Yes – UK canals are genuinely open to anyone with the right licences, and I think they’re one of the most underrated parts of the country’s fishing, not just a fallback when there’s nothing else nearby.
You need your standard Environment Agency rod licence, plus – and this catches people out – a separate Canal and River Trust waterways licence for most CRT-managed canals, since the network is managed independently from EA rivers. Both are quick and inexpensive to buy online.
Fishing much of the network is covered by that CRT licence alone without a further day-ticket cost, which genuinely makes canals one of the most cost-effective ways to fish regularly in the UK – something I didn’t appreciate until well into my fishing life.
What you’ll actually catch: roach, perch, bream, and tench are the mainstay across most of the network, with pike present in nearly every canal, usually around bridge holes, moorings, and lock approaches. Canals connected to river systems can throw up chub, barbel, and carp too.
My honest tip for anyone starting out on canals: pick an urban or semi-urban stretch with easy towpath access rather than assuming you need to travel somewhere remote and scenic. Some of my best canal sessions have been on unglamorous stretches minutes from a town centre that get a fraction of the attention a “famous” canal venue receives.
Mike Talbot grew up in Cornwall and had a rod in his hand before he was tall enough to reach the rod rest properly. His early fishing was mackerel from the harbour wall and plaice on the beaches at low tide, but bass took over in his late teens and have never really let go.
He moved to Pembrokeshire in his thirties for the coastline as much as anything else, and now fishes a mix of rock marks, estuaries, and boat trips across West Wales and the Bristol Channel. He targets bass on surface lures through summer, drops down to soft plastics and HMDs through autumn, and fills the winter with wrasse fishing on the rock marks when conditions allow. Personal best bass: 8lb 4oz, caught on a floating stickbait at first light on a calm August morning.
At The River Bend, Mike writes the sea fish species guides, sea fishing technique articles, and the coastal access and regulation content.
Covers: Bass, wrasse, mackerel, sea bream, pollock, sea fishing techniques, shore fishing, boat fishing, tidal and coastal access rules