Rudd Fishing - Essex Anglers

Catching Baitfish On Fly

So today was a day off from work and I decided to go out, ride to a local river and see what is lurking in the brackish water conditions, id heard story of nice big fish being carp, tench and pike but I wanted to see what the baitfish life was like first, not only will this tell me where the pike will like to hold up but it will also show e where the food is and that is where the trench and carp want to be, I found a couple of deep holes too which will hold nice size fish come winter. I was armed with a size 12 spectra shrimp and my 4WT Wychwood game set up which made these fish brilliant fun! I began the day looking for any sorts of rises and luckily id locked my bike up on a piece of structure teeming with life, fish surfacing, wakes of fish shoals of fish, bubbles everything it looked brilliant! Unfortunately, the spot quietened down due to me trying to find what the fish were after, id only started getting interested when I changed over to the spectra shrimp which got crushed the second I started using it from a lovely rudd unfortunately it wasn’t very well hooked as I didn’t know it was even there! however, I tried to land it and it popped off at the bank maybe due to barbless hooks or bad luck I saw it so happy days! the next couple came to a while after finding the hotspot and they were decent size roach, in my opinion, was very happy one took the lure soo deep I couldn’t even see them!

the video will be linked here!

Well, we have finally had weather with some resemblance of Summer! It’s been a long time coming and from cold it’s seemed to have gone straight to hot! And clearly the fish have noticed this change to, with mass spawning taking place.

I headed back to Parsonage Farm Fishery, in hopes for maybe a few Tench. Same method as usual, a little hybrid feeder on my trusty quiver and Tincaberry groundbait, a good mix, and hopefully with the heat the Tench would fancy some berry flavoured goods!

Within 30 minutes of baiting up and fishing, the tip had smashed round, and a very un climaxing fight began, with the Tench almost giving up with barely any fight. However great to get off the mark!

IMG 20210529 094721 scaled e1622796911924 — A Lovely Tench!

This beauty weighed in at around 3lb. With sadly a bit of damage to its upper lip, it was swiftly returned.

Unfortunately, the next few hours just provided constant line bites, never developing into anything. It’s always frustrating to see the rod tip moving so much but to no avail.

I opted for a change of tactic, others on the lake seemed to be catching well on float. So I quickly put the only float I had on! And hoped for some more Tench.

Using just corn on the hook, and casting just past the first ledge a few metres out. Similar to where other Tench where being caught, I was hopeful. Although I saw what seemed to be millions of Rudd buzzing around in my swim!

Providing a challenge to get past them, however catching these beautiful small fish really made time go by quickly, and it’s not long before you lose count!

I possibly forgot about Tench fishing while catching these scale perfect little fish one a chuck, and really just forgot about taking photos. Sometimes it can be such a joy just to constantly catch like this. no matter the size of the fish. Especially sitting in the sun, catching one a chuck proved to be a great way to spend a day.

Before I knew it, my alarm went off and it was time to head home!

Tight Lines all…