley that grew above my head and reeds that were almost as high. From a blackberry briar a garden warbler was making forays over the water, picking off flies that skirted across the surface of the canal. A little brown job the garden warbler may be but it sings sweetly and I remember watching these birds in my Shropshire childhood. A pair always nested amongst the ivy in our orchard.

I then had a purple patch during which in the space of 15 minutes I caught a handsome Bream of five and half pounds and three tench , the best going to four and half pounds! The smallest Tench was I guess around one and half pounds. It was as if they had all clocked on and it was quite humbling. No matter what I had done as regards technique, float adjusting, hook size changing, these fish were not ready until then. The seasons wonderings began, what if, I could do this I could do that! They all came from this one swim which left me wondering whether I had chanced upon some one else's pre baited spot? My own ground baiting was modest, a few pellets of bread and an occasional pouch full of maggots. All four fish were in excellent shape looking well recovered from spawning. Wrestling with tinypics right now, but if I get that working I'll add a couple of pics. The Tench looked splendid and fully endorse the claim that the canal is a fine venue for these lovely fish. I spent all day on the canal and had it to myself. It was splendid.

I was feeling much chirpier by now and thanked Izaac for his kindness. So to celebrate I repaired to The Waterwitch at Odiham for a liquid lunch and then on to the canal at its far western stretch. The canal here is greener, muddier and in some regards less attractive. But it holds good Tench and bream. This time I tried out a Bay of E Abu Flextip Mk 7 glass rod (all 14 feet of it!) and trudex reel. The Abu is a good deal heavier than my floatrover, but it was great for reaching out over the margin weed. I guess I ambled half a mile towards the castle and found a promising swim where the bubbles were erupting on the surface. It proved a splendid afternoon! I had another Tench (I guess around 2lb), five more Bream (between two and four pound) and a dozen plump Roach, the best going one and a quarter pounds. The roach especially were splendid, bigger fish that further eastward on the canal and all caught on maggot.

By the time I got home last evening the old togs had their share of fish slime in place, the net had been slimed too and I was gently reminded that if I brought that gear in the house something unfortunate might happen to my other tackle. My arm ached, surely they never fished matches with these all those years ago!? Still...it was worth it! My 16th was splendid and it ended with some rib eye steak and a glass of Talisker. :Wink:

Blueavocet

Re: Basingstoke canal

Post by Blueavocet »

As summer slides into autumn, time to reflect on how the old canal has fared this summer. It has certainly fished well for Rudd and Bream, though some weed clearing does seem to have made the Tench a bit more tardy. I've been spending a little time concentrating on using the bloom churned up by passing boats. The canal doesn't have a heavy boat traffic as it is in effect a spur of the Wey navigation and not a loop through to the Kennet or elsewhere. But the bloom from the boats have sometimes saved a slow day. Some squeezed bread flake float fished into the bloom is frequently seized on by the bream and some some surprisingly good roach too! The bloom has sometimes enlivened fishing for 30 minutes or more on a warm day. Any of the rest of you use the bloom of a boat in your canal fishing?

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