20 mile walk pays off for big rudd - Simon Ashton

“During my first trip to the Fens I learned that travelling light and going the extra mile (or 10) is the way to go for big rudd.
“It was a Thursday, and despite a 250-mile journey from my home in Country Durham to Cambridgeshire, I arrived at the river for 6pm.
“Floatfishing has always been my preferred tactic for rudd so I packed my 14ft Drennan Acolyte rod with a reel loaded with 5lb line.
“My rig was simple, too – a 5g pellet waggler wedged between float stops above a wide gape hook for corn and breadflake hookbaits.
“Between 6.30pm and 2am I’d walked probably three miles and although I’d caught loads of rudd to around 1lb, I just couldn’t find anything bigger.
“The slog along the bank was long, but I was only scratching the surface on what’s a massive river, so I went to bed with a plan to wake at 6am and just keep walking the river until I spotted the larger rudd.
“As the hours passed and the miles and heat increased, scouring the water for signs of fish became hard. At 10am I finally saw what looked like a pod of big rudd so I crept down to the bank around 60 yards upstream before flicking out a few pieces of crust followed by my rig
“It took 10 minutes for the float to reach the area, but it sailed away instantly. I was into a big fish and at first I thought it was a trout by the way it zig-zagged up the river, but the sun soon caught the golden flanks of a huge rudd.
“At 2lb 7oz it was just 3oz short of my PB but I didn’t care – I’d caught a big rudd on my first trip to the Fens!

“I put the miles in again on the Saturday and banked a number of other big rudd between 1lb and 2lb 1oz. When I set off for home I was exhausted as I’d only had 10 hours’ sleep in three days and walked 20 miles – but it was worth it.”