INDIANANGLER

I hope you guys don't ming me posting my first fishing trip of the year.

Tackle used:
Fox Elite Jigging rod, 6'6'', 15-5grm casting weight
Shimano Technium 5000 spinning reel
20lb Fireline


Yo-Zuri Mag Popper 28grms
Blue Fox Bucktail spinner 22grms
Twin tail grub on a 7-10grm jig head

Ordinarily I take a huge collection of lures, I only took 3 lures with me because I didn't have much hope of catching anything. The canal had been frozen of last week and I was just really going out to stretch my legs. With just 3 lures I thought I'd spend more time fishing instead of chopping and changing like I normally do!


One day I'll walk to Liverpool.


Nothing under the railway bridge.


Nothing by the entrance to the marina.


I think the frog got run over by a cyclist. "Match the hatch" as they say!


Half a mile up the canal I caught this modest little pike on the jig, an old lady took the photo for me, then I let the pike go.

Afterwards I walked up to Kirkstall Abbey which is one of Britain's best preserved abbeys, Kirkstall Abbey was founded in 1152 by a party of Cistercian monks from Fountains Abbey. In 1534 it was closed down in the ‘Dissolution of Religious Houses’ ordered by Henry VIII. The monks were pensioned-off, the roofs stripped of lead and some buildings converted for agricultural use.





Thanks for looking,
YB

Nice winter fish.
Have you tried using a side planer for fishing lures on the canal ?
I need to build myself a new one because my original got busted; but a planer or a proper U/L outfit (for the perch) are my favorite winter canal methods for lures.

Hi Ken, I've got a lovely little ultra light rod that I got in Japan. 6ft casting 0.8-4grms.

I've never seen a side planer before, how does it work?

Nice writeup and lovely location. The Pike is really nice. Keep it up and post all the trips.

Regards and tight line.

Ali.

nice catch.
Cheers!!!
M

Hi John.

The idea was developed for flatline trolling in the great lakes. Basically, a side planer is a trolling float that is deliberatly designed to "plane" out to one side with a lure running behind it. In the great lakes fishery, they use them for salmon fishing and using a pair of planers (a left and a right), a small boat can be set up with 4 rods trolling and achieve the sort of spread of lures that would normally require a game boat with outriggers.
In a UK context, a planer board allows you to troll the canal by simply walking along the towpath. These things score because the lure is continually in the strike zone. By altering the amount of line you have out, you can get the lure running right along the centre chanel, just off the far shelf or (my favorite when he water is gin clear and the sun is up) 30cm off the far bank in the only bit of shade available.
As I say, I'm going to have to build a new one for myself so I should be able to e-mail you some photos if you're interested. If there is a wider interest (I would think that a planer could be used to run lures right up against mangroves from a small boat for instance) I'll post them on here.

Photos of how to make one would be great, thanks Ken!

What happens when you hook a fish? From a boat I'm guessing there's a release mechanism, what about when you're fishing from the bank?

John

The last one I built had a hook eye cemented into the back to keep the line attached. At the front there was a plastic post (actually a "t"-bar from a file tag) cemented into the front where the line was held in place with a float rubber. The line releases from the float rubber on the strike so the board hangs on the line like a float without interfering with playing the fish. Being just a float rubber, the distance between the board and the lure can also be changed to alterr the lure's running depth.

You can buy them from the shops here in Denmark, i quess the have them in england as well have a look in the trolling department, i have never used them fore shore fishing ( not many canals here ),
dont worry about fighting a fish with, no problem.

have a look at this link.

http://shop.tempo-baade.dk/product.asp?product=10873

Hi Soren.

That's a bit different to mine but no doubt it does the job.

Will try to e-mail you tomorrow.

Ken

Nice one mate. Do canal pike get much bigger than that?
Regards

Thanks for the nice write up and the brief history of the place. Are Pike eaten? Just curious.

Dev

Yes Dev they can be and there are some pretty good recepies on the net

pike is popular in russia and there abouts. not a table fish in the uk as far as i know

Pike is good eating but there is quite a lot of meat wasted when the "Y bones" are filleted out. I've only ever taken the occasional fish that had a poor chance of survival though because the UK is a crowded place with a lot of anglers and regular removal of fish would very quickly lead to there being no fish left to catch.
For the record, mine was cut into goujons, dipped in egg and coated in breadcrumbs before being deep fried and served with tatare sauce.

I never knew a 'side planer' existed and one could use this setup from the shore, now i know thanks to Ken, Ken please do provide the plan on how to make one, I would like to try this in a river I would like to target fish which all seem to be under a few over hanging trees in opposite side which is unapproachable.

yes its a nice fish YB and it looks kinda chilly... do they observe a closed season on that stretch? i know on a lot of canals they dont have a close season... im glad you released it...my biggest was on the idle it was 12lbs .. i had a friend who always took his pike home and boiled the meat off the bone then mixed the meat with mashed potato and made fishcakes which were then fried... but i never contributed so i never tasted...lol... he was a proper yorkshire boy... take care...doug