This lovely bag of fish from Bales Nursery Lakes at Ellingham was taken in just over two hours on an early morning session on bread. With a four pound line tied directly through to a size fourteen hook the small crow quill float pole float was soon being pulled under by eager tench. Laid just an inch or so on the bottom both rudd and roach were interested too and soon the catch was to amass to nearly twenty pounds when Nigel Bale arrived to supervise the photography.

The Tiny rudd is typical with it's beautiful colours of some of the magic there in underneath the water. This perfectly formed little tiddler has all the same qualities in miniature the bigger relatives have and took a couple of maggots just the same as they will a foot or so under the surface. There are plenty of these to be found in the Common Pond at Bungay and the Cherry Tree Lake at Ditchingham.

A small worm on a size sixteen hook, can be a particular favourite for bigger Rudd, as it falls through the water on the way down to hungry perch in the deeper planes nearer the bottom. Then if it has not been sampled and comes to rest on the bed there is a good chance of a tench like the best one in the picture picking it up to pull your float under!