For a few months I’ve not really been that interested in going fishing. Years of not doing the jobs in the garden have left a backlog that needed sorting out. So I got on with that. The new season arrived and I didn’t go on opening night. I did gradually start to put in a few zander trips on the Trent but one 12lb pike is all I got for my trouble. To be honest I wasn’t really putting enough effort in to ensure some success and I ended up deciding that I wasn’t going to neglect everything else just to catch a few more zander. If I thought I might have caught a few big ones I’d have got stuck in. It just didn’t seem likely.
Two or three times a week I have to go up to Daiwa Manton to keep an eye on things and feed the carp in the stock pond. On my rounds I noticed the shallows on the New Lake were very coloured. The carp had been digging the bottom up. I knew from experience that the lake’s rudd would be there too. I think the rudd feed on material dislodged by the digging of the carp. Anyway using simple float gear and maggots I caught 20-08 of rudd, but nothing bigger than 8oz.
I went back a few days later, the water wasn’t as coloured but the rudd were still there. I didn’t catch as many, but the average size was much better. I ended with two good ones of 2-02 and 1-08. All on simple float fished maggot with maggots fed ten at a time each cast. I enjoyed the change and now hope that the carp are still stirring up the shallows. Just to encourage the carp (and then the rudd) I chucked in 10kg of pellets. I will return!
