If you weren't at the canal this morning you missed it...
 

Unfortunately, if you WERE at the canal this morning.... You ALSO missed it.

8 hours
Saw 3 fish caught.

Ugh

People get discouraged way too easily, it seems. Yesterday it was elbow to elbow almost the whole Canal, both sides, and the fishing stunk.

This morning, 4:40 AM, Capeside, I could park anywhere I wanted--even at Halfway Gate. Of course, the fishing still stunk, but it was a great morning to be out and about, if on the cool side. And I did manage a couple of small keepers.

Too many people still chase reports and yesterday's fish, or in this case, yesterday's lack of fish.

Don't you know fish don't bite on weekends.

It was an even better morning for sleeping in.

Afterhours' luck rubbed off me with a near flat, broken guides, and my goto rod in the shop. Amongst other things.

With all the trucks on the mainland side its a good thing the canal didn't tip over.

I think the amount of trucks on the cape side kept the balance nicely this weekend.

Nice fishing with ya for a bit Professor M. Always cool to see and S-B er. Also, i think i passed Rappin Mikey on the pike today.

What were you using for plugs ?

Sometimes all they want is a certain color or profile usually depending on bait present.

was on the canal cape side about 4am, 1st cast hook up, after that a few bumps, then sun up fish started breaking I said to myself okay this might be good after all, until that damn tug went thru and screwed everything up,

likewise.
Always a pleasure seeing fellow sber's and the non stop action didn't hurt.

after some of the crowds the rocks are littered
with garbage. I hope this doesn't get the canal
folks all upset. If you see some trash and can
carry it up to garbage can please try. The fish
pier cutting tables are turning into sewers of
dried blood and guts. Some are screwing it up
for all.

Couldn,t fish this weekend,But checked traps-AM low yesterday,guys fishing where great while I pulled & reset.We all can get along!

I had a great weekend fishing the canal, I didn't care if there were fish or not, I am so relaxed right now

i was there at the sagamore around 8:30 saw some fresh fillets on the rocks someone had left behind and at the train bridge arouund 9:45 only saw 1 little minnow swim by.anyone catch the story about the mackerial swimming up into the rocks on wed or thr ,herd guys were loosing spools.( tuna)?just a story.
but anyhow no keepers today just a lot of small talk with the local walkers.

I wouldnt consider myself discouraged at all. It was great just getting out there for the first time this year. I just built up my expections too high in my excitement

As for mackerel - we found about 1/2 dozen fresh ones in the rocks at low tide and saw a few live ones darting about

Also got to talk to a few disgruntled Bruins fans...
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I saw several plugs floating by on Friday. Must have been some excited anglers. Plugging is so much easier than jigging
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A couple of things i notice with an increase in traffic down there. One is the obvious increase in litter. Annoying but to be expected. The worst is used toilet paper being blown all over the place. If i was a homeowner along the water i would be raising a stink with the ACOE and the selectmen/town officials.

The other thing that i notice is the lack of etiquette that comes a long with a crowd that has people new to the canal that didnt get a chance to pull their heads outta their asses at 5AM. Today took the cake. Two guys in waders in a place that you dont need waders (99% of the canal...) they set up shop about 10 feet from two guys. 10 feet to the side and 15' in front of them, down stream. The isnt Montauk guys. I keep to myself when fishing most of the time and pretty much avoid confrontation. But they would have never gotten to their rocks if i was near them. Common sense goes a long way. Canal rant for the day is over, carry on.

LOL! Too funny.

those were probably all mine :smash: sebile ghost anyone? Sleep deprivation even worse then excitement on that front.

In november I put Friday-today on the yahoo calendar so the wife knew not to plan anything. Didn't take the day from work Friday as working was the right thing to do :yak5:. Got there at 8:30ish Friday night. "Shoulda been here anytime between tuesday and 8:30 pm friday" :) Not a bad weekend overall, but talk about a just missed it...

The first part sounds like us, but I am pretty sure the second part wasn't. We did however get hijacked this morning like I haven't experienced before. There are many places in the canal that are much better to fish with waders. Why you would want to take them on and off when you are fishing several different spots over 12 hours, I don't know. Funny when waders become a white bucket label :fishin: :rotf2:

I am very discouraged now cuz I was there with BrianS. -__- Lol. yeah, I think that today was okay, but hopefully, we will get a better luck soon

Funny. I have turned into a "canal rat" this year and have spent plenty of time on the rocks. I have been under the tutorlage of 2 of the "masters" of the Canal, who will remain nameless.
Anyway, Sat morning was my best so far with 7 fish from 12 or 13# to my last fish, just before dawn at 30# weighed at Red Top. All the fish were in the dark on large, home made Dannys and Pikies and a humping West tide.

Oh, yeah, there wasn't a sole around me until after it got light.

sunday was good w/ lots of fish....u just had to be in the right spot,with the right lure .

That's fairly common among some of the bigger #^&#^&#^&#^&heads here. It's their way of forcing you out. I would never set up too close uptide to guys in waders who got there before me, but when they do that, I tell them this---I was here first, I'm not moving, and I'm not changing what I'm doing and/or adjusting my drift for you. If a hook puts a tear in those waders, or even worse, your thigh, you had fair warning.

I completely misinterpreted what Rob Rock was talking about (sleep deprivation is beautiful). These guys highjacked and got in the water downstream? Here I thought Rob was just reflecting on the fact they were standing on the rocks wearing waders :devil2: Mike is right, those guys is deekheads.

