Kayak fishing in canals

WITH the warmer months upon us, so are the canal mangrove jack.

Over recent weeks I have been kayak fishing the canals for bream and managing to pull up the occasional jack, which has proven a lot of fun, especially on ultra-light bream gear. Targeting canal species from a kayak is by far the easiest way because a kayak allows you to get into places boats can’t, meaning you can throw skip casts under boats and pontoons to reach the bigger fish.

Lately I have been using 3” Keitech Easy Shiners, 2” Berkley Gulp Shrimp and Gulp Crabbys and all have been effective.
Cranka Crabs are fast becoming a favourite. They perfectly mimic a crab falling off a pontoon and simply look too good for the fish to resist.

When the fish aren’t feeding or it’s hard to get a bite, you may need to change things up, whether it be your leader, knot or lure. Throwing surface lures amongst pontoons and rock walls of an early morning or late afternoon is an effective way to chase bream and I find it to be the most enjoyable technique. For bream, walk the dog lures including the Daiwa Slippery Dog, Bassday Sugapen and Atomic Hardz K9 Walker are the most popular.

To retrieve, employ a slow wind while twitching the tip downwards and causing the lure to dart from side to side. Once you spot a bream in pursuit, try pausing the lure or speeding up the retrieve to trigger a strike. Cranking the flats from a kayak is as stealthy as you can get, with no noise and excellent manoeuvrability.

When cranking the flats, my lures of choice are Cranka Cranks and Atomic Crank 38 Deeps. Cast as far as you can and begin retrieving as slowly as possible, letting the lure bang along the bottom. It’s a very effective way to chase bream and always good fun. Recently I have been trying a new technique in the canals.