I seldom, if ever, fish in the canal, and when I do, I walk away with a bad taste in my mouth as far as losing tackle on the bottom there.

A few weeks ago, I take my step-son and decide, what the heck, let's toss a line in the canal. I get what was one hell of a run on my pole, reel the fish in close but lose it in the rocks 5ft from me.

I get pissed. I'm out of bait. Swore I'll never go back again.

A week and some more days ago, I relent and go fishing with my brother who loves fishing the Canal. Nothing again.

Yesterday, I was having major fishing withdrawals, having not fished in 10 days, glad to be done moving to a new pad. I land a 21in for my first, and a 20in for my 2nd. There, my canal fishin virginity is broken big time.

:claps: :claps:


I've always fished off the boat, all over falmouth, plymouth, onset and a number of places, but avoided the Canal.

One thing I learned from my brother, cast my tackle in the direction of the current, and that will reduce my tackle losses in the bottom. :)

Now, I have a price to pay. Sunburn. :)

CONGRATS!!!:claps:

Congrats

My personal feelings are if I catch a fish in the canal and another fish of the EXACT SAME SIZE elsewhere, I feel MUCH better about the canal fish...

It can be a worth adversary...

*love it*

I don't know. Both of the stripers I reeled in weren't much of a fight. I don't know if it was the current that may ahve tired them out beforehand?

I've had much smaller stripers fight harder off the Falmouth shores.

If you fish in the canal, you will always loose tackle. Just buy enough so that you can fish the whole tide. Don't expect to go to the canal with one hook and sinker and stay fishing all day.
I pour my own sinkers and on a normal outing loose 5 or 6 of them.

Originally posted by striprman
If you fish in the canal, you will always loose tackle. Just buy enough so that you can fish the whole tide. Don't expect to go to the canal with one hook and sinker and stay fishing all day.
I pour my own sinkers and on a normal outing loose 5 or 6 of them.

i have one of those old sinker molds from the 1940s it was my grampas

congrats jugstah.

Originally posted by CANAL RAT
i have one of those old sinker molds from the 1940s it was my grampas
Your grampa must have been a very wise and knowledgable fisherman. He knew that in order to catch fish in the canal, you are going to loose a few sinkers.

Thanks for the kudos.

Striprman, do you have any specific strategies you follow to reduce the amount of tackle lost to the Canal?

Originally posted by jugstah
Thanks for the kudos.

Striprman, do you have any specific strategies you follow to reduce the amount of tackle lost to the Canal?

dont use pyramid sinkers in the canal!!!!!!

Ya, when you go to reel in, once you get the sinker/rig dislodged off the bottom, don't stop cranking until it is reeled all the way in, hold the tip of your rod as high as possible and crank the rig in as fast as you can so it never comes close to touching bottom again once it is first dislodged. If you let the rig settle or dip after getting it dislodged you will always loose the rig. Crank it as fast as you can and the rig will come up and stay off the ledge/snags.
When I feel the rig is close sometime I snap it in, so it flys out of the water.
If you got a big ball of weeds on your rig, same thing, put some muscle behind it and crank like a maniac, don't let the rig sink a second time.


Use a sinker thats heavy enough to hold bottom. 5 ounces
even during "slack" tide.

I use 60 pound test mono and 100 pound 3 foot leader. Seem like heavy line? Yes it is, sometimes I can bend the hook off a snag. If I use a fishfinder, the little plastic ring will rip but I'll get my hook/swivel/leader back.
Big fish will strike bait fished on a 100 pound test piece of clear Ande and the heavy line has caught me more than a few nice ones that would have been "sawed #^&#^&#^&#^& in the rocks using a lighter line. I use lighter line on a sandy beach, the canal is no place for light line if you want to consistantly catch nice ones. You might get lucky and catch a few using light line, but your going to end up getting sawed off on the rocky ledge and rocks more often than not.

Canal Rat- I'm smart enough to know better than to use a pyramid sinker in the Ditch. I use flat sinkers, seems to be the best bet for that type of bottom.

Striprman- sounds good, although I use my rods more for surf off Falmouth than in the Canal, so I'm using 30lb extra tough trilene, i'll just have to take my chances with this... until I buy a new rod/reel specific for the Canal.

However, I think your suggestions re: the leader rig and all sounds like an good plan to me, I'll get crackin'...

-Dan

Realize this, I fish the tide, not the time of day. I go a little before slack low and fish a rising tide with bait on the bottom. I've caught some pretty nice ones at 1:00 in the afternoon on bright sunny days with lots of boat traffic.

I use eels at night (as well as bait) and jigs and poppers in the morning. Remember, the "cycle" and the best fishing is usually a pre low slack to rising early in the morning on the canal.

I can't cast as well as I could 20 years ago, the old back just isn't up to it any more. Thats why I fish bait alot. But, if I think I can catch a few casting, I'll still give it a shot. Plus, bait catches any time of day or night (depending on the tide).