Short but sweet.

I got away from work early today and decided to head out for a couple of hours. Checking the weather forecast for a couple of potential places to fish I decided to head to Markle Fisheries in East Lothian. The wind was quite strong and I thought there might be a nice sheltered spot there. The main target would be rudd with the chance of rainbow trout too. The ponds there are also full of three-spined sticklebacks so a pack of my Gamakatsu #26 hooks went in the tackle box as well.

Arriving at the venue it was not as windy as I'd feared and in fact the area I like to float fish for rudd was fairly well sheltered. I quickly set up and started fishing, clipping up so I could cast into a gap between the overhanging bushes to my left . 

Fishing tight to these bushes normally produces rudd.

Feeding the swim with a few maggots it took about half an hour before I got my first bite and quickly landed a small rudd. This was followed by a further four over the next thirty minutes.

Rudd are a grumpy looking fish due to their upturned mouth.

Whilst I was fishing a pair of tufted ducks moved into my swim and began diving down and gobbling up the maggots I was tossing in. As they worked their way closer and closer to my float the inevitable happened and my float went under due to one of the ducks picking up my hookbait. After a short tug if war I managed to get the bird into my net after a few attempts and carefully handling the bird removed the hook from its bill. Letting it go it flew over to its mate and they wisely stayed away from my free offerings further along the pond.

The bird didn't seem too bothered by the whole experience.

With any fish that had moved into my swim being well and truly spooked by all the commotion caused when I was trying to land the duck I began feeding it again to try and tempt some back. It took a little while to get another bite and when I connected with it I quickly realised it was a rainbow trout that had taken my bait. It wasn't on for very long though, managing to shed the hook with a powerful head shake near the surface.

At this point I decided to have a go for a stickleback in the margins. They can normally be seen in small shoals around the reeds. I removed the float from my line and connected the tiny #26 hook. Rummaging through my tub of maggots I found the smallest one I could and nicked it onto the tiny hook. Wandering around the waters edge I soon spotted a few of the little spiny fish and lowered the maggot in amongst them. It took a while to get them interested and even then it was very frustrating watching them pecking at the bait but eventually my perseverance paid off when I managed to hook one of the bigger ones!

Don't be sad. Two out of three ain't bad.

At this point it started raining and I was feeling quite hungry so I decided to call it a day. Just as I was leaving though the pond was stocked with a rather large quantity of rainbow trout. I must say the thought of all those new additions in the pond makes it tempting to head back tomorrow to work on my fly casting and maybe I can catch a few of them in the process.

Tight lines, Scott.