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For those who don't have a Newbury AA ticket, Willows is a small, shallow lake without enough vegetation but with a central island that the carp, typically 6-12lbs like to swim around. It has also recently stocked been stocked up with bream and also tench of around 6lbs. Totting up, I've had around 260 commons and 150 mirrors since joining the club in 2021 with the odd decent crucian between them. You can see that it's what they call I a 'runs water' (I'd not heard of this phrase until recently) which means that you cant really go wrong. But I can. Yesterday I completed a hat trick of blanks. OK, I lost a couple on the way, but this is an epic failures as even one blank is unlikely. Can I blame the hot weather or the fish feeding on the large number of fry? Why not. More this while I've tried method feeder, PVA bags, pole and float, the carp at least, have been on the surface, and call it one of my blind spots, but I'm not really in to surface fishing. For one I hate the thought of hooking a bird, but to me the joyous mystery of fishing is catching what you cannot see, and plucking them off the top - and it's my loss - just isn't me. I'll get there in my own way.

A start to the season in two parts. Firstly, I thought I'd spend several hours on the lakeside eager to catch a few tench before the sun rose and ruined everything. Needless to say the olive green beauts thought otherwise and bites were limited to 3 small roach and a pound-and-a-bit bream. Made it late morning to the hot and sunny syndicate at Marsh Benham where I was happy to bump into CP of this parish who'd caught his quota and was now headed home to watch the test match. Rumour elsewhere was that there weren't so many trout escapees into the carrier this year. Perhaps there wasn't as I 'only' had 3 of around 3lbs each, but a 2lb 7 chub squeezed in which more or less saved the day.

OK, OK, so I've been remiss in keeping this up to date. Hope you haven't missed me too much. A number of reasons - the main one being the preparation for our move to South Wales taking up so much of my fishing time, my getting together the Newbury Angling Association's latest quarterly newsletter and a rubbish set of catches when I have been. The meagre summary for May was: 2nd May and 29th April - Treoes lake, Bridgend - on the Glamorgan Anglers Club ticket. A lovely, very well presented lake, maybe a similar size to Alders, with two central islands that can be reached pretty much from any swim. My first Welsh fish was a 7oz skimmer, the lake being heavily populated with them and also roach and carp. Totalled 15 bream (to 1lb 4), 21 roach (to a decent 10oz) and a feisty 6lb 4 Common. A decent start, though the locals (as ever) caught so much more than me. 16th - a single (gnarled but highly appreciated) 5lb 2 tench just before dark 23rd - Willows - a Common - 11lb 7 on the float during an evening of many bites but few connections 27th - Half Round ponds - Llanshamlet - 2 small semi-circular lakes, one packed with silvers, the other larger carp as well as small tench (had 5 to 12 oz). Float fishing with expander pellet, the one decent fish turned out to be an eel! Probably the first I've caught since the 80's and a pretty good thunker at 3lbs 1. Lip hooked too. Very happy. A terrible picture I'm afraid as it was a devil in the net and was so sunny that I couldn't see what I was doing!

It's been a tough Spring. With chilly water and my forthcoming move to South Wales eating at my fishing time, there's been little to trouble the scorers from largely short, sharp sessions. When concern for my well-being was expressed by an anonymous reader of this bog (thanks, Chris) I decided to update the following catalogue of mediocrity. 14.3 - Willows - A shortish evening stint, colder than yesterday and zero degrees when I packed up. One wintery shower caused a 'hailbow'. 2 Commons - 9lb 2 and 4lb 2. Mirror 4lb 14 22.3 - Willows - 10 degrees with strong winds and scudding showers. Mirror 8lb 2, Commons 8lb 4, 9lb 6 28.3 - Willows - clocks have gone forward, but strong winds again. Mirror 9lb 2 and Common 10lb 4 on another wise quiet evening. 3.4 - Willows - frosty start, 19 degrees on arrival, chilling off when sun went down. Blank 4.4 - Willows - not as cold as yesterday. 6lb 2 Common, 5lb 2 Tench (pictured) 5.4 - Willows - 4lb 4 Common 13.4 - Alders - Bobbin was jumping skittishly all evening but could not turn any to bites no matter what I tried. Bloody Alders. Blank 15.4 - Willows/Alders - first full day session in weeks. Blank. 18.4 - Avington - 2 x Gudgeon, 2 x Roach, 1 x Perch. Short, uneventful session. 19.4 - Willows - easterly wind. Blank 25.4 - Willows - after morning frost and bright afternoon a very welcome 8lb 10 Common There! What a load of rubbish. My worst April since records began (3 seasons ago). Enjoyed every minute, tried different baits/tactics, but always felt behind the curve, cold or both.

