Canal Carping, 15 years later and still loving it....

In June 95 I started my 2 part article in carpworld, I have been canal fishing for 4 years now and I can honestly say it’s hard to catch a carp. However, the carp you do catch are fish you will never forget.

Ten years after the first article, I still fish the ever so hard Kempish kanaal (canal) 7-8 section (K.K.7-8). I fell in love with this water, from the first glimps!! Althouge it has changed a lot over the years. And altoughe it’s the most hard/pressured water I ever fished and carp are very clued up and can cost you some blanking.

For me it’s the history.. the fish gone by (Rambo at 28kg, De Groten at 34kg+, De Lange at 28kg+, RIP) and the present stock (The trigga at over 40, One Eye at 45+ and a few commons nearing the 20kg mark) that inspire me to fish this lovely section.

But there are so many good canals, so in the last 5 years I have fished other canals (like the Albert canal and a few others, even in France) with success. But I keep going back to fish my first love, to fish it in winter (a couple of sessions a year). I’ll try to get more into depth on K.K.7-8 later, first lets look to..

What to look for/Location;

In general! I try to find out what the stock is like (if that’s possible about, big fish, smaller fish) but this can variate from section to section and from canal to canal. So before you start fishing, do your home work.

After I know what is swimming around in there, I look at the nature/shape of the section, like bents, bays, narrowings. Everything that brakes with the monotony of the canal is worth a closer look, things you think my attract the carp.

It is very important to plumb the swim/area and I mean a thoroughly examination of the bottom. Every inch needs to be investigated for possible features and structue of the bottom. Only this way you will, get the whole picture of the water and find a lot of intresting stuff down below the serface. I look for holes/gullys, little sand plataues and mussel beds (watch the wild life).

I do this with a polle rod of about 10 meters long, using a light lead and float to find what I’m looking for and walk the bank and feel the bottom (with the help of soft rod tip and light lead). This way you find the deeper gully and everything ells you need to find. These gullys are visited by the carp because they are food pockets. But do not neglect the center/middle of the canal (and on some old canals with no more barge traffic, the snages and overhanging bushes/trees).

Baits that were put in the margins, will end up in the middle (if they are not in the gully) because of the barge traffic (they suck everything to the middle) on narrow canals (like K.K.) I call it the bait highway. Fish petrol this route all the time (see diaram B) maybe not feeding, but they could be? And this is why I talk about thoroughly plumbing the area. Because if you find a gully! The best gully is one that connects to the middle! So if petroling the center, they can easely swim in and out of such gullys (see diagram A). You see after a good plumbing about, the swim that looked so good on the outside is not at all good down below.

It’s not always the good looking areas from the anglers point of view. Because it can be better on the more monoton sections, because under the water there can be a feature even silty pockets can be the kye to success. So get that polle rod out and start looking. The technique and tactics have changed over the years with improvements in all things (I’ll come to that later).

Even the results of some anglers, have gone from strength to strength after taking up canal carping here in Belgium. Every year there are carp caught, some anglers could only dream about (30kg+ commons). But very often some say it’s to dam hard and a waste of time. Yeah for the anglers with the wrong attitude or the faint harted.

It could not be the right choice, but for the dedicated anglers like myself and many of my mate it’s a whole new world a new dimension or even better a new challenge with high rewards! Ok you have found a few good spots/areas to fish on (also a good spot is a culvert), that you think or because you know for sure, because of previous observarions! That you stand a chance to catch. I even saw carp in the clear water on a Sunday when the locks stay close for the day.

If you can observe carp when approaching your bait or baited area from above. You will open your eyes!! It’s like they got a sixth sence and instinctively know something is not right. When you can watch them from up close, you will see (flat on my belly on the ground, looking over the edge into the water) in the behavior of the carp (the way he acts) when a rig is present.

Pressured fish (like the once on the K.K.) just know, and they will move off or feed on the bait but not take the hookbait. Most of the times it’s the line or tubing on the set-up that will have spooked the carp. By back-leading the line and removing the tubing the fish act more relaxed. So that’s why I try to observe the fish I’m after, because if you have no idea on how they behave you will never know how to fish for them. There will be more clues throughout this article on what to look for but lets move on…

Tactics, Rigs and Bait;

Remember every water is different and one certain technique/rig may not be as succesfull as another. It’s up to you, to try out the things you want, because carp angling is no rocket sience!

On the tackle side of things, I can be sort. Use the best, stuff you are confident in, tackle that will not fail when you got the one monster on the other end. The choice of tackle, again can depend on the angling situation at hand and the swim.

These 2 factors will dictate wich tackle and approche to use. My rods (Grey's Prodigy carp rods) are soft tip parabolic 12” 2lb3/4 but are perfect alround tools. They cast leads up to 5oz and they are very nice playing fish under the rod tip.

The lines I use, are 29lb braid (for most of my fishing) and X-line fluorocarbon (because it’s invisibilety) for the more pressured fish and sometimes I use quicksilver shock leader (for the real extrem situations).

