Definitely agre with the above...if you are losing motivation, concentrating your efforts at key times is best!
My experience, no pro, only been actively chasing perch 3 years and pike 1yr, but most of that has been canals this last year, so hopefully sharing some of it will be useful to you.
I have found in canals I fish, in the winter at least, if a cold night before and cold night ahead the fish are more active in the morning, so aim to be there for 6-6.30. Conversely, if it has been mild in evenings, I have found these to fish well too. But to be clear, not that well on cold spells in evening, though still more active than during the middle of the day. The canals I usually fish are quite clear too.
With regards to lures - depends on your target. I tend to aim for decent perch/small jack, so I can only share what works for me. I am sure I am not the best, but I do catch and blanks are rare ..unless I am fishing wrong time of day!
I am rigged light (1-10g 7ft rod, 2500 reel, 8lb line, 0.21m titanium trace, mostly 2-5gram Cheb/Jika rigs).
The canals I fish are quite weedy, with very little to no boat traffic at all, even in summer, so I tend to fish weedless 2-3.5in soft plastics, normally hop-stop or hop-hop-stop or any variation of number of hops before a pause. The stops sometimes as much as 10-15 seconds. Vary it, don't get sucked into a pattern, make yourself be the lure. You have to try and imagine it how it works in the water and how it is looking like a dying fish, or a worm/creature trying to to bury itself/get away/hiding for cover. That is most of the fun of it, finding out what they want on the day!
How do I tackle a stretch I don't know? over the last year I have found that I tend to start at pauses of about 1-3secs, to allow quite a rapid movement and search to find fish. I tend to fish with buoyant plastics, just makes me feel more confident when I leave the long pauses, though sinking plastics work just as well. Also, I feel I don't have to change to a dropshot as can keep things as slow and varied as I need...sipping a tea whilst occasionally turning the reel is a great way to catch whilst warming up!
Sometimes they want it faster, sometimes slower, varying both on the same retrieve will soon help you understand what they are preferring. If they want faster, I do switch to normal jig heads and rip the lure, as in winter at least, I can stay above the debris and weed. But I have found this to the exception rather than the rule in winter.
No rocket science in my comments, hope you appreciate I am no pro...but hopefully some of the above can be useful food for thought until more esteemed and experienced anglers join your thread
. This thread has bought back a good bit of mojo even if I haven't caught yet! Thanks again guys