Life is getting in the way of fishing at the moment. Don't get me wrong, it's all good stuff, but it's leaving me just a short ate afternoon/early evening session on Tuesdays at the mo. Last week, given a spell of warmer weather, I risked Willows, checking to see if the shallow water had warmed to bring the carp out. Not really. It was a fun evening, I really enjoyed stargazing at Orion, but with carp of 4lb 3 and 6lb 12 plus a beaten-up bream of 3lb 2 it wasn't a huge success. This evening, with the river season closing in I plumped for the syndicate water in Marsh Benham. No rain in weeks has brought the levels back low, and though I was after chub, in 45 minutes I'd banked 5 Brownies around the 3 - 3.5lb mark, lost a few more and even I was getting bored of them. Went to the end of the stretch to find the water flowing off the weir was running to hard for my heaviest lead to cope with, so returned to the carrier to fish swims i'd not tried before in the hope that the trout hadn't found them either. Do you know what - they hadn't! Had two stonking chub of 4lb and 3lb 12 from exactly the same spot. The last hour in darkness brought no more fish, but constant jingly knocks making me think the crays might have woken up.

Friday. Piking at Dobsons. Deadbait out on rod 1, with a feeder and tiny bait/hook out on rod 2 hoping to find the odd roach or bream. Changed swims, baits, depths, but apart from one pike run (missed) at 8:30, had nothing all day. Had hoped that given a week of warmer temperatures that the fish might be waking up hungry, but not today. Then again, it was forecast for 11 degrees this afternoon, but in a stiffish wind it felt far from that. Saturday. Grey and windless. Much better. Had commons of 9lbs (a real beauty), 6lb 8 and 5lb 4 and a mirror of 9lb 4. A fun morning. The water wasn't as cold to the touch as i'd imagined.

Wednesday - The first non-frosty day for a couple of weeks, but with the ground bone hard, I was postponed from my gardening work. 1.5 hours lure fishing on the Kennet at Widmead. Looked lovely, at one point I did see the long body of a pike swim away from me near the bank, but despite swapping lures, speeds and swims, not a single knock. I could have moved on to the constant water temps of the Lambourn , but me being me I plumped for the canal at Hambridge where last year I found the roach holed up. This year, the water level is above the water spill, so the water was moving reasonably quickly and I managed no bites at all in 2 hours. Tuesday - My usual 3pm work finish, so off to the syndicate with a ball of cheesepaste and roving tackle. Legered for a couple of hours into dark for brownies of 2lb 12, 2lb 14, 3lb 2, 4lb 8, 2lb 2, 1lb 15 and 2lb 4, along with a beautiful chub of 4lb 1. Having blanked last Wednesday, I had the first trout within a minute of casting out. Venue choice is everything especially in winter. if only I'd listen to my own advice more. One sad note: the rubber duck which has been lodged in the tree branches in my favorite swim for some months has gone. I'll miss you, ducky.

The re-arrival of freezing temperatures after a week of stormy winds and rain led to my morning customer cancelling my gardening services giving me a bonus couple of hours fishing. I grabbed my spinning rod and a box of traces and lures then headed for the canal. Lure fishing ain't my favourite style - possibly because I've never really done well with it. To be fair, I've only really tried it on short, deep winter sessions like today when I wouldn't blame any fish for not wanting to chase a piece of plastic and metalwork. Perhaps drop-shotting is the way on days like this, but I've not got around to trying this. Anyway, I snapped on a rubbery shad and off I went. Not a touch on the canal, Bulls Lock or Knotts lake and my hands were feeling cold. I swapped lures and at Dobsons on a slow retrieve I thought I might have had a nudge, but not being very experienced, perhaps I just dragged through some weed. I made a few more casts in the same area and this time when I contacted the patch it pulled back, but only for a few seconds. I couldn't connect again, so moved round a few more swims but to no effect. With time running out, I moved back to that swim and three casts in, I had an unmistakable take and a tail-walking pike. OK, at 5lb 10 it wasn't the biggest in the lake, but on a horrible cold day, and with my limited faith in lures waning further, it was an inspiring fish.

