Attracting rudd

[Chris Plumb]

John - can't say I'm an expert when it comes to Rudd especially when my modest PB of 1-06 has stood for nearly 20 years. However when I did used to deliberately target them we used to throw in floating casters and wait for them to start getting taken beofre then throwing in maggots - worked a few times on an NAA lake (K) - which I know isn't the one you're fishing....

 

 

C.

[The Flying Tench]

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?

Nope, I'm sure it doesn't hold a record. And I'm afraid there aren't day/weekend tickets.

[The Flying Tench]

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.

Very kind of you, Andrew. Actually I do have that episode of CTI and I guess I tried to copy what he did , but to no avail. You may know that the first water he tried, and only got them to about a pound, is close to you. I fished it a couple of times, and actually had a couple of big rudd on, but the last time the lake seemed to have gone dead and someone else who fished it found the same thing.

 

When I was there they talked about MB's visit. The version from the bankside was that he put in huge amounts of maggots and caught them bite-a-chuck, but that wasn't what I saw on the dvd.

[The Flying Tench]

John - can't say I'm an expert when it comes to Rudd especially when my modest PB of 1-06 has stood for nearly 20 years. However when I did used to deliberately target them we used to throw in floating casters and wait for them to start getting taken beofre then throwing in maggots - worked a few times on an NAA lake (K) - which I know isn't the one you're fishing....

 

 

C.

Thanks, Chris - very interesting. I may try K lake when the season starts - or try the approach on the syndicate lake.

 

People sometimes say that when the casters have turned for a while they become unattractive as a bait. Are old maggots that have turned a while any good, or do you have to buy casters and use the darker ones that just float?

[Andy Macfarlane]

Depends if the casters have dehydrated or not mate. If you keep the casters in a tub, place a poly bag on top and then snap the lid on, you should seal the moisture in, without the casters drying up, turning too quickly or suffering from bag-burn.

 

Old maggots are no problem for rudd. In fact, mine and Andy_1984s last Rudd session (about 5 weeks ago) was very successful and I was using maggots that had been stored at just under 1 degree since last October. Barely above freezing point. Yes, they were that old believe me! and the rudd and roach couldn't get enough. Truly dehydrated and honking maggots.

[BoldBear]

Our clubs estate lake is around 3.5 acres with a fairly consistant depth of around 4ft.

We catch Rudd as others above have already said; on the surface by catapulting floating caster onto the surface, letting it drift and cast a float around the edge of the feeding shoal.

 

Sometimes the noise of the float landing on the water actually seems to attract the shoal and not spook it as some would think and we can sometimes tempt the shoal a bit nearer.

 

The caster are best when they are just starting to float with half of them still sinking slowly.

If we have to use fresh caster then we leave most of them out in the sun for a while which turns them into floaters and mix a few sinkers in with them for loose feeding; and use the fresh sinking caster on the hook or if we require slower sinking casters we put a floating caster plus a fresh sinking caster on the hook together. sometimes the weight of the hook is just enough to make a floating caster sink very slowly.

 

They are not giant Rudd with the largest usually around 12oz to a pound but very occasionally we get a couple of near the 1lb 12oz. mark.

 

Sometimes the surface boils as the caster hit the water and you can see the shoal jostling around just below the surface.

Edited May 28, 2010 by BoldBear

[gozzer]

Though no expert, I'll add my twopenny worth from my own experience.

 

I used to catch them on a small millpond near me, (sadly now a housing estate). No monsters but up to 12oz/ 1lb. I tried most of the above, but had most success using a mixture of floating and sinking casters. The water was about 6ft deep and I mixed a few balls of stiffish plain breadcrumb groundbait laced with mixed casters. A couple of balls thrown along a weedbed the rudd patrolled, and then started loose feeding. Some of the casters in the groundbait broke off and rose in the swim, some stayed on the bottom. Loose feed either floated or sank. During the session I had casters falling and rising, through the swim, it seemed to attract the rudd and I caught at varying depths. If the surface fish got spooked, I'd fish the bottom or mid depth, usually the larger fish were under the smaller stuff.

It took me quite a while to suss this out, and sadly only had a half dozen sessions before we lost the pond, but it worked for me every time.

 

 

John.

[The Flying Tench]

Matt Hayes filmed a session on one of the Linear Lakes complex near Eynsham a few years back, he had what was considered the best catch of large Rudd...ever! I don't know about that, but they were fantastic big fish, he used the waggler and sprayed around with very old maggots.

I think Linear is still day ticket and only a stones throw (In Big Rudd terms) from Greenham

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've got that video and re-watched the relevant bit a few days ago. An interesting thing for me was that he could spot the shoal visually - and it was in the middle of a hot day - though I'm sure what some have said is also true that you can sometimes see them better at dusk if they are feeding off flies etc.

 

But the Linear lake is near Bedford, not the Ensham complex, and I suspect is one of their syndicate waters.

[Andy Macfarlane]

You generally can see activity of their presence. If they aren't actively on the surface, keep an eye open for gold flashes when you're cattying your maggots.

[Worms]

Mr. Crabtree used to throw out pieces of toast anchored with stones. The rudd would come up and nibble the toast and he and Peter would then tempt them with maggot or fly!