Yesterday saw me back at that river again with Rudd on my mind. You will recall that the angling barman over the road mentioned in my previous visit that rarely does anyone get more than two.
Living 30 odd miles away I made sure I caught the tide right and planned to meet a mate and fish 2 hours of the ebb and enough of the flood before the taste of a pint overcame our desire to continue fishing. There was also the prospect of heavy showers later in the day.
It was also a good opportunity to test out the Swimversa as some big casts with a light float were necessary to reach the fish on the other side of what is quite a big river. Matched up with a Mitchell 300 and 3lb line I felt confident of getting in the right spot. Not so..a gusting downstream wind immediately put paid to any plans to use Mickeys lucky quill and using a silicone float attachment I gradually worked up through the range of traditional wagglers/duckers I had taken finishing up with a brass loaded zoomer, the only float that would hold flight in a reasonable straight line in what was rapidly becoming a very gusty day. That said the Versa was very impressive in its efforts and compared very favourably to my pals 13ft modern float rod. He was using a loaded crystal and once I had got the right float I was able to out cast him by at least 3m. 10/10 as a casting rod that Versa and extremely accurate for low long bullet casts in windy conditions.
By now I had also worked out that bread was simply not going to work as masses of small roach just hit the bait on the drop, stripping it off the hook in seconds no matter how I put it on. Now down to a 16 with double grub I was casting every 3 minutes, it was very frustrating angling as grubs were being sucked clean so rapidly. Still no sign of Rudd..
I maintained my commitment to an unshotted 18" hook length and consistent casting and feeding half a pouch on each cast- again tricky in the wind I ended up replacing the elastic on my catty
. As the tide gradually turned bingo..they turned up - on the slack water. Three casts, two Rudd and as the flood started the roach returned and the Rudd just vanished. How true these fish were to their classical behaviour..did I really think I could catch a netful? You cocky B Aquaerial...one quietly lives in hope.
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Gotta be a float ledgered paternoster next time..static bait high in the water I can almost smell the tangles...
Great fun, always learning.