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Coster goes off the beaten track to find decent rudd and bream on canal




Journal angling correspondent Dave Coster enjoyed a couple of great sessions on the Fossdyke Canal between Lincoln and Saxilby recently.

He decided to explore areas not many anglers fish, well away from easy access points. This approach requires a good trolley or barrow to get your gear to far off swims, plus a pair of garden shears to cut a way to the water, because the banks are heavily overgrown with nettles and brambles.

All the effort was worth it, however. Last year’s floating duckweed problems have largely disappeared and the regular boat traffic kept good colour in the water.

Dave Coster and a nice rudd from the Fossdyke Canal. (57757337)
Dave Coster and a nice rudd from the Fossdyke Canal. (57757337)

Fishing spots that have probably not seen an angler for many years only added to the interest factor for Dave.

On both occasions he cast a waggler over to the far side bushes, which looked like a natural haven for the fish to keep out of the way of passing cabin cruisers and barges.

Simply feeding casters and hemp with a catapult resulted in a lot of rudd on the first trip, along with quite a few silver bream. But it was the bigger rudd that interested the most with the best fish well over the pound mark.

The swim Dave fished turned out to be quite shallow, so no decent bream and very few roach turned up.

On a return visit, in an even more overgrown area, it took a good 30 minutes to clear a swim. But again, all the effort was well worth it.

Using similar waggler tactics, Dave caught skimmers, silver bream and rudd, rounded off with a couple of proper big bronze bream – well above average size for a canal.

Dave Coster shows off a good sized bream caught on the Fossdyke Canal. (57757291)
Dave Coster shows off a good sized bream caught on the Fossdyke Canal. (57757291)

There’s 11 miles of this fascinating waterway to explore, but only a handful of access points dotted along its length, from Lincoln to the River Trent at Torksey Lock.

Convenient swims to fish are near where you can park your car, but travel a bit further down the towpath and you enter a different world.

Day tickets are available on the bank or from the Lincoln DAA website where reasonably priced season permits are also available.



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