An incredible day on the bank saw one angler land 726 fish in under five hours, with constant action throughout their session.
While some anglers go to relax on the bank, this recent outing proved very different for James Wellwood, who set himself a challenge to see just how many fish he could catch during a five-hour stint on a local venue.
While small rudd aren’t the hardest fish to catch, netting this many is incredibly difficult. To give you some idea of how efficient James was during his trip, he maintained an average catch rate of around 2–3 fish per minute over the five hours he was on the bank, in a feat of incredibly skilful angling!
"This session actually began the day before, when a short two-hour after-work outing on the whip produced around 250 fish for approximately 15kg. Knowing I had more time the following day, I set myself a challenge to see just how many fish I could catch," James explained.
HEAD TO ONE OF THESE WATERS FOR A PROLIFIC DAY'S FISHING...
“When you’re trying to catch a massive number of fish like this, it’s so important to get into a rhythm that becomes second nature throughout the day.
“I found it best to flick the rig out, feed casters, catch a fish, unhook it, then flick the rig out again. Once my float was in the water, I’d put the fish in my keepnet, hit my counter, then feed again. By the time I fed again, I’d already hooked another fish, and the process just kept resetting and repeating all day.”
“If I fed a ball of groundbait every cast, it pulled in too many tiny fish. Instead, I fed five small nuggets of groundbait every 20 fish, which helped me target slightly better rudd holding just off the main feed.”
“If things slowed, I’d introduce a bit of sloppy leam to pull fish back in, and I’d rotate between 1.5m and 2m whips depending on where they were sitting. All my feed went into the 1.5m line, and I’d fish just beyond it.”
