BROAD - MINDED RUDD FISHING
These days, more coarse anglers are using fake bugs and artificial flies. HDreeocrmeallGs aar mneetmtorable fluff-flinging trip to the Broads
EVERY keen angler will know the feeling of sitting there biteless, on the very days when the fish appear to be feeding avidly.
You can see them moving, bubbling or even rising in the water, so why are your usual baits flatly ignored?
The answer to such conundrums is often buzzing all around us, or busy hatching from the water. Because, let’s face it, when there are rich, natural pickings, why should we expect fish to take something as foreign as a pellet or a piece of corn?
Times are changing, though, and I’m heartened to see that I’m no longer in a tiny minority who experiment with insect imitations, Zig Bugs and traditional flies.
A case in point was a revealing session I enjoyed on the Broads with my friend Jim Sutherland. It had been a baking hot day with little wind. Bites were at a premium, and yet we could clearly see fish at the surface.
The roach and rudd were rising steadily, not only making telltale rings but actually breaking the surface with dorsal and tail fins. We didn’t need to look far for evidence of what they were eating either, as the water was absolutely littered with the ‘shucks’ of buzzers – tiny midgelike insects hatching in their tens of thousands.
Being a keen fly-tyer, I fancied I had just the right tool in my box – a size 16 ‘emerger’ buzzer, resembling a small, drably coloured insect. With a tuft of buoyant feather fibres, these flies do a great impression of an insect breaking through the surface film, mid-hatch.
The casts that followed were fascinating. Hordes of roach and rudd were present, especially along ‘wind lanes’ where a gentle ripple met still water, rather like the crease on a river. Here, the real insects were concentrated and regular rises indicated every chance of success.
In practice, the going was tricky. In the calm conditions, the fish were intolerant of any clumsy cast and would only trust a small fly on very fine line. Even so, bites were more rapid than from any trout!
Looking at the dimples on the surface you might have guessed the fish were tiny, but among the one-ounce fish were some much better samples. Not cover shot specimens, but cracking roach and rudd to put a lovely bend in a four-weight fly rod.
By the time the promise of cold beer and some shade had proved too great, we’d caught several dozen fish. Sure, we’d have had some on maggots too, but it wouldn’t have been anything like as thrilling as matching the hatch and watching them rise right in front of us. There can’t be a more natural, intimate or exciting way to catch summer roach and rudd.