This year, after just a single session last year trying for them, big Rudd were foremost in my thoughts after all of the early spring Pike fishing. It was a refreshing change of fishing pace to sit behind a quiver tip rod, bait fishing. I was joined by Andy Shaw, who was very keen to try catch a specimen Rudd, a fish weighing two pounds or more. We decided to hire a boat a a favorite venue of mine, a location where I have had some huge Rudd in the past.
Preparing for this type of fishing, whilst not complex, is crucial. I prepared the groundbait, a couple of kilos of sweet fishmeal mix, to which I added sweetcorn, boiled hemp, salt and a little halibut pellet. Bait was sourced, maggot and red worm, as well as sweetcorn. In addition, we brought fake corn and some pop ups, in case small fish were a nuisance. This proved a wise course of action as it happened...
On arrival, the weather looked very good. Overcast conditions, light breeze, with a warm front pushing in later in the morning. We quickly got the boat in the water and got into position in the reed margin and groundbaited just two rod lengths out in a metre of water, an area I knew held fish. We carefully groundbaited a small swim and the bottom of a shallow shelf and placed two helicopter rigs over it, with redworm/sweetcorn cocktails as bait. In the reedbeds to our left and right, the stalks shook and the water thrashed as thousands of Roach actively spawned. We were, in fact, immediately catching small Roach after small Roach. No sooner had the bait hit the water, than the tell tale rattling bite would follow. Our baits could not settle for long, though I did have one better fish come off after a knot pulled, always a big dissapointment. In the end, we decided that switching to inline weights, armed with short, hair rigged hook lengths and fake sweetcorn was the way to go. This allowed our baits to remain in the swim and it was not long before the first take, a vicious pull that would of seen the rod in the water had it not been carefully watched. I raised the rod and the tail of a bg Tench broke the surface, before all hell erupted and the fish shot off to the left. Then the hook pulled, my first Tench photo of the year would have to wait. I had a frustrating time over the session, on reflection it may have been down to using braided line. I hooked four good fish, at least two good Rudd and two Tench, all of which managed to shed the hook. Andy had a better time landing the fish on monofilament line, the first fish came during a hectic period around noon, when the fish were feeding heavily. It was a stunning Rudd of 1lb. 11oz., an immaculate, fin perfect bar of gold. Remarkably, this fish had my light fluoro leader and hook still in its top lip and was one of the fish I had lost an hour earlier! Still, Andy was rightly pleased, this was a new personal best for him. He had not long slipped this fish back when his rod hooped over a second time and as I netted this one, I knew it was an even heavier Rudd. It was quickly weighed and photographed, before it was released, a true speceimen of 2lb. 4oz.! Andy was made up and we fished on, though later in the afternoon the bites dried up and the fish seemed to go off the feed completely, which is not unusual here. We fished into the evening anyway, but failed to add anything substantial to our catch and decided to call it a day. All things considered, it was a success, given the main goal had been for Andy to net a two pounder. I suspect we will return before too long though...
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