Sunday. It rained much of yesterday and with showers due I decided against the fast-flowing river or canal so I could sit unmoving under the brolly at the lake. With some maggots left, I'd fish lightly to attract, maybe catch some silvers, while a deadbait on rod 2 may snap up a marauding pike, maybe two. A great plan, but as so often happens, it didn't come off. The 'light showers' forecast turned out to be two hour-long bouts of proper rain, cold too, which doubtless hit the water temps. Result: not a single bite in 4 hours, though I did see the local kingfisher twice before the weather hit. Tuesday. Start work early to finish at 4 as per usual on a Tuesday and make my way to the syndicate for a first evening session there with light leger on 6lb line, size 8 hook, going for chub moving from swim to swim. I knew there was a danger I could be simply feeding the trout, but hey, after a blank on Sunday and yet more rain in the air, a fish is a fish, isn't it? I wasn't let down; I had brownies of 3lb 8, 2lb 13, 2lb 5, 1lb 3, 3lb 9 and 2lb 8. Chris, you'd have loved it! But I did manage a chub. A good fight too and I was amazed when it came to the surface all big mouthed and silver scaled, and was even more astounded when it hit the scales at a pb 5lb 4. I think I lost another too, something keeping low for a good few minutes before pulling me into some tree roots and that was that. What a fab session.

Last Sunday, after the rain crashing against the bedroom window rudely woke me at 8am, I took my hangover and New Years jadedness to the match on the K&A. Remarkably the rain held off for the rest of the day after yesterdays deluge had left the water the colour and texture of mulligatawny soup. I started on the quivertip but after a biteless first hour, I switched to a 6m pole and fished the middle channel on a light float. I had many bites, missed a lot, bumped many, but landed maybe 20 roach, 15 bleak and a teeny but gorgeous gudgeon. The highlight was a 1lb 4oz perch who tugged the elastic and had my heart a flutter until i landed it. This brought me to a grand total of 3lb 3oz, a small return, but a pleasurable day. Most of the other contestants scored between 5 and 7lbs cementing my understanding that my skills remain below par though hopefully I'm starting to close the gap. Walking the banks of various waters this evening (Wednesday) I was reminded of what wonderful looking waters the NAA has, even under a Mordor sky. Shout out to Barry, who had enjoyed a stonking day when I met him bankside and recognised me as responsible for this blog. Well fished, Barry.

After my morning's gardening customer put me off with a 5:30am email, and with the pint of maggots in the beer fridge taking up room required for festive victuals, I managed to squeeze a bonus 2-hours fishing in. The frosts of the last 2 weeks had been replaced by wind, rain and double-figure temps making me think the fish would be up for a feed. Hmm. Trotted for 45 mins before losing a fairly decent fish after my first bite. The second came half an hour later at the far extreme of the swim and this time it stuck. Expecting it to be a trout - they usually are - I was delighted to land a 2lb 2 chub. I fished deep, shallow and dragging the bottom. I tried shot bunched 6-inches from the hook, half depth and shirt button, but could not encourage any other bites. Still, if I had a decent chub out every session, I think I'd cope.

Friday - Its always a good idea to try and repeat a success isn't it, so back I went to the scene of Tuesday's great pike. Walking across the field it was minus-6 as I crunched through my own frosty footsteps of Tuesday. No one else had been bonkers enough to go there in three days. in the low winter sunshine, I legered a popped-up shad in all areas to my left, and a cheese wafter wrapped in chill-flavoured cheese for chub to my right. Yes, I know I should have chosen one species or another, taken one rod and switched swims every half hour until I found the fish, but I dug in and hedged my bets, thinking that if fish weren't there now, they surely would be at some point in the day, after all, I'd lost quite a good fish here in the summer. Three hours in and I still had this conviction, after four I was starting to question this approach and after six I packed up, having not had a single bite on either rod all day, the highlight being scaring off a cormorant. Ah well, it was still an enjoyable day (honestly) and the temperature had risen to a heady minus two when I got back to the car at dusk. Saturday - having been a good boy and finished my Xmas shopping first thing and having blanked on consecutive Fridays, I had three bonus morale-boosting hours on the syndicate where it's often a fish, or a bumped-fish most casts. I figured that given two weeks of solid frost, if the fish had any sense, they'd be in the deeper water near the weir pool. Wrong! Though I bumped a pretty good fish second cast, there were no other bites in an hour. Started coming back along the usually prolific carrier and albeit the water was very low, I didn't get a bite in any of my three favourite swims, including the 'aquarium'. In my less-favoured wooded section, I trotted-on, but the only fish movement was right at my feet where something reasonably sizable moved in the margin from time to time but wouldn't be drawn out. Suddenly I had a spate of 3 bites in 5 casts, with each (small) fish bumped until finally one stuck- a pale-finned 7 ounce roach. So that's what a fish looks like. That was the end of the bites but I persevered for a final quarter of an hour when out of nowhere I had a bite, a good fight and I landed a fair representative of my fishy nemesis, a 1lb 5oz mermaid-tailed chub. Get in.

