England, 5-9 October, 2015
Part 2 - Fishing with Bob Nudd MBE
Wednesday, 7th October
Today we met up with an angling legend - Bob Nudd MBE. We were to spend the next two days with him learning a bit about different angling methods. We were all keen to get started.
We met Bob at Stanjay tackle shop in Godmanchester where we were welcomed with a nice cup of tea. Extremely friendly people and great service.
Also in the shop was Mark Pollard who was doing a feature for Coarse Angling magazine on the same stretch of water we were fishing.
We were going to fish on the River Ouse just down the road and we were going to be catching big Roach on the bread punch.
I have always liked bread punch and hemp fishing, so I was really looking forward to seeing the differences between how I do it and how a four-time world champion does it.
I set up just two rigs to fish the punch, a 1 g and a 0.75 g Drennan Carbo with an olivette about 60 cm from the hook and three No. 10 droppers spaced 15 cm apart. Hook was a size 18 Kamasan B511. I used a 0.11 mm main line and a 0.09 mm bottom - both Preston Reflo Power. If the bites do not come, I can go down to an 0.07 mm bottom.
Bob explained his rig, how he makes his bread and how he feeds. Then we went off to our pegs to start fishing.
I mixed some gravel into my liquidised bread to make it heavier and cupped in two balls at the start on the 12 m line in the deepest part of the river.
We fished for a while and Bob came to see how we were getting on.
I was catching large Roach from the start, one after the other. When the bites tailed off I just added another ball of punch via the pole cup.
After a while Stan from the tackle shop brought everyone a bacon roll - now that's service!
There were some slight difference between how Bob prepares his bread for the hook and how I had been preparing my bread for the hook.
I will try Bob's way and compare results for the two methods. Whichever one works best I will use - although I think the quality of bread used makes a big difference as well. There are not many places to buy Warburton's in Germany :-)
We had a great days fishing and I was extremely impressed with how helpful Bob was - nothing was too much trouble.
Thursday, 8th October
Today we are meeting Bob in March near the BMX track to fish the Old Nene.
I have fished several matches here in the past and know the venue quite well. We will start on pinkie over groundbait and finish off with some chopped worm fishing.
I set up just two rigs again today. A 0.5 g Drennan G-Tip 2 and a Preston Chianti for fishing on the drop across to the boat on the far bank. I didn't try the chopped worm.
I caught all of the time - lots of small fish but some bonus Perch and Skimmers as well. I also lost 2 big Eels, but on a light bottom it was to be expected.
We had a fantastic two days with Bob. He answered every question and couldn't have been more helpful. He has helped thousands of angers over the years, and shows no sign of stopping.
I will write a separate article on groundbait and pinkies here: Groundbait & Pinkies.
On the way back to Germany, Theo told me that he had learned so much over the past few days.
I'm glad that he has some new methods to try on his next fishing trips into Holland.
As a youngster, Kevin Ashurst was my idol; I always wanted to fish with him, and who knows, I may still get the chance on my first Irish trip very soon.
Bob Nudd MBE is a legend, and now I can say I have fished with him - twice!
Simply awesome!