My hooklink material is IQ from Korda, I use the 25lb, 20lb (for stiff rigs) and the 15lb for normal rigs. I also started to use coated braids from Kryston again, like snake-bite and mantis (great stuff, coated and striped) never lets me down and I also have been using the range of Sufix hooklinks like Heavy, supper and stealth skin (supper fast sinking braid with a stiff removable coating).

Oh and the hooks, well very simple ESP raptors Big-T in size 8,9, the Gardner Incizors semi long shank in size 8 and than the new Hybrid range of hooks from Korda in again the saller sizes ( the long shanks X size 10 are awesome hooks). Yeah I use small hooks (some laugh with it over here) but I caught real big fish on real small hooks!! It’s a confidence thing.

I know I can rely on the stuff I use, because I could be fishing near the pilons in the marina, locks and briges. It’s sometimes wise to use back leads or changing the line angle to approach a particular spot/swim. All praperations stand or fall, on selecting the right approach/rig. I use a selection of good rigs that work very well for me in certain situations.

Thy are the recoil, combi rigs, stiff rig, standard linealiner (sometimes 40cm long hooklinks) and the ever so succesfull stick rig. All rigs that have caught me fish in the past and will in the future, on the pressured and not so pressured canals. But a good rig is not all, you need a good bait to! If you want to be concistant, every bait will catch, but good baits stand out.

That’s why I use Mainline baits, activ-8 (my favourit on K.K.7-8) activ maple-8 and the Fusion. Now the application can be tricky!! HOW MUCH?? Many think, the only way you can hold carp in the spot is a lot of bait (maybe on other canals) but certainly not on the K.K. The others say you have to minimize your baiting (like we do on the Kempish) say 5 baits in an area around your hookbait. But it’s all down to wich typ of canal you fish, some respond to a lot of bait, others don’t.

Just be wise about it, not like we saw last year on the Kempish… 5 baiting teams, baiting different or the same areas on section 7-8, this is not the way (and it will get worst, because of the legal night in Belgium from this year 2004.

For about 65euro you can night fish on 29 canals in flanders, so more anglers on the bank). Be wise, we all want a chance on a fish. On the K.K. at the moment, I would fish (I gave up trying this winter!! To much bait is ruining it for a lot of anglers who know better) single hookbaits with a stick and boilies pre-soaked in KK water for a couple of hours. I do this because KK fish don’t like fresh baits (DANGER!!!). And also because, it’s the difrence between catching or blanking.

But because of the pressure + a lot of bait going in the carp on 7-8 are getting more tricky to catch, all succesfull anglers say this. You see success and failier go hand in hand, but who am I to tell you how to fish. I’m only trying to get my point across and give some guide lines on how I would do it (and have respect for my fellow anglers). But just think about it?

The carp on canals with flow/current (the once with boat traffic on) are 70% of the time on the move, not only to look for food. But if they do look for food, they use there scent to track down a food source. Because of the discoulerd water, the carp will have dificultys finding the source, but by feeling and smelling hi will find his food.

When he found the bait, the carp will change his position from slightly horizontal to almost vertical, depending on the attainability of the bait, the flow and the weight of the bait. After picking up the bait, the carp will correct his position from vertical back to nearly horizontal. This will take a lot of coordination for the carp, he uses his pectoral fins to do this movement.

On stagnant water this is easy for the carp, because the carp will stay in the same position of the tree-dimensional level. But because of the flow, the carp on canals will always have to move to maintain his position. And because carp have difficultys doing this up and down moving in the flow. That we anglers have an edge! But remember only on waters with flow/current. This fact has to be in the back of your mind, when you try other rigs.

A good spot, bait (used in a sensible way) and a rig!! And you will reap the rewards.

My Diary;

As we and many other locals will strugel on K.K. in the future. There are a lot of other canals, and because most canals are fairly easy accessible. Not that it’s always allowed to drive/use the track/tow path. But this way it’s easy to do some pioneering! Yeah even here in Belgium there are hundreds of them to fish on, with no or little angling pressure (but a lot of people these days, just look at big, big, bigger fish) what about the angling itself??

We (me and my mate Jurgen) found a very old canal in the middle of nowere. And with the knolege of fishing other canals, we went for it. We did not know anything about this canal, but we did some plumbing and looking around and tried it and struck gold! Success staight away.

We also did some looking around on the Frence canals in the north, and must say. We saw some nice waters, and caught a few good fish. On one of them we had 10 fish in 2 nights with fish up to 34lb8oz (on a water we did know nothing about!!). It was like I sayed new to us, but we enjoyed catching these unknown fish.

Lamping;

Lamping is something I heard talking about by Nick Helleur and is a good poachers trick. It would have been very handy on K.K. (but other anglers) may think your going mad! But I have used this trick to my advantage, on other canals. By using a bright light beam (from a torch/lamp) shining the light beam in the water (into clear water) is a very good method for locating fish (on the sometimes very long monoton canals).

Walking the bank or even better with a boat, the light beam will aluminat the fishes body like a big reflector (the fish don’t spook from the light) and with a strong torch it will do this to 15 feed deep. Lamping is a first classe method only the water must be clear and the weather needs to be calm (no wind), very good on frosty nights with full moon!! And if you do your home work and know where the spots are lamping can be the trick. I have used lamping on a few occasions with success, in France (in the north) are a lot of canals with potential. And because I like a challenge (the still unknown French canals) but with the knolege of fishing the Belgian canals.

