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Willows Lake - Thatcham 1730 - 2230 Warm and overcast - clearing. No breeze so copious amounts of DEET required to keep the mossies at bay! AT 23º-17ºC 2 Tench; 4lb 7oz & 4lb 3oz. 2 Carp; 8lb 6oz & 6lb 11oz First evening this summer on here when the carp have been a nuisance. Along with the 2 I landed I lost another 3 to hook pulls - two after lengthy fights and getting close to netting - ho hum they weren't what I was after any hows! Thankfully there was a lull in carp interest for around an hour either side of 9pm when the tinca's got a look-in and I had 2 fish in 2 consecutive casts just as it got dark.

Hi all , First of all thank you for letting me join, I am a carp, barbel, pike, shark, conger, and fly fisherman in that order.... after a year hunting conger from the shore, I've now moved to brighten and joined old windsor there, associate club TVAA have the fishing at marsh lane on the river jubilee, I see a lot of chaps there with bivies and the odd pleasure angler but everyone is very tight lipped. i have had some persch to lure out of there while looking round with a lure rod and have seen carp and big bream moving around. However I'm hoping you can help me by offering any advice for daytime carp sessions on there, I have a single rod and all the usual gear but I'm not set up for long sessions at the moment so ill have mobility and lots of 6-8 hour daylight sessions. Additionally, does anyone have any idea of the stock the river holds esp. of carp please? My initial approach unless I'm advised otherwise would be to roll onto one of the deeper pegs, find gravel spots amongst the silt I know is in there and fish running leads on braid hook lengths with nash 15mm scopex and squid boiles 15mm with 12mm scattered around the areas. and maize. But I admit I'm out of my depth and would love any advice please. Imogen Kitty Martin

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0000 Warm (ish), overcast with drizzly rain to start - clearing and becoming quite cool. AT 21ºC -> 12ºC. 1 Carp 8lb 1oz, 1 Tench 3lb 8oz. A frustrating evening on the float. Lots of dithering, dips and rises and lots of striking at thin air for the first 3 hours! When I did eventually connect with something it was the right weight - but the wrong species! 8lb+ tench have been coming out of here this summer and I'd really like to get one as my PB is under that! Darkness eventually resulted in a tinca but it would prove to be my last bite of an otherwise disappointing evening!

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1500 - 2230 Warm with sunny spells - clearing at dusk with a nice southerly breeze to keep the mossies off. AT 21ºC or there-abouts for most of the afternoon. 3 Tench; 6lb 8oz, 5lb 3oz, 1½lb. 3 Carp; 10lb 11oz, 7lb 8oz, 6lb 11oz News that the carp in here weren't showing very well (post spawning malaise?) had me chancing my arm for the tincas. Went all out with my default tench tactics - prawn sections float fished lift method style and it wasn't long before I was having my hook straightened by a muscular carp! The next time my float went under it resulted in the 10lber - and whilst I was rather pleased to land it on my float rod I thought I was going to be in for an evening of carp frustration. I need not have worried, as the sun sank behind the trees - putting my swim in shade - the tench showed up - with all 3 in quite quick succession. The first up being the 5lb male. The 6 my biggest for 4 years and my best from an NAA club water since 2010.

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1900 - 0000 Warm, calm evening with high cloud clearing enough to have a good view of the International Space Station which passed overhead twice whilst I was on the bank. AT 25º -> 15ºC. Shirtsleeves all evening though copious amounts of DEET was required to keep the mossies at bay! 6 Tench: best 3lb 4oz, with another just shy of 3lb the other 4 around 1¼lb ±4oz. 1 Crucian; 1lb 7oz. 2 Carp; 8lb 4oz & 7lb 13oz. 1 Perch - small. A super evening, successfully NOT catching carp! Defaulted to my usually MF tactics of float fished prawn segments fished just off a lily bed and expecting to be annilihated by a carp at every cast. But every time the float dipped or (more usually) lifted (as I was using the lift method!) it resulted in a welcome tinca - or an even more welcome crucian. Nice to see the stocking of these a few years back starting to pack on some weight - first one I've had of this batch over 1lb - a super little fish with a typical high back demonstrating the phenotypic plasticity this species is famous for. By 2230 bites on the float had dried up (opposite to what usually happens) and I started to flick bits of bread into the margins by my feet. It wasn't long before there were slurps and swells as it got mopped up and it was simply a matter of dapping a bit of bread with a hook in and hanging on!

