Canal channelcats

[nmonk83]

Ok, so as the title says i fish the erie canal annually fer cats.This long running water body is drained to a few feet every year,i have good success at the lock discharges- but want to see better results-ANY EXPERENCES WITH THESE TYPE OF WATERS? By the way im bank fishing,and the bottom structure is mud on the bottom and big rocks on the side. no logjams either,its cleaned out annually...

[backwoodsman68geric]

Deeper water would be the only thing I can think of? Chumming legal? We've got irrigation ditchs that are quite alot like that canal but the brush is only removed every few years. Channel like riprap so if you can find a deeper hole adjacant to some bank riprap with a few holes etc in it?

[nmonk83]

this is thee most productive areas there but its not the only place to catch em(that is not me in video nor do i know em but its the best i could of the discharge)

[m slayton]

what type of rig are you fishing with? and try changing you rig to the 3way swivel ? sinker tied on to line weaker then what is on your spool ,example spool has 30lb braid then the sinker line should be say 10-15 lb line this is so if you snag up all you lose is a sinker.tie the sinker to the bottom most eye of the swivel and cut to 16-18 inches and tie sinker on. then cut a hook line 6-8 inches long out of 50-80lb mono heavy line works well and makes the bait stand out away from the sinker line versus sagging and tangling up and knotting up.tie on a hook and tie other end of line to the eye of the swivel that points to the side. i use circle hooks .then tie your line from the rod to the eye of the swivel that points upwards . more work yes but for me it works better then bait on the bottom . this rig is for mud or grassy bottom bodies of water to keep the bait out of said weed's n muds LOL and the weak sinker line will save on the hi dollar hooks belive me 5bucks for 6 gamashitzu hooks they seem to be sharp and big enough to hold a big ole chunk o liver and don't ferget to skim hook the tail end of the liver . also if your fishing strong currents look for sinkers that are called sputnicks there a 1-10 ounce sinker with 4 movable prongs that hold the bottom very well but use heavy line on the sinker line since the sinkers are 3-7bucks each :( look in salt water tackle i use in surf fishing and rivers with hard currents and always asked how the heck are you getting your bait to hold the bottom LOL again snags can be expencive .youtube shows a few ways to cast if you want to fish this sinker with the bait on the bottom you put the eye of the hook on one of the prongs and cast it out gl buddy

[nmonk83]

The benifit of it being drained every fall is i know the bottom structure very well,14-16 ft at deepest point,there is an overflow run off from the top of lock that leads to this spot thats 5-8 ft.Right there i like to use a slipfloat,tipped with cut bait. as for the deep water,i'll use a classic slip rig with no leader(helps avoid the snagging) on one pole and the three way rig on the other. Ive noticed that obviously this is a platter of smashed baitfish and other yummy morsels so i setup to try and intercept the fish moving in towards evening to feed here.Oh and jiggin cutbait or shiners, casting at those waterpumps you see in the video bouncing em down into deeper water actually can be productive on some occasions- but dont rely on it.

[nmonk83]

Is new york state with a water body like this er hwut?

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