Greatest ever winter rudd haul topped by brace of mid twos - Andy Waters
“With work finished for the day I raced down to a Fenland river to fish a deep
spot that I’d caught a 3lb rudd from a few years ago.“After getting into position I cast out a cage feeder filled with liquidised bread with a piece of flake on the hook and began introducing small balls of loose feed by hand.
“By casting every five minutes or so I was able to build up a pretty big area of feed that I’d hope would be enough to draw the rudd’s attention. As it turned out they absolutely loved it and the more I fed the more bites I seemed to get!
“I’d already had a couple of fish when I had another sharp whack on the tip and struck into a hard-fighting rudd, which I needed to bully away from the shoal and into the net as quickly as possible to avoid spooking the rest.
“If they do get into the shoal it’s pretty much game over.
“At 2lb 11oz it was the largest of four over 2lb that I caught in four hours, with the others going 2lb, 2lb 6oz and 2lb 9oz.
“It was my greatest ever winter rudd session but I reckon I could have kept catching had I not ran out of bait!”
Andy Waters – 2lb 11oz and 2lb 9oz rudd
YOUR Top 10 Catches of the Week
WE receive so many catch reports here at Angling Times, that sometimes it is just impossible to fit them all in the magazine. We do, however, always love seeing and hearing of our readers top catches.
Here are some of the best fish we have been sent this week, some of which haven’t made the magazine but are still more than worth celebrating…
Remember to grab a copy of Angling Times every Tuesday, to read more of the latest big fish catches and exclusive Drennan Weekly Award winning specimens.
Huge Yorkshire barbel landed just in time!
Patrick Olding caught this cracking 12lb 8oz barbel during a recent session on a flooded South Yorkshire river. Amazingly, after a strong tussle with the fish, he landed it, only to see a large tree float through his swim moments later.
“I would have been wiped clean out”, he said.
Patrick used a 4oz lead fished in a tiny nearside slack, with three Robin Red pellets on the hook.
Patrick Olding and his 12lb 8oz barbel
First time barbel fishing and five doubles landed!
Lift engineer Ben Berry (24) is a regular carp angler but decided to have a go at barbel fishing with a friend on the River Trent. This turned out to be a great decision as he went on to net five double figure barbel over a 48-hour period.
Ben’s fish weighed 13lb 3oz, 14lb, 13lb 5oz, 10lb 10oz and 10lb 3oz.
He used a 6oz feeder rig and baited his spot with a mix of maggots and pellets. On the hook he used a Vortex Cocoon.
Not bad for one of your first barbel!
Spot and rig change brings pb barbel
A complete change of spot, rig and bait brought a new personal best barbel of 10lb 7oz for Ollie Arnold. Fishing the River Avon at Fladbury Weir, Ollie endured a blank first three hours and was contemplating going home before moving to the hotspot.
“I cast in and within a minute my rod tip bent round into a hard fighting fish”, he said.
After landing his new best, Ollie went on to catch five chub on Sticky Krill boilies before heading home a very happy man.
Ollie Arnold and his new PB
First barbel beats a 30lb carp any day!
“Hi guys. I hung up my carp rods for a few weeks as the lakes are all so rammed. So, I took advantage of the Thames on my door step and have had unreal results.
“Chub up to 5lbs 14oz. But on my first late evening/night session (Friday 3rd), I landed this 10lbs 10oz barbel.
“My first ever barbel. Sat through four and a half hours of rain.
“One hour into darkness, the rain finally stopped and the rod went. Beyond buzzing to get a Thames double.
“Beats any 30lb carp I’ve caught from lakes. Thank you Father Thames!”
Thank you Father Thames!
PB carp stalked on classic method
Peter Burton returned to angling after a 7-8 year break in fine style by catching this 19lb 8oz mirror carp. Using the all-time classic method of floating crust, Peter stalked the fish under an overhanging tree from a small lake just south of York.
Welcome back to fishing Peter!
Free fishing stretch produces three quality barbel
Fishing a little known tributary of the River Trent, James Sutcliffe caught three fine barbel - including a new PB of 11lb 4oz.
He used simple tactics of free-lined Spam and kept mobile to work the stretch. Even better, the fishing was free!
It pays to keep things simple and explore
Perch campaign gets off to a flyer
“I’m having a full season after perch this year and this is my biggest so far at 4lb 2oz.
It was caught from a local day ticket water on a large prawn with 6lb mainline and a 5lb hook link.”
Paul Bailey is having a full season targeting big perch
Unexpected eel for Rob Harris
“I fished BAA owned Coppice Lake in the hope of hooking into one of the many large carp in there.
“After patiently waiting all day and trying various hookbaits, I was on the verge of drawing a blank.
“Much to my excitement, the rod ripped off twice in the final hour of the session and produced two awesome specimen silver eels!
“The fish was caught on Dynamite Frenzied Luncheon meat using a simple bomb and hair rig and I couldn't be happier.
