Ultra Light Lure Fishing Pt4

My most recent lure fishing trip to the Shropshire union canal saw me start at the double lock again. My favourite lure these days is a 2” ‘chartreuse’ coloured Relax Kopyto Shad, not only does it produce some lovely vibrations to attract the interest of pike and perch, it’s very brightly coloured too so it’s a good choice for the murky water of the canal. A couple of casts in I hooked a decent fish but yet again the hook pulled, I had a wry shake of the head as I was Filming the fishing at this point but the smile was a shallow one and I was annoyed to see yet another decent fish escape my clutches. I try not to dwell on lost fish so I picked myself and carried on.

Twenty minutes later I had another hit right at the end of the retrieve, it’s on the video immediately below along with the lost fish and the one I eventually caught. I missed the hit but I was looking straight down at the fish and I got a good look at it. It was a decent sized pike, possibly even a double which is a very decent fish for the Shropshire union canal. Not to be deterred I carried on trying but after this second hit I couldn’t provoke another. I even changed set ups and tried a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap Lure but that next bite never came.

Click to watch this lure fishing trip


I decided to move on and have another go at the stretch of canal I first started my lure fishing diary on, back on Halloween last year. I kept with the rapala lure and searched as many of the moored boats as I could but to no avail, I just couldn’t buy a bite from anything.

Having spent a few hours working the boats for nothing eventually I called it a day and started heading back towards my parked car. When I’m travelling between features on long open stretches of canal I quite often tow a Rapala Lure behind me to see if I can pick up a bonus fish and on the way back to the car I did this. I actually thought I’d already blanked and when I threw in a pause after covering 50 yards or so I didn’t expect the rod to pull round but it did. The pike must have been following the lure and the pause gave it the opportunity to strike. It was only a jack pike, typical of the size of fish I’ve been catching from the Shropshire union canal, I didn’t mind though, to me it felt like an injury time winner and I was beaming from ear to ear with my late winner!. A few minutes later I was back at the car and on the way home.

A pause in the retrieve brought me a last minute blank saving pike


Prior to this latest tough trip I’d started at the double lock again, we’d had an awful lot of rain at the time and the canal was very much out of sorts. I caught nothing from the double lock until I had a go at ‘dibbling’ along the margins tight against the wall. This produced a good bite and my Savage Gear Landing Net made sure this one wasn’t getting away. I landed another small jack pike that I guessed at about a pound and a half and given the conditions I was glad to be off the mark with a fish.

Click to watch this lure fishing trip


No more fish came from this area but this was no surprise given the rain we’d had at the time. I moved on to a new lock but the canal here looked more like a river in parts. Undeterred I searched the lock gates and the area off the locks overflow where the water wasn’t running so hard. Again I caught nothing from this area and eventually I called it a day with just the one pike to my name. In the end I was glad to catch that one fish, conditions on the canal through January and February haven’t exactly been in my favour and the fishing has been quite difficult.

A Shropshire Union Canal pike saves a blank in tough fishing conditions


It’s early March as I’m writing this and my lure fishing on the Shropshire union canal is coming to an end for now. From now onwards my new target is carp. I’ve had a great time lure fishing on the canal this winter and I’ll definitely be returning to this style of fishing next November. In the meantime please subscribe to my Youtube Channel for all my updates and check out my sister blog to this one if you’re interest in carp fishing, it's called the North West Carp Blog and my next video’s and writing will be published on there.
Tight Lines.
Mark.