I’ve recently been spending a fair amount of time fishing on the Rochdale Canal – a venue where I spent alot of time fishing with my father as a child. Back in the day, our quarry was the incredibly large roach which used to inhabit the canals crystal clear water. I have forgotten now how many roach over 2lbs i caught from there but still have memories of catching one on a 9ft bamboo garden cane rod, after hiding myself in a tree.
Since the re-introduction of boat traffic to the canal, these mega roach seem to have disappeared, along with the crystal clear water – nothing stays the same indefinitely – some people call it progress.
Maybe at the expense of the large roach, the tench population seems to have soared over the last 20 years or so, and its these tench which i have been recently targeting.
I’ve been trying out various combinations of baits recently – starting off very successfully on maggot over micro pellets, then switching to hemp and caster which didn’t seem as productive, 6mm expander pellet over micros saw me catching a few fish but I’ve now finally settled on bread flake over 2mm and 4mm pellet as the killer technique.
Yesterday evening I had two cracking fish, and in the last couple of weeks I haven’t had a fish under 2 and a half pounds – which is amazing fishing for a canal.
The swims have also been interesting – some are much more productive than others – and also some are more homely than others – as this picture from last Thursday afternoon shows the contrast between my swim, and the 5* swim (including bench, flower beds and faux water pump) which Paul nabbed. My swim despite its rustic nature had tench in it though.
I’ve also had to uprate the elastic on the pole I’ve been using to a 16 – as the better fish fight like stink and are very canny at throwing the hook in the marginal rushes.
There seem to be definate feeding spells at the moment – its possible to sit for ages without a bite – then two or three fish come in a short space of time. Usually at the same time of day.
I’m not complaining though, i just cant get enough of this place at the moment.
Alan Yates says
where abouts its that stretch?
Mike Duddy says
near Boarshaw cemetry – though quality tench can be found in the canal anywhere from failsworth to rochdale
themadmanc says
nice report mate,and a very posh peg lol……….i fished that stretch goto be 10 years ago,pass boarshaw cem then over the bridge and turn left you used to be able to park just over the bridge,
anyway i used to walk this stretch and fish spot with it being gin clear this paricular day there was a guy fishing and watched and talked for abit with him he hooked a tench gave him a good scrap pushing 6lb,was amazed then she showed me his keepnet which had another 5-6 in there he was fishing just with corn and worms,
thats was it i fllew home got my gear and was back within the hour and started catching aswell overall we had around 35 between from 2lb up to 8lb,
what a great day never repeated the amounts but the quality is still there.
there a some cracking fish in that canal and when you get a lot of them on the bank look uncaught not a mark on them.
Purplepeanut007 says
Got my pb Tench 6 lb further down near Cadderton b4 the big loc behind the housing estate. It used to be great down there 10 years ago. Very big nets of tench were possible but not fished it for quite a while.
Harrison Dinsdale says
I fish the canal now, had a decent bream out just 3 days ago. I caught it on double maggot, i find the simpler rigs work better. I've tried feeder fishing etc. before and only end up with 3-4oz perch. I use a waggler and land some of the biggest fish I've ever caught. Thanks for the nice article.
Anonymous says
hello, looks a idylic spot. what book is that stretch on please.
Matt