Taunton Angling Association own the fishing rights from Firepool Lock in Taunton where the River Tone joins the canal via the lock at Firepool through to Higher Durston to upper Maunsel lock.

You can gain access from the road bridges in Taunton, Bathpool Hyde Lane, Creech St Michael, Durston and Upper Maunsel.

The canal boasts specimen stocks of roach, rudd, tench, pike, perch, bream and eels.

Please  note –  Fishing is not allowed in the locks or within 25 metres of a lock entrance. Fishing on the canal is from the towpath side only.

The canal is attractive and enjoyable but please take care, especially of children, when visiting the canal and its Towpath, particularly near locks and weirs.

In 1827 the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal opened. The original route ran from Taunton and joined the River Parrett at Huntworth. The engineer for the canal was James Hollinsworth. In 1837 a further act was obtained authorising the extension from Huntworth to Bridgwater and the building of the dock and its entrance lock to the River Parrett. The Canal operated very successfully during this period.

The canal has been fully restored by British Waterways and more recently Canal and River Trust, with support from Somerset County Council and local district Councils. The bridges along with most structures have been recreated as they were when the canal was in its prime.

The best time to target the tench is from April through to the autumn and the best section is towards the middle sections of the canal, i.e. Creech St Michael and Charlton Orchard. The best approach to target the specimen tench is to fish with the pole over a bed of chopped worm, caster and corn.

The methods used to target the tench can also be very productive for the large rudd present throughout the canal. The roach and rudd fishing is productive all year round especially if there is some colour coming in from the river. Other successful methods include liquidised bread and bread punch, maggots and pinkies feeding a small ball of liquidised bread every few fish. Nets of 20 lb aren’t uncommon.

You can fish for perch and pike all year round (deadbaiting from September – 15th March). The perch in the canal have grown in recent years due to the large number of smaller silver fish present in the venue with fish topping 4 lbs. Popular methods include varieties of lure fishing and similar tactics for tfench, worm. Pike can also be caught lure fishing or using a static deadbeat. Pike can exceed 20 lbs.

Catering to our members request after the successful canal dreddging which took place autumn 2020 TAA will be introducing a significant number of skimmer bream in late 2021 to further enhance the anglers experience. Like the popular methods to fish for tench, bream can also be caught using chopped worm and caster on the pole.

Species

• Bream
• Carp
• Chub
• Common Carp
• Dace
• Eel
• Mirror Carp
• Perch
• Pike
• Roach
• rudd
• Tench