On arrival I baited a few margin spots which I intended to fish later in the session and give the carp a bit of time to move onto them. The venue has only recently been stocked with carp so I could only expect fish upto 3lb, however on light float gear im sure they would put up a spirited and exciting fight. My set up for the rudd was a simple waggler float with shirt button style shotting pattern as I was expecting to catch fish on the drop.
I fired out some sweetcorn with the catapult, baited my size 14 hook with a single grain and cast out, within seconds I struck as a fish took the bait on the drop and I soon had my first rudd on the bank.
Easily 4oz it was a stunning looking fish with bright red fins, canary yellow eyes and golden flanks which glistened in the morning sunshine. For the next hour I steadily caught rudd upto 8oz including a beautiful golden rudd (below) which sported firey orange flanks and blood red fins.
As my PB rudd currently stands at only 1lb, it is one I am keen on improving so I set up the quiver rod with a light feeder, my reasons being perhaps the bigger rudd would feed nearer the bottom away from the smaller fish closer to the surface. Although the average size of rudd I caught was bigger on the feeder (ave 6oz) I could still not tempt any over the 1/2 pound mark. The fighting qualities of the rudd is understated, these fish put up a good contest on the appropriate tackle and a much larger rudd would certainly give you the run around.
I decided that my margin spots I baited on arrival had been left long enough, so fished one of my favourite styles, the lift method. Its about as simple as it gets, a light float with an SSG shot about 6 inches from the hook which sits on the bottom. After finding the right depth the float is fished half cocked and when a fish takes the bait, the float will either slide away or rise up and sit flat on the surface, if either happens you strike immediately.
A few more grains of corn went in both spots before I positioned the float 18 inches from the bank. This time my size 10 was baited with 2 grains of corn. It takes alot of confidence to fish this close to the bank especially on a small stillwater, however over the years I have learnt that the carp love to patrol the margins and feed near any features, including reeds, overhanging trees/bushes or old landing stages. It took a little longer before I received my first bite this time, and 5 minutes later I was playing a lively common carp which darted back and forth trying to bury itself and shed the hook, I kept it on a tight line as the float rod took on a healthy curve as I slid the net under target species number 2 of the session.
I decided to rest the swim for 10 minutes so baited up with a pinch of sweetcorn and fished the feeder rod, this time casting towards an overhanging tree on the far bank. It wasnt long before I had a "proper" pull on the tip, this was no rudd. Another scaley hard fighting common carp came to the net.
I switched back to the float on my margin spot and again waited no more than 5 minutes for my next bite, which saw the float sail away along the bank. When fishing venues such as this it is important to use the appropriate tackle, a medium float rod, 4lb line straight through meant that I could enjoy the fight, sometimes I had to give a little line when the carp made a powerful run you dont want to be just reeling the fish in on heavy tackle, wheres the fun in that! This particular carp took several minutes to land, powering around taking line, it proved to be the biggest of the day at almost 3lb. The carp have only been stocked recently with the biggest being around 2lb so the fish have almost certainly put on weight this spring which is a good sign.
I caught 5 carp in total, 4 falling to the lift method close in. Im sure I can improve on my rudd PB from this venue, the feeder seemed to pick up the better fish so I have an idea how I might be able to winkle out a few of the bigger rudd over the next few weeks. Overall it was an enjoyable session before I start my river campaign after barbel and chub.
No comments:
Post a Comment