Almost a week of consecutive frozen days have put a literal cap on the lakes and canal so I took my deadbaits for a chilly couple of hours on the Kennet. Rather expecting a session of feeding the crayfish, they were pleasantly absent. An hour in the rod tip trembled, making me wonder if my shivering had knocked into it. But then it did it again, quite subtlety. On the third tremble I struck and was into a fish. It didn't feel big, but as a blank-buster I wasn't going to argue, when it woke up to what was happening and roared off down river, heating the clutch up. It made three such excursions before it gave up the ghost and came up to the surface. Wow. Not huge in Essox terms, but for me 14lbs was a personal best and I was thrilled. Half an hour later the same sort of bite. If it had been at all breezyIi might not have noticed it. Again I struck on the third tremble. It was on for a few seconds, but the hooks hadn't set. I was quite calm - two would have been greedy.

I had reason to be in Thatcham first thing so decided on a rare trip to Brimpton. I'd convinced my wife the night before that liquidising a loaf of bread with a tin of corn was a prime use for her mixer, and I delivered several balls of the luscious confection in six chubby swims to fish in turn. The three pieces of betaine-soaked corn link-legered on a size 6 hook would surely be irresistible. Sadly, it was, and no matter how stealthily I moved and cast, I didn't get a bite. The good thing was I wasn't troubled by crayfish either, but then they would have given me some bend in the rod. Frankly I'd half expected this given my awful history with chub, and at lunch time moved to Collins lake to take my chances piking. It was a chilly 5 degrees even with the forecast easterly wind not arriving. I sat there feeding the visiting robin with bits of sandwich when finally, one of the most exciting few moments in fishing started tappen. The bung, which had steadfastly sat squat in the water for several hours spun slowly on is axis. Then it bobbed a couple of times, stopped for a few seconds then started to draw away. I struck hard, prepared to miss a fish than leave it any longer and risk deep-hooking. It may only have been 5lb 7, but it was 5lb 7 of welcome blank-busting meanness and made the whole day worthwhile.

(1) My usual Tuesday evening session. With the rivers so low, I've stuck to the lakes, particularly as the temperatures have been mild. Arriving to find no one fishing but two cormorants, I managed a par two carp. The first, just before dark was a mirror of 6lb 8 was 'orange spot'. My pal Steve who surface feeds in this swim regularly in the summer says he catches it every session. Do you recognise him? He certainly didn't put up much of a fight, adopting a 'come on then, let's get this over with' attitude to the landing process. It took two hours for my next bite to come, a real rod-yanker from far down along the margin. Strangely for Willows, I lost this to a snag a moment before the second rod tip trembled and this time a very pretty common. I guessed it's weight at 12lb, but it only came in at 11lb 14. (2) Friday. After a week of moody cloud, mild temperatures and on/off moisture in the air, I plumped for another shot of piking at Dixons. Woke up to find it cold, clear and still - not great conditions, but by this time the car was packed and the mackerel thawed, so i followed through. One solitary run leading to a 5lb 7 fish. Swapped swims every 40 mins, fished by overhanging cover and out in the open, but nothing would inspire a second take.

I was planning to go chub fishing this evening at a syndicate water, but was put off by (1) talk from another member of crayfish, combined with the view of a professional crayfish trapper that they are most active under full moons combined with (2) a second consecutive Tuesday of winds and threatened sharp showers had me thinking it would be slightly less unpleasant under a brolly in relatively sheltered Willows, than roving across open country casting between swaying branches over a narrow river. Maybe next week. The moon rose just after dark at 5 and lit the whole lake. It was beautiful. I sat watching the clouds scud past it as it slowly rose towards the bright light oof Jupiter. With it a very comfortable ten degrees, it really didn't matter that the fish weren't around, but then I was testing the cheesepaste I'd originally planned for chub, and mussels that were cheap in Sainsburys the other day. In the end I reverted to a more traditional bait and was rewarded with a mirror of 4lb 12 and 2 ugly commons of 7lb 8 and 5lb 2. Not the greatest haul, admittedly, but it was a really enjoyable session.