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0000 Warm and overcast with a gentle southerly breeze. 19ºC -> 16ºC. Lovely evening to be out - no dew and no shelter required. 5 Carp; 10lb 13oz, 8lb 14oz, 8lb 10oz, 6lb 5oz (& one of around a pound - unweighed!). 1 Tench 1¼lb. 3 Bream (all skimmers). 1 Perch. 1 Rudd. (Both quite small) This was meant to be an evening fishing the margins for tench (or crucians, roach, bream, perch, rudd - anything but carp!) However the bully boy commons had other ideas - they were just insatiable. The 'bigger' eight was first cast and took an age to subdue on a float rod and a 4lb bottom - and no wonder as it was shaped like a torpedo! After hooking and losing a couple more to hook pulls - bumping another couple (possibly striking at liners) - and banking the 2 smaller ones I decided on a 'If you can't beat them, join them' strategy and started dapping bread under my (carp) rod tip. This at least resulted in a 100% hooking to landing ratio - though the double had to be extracted from the lillies where it so nearly won its freedom. After all this commotion the carp eventually vacated my swim - I had no more slurps and swirls at my bread offerings on the surface and float fishing maggot at last produced bites (and fish) that weren't carp though they weren't exactly prolific!

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2330 Warm with a nice breeze in my face, much more clement than the oppressive heat of recent days and kept the dew and mossies away. 26ºC - 17ºC. 5 Carp: 10lb 6oz, 9lb 8oz, 6lb 11oz, 6lb 2oz & a 3lber. 1 Tench (1lb and a bit). Got off to a promising start with the tench first cast - though I nearly lost my rod to it as I was still 'setting out by stall' and not paying attention to my float! Alas, it would prove to be my only one - and not a hint of my other target species - crucians. At least the carp kept me busy all evening and I also lost a couple to hook pulls (twas only on a 16) but both only after extended fights. One of these was hooked in the tail - and took me over 20 minutes to get to the bank - only for the hook hold to eventually give as I got it to the lip of the net (twas no great size - another of the 6lb class at a guess). Biggest two were caught dapping bread crust under my rod tip after dark.

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0000 Warm, overcast with a southerly breeze to put a bit of ripple on the water - neigh on perfect conditions - pity no one told the fish! 2 Carp 12lb 14oz & 6 lb 7oz. 1 Tench c1lb & a Perch. Dismal evening on the float despite same tactics/baits and swim to my last trip here in June. No bites before 2030 - and precious few after that despite the odd fish rolling in my swim! Thankfully I had a Plan B. I'd thrown a couple of slices of bread into my bait bucket and put a carp rod in my quiver with the notion that I might get the carp coming in close after dark to snaffle a surface bait. By 2230 I was confident the resident wildfowl (which had been a PITA up to that point!) had roosted for the night and I started to flick thumb sized pieces of bread into the margins by my feet. It wasn't long before slurps and swirls started to appear and it was simply a question of dapping a bait on the surface and hanging on for dear life. Alas my first attempt met with failure as I'd set the clutch too lightly and within a couple of seconds of my first bite I found myself attached to a lily stem and not a carp! (How do the do that?) Hook safely retrieved and clutch tightened up my next fish was the 6lber which was in the net before it knew what had happened. After all this commotion - things went quiet for a while - though I now had to contend with the rats swimming out to take my freebies! Thankfully there was still time for one more fish - an ugly looking mirror EXACTLY twice the size of my earlier carp both of which had somewhat redeemed an otherwise poor evening.

Willows Lake, Thatcham 1400 - 2300 Overcast, and quite breezy at times. Not particularly warm - in fact quite chilly(9ºC) when I departed under clearing skies. 4 Carp; 3lb - 6lb 10oz. 6 Tench; mostly around the pound mark - with a couple a bit bigger at 1-14 & 2-15. 6 Crucians; again all quite small - though the stocking from a couple of years ago is getting noticeably bigger - put a couple of the better ones on the scales for curiosity and they both went 10oz. 4 Rudd. 30+ Perch (bit of a menace!) In need of a confidence booster after last week's rainy debacle at MF. Again Tench and Crucians were on the agenda and I didn't so mind if the odd bully-boy carp put in an appearance. Which is exactly how it turned out - though I hadn't reckoned on the voraciousness of the perch - had to stop using my bait of choice (chopped prawn) as they just nailed it immediately - even maggot lasted longer. Thankfully all the carp arrived in a flurry around tea time - not to return - so as the shadows lengthened I had a steady stream of my target species plus a few handsized rudd. Was even able to switch back to prawn with the immedaite result of the bigger tench. As temps plummeted so the bites stopped - and whilst I had intended to fish until midnight no bites after 10pm saw me head home 'early' for a warm bed.

