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Wednesday 6 August 2014

Kennet & Avon Canal Wilcot stretch



Well another day of my summer leave and another day down on the canal. I had already made my mind up that I was going to the Wilcot Road stretch on the K&A due to easy access, the issue would be finding somewhere to fish as come the summer months the boats tend to double along the bank side and finding somewhere can be a pain. Still the decision had been made and after packing my kit I set of on the 20 minute car journey down the road. Having looked at the weather report I had mixed feeling as to what the weather would do today on route there were dark clouds with the occasional spit of rain, however the weather man had said it would clear up quickly (only time would tell)
On arriving at Wilcot the car was parked and a quick walk down the bank confirmed what I had already thought boats everywhere. Having walked up and down the stretch I settled on a swim not far from the bridge where there was a narrow boat secured on the opposite bank (a feature to fish to at least) Looking at the swim I had the boat to my right and a bank of reeds to my left. The plan was set, 2 lines fished to the far bank one just off the reeds at 11 o’clock and another one in between a tree that was directly in front of me and the boat at 2 o’clock. Both swims provided shade from the sun that was now starting appear however I knew that by midday the reeds swim could possibly slow down if the shade disappears so this swim would be fished first before moving across onto my right hand swim where by the looks of it would be in the shade all day. I deliberately didn’t set up a track line due to the amount of boats that travel up and down the stretch and for me to catch 100-200 fish they would be sat on the far bank as the boats yet again passed closer to my side of the bank than across due to the tree, plus they would also have to slow down due to going under the bridge so hoping on minimal disturbance to the swims.
Setting up didn’t take long before I was looking for around about 1-2ft on the far bank which I found just off the reeds, I am a firm believer of the 2ft rule and have fished a few different canals in the past where this has paid off. I find the depth just right for fishing either squatt or pinkie across.
Having found just under 2ft on the reeds swim and a 1 ½ on the boat swim my rigs were adjusted accordingly. My reed swim consisted of a Richard Lattimer squatt float 4x10 to a 0.8mm mainline and a 4inch 0.06mm hooklength with a bulk and 2 droppers with a size 22 B511 hook. The boat swim was the same again a Richard Lattimer squatt float this time 3x9 with a 0.08mm mainline and a 0.06mm hooklength with a spread out shotting pattern finished off with a B511 size 20 hook (so I could switch to double pinkie)
Now the reed swim would be fed with pinkie and groundbait and fished positively with regular top ups after every boat and fished out, where the boat swim would be fed with pinkie only (no pole or cad pots just pinging it across little and often) the reason being I wanted to see if the stamp of fish would change depending on how the swim was fed and fished (would I catch more just off the deck or on the drop)
Having fed 2 golf ball size balls of ground bait one lased with pinkie across on the reed swim it was off to work, almost straight away the float shot under and it wasn’t long before I got into a rhythm of head down putting together 50 fish in the first hour with regular top ups of ground bait as per the boat traffic which started to pick throughout the morning. With the shade slowly starting to disappear on the far bank the fish was starting to back off before the float shot under and my number 3 elastic shot out and steamed of down the canal, after a quick and brief fight a nice 1lb hybrid was in the net. With 76 fish on the clicker I fished out the reed swim till I hit 100 fish, it was clear with the sun beaming down the fish had moved. No worries 100 fish in the net and now time to move to the boat swim.
There were plenty of signs there were fish in the swim from me just pinging pinkie over but would they be a better stamp than what I had caught over to my left. With an hour and a half left of how long I wanted to spend on the bank I was keen to hit another 100 fish off this swim as well. It didn’t take long to realise that this was going to be achievable the fish were there in numbers and also a better stamp. I would feed 5 pinkies lay the rig in the float would settle then gone, with the boat traffic still steadily going up and down the canal the better stamp would back off before moving back in after a couple of minutes. Clearly just feeding pinkie without groundbait seem to attract the better stamp of fish yet no elastic ripping bonus fish was seen over the next hour or so. With 10 minutes to go and the clicker hitting the 200 mark I called it a day. Another good day on the K&A canal with the canal in fine form at the minute, 2 visits with a pint of pinkie and a kilo and a half of groundbait and 400 fish later shows there is plenty of sport to be had on the canal its just a matter of keeping it simple.
That 2 stretches of the K&A canal complete which is run by PDAA question is which stretch will I end up on next ?

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