When my Monday morning gardening customer cancelled at short notice, I was delighted to get a bonus 3-hours fishing in. With no maggots to fish the Lamborne or Hambridge, I pulled out some mackerel I had in the freezer from last winter, grabbed a couple of heavy rods and made for Dixons. Warm for November, dank and with light rain, it seemed perfect and I cast out a leger 20 yards to my left, and a bung a similar distance to my right. After about half an hour, the buzzer sounded a couple of times and I struck early to avoid deep hooking as they say. Fish on, it made for the far bank, but I managed to turn it whereupon it turned right and powered at some pace to the snags the other side of where my bung was floating. I've spent all day trying to work out what happened next to no avail... Inevitably the bung started to drag as the lines inevitably crossed and the pike reached the snags a few yards further on where it jammed solid. Unable to pull the fish out, I put the rod down to allow it to swim off when it thought the coast was clear, and in the meantime, I started winding in the bung to at least get it out of the way. But that line immediately met with the resistance of a swimming fish, just as the leger rod with the snagged fish on, now on the ground next to me, started bouncing. Did I now have a pike on both lines? I had to play the fish on the bung line and netted it, along with a tangle of hooks and wire traces about a foot up the wire from the fish's nose. On quick inspection this tangle was made up of both of my rigs - so none of my hooks were in the fish! But instead, there was a large, alien swivel in the birds nest attached to some previous angler's wire which was connected to pike through the edge of its gill plate. I turned the fish on its back to find the hooks from this mystery rig swallowed beyond sight through the gill rakers. Not wanting to damage them, I snipped the wire trace as far down as I could and released it. I was left to disentangle my two traces and cast both rods out again. I've absolutely no idea what happened. All I can say is that the initial fight seemed to be from a fish much bigger than the 8lb 12oz pike I landed. Had I lost this one, but implausibly snagged another? Who knows - but it still counts! The pike I did land was in perfect condition despite the swallowed tackle. In the remaining couple of hours, I missed two more runs (possibly striking too early, but I hate the prospect of deep hooking) and landed a 3lb 15 jack.

A change of circumstances meant I grabbed some roving tackle and pinched 3 hours on a wet and windy afternoon at my nearest venue. I'd bought waders a few months ago and not got them out the box, so a short trip seemed the perfect opportunity to give them a go. Wading out, I realised how uneven the bottom is and what power water has at even at knee height. It opened up the swims behind the clothing warehouse and made me more aware of the comparative water speeds. I trotted along the crease that would not have been possible from the bank and soon had three trout. Not bad, but then the biggest was only 7 ounces. With not much happening after that, i moved downstream towards the bridge. Here I hooked two decent fish. I was wary of the current adding pressure to the fight of the fish so played them as gently as I could, one for a little over a minute, the other maybe three. Neither broke the surface so I'd been hoping they weren't trout. - but on both occasions the hook pulled! This happens to me on rivers soooo much. I'm still not sure what I'm doing wrong (barbed hook and keeping line tight - maybe the braid mainline having no stretch is putting too much strain on the fish? Any thoughts, readers?) I changed from a 14 hook in case I was asking too much of a 16. But I didn't get the chance to test it as all I connected with was a nice dace and a beautiful gudgeon (Yay!). A snag pinched my tackle, and I realised I hadn't brought any spare mono to attach to the braid mainline. Realising I had a box of pole rigs in the boot, I crossed the road to the canal and used my 15ft rod effectively as a whip, looking to see if the shoal of roach I found last winter had balled-up yet. Hmm. Mixed. I had 7, including three around the 4oz mark, plus 8 small dace. A fun stint as ever, the waders will definitely get used again, but will I ever overcome this lost fish business?

Tuesday - My usual evening session. it took me three rubbish casts to realise I'd wrapped the line round the rod when putting the sections together. An odd evening with many trembles on the rod tip that refused to develop into proper bites. I swapped baits to try and encourage some positive takes and in the end was happy to settle for mirrors of 5lb 4 and 6lb 4 plus commons of 5lb 10, 4lb 5 and 6lb. I'm delighted to report that the last fish was Blinky, the one-eyed common, who I last caught on 4th October, and have had four times overall. Friday - With low air pressure and rain sweeping in, I took my brolly to Dobsons. Spent most of the day huddling underneath it, stepping out only to address bites. I had a few. Bream of 3lb 10, 1lb 6 and 2lb 2, commons of 6lb and 5lb 15 (this one having curious patches of goldfish on each side) plus a stonking fat tench of 5lb 1. There was one much larger fish that powered me into the snags and never came out. Home and dried, the rain got worse and teemed down for hours, so next morning fearing swollen water levels, I forwent a planned river trip to the calm waters of Willows. I hear my fears were unfounded as other bloggers caught well on the Kennet, while I enjoyed a pleasant sit in the sun for just three carp of 5lb 8. 6lb 10 and 3lb 10. I lost another fish to a submerged snag in a lake when I've never previously encountered a snag in open water.