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 2300 Warm evening (though temps were starting to plummet when I left) 21º->12ºC. 2 Carp: 13lb 14oz, 7lb 2oz. 2 Tench - both quite small but pushing a lb. 3 Crucians - handsized. A session topped and tailed by the 2 carp. The biggie snaffled my float fished maggot within 20mins of starting and with a 16 to a 4lb bottom I was grateful for the help of a fellow angler for its netting! In truth the carp were a pain - especially until it got dark as they were clearly pushing out my target fish (I lost a couple more to hook pulls and bumped 2 or 3 more striking at liners). Thankfully the tincas and lovely miniature crucians eventually turned up - only to be pushed out again by the returning carp for the last half an hour. All fish caught in the margins right under my rod tip.

Dobsons Lake - Widmead 1500 - 0600 Mainly overcast with drizzly showers - Cool 12-15ºC. 2 Carp; 10lb 10oz & 6lb 3oz. 1 Bream; 5lb 6oz. 6 Perch. 1 Roach. Slow, slow night, punctuated on the stroke of 1am by a rather nice common - the only time my bite alarm indicated a fish in the whole session. All the other fish fell to float fished maggot on the marginal shelf (I was hoping to connect with some of the tench that had been showing recently!) Of course I wasn't even meant to be here today - this was the day pencilled in for the 5th Paul Goulbourn charity fish-in at Marsh Farm - which has had to be postponed due to Covid 19 - hopefully the re-arranged date in August will still happen! Ignore date on camera for carp pic - it's still on GMT!

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2300 Coolish, overcast evening though temps didn't really drop when it got dark - 14ºC. 2 Carp; 8lb 5oz & 7lb 11oz Entertaining evening as both fish took an age to land on lightish tackle and float rod (I was after crucians as per usual!). Thankfully there are few snags and you can wear them out at distance with the only jeopardy being when you get them close in to net and they seem to realise there are tree roots available! Was hoping that dusk might bring some action from my target species - but saw little evidence of them....

Jubilee Lake - Thatcham 1900 - 0430 Glorious might to be out - warm (min 15ºC) with a balmy southerly breeze to keep the dew off - fantastic view of Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky too! 7 Carp; 15lb 8oz, 9lb 14oz, 9lb 3oz, 8lb 7oz, 8lb 2oz, 6lb 15oz, 5lb 8oz. Not one of my favourite venues - too busy and noisy - which probable explains why I struggled to get a single bite in the margins. All fish during darkness on the feeder - the biggest two topping and tailing the session.

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Cool clear night down to 7ºC at dawn and very misty and damp with dew. 9 Tench: All over a pound with 3 fish over 2lb. 7 Carp biggest 2, 12lb 2oz & 8lb 15oz all the others between 3½ - 6½lb. 1 Crucian 2lb 2oz. 4 perch. A return to the swim of a fortnight ago hoping for - and getting - a similar return for what will probably be my last overnighter of the summer. As before, started off float fishing maggot but the micro perch were in residence nailing the bait before the float even settled - so a switch to meat was swiftly called for which they ignored. Really pleased to snaffle another of the lake's elusive crucians. Hopefully the tincas will put on a bit of weight in the coming seasons......

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1900 - 0500 Warm overcast night - lovely night to be out! 4 Carp; 6lb 5oz, 6lb 14oz, 7lb 12oz, 13lb 9oz. 5 Tench - best 2lb 7oz and all the others C2lb±2oz. 1 Crucian; 3lb 3oz. ½doz+ perch - all small. Nice to see some tench in Willows - bin many years since I've had this many in a session. All fish fell to lift method tactics less than a rod length out - with simple maggots as bait - did also bring a feeder rod but it stayed in the quiver all night. Snaffling one of the lake's big elusive crucians is always the target here - so extremely pleased to get one! Most fish caught before midnight except for 3 of the carp including the bigger one which took an absolute age to get in on a 4lb bottom!

Dobsons Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0500 Cool clear night. Temp down to 5ºC when I packed up! 4 Carp: 9lb 12oz, 8lb 2oz, 7lb 15oz, 6lb 9oz. 1 Bream 5lb 12oz. 1 roach. Brrrr - a slow but steady night looking out for Perseids as much as fishing! Surprised how cool it was at dawn - compounded by a very heavy dew!

Willows Lake - Thatcham 2000 - 0500 Warm (min 16ºC), overcast and drizzly most of the night especially early on. 8 Carp; biggest 18lb 5oz - all the rest between 5¾lb - 9¼lb. 1 Tench - circa 1lb and a skimmer. A night of 2 halves - started float fishing the margins targetting the lake's rare but large crucians - and sure enough had crucians rolling in my swim repeatedly as it got dark - so hopes were high! Alas the carp kept getting to the bait first and when I didn't connect with a fish that went screaming off it was the wrong species. Still - my first tench from here in yonks - think a few must have been stocked in the winter. By midnight I'd had enough of trying (and sometimes failing) to bully carp in on inappropriate tackle so it was out with the feeder rod. First up was a lovely large mirror - which at over 18lb is my biggest from this lake in 37 years of fishing it! First light and the rain had stopped so it was off for a couple of hours kip and a late breakfast!

