Pole Fishing Tips | Six tips to get through the tiddlers - Stu Redman
GETTING through the tiddlers to the quality fish you know are in the swim can be a nightmare!
There’s nothing wrong with a netful of little fish, but coming off the bank having caught 50lb of prime, fat roach, rudd and tench is a lot more satisfying.
Fat roach, rudd and tench are far more satisfying
Here are six tips to get through to the better stamp…
USE Big pole floats
I use a 2.5g Ian Everett float with a rugby ball-shaped body and a highly visible bristle, and group the olivette and dropper shot above the hooklength to bomb the bait down quickly.
A big float with a heavy bulk shot will help get the bait down through the smaller fish
Double up your corn
Rudd and tench love corn, so that’s the only hookbait to use – two grains on a size 14 hook. That way, if one is nicked off the hook, I’m still left with the second piece to fish with.
Two grains can withstand the attentions of small fish
Create a cloudy mix
A very wet mix that clouds the swim is deadly but groundbait alone won’t do this. To my mix I add a big squirt of Sensas IM2 Green One Shot Spray, that helps give me that long-lasting cloud up in the water.
Clouds can keep the small fish distracted
Liquidise some corn
To the groundbait I add liquidised corn blasted for 30 seconds in a blender. Before adding it to the mix I wring the corn out to remove as much water as I can to help stop the groundbait becoming too wet.
Liquidised corn is a real edge
Use a light plummet
Over-heavy plummets will spook fish, so I carry two sizes. The 30g version finds the depth to begin with, but when I need to recheck, I slip on a tiny 10g plummet that creates far less disturbance.
Smaller plummets create less disturbance
Dunk your balls
Before I feed a ball of groundbait, I wet it. Now it will stick to the lakebed and not roll away. Dunk the ball for just a few seconds and this extra water will also help it to break up that bit quicker.
Dunked balls of groundbait will stick to the lakebed and not roll away
Specimen Fishing Tips | How to single out bigger rudd - Kevin Sanders
First of all, you need to fish at peak feeding times, namely dusk and dawn. Big rudd might feed during the day, but it can be hard work if it’s hot and sunny.
A surface caught lake rudd of 2lb 12oz
Second, use polarised glasses to find the bigger fish before starting. If you can’t see them, try feeding chunks of bread and see if any rudd start taking off the surface.
A surface caught river rudd 2lb-plus
Finally, don’t just cast and hope for the best. If you can see a larger fish feeding, target it by casting your bait just upstream or upwind, and let it drift to the target. Being greedy, big rudd will often beat the smaller fish to the hookbait.
Rudd Fishing Tips | FIVE top tips to help you catch more specimen rudd
When temperatures are high and conditions are bright you can usually rely on rudd for a few bites.
Currently they are being caught to specimen sizes on a variety of tactics, and one man who has proved himself as something of a rudd expert is Dynamite Baits-backed James Champkin (see his 3lb 2oz personal best-equalling rudd on pages 2 and 3).
Who better to ask, then, for some advice on how to target big rudd right now? Here are James’ five essential tips for improving your rudd best, right now...
Evening rise
“There is no doubt that rudd, with their protruding bottom lip, are built for feeding up in the water.
“Big rudd love to slurp insects off the surface and roll on warm summer evenings, and this is the perfect time to locate them.
“Watch for swirls and splashes.”
Pop-ups and slow-sinkers
“Given their distinct feeding habits, my baits for big rudd are based around buoyant and slow-sinking items such as small pop-up boilies and corn.
“Bread has also become synonymous with big rudd fishing: crust can be fished on the surface or a piece of flake can be squeezed tightly to make a slowly descending hookbait. Deadly!”
Fish the Fens!
“Unfortunately, big rudd are nowhere near as widespread as they once were, and locating these golden bars can be difficult.
“If there is one place to target these elusive creatures, it’s the rivers and drains of Fenland.
“The waterways of Cambridgeshire, South Norfolk and Lincolnshire are the last stronghold of rudd, and they contain some absolute whackers!”
Bolt rigs
“A number of carp fisheries also contain some very big rudd.
“On these venues, the fish often hold out at range and they become accustomed to feeding over beds of boilies and particles.
“Mimic this approach in a scaled-down manner and you are more likely to single out the larger rudd.
“I use a cage feeder filled with a cloudy zig groundbait and a small pop-up boilie – yellow and white are great colours.”
Into the night
“The biggest rudd can feed at very specific times.
“I’ve fished a swim hard all
day with no bites, only to catch half-a-dozen big rudd with only a few minutes of daylight remaining.
“They can also feed randomly throughout the night, so make sure you fish well into darkness to give yourself the best chance of landing your own slab of gold.”