Despite the recent cloudier and cooler conditions, it is still possible to catch the iconic surface feeding summer species, the rudd, as proven by Dan Gale when he caught this 3lb 8oz specimen.

Dan caught the beautiful golden flanked fish from a Lincolnshire Stillwater, where himself and a friend fished from a punt using traditional waggler tactics.

Dan told Angling Times: “The fish came out of the blue after a string of fish in the 6-12oz range. My boat partner and I were very active in adjusting our shotting patterns and feeding to try and catch the better fish more consistently, but we had long periods where it was impossible to even get the float to settle before a bite. It almost seemed like the faster we tried to get our baits through the shoals, the faster the fish would hit the bait.”

What Dan describes is classic behaviour of shoal species like rudd and roach, showing that perseverance and actively adjusting your set up is key to get through to the specimens in the shoal.

The quality fish was backed up by other rudd of 2lb and 1lb 14oz, with all the bites coming from a clearing in the weed, which Dan targeted on sweetcorn.