Jubilee Lake - Thatcham 1400 - 0500 Clear and breezy - night was cool and clear but not as cool as forecast (kept too busy to get cold!) 10 Carp; 23lb 10oz (!), 11lb 15oz, 10lb 11oz, 10lb 6oz, 10lb 4oz, 9lb 14oz, 9lb 5oz, 8lb 13oz, 8lb 6oz, 7lb 7oz, (Over 110lb of carp!). 2 Tench 3lb 11oz & 3lb. Last year I made the mistake of fishing here in the school holidays - and got very irritated by the noise from other anglers. No such worries last night - I had the lake to myself once the sun had gone down - just the rats for company (!!) and a lovely view of Jupiter and Mars traversing the southern sky. All fish after dark - didn't get a bite until gone 2130 and they switched off at 0400 - made for a very busy night. Tench on float fished meat in the margins - plus a couple of the smaller carp - all other carp on feeder with either hair-rigged pellet or prawn as bait. Biggest on pellet - my best ever common.

NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1800 - 0600 Breezy with heavy showers up to midnight, cool and clear there after. 3 Carp; 8lb 1oz, 7lb 10oz, 3½lb. Another slow night on the lakes - again nothing in the margins - all bites on pellet.

Jubilee Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Warm overcast night - despite the forecast which predict a cool night - temp didn't drop below 13ºC. 2 Carp; 8lb 5oz & 6lb 7oz. 1 Bream 6lb 8oz. Slow, slow night. Venue was VERY busy with lots of noise on the bank meant I didn't get a solitary bite all night on my margin rod - and fishing at range wasn't much better. All fish on pellet (was alternating with boilies).

TAA Stillwater - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Warm night becoming increasingly cool (9ºC) by dawn. 4 Tench - 2 4lb+, 5 Carp biggest 2 14lb 9oz & 10lb 6oz. A quick return to try and find some more tench - a plan which got off to a great start as 4 out of the first 5 fish were all tincas - caught float fishing the margins as well. Alas the carp then moved in! 14lber was one of the mankiest beat up fish I've ever caught - hence no pic!

TAA Stillwater - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Warm, still night despite clear skies for the early part. Temps still 14ºC when I packed up. 1 Tench; 4lb10oz, 10 Carp; all between 5-8lb, apart from biggest 3 of 9lb 4oz, 10lb 2oz, 12lb 11oz. First ever trip to this lake drawn by the lure of tench and rumours of huge bream! Did indeed see quite a few bream porpoising - unfortunately not usually in my swim. Carp were rather too eager at times - need to find away for my target species to get more of a look in!

NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1900 - 0700 Warm, overcast (alas) and breezy night. 4 Carp; 8lb 9oz, 7lb 8oz, 7lb 3oz, 6lb 7oz. Slow night - all fish at dusk or dawn - with 5 bite-less hours in between. Couldn't even enjoy the Persieds due to the cloud cover.

Hi, I'm new on here, so this is first post. Last night we were fishing the Trent at gunthorpe for Barbel. No barbel showing but caught this and a few chubb and Roach. not sure if If I'm allowed to post photos , but unsure of the species, looks like may be Chubb even considered Common carp but the shape of the mouth seems to resemble neither. Hey ho will just have to put it down as unsure. oops was going to attach picture but don't think I can do this Cheers Trev

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 1745 - 2345 Overcast, breezy with a few short sharp showers. Cool - becoming even cooler - down to 9ºC in the car on the way home. 3 Carp; 7lb 9oz, 5lb 6oz, 4lb 11oz. Not long after Paul's funeral - his wife Kim wanted me and Geoff to come over and sort through his fishing tackle (and bait fridge/freezer). Kim was keen for both of us to have whatever tackle we would make use of and one of the pieces I took was his pellet waggler rod - still made up in its quiver - I also took some carp pellets and bait to go with it. It's not a technique I've ever tried before - and it's one that Paul only really got into for the last couple of years of his angling - but he swore by it as a method - proved by him landing a 16lb carp on a hot lethargic day last summer when no one else was catching! My real plan for this evening was to try and snaffle one of the few/BIG crucians the lake contains but decided to start by having a bit of fun with the pellet waggler set up. And fun it was!! I started by spending 10-15mins just catapulting in small amounts of slow sinking pellets - and pretty much first cast into the baited area produced the 4lber! The problem thereafter was trying NOT to attract the geese and ducks to the bait - but each time I had long enough for the fish to move in I had interest in my slow sinking bait. Just as well - as my planned crucian assault produce not a single bite - not even from a maraudering carp. I had intended to stay much longer - but incessant ripple was making me go boggle-eyed and I was starting to get rather chilled under clearing skies!