The Brilliant Kennet & Avon!

Pole fishing on the brilliant Kennet & Avon Canal.

It’s a real treat for me to head to my favourite canal and with certain stretches of the middle reaches of the Kennet and Avon staying open during the traditional close season it’s always a trip I look forward to. It’s not just refreshing to get away from the busy commercial match scene, you rarely if ever see another angler at this time of year here, but it’s just great being able to unwind in the peaceful, unrushed countryside.

Pole Position

The stretch I’m fishing today is close to Hungerford in West Berkshire and I’ve chosen this swim for two reasons, the first is it has a mooed boat opposite, one I hope won’t be moving, along with a lock to my left, an end peg so to speak which is always a good area at anytime of the year. My only concern is the colour of the water which has a strange brownish tinge to it, an algae bloom I suspect, but at least I can still see around eighteen inches down.

Perch Attack

Knowing this canal has a reputation for big perch I’m going to have at least one line with these in mind and the root system extending into the water from a bank side tree to my right looks the perfect area. I’m going to prime this spot first with a big cupful of chopped worms plus a few casters which I hope will draw in any bonus fish throughout the day. The canal is quite low; it might be too shallow here, so if it fails to produce I will switch to a more central line down the middle to my right with chopped lobworm. The rig I m using for my inside perch line is Stretch 7 No8 elastic, a 0.5g float, size 14 Sphere Beast hook with the mainline and hook length created from Cenex Classic Mono in 0.14mm and 0.12mm diameters.

With a boat moored on the opposite bank this was an interesting swim with plenty of options.

Bait choice consisted on mainly larger, more positive, baits, such as maggots, casters and worms as I was hoping for a good stamp of fish.

Boat Line

My second line of attack is right over to the far bank moored boat, one I’m going to kick start hopefully with a big cupful of casters and then on a regular basis pult a few more over the top. This line really could produce anything from that bonus big perch right through to net roach and skimmers. The rig I’ve set up for this consists of 0.3g float size 18 hook, Microbore lime green elastic and Cenex Classic Mono in diameters 0.10mm and 0.08mm.

In the Deeps

My final line, and one that I’m hoping will attract mainly skimmers, is straight down the middle in the deepest water, a maggot line which I’ve kicked started with a small ball of Quick Skimmer groundbait. The rig for this is a 4×12 float, with a strung out bulk of no11 shot plus two tiny dropper shot. Once again the line consists of 0.10mm/0.08mm Classic Mono, size 20 hook and Microbore lime green elastic and the pole for all three lines is my trusted Sphere Zero-G F1+.

On the Move

A quick look down the edge on the worm line produces just one small perch and line down the side of the boat is strangely quiet, however it seems that most of the fish are in the deeper water as bites are coming frequently from small roach, skimmers and perch. Unfortunately the boat on the far bank isn’t staying, it’s a risk we take which doesn’t always work in our favour, as after an hour it’s on the move and as expected kills sport for a while. Another look down the edge produces nothing so the lobworm line is activated for later in the session. Introducing a small ball of groundbait in the deeper water every ten minutes along with steadily pulting pinkies and big maggot over the top on a little and often basis gets the bites coming again. The fish, mostly skimmers and roach are slowly getting bigger and then as expected something bigger grabs the pinkie hookbait and see’s the elastic extend and it’s not long before a perch, probably around 1lb 8oz falls into the waiting net.

Microbore lime green is ideal for my lighter rigs.

"as well as catching some quality fish in beautiful surroundings it’s time to head home one happy angler"

Toothy Encounter

Strangely just when I’m putting a weight together the bites dry up leaving me scratching my head. Time to check out the lobworm line! Straight away the float buries and a big fish is hooked, let’s hope it’s a big perch but the speed of this fish has me thinking otherwise and after a tense fight a pike is somehow bundled into the net. Now I know why the swim died so suddenly! The pike is released well away from the swim and once again after feeding the bites return with some nice net perch showing along with the odd gudgeon and a surprise minnow, now I haven’t caught one of these for years.

Heading Home Happy

The early morning cloud cover has now given way to bright blue skies, however with the minnow, hearing my first cuckoo of the year as well as catching some quality fish in beautiful surroundings it’s time to head home one happy angler.

Colin Sheppard