We did the same, and found the same things as on the canals over here. On one canal I found a gully of six feed under/deep, 6 feed wide and connected to the middle. This swim was 150 meters down stream from a grain silo, I lamped the gully (I found during the day) on the second trip there (we do short 2 night sessions, on these new fields and move every 12/24 hours) to learn as much as possible about the canal. I saw more than 2 fish in this gully (I could see them because of the light beam) in the clear water on that Sunday evening. We caught 3 thirtys (2 at night and I had the last one in the morning, before packing in) but I’m sure I saw (know they were in the area) 2 of the 3 fish we caught, by lamping this gully.

So is canal fishing that hard? It dos not have to be! (but it can be!). It’s just a question of following the right steps, it’s not just doing the hours on the bank (fishing), no but a good approach is essential. The angler as to think about all things and canal angling stand or falls on a good preperation. Do your home work, before you get out there and remember it’s the details you have to look at.

In Depth Look At K.K.

As I promest in the beginning of this article, a closer look at the world famous Kempish canal. Rod Simpson mentioned in an article he wrote, that the K.K. was home of the Belgian record (De Grote at 34kg+ RIP) and that there was no night fishing allowed! A few things have changed, like the night fishing is legal from now on and other fish are ruling the water. The night fishing became legal on 01.01.2004, and this because the VBK never gave up the fight to get this law trough. So a well don to all who helped achieving this great step in Belgian carp history.

And to all anglers, who will be visiting/fishing Belgium this year. Return your fish from were you caught it, don’t make a mess and have respect for the locals (who fished here long before you!!). Because, if we (the carp anglers) don’t behave on the bank, they can take night fishing away again and we don’t want that (it took the VBK 10 years to convince the politicians, we mean well) so hope we don’t spoil it. Night fishing is allowed on 29 canals in Belgium, no lakes but it’s a start. But these waters hold some massive fish, like on the Albert canal and the Kempish kanaal (see diagram C) and there are 27 more to fish on.. But I still return to fish the lovely, mysterious K.K. and although there are 10 sections. All capable of producing carp over 50,60lb, I manly fish on the 7-8 section.

This section is the cherry on the cake, although after 25 years of service there is a bit of a rancid taste. But this section is so mysterious, that you can catch them everywere (one day) and nowere (the other day) you can’t draw a line, there is no pattern. The only line you can draw, are the hotspots (find them!!) and maybe you got a chance. I tend to fish the gullys/holles (the once who are connected to the middle) a lot, because during the week (the time I’m out fishing, don’t like weekends) I had a few takes in a gully after a barge passed. The fish vist these spots, because food gathers of all sorts and these spots are good for fishing (and your presantation stays ok). If you know the spots (gully) try lamping, even on the K.K. you maybe see one of the big boys and catch it.

In winter I only use single hookbaits with a stick. I have found that fishing at the right spot for a couple of hours, is more effective than staying there for 24 hours or longer. More often you catch one in less than 12 hours (if your in the right spot at the right time). On this section, mobility is a key factor and if you catch one, I normaly move because (more than once, I have stayed) and no more carp was caught. Doubt is always playing with you on 7-8, but there is always a possibilety if you move. It’s a personal thing, I like the challenge to keep trying until I get it right. Because blanking can become a habit.

Feeding times are very typical on 7-8, from January till May and from half September till December the best time to fish is during the day. A lot of anglers think you need to do the hours (nights, long sessions) but that is not the case. There are a lot of specific peculiaritys on 7-8, that effect your angling. That you best learn to single out all of them, to be succesfull on 7-8. You can talk and share info, but water craft can’t be learned in books. Water craft is something you learn on the bank and not in an hour, but after days, months even years. To be on the lookout, watching the water day and night, food for thought!! Like knowing when to get out there? 7-8 is a section that has 3 good spels before the 16th of April (start of the former close season).

At least twice in the first 3 months of the year, when the water temp is over 10c for a week. (remember that there is a power station on section 5-6 and they dump there cooling water in section 6-7. This warm water comes in the K.K. via the congo canal (not allowed to fish there). And because all this warm water it can be that the water temp on 7-8 is more then 10c in the winter). It’s at this period, that more fish get caught than the time inbetween. If the temp is stable (+- 8c) and there is a sunny day it can be bingo again.

A 3th and 4th good period is at the end of March if the water temp is more than 15c all this togheter with a good spring weather results in top days on 7-8. It dos not matter were you sit, in the front (near lock 7) in the middle or in the back (near lock 8) in this period a few of the big fish will be caught.

In the auttnum it’s different, than it’s best to be in the middle section. Between/around “den 42” and het wit huis (the wite house), if the pressure is not to mutch this is the top area. Lets all respect the new law (and fish with the 2 rods allowed) licences can be bought at the post office (ask for the small 15euro and the big 50euro licence) you need the 2, if you wanna fish at night.

Be lucky, and maybe see ya somewere

Tight lines

Tommy De Cleen