Finally some fishing!

Its been a few weeks that I have returned back to the UK now and I have been aching to go fishing, but couldn't do so as I was kept busy by other things that needed my attention.. Yesterday though, I got my rod licence in my hands and having already signed up for the Lancaster canal fishery membership, I was off back to my old jaunts.. I chose my UL dropshoting gear as I was gonna be targeting perch. The weather was fair with no wind and temperature around 6 C.
I started with a Sworming Hornet Dropshot fish head and a slim 3" soft bait and after only a couple casts I had a fish on! It was only a small jack but very welcome nonetheless..

Full of dead leaves..

The little jack

Lure mounted on dropshot fish head.

Unfortunately this was not the positive sign I thought, as after the little jack I couldn't get any more bites. I changed lure to an LFT Live baby shad and after moving along the canal, managed to get a few tentative bites which I missed as I reacted too fast. A couple casts later and I got a little perch..

This was proving a tough session with the fish being extremely finicky and scattered throughout the area I was fishing. More over I saw no signs of hunting activity or fry.
The sun was going down and after another change of lure to a Jackall super pin tail, I got a proper bite and after a short tussle I brought a better perch up.

Seems to have been on a diet..

I had to wrap the session up as I had some obligations but I didn't mind as I didn't blank and I will be coming back very soon..
I was very surprised with the lack of more and bigger fish but I think that they haven't yet settled to the 'winter mode', meaning shoaling up and frequenting only a few areas with usually deeper water.
The finicky bites may mean that I will have to experiment with other lures and presentations but that's what I love about lure fishing!

Thanks for reading and all the best for the winter season!


Gear used:
Rod: Awa Shima Qlite spin, 1-5g, 2.40m
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000
Mainline: Toray Bottom Attacker Fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: dropshot
lure: various

Perch on the Lancaster canal.

After moving from the Lakes, I didn't have much time for fishing due to my work, but since I moved again to Lancashire now, I have found plenty of time to go fishing... After a bit of searching on google Earth and the web in general, I noted that the Lancaster canal seemed very promising... So one day I got my mate Derek for a reconnaissance mission..(!) We found an area that the canal widens and holds moored barges with a good depth. The weather was relatively mild, after a couple weeks of freezing temperatures and was due to get worse again... I have encountered this again when fishing and have noted that the fish get really active immediately before and upto the coming of a cold front... Looking at the water we were amazed at the amount of activity, as fry was jumping and fleeing all over the place. This is quite common during the warmer months, but in the middle of winter quite surprising.

Derek on the stretch mentioned.

We fished many styles and lures (jigging, crankbaits, spinners) but only caught fish on the dropshot,
with the best baits being: the LFT live baby shad, Umiushi worm, Jackall super pin tail, Ima trilobite and Tiemco PDL super fin tail. I fished on the ultralight gear comprising of Awa shima Q lite spin, 2.40m, 1-5g rod and Mitchell mag pro 1000 reel. The fish were caught as expected near the barges and the walls of the canal and also from among the snags in the deeper areas. Their sizes being from 100g to about 700g.

Unfortunatelly that day we got two attacks from pike that easily managed to cut the 3lb fluoro but using a korda wide gape barbless hook I hope that they will get rid of it easily...
Since that day I have been regularly visiting the canal and have managed to get a few fish every time.. I have also modified my dropshot rig using thicker fluorocarbon and got some pike as well.
An important note is that many fish have been precaught and mishandled at times, something that shows the fishing pressure at that stretch and the need for better handling skills among anglers..
At times when the water was very cold and miserable weather, the trick of substituting the sinker for a hookless pilker seems to give a couple fish when all else fail...

More reports to come and thanks for reading...