A visit to my main target area today in order to leger for big Rudd. A very educational day for me today. I arrived at 14.10 and carefully set up a running leger, with a half ounce pear lead, bead and swivel to a 14 inch hook link. On the second rod I decided to try boilies. I hair rigged a whole 16mm boilie to a 12 inch braid hook length, a one ounce lead on a safety clip. This was free running and I thought I would tighten up direct to the reel, with the rod on rests. Also utilized were a bite alarm and light bobbin.
On the running leger I used a sweetcorn and large Redworm cocktail bait. I carefully catapulted out loose corn, a few 8mm halibut pellets and some broken up boilies. I then sat back and enjoyed the comfort of my new Korum chair, which proved very comfortable indeed. It was quiet for a while with the odd bite, at first just a few smallish Rudd were landed as well as a plucky Perch, my first of the year. I was watching the clock carefully as I knew the moon timetable showed the moons zenith at 15.05. Sure enough, at 15.00, I had a solid take on the running leger. The result was a Bream of 4lb.7oz., which gave a good account of itself. I quickly weighed and photographed the fish, using the timer on the iPhone 4S camera. Ten minutes later there was some activity on the boilie rod which almost caused me to miss a delicate bite on the running leger rod. I managed to connect though and a good fight ensued with what I thought might not be a Bream. When the fish surfaced after three minutes and slid towards me I was not surprised to see a Rudd, but this was a very big specimen indeed. I put it well over two pounds and was just about to land it when the rod went slack, the hook pulled and the fish slowly righted itself, turned and swam off into the murk. I was gutted, choked. This was the fish I had wanted so much and it had slipped away. It took me a while to get my head back together after losing such a good fish, and a short while later two more fish slipped the hook before I stopped, thought it through and decided to change to a bigger hook. Off came the size 16 Kamasan and on with a Drennan Crystal Size 10. I told myself that the Rudd was a positive sign, I now knew a specimen was a real possibility. I waited...
At 6lb.1oz. I was delighted with this fish. Having hooked a couple and lost them I was much relieved to get this one on the bank, as it was the biggest of the three. The fish was very thick across the shoulders and back and gave a very strong, dogged fight. Easily smashed my previous best with this fish, having not come across this species very often in the past...
After a long quite period the bites began to come again, Rudd and Bream, though nothing remarkable. Then a gentle pull and I struck into a solid fish which dough strongly. After a couple of minutes it was under control and it was landed. I knew it was my biggest Orfe to date the second it surfaced. It was very thickset and heavily built, though I was genuinely surprised to see the scales settle at an ounce over 6lb. I weighed it on a second set of scales to record the same weight before I grabbed a few shots and slipped it back, very pleased with myself. The larger hook had held well and gave me a big advantage in the fight...
A nice Bream of 4lb7oz. Whilst the smaller fish are a nuisance, bigger fish are more welcome. At this time of the year Bream are plump with spawn when female and require careful handling.
Plenty of Bream in the 2-3lb range today, as well as Rudd and Perch...
Later it was still quite busy until about 19.30, though I failed to catch a big Rudd and was left to rue my lost chance. More Bream to 3lb did come, as well as many Rudd to 12oz after them.
Interestingly the boilie rod was receiving attention from fish, though I hooked nothing. I decided to attach small PVA bags to the hook before casting. Loaded with halibut pellets and boilie fragments. This caused huge amounts of line bites, tugs and activity. By the end I hooked nothing and began to whittle the boilies down in size, figuring they were too big. Activity continued, with more violent tugs but no hook ups. I figured more resistance was required in order to hook the fish, though time was up. Having seen a huge Rudd get away I decided another session was in order the next day, when I would tweak the boilie rigs..
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