Midsummer

Little recce to a lovely Fenland river in search of big rudd. No a/c in the camper, so when the electric windows wouldn't move it was rather a hot journey, as it was 28 degrees outside ! Oh well, the old van has it's idiosyncrasies. 

Parked up in a big field by the river, only one other person there, magic.

Before I got my gear ready, S demanded a G and T ( slice of lime, lemon and loads of ice ). Good job she did too, because it was bloody lovely and a real tonic ( ho ho ho ).

In the evening I made my way to the water, the further I walked the more overgrown it was. No signs of early season anglers from the bank, but I saw a couple of blokes in a boat after the rudd.

As usual, plenty of rudd hitting the crusts I was chucking in, but the trick is to find the bigger fish. I saw a couple of bigger swirls a bit further upstream and battered down the stingers and goosegrass to reach the bank.

First few casts resulted in rudd of half a pound or so, then I hooked some bigger. A cracking fish of just over a pound and a half I guess. Next cast another a bit smaller. That'll do.

I stuck at it until dusk, but activity surprisingly died down. I did, however, spot some discoloured water and saw several bream or tench roll. Before I left, I chucked in a bit of bait in preparation for the morning.

Up at the crack of dawn, I was greeted with the sight of a barn owl quartering the misty meadows. Always a thrill.

I poked my head over the vegetation and immediately saw signs of feeding fish. I dropped a large bit of flake, compressed ultra hard to resist the attack of small rudd on the way down, with an AA a few inches from the hook.

A few minutes later the peacock quill slid away and a good sized fish took line off the clutch as it sped towards the far bank.

Sped is not a word you associate with bream, but this one thought it was a tench. Nice fish at well over 6lb.

Not surprisingly, this commotion killed the swim, so I tried another baited area. Same result, a chunky bream. Then another.

After those three fish it was back on the rudd. Nothing huge but several nice fish around the pound mark.

A nice start. I'm going back next week for a proper go.