Thread: CANAL BAIT FISHING SETUP

Wanting to get setup to fish hydro canals . Mainly bait fishing but keen to give softbaits a go . What line is best , I understand braid is the go with some sort of leader. What breaking strain and trace setup do you guys use ?. CHEERS

6 pound braid and 6 pound leader

Use a 8 foot lightweight rod for 10-15g lures


You will have the fight of a lifetime

I used 18lb Diawa Braid on light spinning reel, which was very thin with 4m 6lb leader mtched 8Ft light weight rod. think it was worth it.

Worked great.

For a perfect set-up I'd be running different rods for soft-bait and bait.

Soft-bait ideally a 7'6" to 8 foot rod with a 2-10g cast weight and a reasonably stiff tip so you can impart some action/movement to the soft-bait. Run 6 or 8 braid and leader.

Bait set-up I'd go heavier, still an 8 foot rod and if you want to fish off the dam/outlet walls a 9ft plus won't hurt, as it allows Plenty of clearance when negotiating around the fences and getting down to the water to land fish. Commonly use 2oz weights if current is running so a rod capable of casting that but in a 3-6 or 4-8kg line weight is ideal. 15-20lb braid is fine here and means the rod can be used for other stuff as well. Just use appropriate weight leaders.

If only wanting one rod I'd go for an 8-9 foot 3-6kg set, casting weight as large as the budget allows but no more than 4g at the bottom end. Then put on good braid that has a 10-15lb breaking strain but is still .15mm or less in diameter. Then use light leaders soft-baiting and a heavier one when bait fishing.

running rig on trout gear works for us. if current is swift it gets tricky and need to find quiet pocket of water or work angles so line has less drag.

Late last year I caught a nice rainbow at Ohau outlet from the top of the wall using a 6’ boat rod, a stout fixed spool reel with 12lb mono line.
Terminal tackle was a swivel under a small sinker, a 200mm trace and a worm for bait.
So you can succeed with almost anything.

But take the advice of the earlier posters for best results!

Yrs ago i used a 6ft trout rod and light reel.Tide on a litte green n black slice to about 6lb nylon.Fish the 1st and last hour of day light,caught so many big trout,my 18cu/ft freezer use to get filled and emptyed quiet often.Give away a lot of big trout over the yrs.I got sick of catching big trout and stopped fishing for them.One week early May,5 evening visits to the canel,fished no more than 30 minuts each visit.I caught 4 rainbows,16x2,20,22 lbs and a buitifull 16lb brown.Gave the lot away to guys i was working with that week.All caught on a 17gram green and black hex.