Paul Faint, 3lb 6oz rudd

AN EIGHT-mile walk along the River Cam ended in success for Paul Faint in the shape of this 3lb 6oz rudd.

It was a new personal best for the 46-year-old, who said: “I started off by walking a section of the Cam, only to find the area that I fancied was privately owned, with no access for fishing.

“This was a long hike for nothing, so I decided to return to the beginning of the section and make my way across the river over a footbridge and fish it from the opposite bank.

“By this time I had been on the bank a few hours – I must have walked eight miles and still not wetted a line.”

After eventually locating some fish, Paul flicked out a few pieces of bread crust which were soon snapped up by a shoal of hungry Fenland rudd.

Without hesitation he cast out his rig, and a floating crust hookbait was devoured almost instantly.

“Half way through the fight I could see the golden flank of the fish and knew it was a rudd, and a big rudd at that,” Paul added.

“Carefully retrieving it back to the net amid the lily pads and rushes I knew it was going to be a pb – beating my long-standing best of just over 2lb.”

Paul’s session also produced other rudd of 1lb 15oz, 1lb 4oz and 1lb 3oz.

All fell to floating crust fished on a size 8 Kamasan hook, with a 3lb Drennan hooklink tied to 5lb mainline under a thick-topped Drennan waggler float.