Attracting rudd

[The Flying Tench]

I've read one or two magazine articles on rudd fishing over the years that say you should stand on the bank and spray maggots just about as far out as you can until the rudd arrive. Then obviously you keep spraying, but also include a hook!

 

I've tried this a couple of times on a lake near me that has some big rudd, though not many of them, I suspect - I've never actually met an angler who has caught more than the occasional chance fish.

 

I tried the magazine approach yesterday for an hour with no luck, then got fed up and tried other approaches with equal lack of success. Basically it never felt like I was going to succeed. The problems were:

 

1) I was fishing 2 or 3 feet deep, but was very aware that all my maggots would be accumulating on the bottom, and I wondered if the rudd might not find this food hoard a bit of a counter attraction - though when I occasionally lengthened the hook link to fish on the bottom I didn't get any bites either. But is there a limit how long you should keep feeding maggots up in the water? And how much help is it in practice to have some floating maggots mixed in with the others?

 

2) It was a very hot day, so I fished the last couple of hours light - which I thought would be the best time. The problem was that I couldn't see whether there were any fish. When the sun was high in the sky earlier I saw 2 or 3 fish which could have been rudd at one spot. I fished the same spot, but of course they may have moved on. So is it best to fish in the middle of the day? And are there any clues to rudd spotting - other than using polaroids, of course.

 

And has anyone had more luck than me in finding shoals of rudd when they are not exactly prolific?

[Andy Macfarlane]

Yes. The latter part of the day seems to be most prolific.

 

I would set up my waggler rod and leave it to one side or keep an eye on another rod while you spray maggots on to another area. Not many though. I'm talking 2-3 at a time, every 30 seconds or so and keep it going in. If you keep this up for an hour or 2, you should attract rudd to the area, with roach right underneath the and hybrids at either depth. You should actually see flashes of gold under the surface and polaroids would help if you can't see under the surface too well. It takes a bit of persistence but it's worth it just to see them. Far prettier than any roach. After an hour or two of cattying your maggots in, then start casting at them and they shouldn't pay you any heed. Cast in at the start and you might never get them going.

 

I find rudd at quite happy to tug even a fairly large float, so I normally use a self-cocking pellet waggler (0.4g grams...that big!!) for distance, with an 18" - 3 foot drop maximum. No need for any shot down the line. A size 20 spade end and a reasonably fine-ish hooklength (.12mm or something of that order) will help. Red maggots will sort out more rudd than white or bronze IMO but all 3 will catch.

 

Just keep the maggots going in to the same spot and try to keep your spread quite tight and fish away. If they go off the feed, up the rate to 5-6 maggots until you have them back on again and go back down to 2-3 maggots. Keep them competitive.

 

Groundbait-wise, liquidised white bread is fine. Don't make it too stodgy as you want it to explode immediately. The odd chiplolata sized ball is plenty. The maggots are more important.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Andy Macfarlane

[watatoad]

Yes. The latter part of the day seems to be most prolific.

 

I would set up my waggler rod and leave it to one side or keep an eye on another rod while you spray maggots on to another area. Not many though. I'm talking 2-3 at a time, every 30 seconds or so and keep it going in. If you keep this up for an hour or 2, you should attract rudd to the area, with roach right underneath the and hybrids at either depth. You should actually see flashes of gold under the surface and polaroids would help if you can't see under the surface too well. It takes a bit of persistence but it's worth it just to see them. Far prettier than any roach. After an hour or two of cattying your maggots in, then start casting at them and they shouldn't pay you any heed. Cast in at the start and you might never get them going.

 

I find rudd at quite happy to tug even a fairly large float, so I normally use a self-cocking pellet waggler (0.4g grams...that big!!) for distance, with an 18" - 3 foot drop maximum. No need for any shot down the line. A size 20 spade end and a reasonably fine-ish hooklength (.12mm or something of that order) will help. Red maggots will sort out more rudd than white or bronze IMO but all 3 will catch.

 

Just keep the maggots going in to the same spot and try to keep your spread quite tight and fish away. If they go off the feed, up the rate to 5-6 maggots until you have them back on again and go back down to 2-3 maggots. Keep them competitive.

 

Groundbait-wise, liquidised white bread is fine. Don't make it too stodgy as you want it to explode immediately. The odd chiplolata sized ball is plenty. The maggots are more important.

 

Very good advice and very similar to what I do, I tend to fire out 3 balls (bit less than the size of a golfball) of groundbait in a rough triangle shape at the start using similar groundbait and keep my maggots going into the centre of the area I put the groundbait in.

[Dales]

Yes. The latter part of the day seems to be most prolific.

