Fishing the Hungerford Canal
Who said having a week off meant lots of fishing...................mine has consisted of gardening, decoration and everything apart fishing, but on Wednesday I told the world to do one as I was going fishing.

This time me and Steve were both free so we decided on the Hungerford canal to try and catch a few Perch and to try out the new lure kit.

I picked Steve up at a leisurely 8:30am after popping to Bato Baits in Basingstoke for a few maggots, there was no rush at all this morning as the pet shop selling the permits in Hungerford town centre where not open until 9am, so it was a nice lying.

After getting the permits we parked up next to the Church as we have before {due to free parking} and with the lure gear out consisting of a small waist bag of lures and scales, net and my new rod and reel.

I was lucky enough to win this Fox Ultron jig and spin rod earlier in the year at a lure weekend at Anglers Paradise for biggest Trout, coupled with a new Quantum spinning reel.

We started right next to the Church where there is a small bridge to left, we headed right up the canal. The weather was looking perfect, a nice amount of cloud cover, maybe a bit warn for my liking but bearable, the water was sadly very coloured and due to a lot of boat traffic locks where being opened either side of us, so one minute it flowed left then right.

We walked a couple of miles up the canal with not so much as a nibble, at this point I was just using a small jelly lure and changing the colours as we went, Steve had the first right at the end of the stretch we could fish, a nice Perch of about a pound.

It was time for a change for me as nothing had really happened, so it was time for a bit of drop shotting, a big craze in angling now and completely new to me so time to give a shot.

After walking back up to the top of the run and still with no fish I gave up on the lures, although we did see a horse drawn canal boat, which is a first for me these days but great to see.

After a pasty or two from a lovely bakery in Hungerford town we decided to crack out the float fishing gear and try for a bite or two this method.

We setup near the rear of the church where we have had luck before and began fishing, I setup towards the front of the boat moored here, there was a few small trees to sit under, which was good for staying out of the sun but bad for everything fishing related as it was near impossible to lift the rod due to branches, but worth the risk of not burning in the now blistering heat.

I was using a small 10ft float rod with a centre pin reel loaded with 4lb line to a 3lb hooklink using a size 18 hook baited with 2 maggots. After plumbing up it was a short wait to catch the first fish in the shape of a small Perch. The fishing was steady with plenty of fish including Roach, Rudd, Skimmers and Perch. Soon most of the fish had disappeared except the Perch which were feeding well and I had them up to around 1lb and good fun on light gear. With loads of Perch caught I wanted to catch a few Ruffe, Steve had a few in his swim at the rear of the boat but I think with all the Perch about they were a bit scarce.  I decided to move to my left a bit next to the bridge to see what was home turns out not a lot, after about an hour I had a couple of bites but no fish, so we decided to call it a day and head home.

For me a great but disappointing day, float fishing was brilliant but was only packed as a secondary method hoping to catch a few on lures, but the lure fishing was poor I think due to the conditions but you can't win them all, or catch them all in this case.

Free Fishing on the Thames.

Today we had decided to fish the fantastic River Thames on the Kingston stretch, its a part of the Thames we have wanted to fish for a long time and decided its time to pay it a visit. But after being told by 2 different people that it will fish hard unless we get some rain did we waste our time...

We decided to leave nice and early so as to have plenty of time to search for decent swims, so I pulled up outside Steve's house at 5am still in the pitch black and we set off to Kingston.

We pulled up in the small turnout next to the start of the stretch about 6am and still dark, we went for a walk along the path looking for some good looking areas, a couple of swims down there seemed to be quite a lot of disturbance on the surface so we got some gear and started to set up, I decided to use a Barbel rod on a quiver set-up with a medium fixed spool reel loaded with 6lb line, cage feeder with a 4lb hook link to a size 14 hook baited with either maggots, worm or corn. I also had another Barbel rod same set-up but size 10 hook baited with a big worm as a sleeper rod hoping for a bonus Perch.

As we started to be able to see the River it was obvious we was going to have our work cut out as the River was low, slow and very clear.

Sadly it was becoming obvious the fish were not really playing ball, with no bites in the first few hours, but I was watching all the Bleak jumping out in front of me and could take it no more, I had a backup float rod with a centre pin on and 3lb line so decided to go for some Bleak, and I caught loads.

The Thames is a quite unique place to fish and can be hard to concentrate on the fishing with so much going on around, by midday we had had a bike rally/race behind us, probably over 2000 bikes in total, there was a small boat with a huge speaker on the front blasting out reggae music, and we still had a few hours left.

By about 5pm we decided to pack up, mainly because there was some eastern Europeans starting to fish next to us and they were so loud I couldn't handle it anymore.

On reflection the fishing was very hard, Steve had one Bream which was our target fish, I had a lot of Bleak and a few small Perch, but the place itself is so different to fish that it was enjoyable even with a lack of fish, loved it, and looking forward to returning with a bit of pace and colour in the water.

Hungerford Canal

Today we decided to fish hungerford canal. To be honest I am not a massive fan of some canal fishing. The local canal to me can be very tricky at best. Luckily hungerford canal is completely different and although a syndicate water you can buy day tickets from local tackle shops, we got ours from experience fishing. 

I love winter fishing, the colder the better, a good frost on the ground is perfect, although close it was not quite a frost at 6 in the morning when I left to pick Steve up. 

We arrived in hungerford about 6:45am at parked next to the church as it's a known area for producing big Perch, which was our quarry. 

It was just starting to get light just after 7, we decided to start by lure fishing the stretch carrying the bare minimum as we would be walking in the region of 6 miles. I used a 10 ft commercial float rod with a small fixed spool with quick drag and 6lb reel line, and small rubber jigs. We started by turning right at the church and working our way along casting nearly constantly leap frogging past each other. 

Just after the town wharf Steve had the first Perch followed very shortly by me, nothing huge but great fun. 

It was soon clear there are many Perch in the canal making it a joy to fish. I have done very little Perch fishing so my PB was only just over 1lb, which was soon beaten with a 1lb 2oz, not by a lot but still great. We had a fair few Perch walking up the canal, Steve also had a Jack Pike. 

Once we had walked for sometime we turned back and walked back casting in the same spots we had them the other way. 

As it was about 1pm by the time we was back to the start we put the gear back in the car and walked into town for a spot of lunch.

Once refuelled we changed tactics for the float and headed to the bridge next to the church for a bit of static fishing.  

It didn't take long after trickling in a few maggots to get some bites, mainly from Dace and small Roach but soon a few more bigger Perch came in. Then out of the blue something bigger was on, I thought it was a big Perch or even a Chub but when I saw the red fins I could not believe it even a boat driver going past commented on its size as it slipped into the net. I soon called Steve over for the pictures and to weigh it, I must admit I thought it was easy 2lb it looked massive, on the scales it went 1lb 15oz, not quite but still a PB and I was over joyed, I still think the Roach is the most beautiful of coarse fish. 

Steve soon came running over with a clonking great Ruff, I had never caught a Ruff so I used 2 maggots instead of 3 and fished slightly over depth and soon had my prize, and perch looking little fish, brilliant. 

It was now starting to get dark but just before I packed up the float was away again, this time a good Perch. At 1lb 10oz was another PB. With that I decided was a great way to end, what a cracking day, 3 PB's in one day and a beautiful venue, may have to return soon.