Grand Union Canal Sunday 6th February

With the high winds this weekend and the Nene starting to loose its colour I thought I would head out into Leicestershire for my first visit to the Grand Union Canal this winter. I had a section of canal in mind that would offer us some protection from the very high SW winds, the ground rises up behind you pushing the wind right over the top of the canal so much so that you hardly get a ripple on the water.

Flat calm and the wind was over 25mph

It was my turn to drive this week and so as is customary I get the first choice on the peg I want and so I elected to sit on the end of the low piled section of bank as there is a bit more of a feature across the far side.

I decided I would set up 3 rigs today with a view to fishing 4 or 5 lines, the first rig was a 4x12 Drennan Roach pattern for fishing Squat or Pinkie at the bottom of the far slope at 7 metres in 3 1/2 feet of water, this rig would also be used to fish inside at 4 metres at the start of the session. The rig was shotted up so that I could fish on the drop or form a small bulk and finished off with a size 22 Mustard wide gape match hook, the top kit had a Middy Hi Vis White 1-2 elastic set as soft as possible and it still retract after being pulled out.

The second rig was a Fox MP1 4x8 for fishing chopped worm with a size 20 Drennan wide gape hook with a number 3 Preston elastic set to a medium tension.

Rig three was a 4x8 Drennan Pinkie float with 3 No 12 shot spaced out and a Mustard wide gape match in a size 22 and a No1 Preston elastic for fishing across the canal in 2 feet of water at 10.5 metres up the slope with Casters or Pinkie if the going was tough.

This picture shows the 5 areas of the swim that I fished

I started off with 1 ball of groundbait containing a few Squatts, Pinkies and Casters on line (1) at 4 metres, 2 balls of the same on line (2) at 7 metres, Half a medium pole cup of chopped worm and Caster on line (3) to the left of line (2) and about 30 Casters on line (4).

After cupping in the initial bait I went in at 4 metres with a big Red maggot on the hook and within about a minute landed an 8 oz Perch which was a nice way to kick of the session, I then followed this with a couple of Roach of about an ounce. At this point a boat came through the inside line as if often the case as these pegs are on a bend but at least it keeps them off your main lines. I decided to throw the inside line away and went out to 7 metres with double Squatt on the hook and started loose feeding Squatts over the top of the initial groundbait and within minutes got my first bite and although not exactly emptying it I would describe the catch rate as steady. After 35 minute I had caught about 10 Roach between 1/2 and 1oz and as I wanted to have a go for some bonus fish I though that I would have a look at the worm line to see what I could tempt with a 1 inch section of Dendrobaena. After a few minute the float slid away and I missed the bite, this happened again and I thought that it was probably small Roach just getting the end of the worm in their mouths, The next bite resulted in about 4 feet of elastic coming out of the pole but within seconds the hook came out of what I think was a reasonable sized Perch. I dropped the rig back in but 5 minutes passed without a bite and so I cupped in a small ball of groundbait and went back out to seven metres.

Groundbait for the session was Dynamite Baits 80% Lake and Canal  and 20% Frenzied Hemp Black

Today's Bait menu

I carried on with Squatts for another hour catching Roach up to 2oz before having another look on the worm line which I had re baited 10 minutes earlier. I dropped the rig in with a small piece of worm on and the float went straight under and I swung in a tiny Perch, next put in I put 2 maggots on the hook and had a 4 oz skimmer and then It went quiet so I cupped in another ball of groundbait on the 7 metre line. I then put a single red maggot on the worm rig and fished it on the Squatt line and proceed to catch a slightly better stamp of Roach with the odd Gudgeon.

A Chunky little Roach caught on Red Maggot

After three hours I decided to have a look on the far bank Caster line because since the initial cup of 30 Casters I had been pinging 4 or 5 shells over every 5 minutes.


I shipped the rig out to 10.5 metres and laid it in to the right and just as I picked up the catapult to feed the float shot off I struck and connected with a 2 oz Rudd. This didn't surprise me as we had caught plenty of Rudd from the far line many times before and had them up to a pound, needless to say that was the only one I had today. I carried on catching Roach of 2 to 3oz and even had one of about 5oz before the line went a bit quiet so for the last 30 minutes I started a new line up the shelf but to the right.


I just loose fed Squatts and fished Pinkie on the hook to take a few odd smaller fish to see me up to 3 o'clock which was 5 hours.

The end result was just under 5lb

Today was a little different to what I was expecting in so far as I normally catch a lot more fish but generally of a smaller average size and although the catch rate was not great it was steady all day with the exception of a couple of quiet spell. I did mange to keep the fish coming by changing lines. I only had the one boat through all day which was nice as I could be shure that my bait stayed put and was not washed away by the boats. I might even get back next weekend if I am lucky.

My fishing partner Graham fished 2 lines at 8 metres with bread punch and 10 metres with Casters although he ended up fishing Pinkie on this line. He ended up with about 3lb of smaller fish and did suffer longer spells without getting a bite probably due to his self imposed 2 line limit although he has hammered me with this approach before now.

 The section up to the bridge has some great features but the bank is high off the water