One Rod, 1 Lure, 1 Chance to Catch a Fish: Part 2 – Fresh Water Predators and a few surprise targets.

If you could only have 1 rod, and 1 lure, with 1 chance to catch a fish, what would you chose and why? If you read our last blog post you will know that I asked this of some of my favourite angling influencers and started a series of posts. Following the success and great feedback around LRF angling tactics I have turned the attention this week to fresh water. The question remains the same.

Dominic Braxton: Targeting Perch With Lures

The question to me was “If you could only have one rod, and 1 lure, with 1 chance to catch a fish, what do you chose and why?” The rod I would use would be my current canal rod a shimano zodias paired up with a 500 shimano vanford, great combo nice and light and has plenty of back bone if needed. The lure I would use would be a keitech fat swing impact 2.8 and I would target perch, the fact swing impact is a great all year round lure and with add scent and has a amazing action fast or slow retrieve.

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Lee Russell-Clark (Me) – Micro Fishing for Rudd

My first ever rudd on a lure was January 2020. I was fishing a tiny commercial pond with micro lures. We are talking about 0.2g jigjeads and 1/4 inch sections of worm lure and I was honestly dreaming of a carp as that the only fish I was certain was in this pond. Throughout the couple hour session is was catching plenty of small perch especially in the last few feet of the retrieve and when I had all but given up on the carp I decided to use my last half hour to try so.ething very different and in all honesty inspired by one of Ben Bassets earlier blog post I read a few years back where he was using little bits of isome in fresh water.

I tied on a size 12 hook dropshot Rigg and used a split shot instead of a dropshot weight as there was literally no wind and then pinched on a slither of white Isome. I was dropping my rig into small patches of reeds just hoping to find something a little different when I got a nibble and this little beauty graced me.

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I was so unbelievably happy with this little fish you’d have thought I had landed a 20lb carp. A completely new species for me! Rudd!

Then when the first lockdown of the 2020/2021 pandemic was lifting enough to allow fishing I visited a little lake hidden within a slip road near the A331 & M3 on the border of Hampshire and Surrey and immediately saw the surface alive with small rudd.

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It was again my first ever visit to the location so had no idea what tactics were going to work but with the fish being onnthe surface I sure as he’ll was going to try that first. I tied on a split shot rig with a size 12 single hook tipped with a mini red maggot type lure and cast, knock knock knock. Hookup! It reminded so much of fishing for smelt in the sea with their ferocious attitude of biting again and again until they got their victim (my lure).

Due to the size o fish in this pond I have mainly used very very small stuff to target them such as 0.5g jigheads with 1 inch lures and smaller but always seem to hookup. I doubt many will believe me but I had several sessions last year on this pond where I caught over 50 rudd on a lure, and 2 session where I had most of the day there and managed comfortably in excess of 100 rudd as well as about 20 perch.

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Later in the season whilst looking for a couple chub using the same methods in a river I managed my first ever rudd from a river as well. 2020 was definitely the year of the rudd for me. Because of the tactics I have found successful for these fish the rod and lure choices are simple and for me it’s as small as possible 0-3g or 0-5g rods (tubular tipped for that bite sensitivity) and braid if you are comfortable with it although I tend to use fluro just because that’s what my go to setup is rigged with. Lure is simple. Small and straight! Pintails or worm types and the scented certainly seems to help.

Although dropshot works I definitely prefer cast and retrieve along the surface and it’s great to see the takes and even more fun when the fish clear the surface whilst smashing your lure like a trout might.

Richard Salter AKA Devon Lerfer – 1st year of  Chub fishing.

I have enjoyed finding a few chub since last summer. They are quite an exciting new species for me as I’d never caught one until then.

I have quickly learnt that smaller is better with chub, even the chunky ones. My best have been on little 1 inch paddles and sub 1g heads. Instant hits under trees usually.

Which rod and lure?

Hmmm. I’ve been using my LRF gear on the river, usually the Majorcraft Truzer, 7g rated, tubular tipped, ideal for changing between jigheads and little cranks and has dealt with chub up to around 4lbs nicely so far. I’d go for a little 1″ paddle tail, probably white as thats what I’ve had most success on. I’ve only been after them since late summer of last year, so plenty to learn and I’d probably give you a very different answer if you asked me again this time next year haha.

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Find Richard’s incredible youtube channel here.

Bradley Hunt – Team Hook Me Up Lures

For me the 1 rod would be the Tsurinoya Elite 3 paired with either of my Shimano BFS reels. A great fast action rod with a very sensitive blank, great for either bottom rigs or jigs and can hold it’s own even when the surprise monster comes along.

My one lure is quite tough to choose, as I change more times than the Mrs before a night out. But purely to get fish on the bank, it’d have to be a 3″ paddle tail, more specifically the FFSLURES Finesse Fry, rigged on a ned style jig head, which is cheating the system of this one rod one lure challenge a little. . . The reason I use a ned head in this situation is so that I have 2 rigs/lures whilst using only one. Swim it and jig it as normal to get the effect of the paddle tail, and pinch off the paddle and boom, instant ned rigged stick bait.

This way all columns of the water can be covered, resulting in fish on the bank.

Checkout Bradley’s youtube channel ArrowsandAxes

Stephen Ditchy – Going Big for pike

As far as pike go, that’s easy; a 10cm sinking Salmo Slider. Any pattern. It’s the action everybody knows plus that pronounced wobble on the drop. Pike magnet! First out of the box at a new venue and also the one that gets left on the clip if nothing else is working.

I usually use a jerkbait rod rated to 100g but the Sliders are only 46g and can also be cast or worked on spinning gear – which is a lifesaver on freezing winter days when palming a baitcaster gets very uncomfortable.

As for other lures, there’s quite a few dead certs for pike. A number 6 Ondex is deadly, just limited by casting distance … and I’d be happy fishing for them with a 3-6” Kopyto or Cannibal Shad until the cows come home!

Stephen was recommended to me by Jamie Stanford who contributed to the first post in this series, having checked out his social media, I can see he is a bit of an ace all rounder regularly catching chub, perch and zander as well as pike. He also appears to be a fan of saltwater and has a fair few bass photos on his profile…….

With that in mind the next post is all about those silver beauties!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post, if you would like to contribute or believe you have a specialist approach I’ve not yet covered please reach out and hopefully we can get it covered during the rest of this series!

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