There was a bunch of these guys who crowded me. It was a lot of fun catching while they grew increasingly frustrated. Showing them how it's done is the best revenge.
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you are right about that.

bring an extra pole, stake off your spot by putting it inbetween your group. Thats what the three of us did friday morning, with ample spacing, worked perfectly... We fished all through the night tho and were there way before dawn. It was funny after talking to myself practically all night it gets light out, and I look down the line :eek5: people as far as you can see in either direction on top of each other

So what your saying is " don't wear waders at the canal"? because I find it alot easier and safer to step into the water and land/ release my fish I don't like to toss them in from the rocks

I usually wear waders everywhere I fish

Now I feel dumb

I was there Sat morn 4am to 7am.I left when it started getting real crowded.I was wearing waders.The waders make the release a bit easier and if I keep one I don't get slime and crap on my pants for the ride home.My day was similar to the one Piemma described.I didn't weigh any in but I did have striper for dinner.I can't say the same for the guys fishing next to and on top of me.They weren't hooking up at all.All the fish I caught fell for the same plug.I put the plug away before walking away.Everyone was asking what I was using.I lied to them all.

Good for you Adam. I never saw anyone until it started getting light. Like I said, all my fish were in the dark. I like it that way. No one near me and no one to annoy me.

There are some people down there who'd throw your dead stick in the water, and fish from the rock it was stuck in. ;)

No, that's not what we're saying. You can wear waders all you want, although I never do. What we're saying is, if you wear waders, don't climb down the rocks and into the water when doing it will screw up the guys standing up-tide on the rocks.

This sounds like me on sunday morning, but my story is from the guy in waders perspective. I was in the middle of the canal cape side, wearing waders with another guy wearing waders, fishing my style, sometimes in the water a bit to make the back cast easier, not to mention i was on a bar anyway. No one around for 1.5 hours, completely alone. Then someone sees me hooked up riding by on his bike. He comes down. Gets on the cell phone, calls 2 others... then it goes downhill from there. 30 guys in the area... So now do I have to get out of the water cuz the three guys that are pretty much behind me are up high on the bank wearing jeans and the current is going my direction? I was there first and had to change my fishing style to accomodate them. Didnt catch as many fish because of it.

It all comes down to working with those around you to make the situation work. Theres a different attitude in some fishermen getting more and more common, both young and old. If they don't wanna cooperate, I just leave and find another location to set up shop. I expect to encounter the circus at the canal the few mornings i fish it and its dissapointing. I'm relatively young, and it was only a few years ago where these breaking tides had few people fishing them. You could fish them like a manaic, where once you found the mother pod, you could hook up, jump on the bike and peddle like mad, follow that pod for while, with no one around to get in your way. Its just sad to hear about guys casting over lines and all that nonsense.

Good thing theres still plenty of places along the coast where I can go almost all season and not see a soul!!! And i thank all those that fish these areas for keeping all those places nameless! Even on those shore lines with no one around, the light doesnt come on - well it does but its such a low level its not visible from more than 50 feet away. If you go looking for the recognition and ego, others will be there to give you and your fishing areas the attention and pressure!

"Smokey, this is not Nam, there are rules"

False, I just look at them with my best troll face and ppl shat themselves and keep peddlin:fury: :grins:

Amen.

Oh now I get what your saying, I never get in to fish

for years I avoided the canal because of these type of threads, special gear, special rules, crime, crowds, etc. It seemed to complicated to me.


I've only fished it a dozen times but never ran into any issues. I fished during one of the big "rushs" when there were apparently big crowds. I moved to a number of places and ran into friendly guys, caught and landed fish with folks around and had some friendly interactions. I wish I hadnt waited so long to fish there. I'm pretty considerate and know how to land a fish but it wasnt an intimidating experience which I believe it was hyped to be.

same here lost a lot of gear in years past,recently started going again and started landing fish and good conversation with others around.no hyp just lock your stuff and dont leave anything out of site.

I witnessed a hilarious exchange between the guy next to me and some yahoo who came down about 2 hours after the change.

As usual, it was a-hole to a-hole, with the occasional gentleman mixed in. We had all switched to the bottom when this guy came down dressed in the latest and greatest get up and started launching plugs all over the place without even a look around or talking to anyone. His 3rd, 4th and 5th cast snagged other guys rigs.

He actually had the cahoneys to tell the guy next to me that it is proper etiquette to lower you line when a guy is trying to work the surface and it would really help him out if he would cooperate. I actually heard laughter from the few who heard it.

Never saw someone actually get run off by an angry mob....it was great. Fishing was decent for an hour or so.

missed it again,saw a few smallies come out around 4:40 at the acadamy
had a few hits no takers.think my bait was to big

Funny thing. I was on the Canal since last Tuesday. got loads of nice fish into 40+ and got to fish with a lot of good people. We worked together landing fish and kept line crosses to a min.a few new anglers slipped in and instead of giving them greif we worked with them so they'd learn the ropes. all in all a good week of fishing.did see a couple of the newer old timers(LOL) gettin an attitude and had to laugh at it.One of the youngsters(87) said it's more fun watching them than fishing at times.LOADS of BIG FISH and plenty of room for those that are willing to work together.Told one that thought the Canal was his private spot to move on as there was no room for his type there.Even offered him swimming lessons after he about bit some kids head off that was trying to learn the right way by asking questions instead of just jumping in.OH I FORGOT I'M SPOT BURNING LOL