Storm Evert? Pah! It was as still as can be when I arrived at 5:45am. But by 8, the aspen tree was shimmering its leaves in the increasing wind and by 11 I was struggling to lash the brolly to my seat as incoming rain hit me horizontally. With the air pressure falling below 1,000mb anticipation was higher than ever, and the fish pretty much obliged, in the morning anyway.

Mirrors of 4lb 12 and 5lb 6, a 1lb tench and commons of 9lb 8, 7lb 12 and 6lb were all most welcome. Come  midday however, with the swell coming across like the North Atlantic, the bites stopped altogether even after I moved to a sheltered area where I thought that fat, lazy carp might be avoiding the flow.