 

I would set up my waggler rod and leave it to one side or keep an eye on another rod while you spray maggots on to another area. Not many though. I'm talking 2-3 at a time, every 30 seconds or so and keep it going in. If you keep this up for an hour or 2, you should attract rudd to the area, with roach right underneath the and hybrids at either depth. You should actually see flashes of gold under the surface and polaroids would help if you can't see under the surface too well. It takes a bit of persistence but it's worth it just to see them. Far prettier than any roach. After an hour or two of cattying your maggots in, then start casting at them and they shouldn't pay you any heed. Cast in at the start and you might never get them going.

 

I find rudd at quite happy to tug even a fairly large float, so I normally use a self-cocking pellet waggler (0.4g grams...that big!!) for distance, with an 18" - 3 foot drop maximum. No need for any shot down the line. A size 20 spade end and a reasonably fine-ish hooklength (.12mm or something of that order) will help. Red maggots will sort out more rudd than white or bronze IMO but all 3 will catch.

 

Just keep the maggots going in to the same spot and try to keep your spread quite tight and fish away. If they go off the feed, up the rate to 5-6 maggots until you have them back on again and go back down to 2-3 maggots. Keep them competitive.

 

Groundbait-wise, liquidised white bread is fine. Don't make it too stodgy as you want it to explode immediately. The odd chiplolata sized ball is plenty. The maggots are more important.

 

Very good advice from both Andy and Watatoad and their tactics should work, but I think big Rudd must be one of the most difficult species to catch and they do not seem to fall to standard Rudd tactics very often. The few biggies I have had over 2lb have all come from the bottom layer of water. I do not think they are tempted up in the water column like their smaller brethren and a more specimen hunter approach is called for fishing bottom baits.

[lozza]

Try using flake (or corn) flatten it down so I sinks very slowly through the water column. Then leave on the deck for about 30 seconds see if anything takes an interest in it. Had some lovely rudd and roach with that method.

[Mark Wintle]

The basics apply to rudd as much as any other fish.

 

First find your fish; I'd suggest looking at whether the water concerned has extensive Norfolk reed beds as these seem to be good rudd attractors as are other weed beds. Fishing in open water is very hit and miss for rudd.

 

Don't scare them; rudd do not like noise, much less than say carp, even normal voices scare them. They don't seem scared by vibration, unlike carp. I know this from experiments. They don't like visible angling so standing on top of a bank is likely to scare them, using cover carefully much less so. If you catch them close to reed beds they may retreat into the reed beds after a few fish. Fishing at range to reed beds or weed beds may help.

 

Fish at the right time; For up in the water dawn and dusk are very good times. At night big rudd like to feed on the bottom. I've also had big rudd in winter on the bottom.

 

Choose the right tackle; a big rudd hooked close to reed stems may take some getting out yet need fine(ish) tackle to tempt so be ready to bully them away from the reeds.

 

Use the right bait; maggots may get you too many small rudd but casters or bread flake are more selective.

 

Funnily enough, the above are brief summary of Dick Walker's guidelines outlined many years ago - note the lack of 'magic' baits!

[The Flying Tench]

Thanks everyone, but I feel a bit daunted! I must admit sitting there catapulting in maggots for a couple of hours without a bite would be a bit boring! The additional problem being that as far as I know this lake only has big rudd over 2lbs! They were stocked. There are also some very small ones now, but I have only had them in very shallow water. My point is that if Dales is right and the 2lb plussers won't go for the surface approach I'd lack faith that it was leading anywhere.

 

Maybe I need to go for the night time approach on the bottom - or find another lake!

Edited May 26, 2010 by The Flying Tench

[Andy Macfarlane]

Won't know unless you try. If the lake has as many 2lb+ fish as you say, I'd be down there tomorrow trying to sus them out and that's a fact.

 

Besides, you could always fish a static rod or 2 while you catty maggots in as I suggested.

[watatoad]

I'm only a few hours from Newbury which lake is it and do you think it holds record Rudd in it?

 

Current record

 

RUDD (Scardinius erythrophthalmus)

 

4 lbs 10 ozs 0 dms

 

2 kilo 100 gms

 

2001 Simon Parry, Clay Lake, Co Armagh, NI

 

Are day/ weekend tickets available?

[Anderoo]

FT, have you seen the Catching the Impossibe episode where Mr Bowler catches the big rudd by spraying maggots and fishing shallow? If not, PM me your address and I'll put it in the post for you.

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that rudd seem to like shallow water. They also don't like disturbance, so the tops of gravel bars are often good places to fish for them, if you're fishing a gravel pit. They are also often found near snags like thick reedbeds and fallen trees, etc.

 

The little shoals of big rudd are very transient - spotting them is easier at dusk when they take flies/insects off the surface. If you can see which way they're heading you can get the maggots going in ahead of them - like surface fishing for carp or trotting, feeding for a good while before fishing will mean you can get more than one.