Managed to squeeze in three hours before sunset.

Two very polite and courteous young chaps were carp fishing from my favourite swim that produced the tench last weekend. They were casting further than I can drive my car, which is fair enough, whereas I would have plopped my bait less than two rod lengths out. There's room for all methods.

So I went round to swim 44, into which the surprisingly strong wind was blowing. The books say that the fish follow the wind in readiness for all the food that gets blown in, but whenever I've tried it, like today, it's rarely gone well. I tossed one line out into the surf for the bream, and kept the other close to the margins. Not a touch on either of them. There's fish there though - I caught a double-figure Common using a large slug I'd found sliming up my umbrella on a wat summer session last year. No slugs, no fish this time

The only thing of note  the bloody manikin in the trees behind me that made me jump every time I looked around.