u/Ok-Band-7142

The Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (CSCI) have released documents disclosing details that David Attenborough may indeed be immortal, futher details are yet to be released.

(Doesn't include spinners that are difficult to get hold of at reasonable prices currently in the UK in 2026 like Panther Martin, Smith Niakis, and so on)

(Pic attached of me UL lure fishing the polluted local, the good old London Grand Union at one of the Harlesden bridges, but I do go out as far as Scotland)

Literally every online article on how to fish UK city canals recommends shallow cranks at some point

Got back into fishing heavily this year, been hitting canals all over the UK including my local, the london stretch of the grand union

I am addicted to scummy urban canal fishing in heavily polluted city's (Birmingham is a gem!), I love snagging used condoms, and the odd diseased invasive zander, I love it!

I spoken to many a fellow urban lure addict i person and I have not met one person actually using a crank baits on the inner city canals

As far as I see there are 3 techniques that currently dominate, in this order of popularity, in 2026 on the UK canals (particularly the city stretches)

1. Soft lures on UL jig heads

2. Spinners

3. Drop shot

• And also wire trace on the spinner and soft is a must incase you hook a pike!

This is literally "they" current set up, most of us run. Even I've converted over to it. And I'm quite old school (still using a 1000 Stradic FE! Instead of a Vanford 500)

UL softs seem to be the way, shads, creature baits, whatever. And jig heading them seems to be the thing!

You also run those same softs on your drop shot, so you just put fluro, hooks, and a drop shot weight in your tin to drop, which are all easily and readily available affordably online or at local tackle shops when out and about and in need

You can drop shot on 1.8g to 5g weights for UL, no problem, and these are readily available everywhere

You can also spin in a UL with size 0, 1, or even size 2 spinners with most brands so you pop a few spinners in your tin

My tackle tin fits in my palm when closed (I need a better quality steel one really), i pop it in my back trouser pocket and and 500ml water bottle in the other, no bag needed, if taking a jacket sandwiches can go in a pocket, if nkt i can carry lunch in one hand and rod and reel in the other

It's all about gling out a light as possible, i clip the net to my belt / waist, a landing mat can also be clipped or whatever on the other side, but the grabd union has plenty of grass which is fine with a rubber net, a folding net is essential

Even for UL wire, 2.5kg / 5.5lb wire trace exists and will run fine on 6lb UL braid with a swivel no problem

This is the way

The online articles deceived me and had me out there overly cluttered and cumbersome like a fool

I've tried crank baits myself in the canal, there are bikes and all sorts submerged in my local canal. Cranks are expensive, a £10+ Salmo Hornet will be snagged within a few casts. I can get mepps spinners for under £2 each if brought in bulk and quakity soft lures for even less. And these are top notch spinners and softs, not junk, on budget options you can 20 to 1 or more a crank per unit cost wise

Also cranks and a bit bulky, to carry about 5, takes up the space of 20+ other lure types (not that you'd probably be carrying that much tackle anyway), it by not seem like much, on the canal when going light, it means a lot

I'm not knocking cranks, i love them!

This effectively makes a crankbait over 5 times less cost and carry effective in the light urban canal scenarios

Again I've tried cranks, and I love them, but on the canal there's no way it's more effective than UL shadding the perch or pike then drop shotting them if you need to get to the bottom (even with shallow and sinking cranks, I've retired my sinking cranks for river fishing, they snag to much on yhe canal).

The reason drop shot works particularly well, on urban canals at the bottom is because the bait is not actually scrapping the bottom of the canal, but due to the unevenness of the bottom of urban canals it may as well be, this gets you snagged less, and the cylindrical shaped drops weights unsnag very easily. In my opinion, this is the premium way to target the bottom of the canal, and it's light on gear because you reuse your soft lures you were jig heading

And if everything fails on the UK canals (especially urban) you just throw a Mepps Aglia or a Vibrax Blue Fox out (or whatever works, but does two seem to work for me) and have a good old spin

I also feel spoons and other finesse rigs like the Carolina and so on, are a myth too, they get spoken about in the online articles, but unfortunately, they fall short to the other techniques in real life application

• Quality UL spoons are difficult to come by and quality spoons nowadays are very overpriced

• The Carolins rig drags the bait and you will get snagged on an urban canal even if you buried the hook in the bait, texas style, because the size ans shape of the lure itself, can you get snacked in between rocks and bricks and whatever at the bottom, particularly, we've regard to u k urban canals, the bottom surface just isn't smooth usually. And i'm not even accounting for weeds and tree branches, there is way worse than that down there at the bottom of the open canals, and often just the bottoms themselves are uneven, because they are man made and old

And Things like the texas rig, Ned amd so on require exotic additional parts that are not worth adding to your small UL pocket tin as it's just more to carry and doubling size of the tin just isn't worth it. When drop shot is so effective (this is in regard to UK urban canal fishing particularly, i understand these techniques have their place elsewhere, and are effective are awesome in those environments!)

From what I've seen the online articles are a bit out of date and most copy, paste and slightly edit from each other

They do not reflect our specific current meta very well at all, I got out there and it was not as advertised

The articles also reckon you'll catch chub and rudd and what not... (Often with mention of Zander)

The current state of the game is mostly pike and perch, so you might aswell go UL for the perch because that catches the pike too, and the Zander if they are around, you very rarely hook other species (unfortunately) on lures in UK city canals

For targeting specific other species you might want to start looking at other techniques like fly or float, because a pikes just gonna come along and bite your lure, sorry but you know, so you might as well be prepared for pike, and if you catch one chub for everyone 50 pike, I guess that's just a bonus

This is my honest experience and I just want to share it with others. So that they can have realistic expectations out there and have fun, canal fishing the citys is fun!

A lot of stuff put out there is myths unfortunately, to a certain degree anyway. And I feel crank fishing a really urban canal is one of them, although you could do it for video content or have a day at it, ultimately it's just not as sustainable compared to other techniques, on the city canals that is.

Peace! And enjoy the awesome sport of fishing in all it's beautiful forms, us urban scumbags are legit fisherman too! Just sharing some knowledge incase a fellow potential scumbag comes across this! Welcome to the brotherhood my friend, that soggy used sanitary towel you just reeled in us your right of passage, you are one of us now!

* UL = Ultra Light

Day 2

2 weeks in

3 weeks in

And on the final 28th day

Please consult a medical professional if in doubt about prolonged fasting, I am not a doctor and can not offer medical advise