“Unfortunately, I didn't have my scales with me, so I can't be certain of how much it weighed but I'm guessing it was a good 6-7 lbs or more!”
How much do you think Rob’s eel weighed?
Hectic session on the Severn
A short overnight session on the River Severn near Shrewsbury resulted in 12 barbel for Ben Evans.
Five of these fish were over the 9lb barrier, which is a great average stamp for the prolific Midlands river.
One of the better Severn barbel caught by Ben Evans
Near miss for 2lb canal roach
“I went fishing with my uncle on the New Junction Canal as we are both from Doncaster.
“During our session I caught this beauty of a canal roach.
“ I caught it on the pole on a caster and tip of a worm. Thought it was a bream hybrid till I netted it, as it took my elastic all the way out!
“I was sure I hit my 2lb target but unfortunately was under at 1lb 12oz - gutted!”
See more of my results here: https://www.facebook.com/Naturalvenuefishing/
YOUR top 10 catches of the week!
WE receive so many catch reports here at Angling Times, that sometimes it is just impossible to fit them all in the magazine. We do, however, always love seeing and hearing of our readers top catches.
Here are some of the best fish we have been sent this week, some of which haven’t made the magazine but are still more than worth celebrating…
Remember to grab a copy of Angling Times every Tuesday, to read more of the latest big fish catches and exclusive Drennan Weekly Award winning specimens.
Shaun Markey nets four Trent doubles
A session on the River Trent in the pouring rain paid off hansomely for Shaun Markey. Casting a 5oz feeder and a Shrimp boilie to the middle of the river, he caught four barbel weighing 11lb, 12lb, 13lb and 15lb. Well worth getting soaked for!
One of four double figure Trent barbel for Shaun Markey
Shock River Soar sturgeon!
Jerry Botham had a rather large surprise recently, when on a trip to the River Soar in Sutton Bonington he caught this huge 39lb sturgeon. A new personal best and a very powerful fish.
Jerry Botham and his 39lb river sturgeon
River Can trout
The River Can in Chelmsford, Essex, produced this beautiful 5lb brown trout for Khan Emin. With the river slightly flooded, he used a big worm to catch the fish.
Khan Emin with a beautiful 5lb River Can trout
Light gear tames a big chub
“I had a lovely June the 16th. Trotting maggots on a size 16 Drennan Wide Gape hook, I caught this 5lb 1oz chub. It took a long time to land it on 4lb mainline and a 2lb hooklink. But eventually, with three people watching, I got it in the net and received a big round of applause. I felt like being on the England team!”
Trotted maggots are deadly for chub
Casters fool big tidal barbel
Paul Hamshaw caught this 14lb 12oz barbel from a private stretch of the tidal Trent. The fish picked up Paul’s caster hookbait, fished over a bed of hemp, in the middle of a scorching hot day.
He told Angling Times:
“I've had four fifteen pound barbel but this was the hardest fight I've ever had from one”
Paul Hamshaw caught this Trent barbel on a boiling hot day
Trio of Norfolk perch
An awesome session on the River Bure in Norfolk resulted in a catch of three 2lb perch for Peter Savory. In just an hour of angling he caught stripeys weighing 2lb 7oz, 2lb 5oz and 2lb 3oz. A great start to the season.
Peter Savory and one of his River Bure perch
Big ghostie pinnacle of ten years angling
“I am absolutely buzzing with this fish. It is the best I have ever caught. I have been fishing for the past 10 years, started when I was 14 with my dad. It came at midday on a local carp lake”, said Adam Minto.
Adam Minto was made up with this beautiful big ghost carp
“You are never too old to have a pb!”
Nige Fox caught this 3lb rudd whilst fishing a North Yorkshire syndicate lake. He told Angling Times:
“This bettered my pb of 2lb 4oz, that I caught two weeks ago from the same venue.
“It took two hours to get the fish feeding. They liked double sweetcorn, fished over a bed of mixed pellets.
“I couldn't believe the size of the rudd when I slipped it into my landing net.
“It proved to be the only rudd of the session. But I also caught six carp between 4 & 6lb. But the rudd was most definitely a career highlight.
“I'm 64 years old, and live in Leeds, West Yorkshire. I started fishing when I was four years old.
“Just goes to show, you never are too old to have a pb!”
A lovely 3lb rudd and a new pb!
Big Severn barbel brace
Mark Wood caught not just one big River Severn barbel but two, for a stunning 31lb brace. Both were caught on legered luncheon meat in afternoon and evening sessions.
15lb-plus River Severn barbel
15lb-plus River Severn barbel
Urban barbel is a new best
Fishing the River Aire in Leeds City Centre, David Aldred connected with this 11lb 6oz barbel. A new personal best, David had to weigh the fish twice as he was in shock at how thick it was. He used Hinders Elipse pellets in various sizes to get the fish feeding.
David Aldred and his 11lb 6oz barbel