The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I have no experience of canal fishing but the more I look into it the more intriguing it is. They appear to be little fished and often no-one is certain what fish are present.
The Oxford canal is not that far from me at Banbury does anyone have any experience of fishing it around the Banbury area?

I have fished the Oxford canal years ago Snape but can't remember actually where, mainly for perch and there were the odd pounder that use to slip over my net.

Just out of interest, Sir ...

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/43898 ... k/?ref=rss

Many a day spent on the OC in my youth (see the post I've just put up).
There's a good variety below its murky depths and I still have a cast occasionally, the colder months being better as the traffic is less frequent.
Some pleasant stretches north or south of Banbury, and the odd surprise catch always a possibility

AshbyCut wrote:Just out of interest, Sir ...

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/43898 ... k/?ref=rss

I'm not at all surprised that river fish end up in the canal as the two run very close together for many miles and, as pointed out in the article, cross over at some points.
I am surprised, however, that a barbel of such size has been caught that far north in the Cherwell valley!

Fished it a fair bit in matches Snape. It used to be gudgeon alley, with quite a few carp, chub and perch. I've fished Banbury by the Alcan factory (don't know if it's still there?), but also Kidlington, Wolvercote(?) Three pidgeons stretch (?) and quite a few others, I'm sure'll come back to me. Banbury was good, being a built up bit, the water temperature would be a bit higher than the surrounding bits and would hold more fish over the winter, especially roach.
Well worth a walk/reccy and then a dabble.

Some good info there chaps. Many thanks

I fished the Oxford canal from Banbury to the other side of Oxford, it was a tremendous venue a few years ago and every year we fished matches in the local winter league there, a lot of pegs are a bit iffy but every lock has its flyers or favorite pegs.
Away from Banbury and closer to home in the Oxfordshire area there are some fantastic pegs, pegs better known as "the guiness peg" or "The Noddy boat" then there was the "white house" and "The menagerie", my favorite was "Dukes lock" had a bag of Bream and skimmers there one day, all 42lb of them, drew the same peg two weeks later on an open and won the section with 15lb, a truly good weight from the cut.
There are some Carp stretches and one above Allens lock above Heyford Station is just that, you look for a big old red brick railway bridge, 100 yds either side of it is carp city, I have a mate who fishes it now still and he catches them all the time.
I actually remember a few years ago the lock was shut off so it could be repaired, the EA did some netting on that stretch and a carp of just over 42lb was removed and placed below the lock, several other fish just around the 20lb mark were caught too.
Go to Somerton for gudgeon and silvers like dace and roach, also a carp stretch there too.
Was a great place to fish but now Im not so sure, the bream and carp pegs at Thrupp wides have been taken over by boats now and that was probably the best area for some decent fishing, If I get out one day I will come back with some info hopefully on how it is now

An interesting post BL.
I've fished the river Cherwell around Somerton and Heyford but never the canal, and I wasn't aware of the carp.
I might have to give it a go sometime, as I've never had a cut caught carp

My brother's done a good bit of canal fishing over the years, albeit not on that particular canal, and he's landed some decent carp,chub and perch. Yes, you're right about the air of mystery, Nigel, it's very much "real" fishing, - especially on the rural sections. Boats can be a huge problem on canals however, but - going back donkeys years - I've personally had a take from a carp immediately after a boat went by! Bikes and dog walkers are also trying, of course. For this reason, most serious fishing on canals takes place from dusk, or at dawn. I don't think it's that the fish won't feed during the day, but the disturbances can really put them off. My brother likes night floats, but I used to find freelining was good for canal carp. I'd plonk the bait right down the side, bait up around it, then walk back a little way, along the towpath, paying out line, so a direct and near perfect line would be made from the bait to the rod. Braid on canals, at least as a hook-link, seems to greatly improve the chances of a take, I've also found.