Red Letter Day

Sometimes you need a bit of luck. 

About a month ago me and Dicky Boy were fishing a large Fenland river. We picked an area that we subsequently found out wasn't quite right and at the end of the day I walked about two hundred yards downstream and watched a bloke catch roach one a chuck.

Without being unkind to him, he didn't look a great angler and I made a mental note of the spot.

The day after Bully said he was going to the same stretch.  I told him exactly where the bloke was catching the roach and advised him to fish there.

As it happened, the spot was taken, so he plonked himself a bit further downstream and ended up having a great day with decent sized rudd, with the biggest couple going over 2lb.

Two weeks later me and Dicky returned, in roughly the area Bully fished. Bully is much like Christopher Columbus, in that he doesn't know where he's going and doesn't remember where he's been , so getting the exact spot proved hopeless.

It was bloody freezing, maybe 4 degrees C and bright with a cold wind.

I tackled up a small feeder and cast towards the boats moored on the far side.

A bite first cast. Missed of course, but a sign of things to come. In short, it was an incredible day, where I had over thirty rudd, with nothing smaller than a pound and a quarter, with the biggest going 2lb 9oz. 

The biggest fourteen rudd went 31lb 1oz. The stamp of fish was incredible. 

The fish were ultra tightly shoaled. Dicky was fifteen yards away and didn't have a single rudd, despite having plenty of far bank cover.

For some reason they were packed in and under one particular boat and I was lucky enough to be in front of it.

I gave Dicky a go in my swim and he immediately had two big rudd, both over 2lb. A few yards made all the difference.

Dicky also tried downstream, tight against the next moored boat, but to no avail. It was pure luck we stumbled on exactly where they were.

I phoned Bully and told him what we'd had and he said the only thing he could remember about his swim, was the colour and name of the boat opposite. Yes, the very same one I was facing as we spoke on the phone. 

I ended up with twelve rudd over two pounds, with a couple an ounce under that mark and countless others. 

The best day I've had in a while and something I'll do very well to repeat.