With the rivers running low and the temperatures up and down for the lakes, I stuck to the canals. Last night was warmer than of late, and with it overcast with no wind, I fancied a crack at the perch. I set up in the coloured water below Guyers Bridge for a second session on the recently built platforms. 5 seconds into the first cast of the day, something grabbed the worm and took the pole tip round hard. It was on for 30 seconds or so before the 4lb hooklength snapped. I'd seen a big flash of silver as it turned - it had been pretty big. Perhaps the culprit came a couple of casts later, this time it was a pike, maybe around 5lb or so when the hook pinged as it approached the net. Ten minutes in and I could have had two good un's, but there I was blanking. My state of indignation remained through the biteless next 30 minutes or so I switched to maggots and never looked back. Nine perch, including fish of 2lbs, 1lb 12, 1lb 4 and 1lb 8, 10 roach and 7 bleak. The rain started to fall which kept the level of pedestrians walking immediately behind me down, and had me huddling under a small brolly, with just two sections of pole out in the water. I only had one fish during that30 minutes or so, but it was a ruffe, my first 'snottie' possibly since circa 1978. The skimmers I'd hoped to find never showed and it was a fun session, but I left cursing that first few minutes.

Trip 1 - Tuesday evening. With the evenings closing in, it's lakes only on a Tuesday as I don't like fishing into the dark on rivers. Had some maggots left over from Sunday's match, so started on the pole at Willows. However, one roach in, a gusty wind got up which gave the surface a chop. I felt that a bobbing float wouldn't be conducive to good bait presentation so I switched to the method feeder and aimed for the island. Others seemed to be struggling to catch so I was happy with three carp in the just over 5lb mark and losing a bigger one at the net in the dark. Trip 2 - Started at a chilly first light on the river at Bulls Lock. Had 15 dace, largest a good 8 ounces before the sun climbed too high and all went quiet. Followed my plan and walked to Knotts. Fished the pole, but it was tough going. Two perch, either of the 2lb mark were the highlight, the larger one I had to unhook twice as it was trailing the line and pole float I'd lost on a snag half an hour earlier! Bonkers. Another small perch and a solitary, if 14oz roach, just about made it an acceptable day. Trip 3 - Clear and cold overnight, I didn't head for a river as the sun threatened to be bright all day over shallow water which i thought would keep the fish hiding. I fished a small bait on the pole at the corner of the lake that the sun had hit first, thinking I'd have the best chance in what might be the warmest water in the lake. A few small roach a perch and a skimmer was all that came. I switched to method feeder right in that sunny corner for the last hour and bingo - the most perfect pristine and feisty common of 13lb 8 making it suddenly a very profitable morning.

A not fishing conducive scorching 18 degrees and millpond conditions when I set up at 3:30 in an unusual swim for me, but thinking it was where the last of the evening sun disappeared and the air would chill fast. Plumbing the depth with my pole, I snagged and brought in a weighing sling in the margin; the one I lost at this swim the evening I caught a 13lb Mirror on 3.3.21. That was the only excitement until dusk having barely had a bite. Just before dark at 6:30 and having switched to method feeder and hurriedly donned thick jumper, jacket and scarf, I managed a blank-bustin' 6lb common. I stuck it out until 8:30, watching the massive full moon rising through the trees behind me, Ursa Major and occasional satellite in the sky and the bats, one of which flew into my line. Two more runs with two mirrors of 5lb 2 and 4lb 1 making it an almost par evening for the time of year. Back at the car, i found that the temperature had fallen to a cool 5 degrees and that my team were 2-ut at AC Milan. AC who?

Despite pouring Sunday morning rain, 31 turned up for the NAA's annual charity match. That was a good turn out, especially as only 30 bacon rolls had been ordered for the pub meet beforehand, and guess who missed out? What's more, I managed to leave the slice of bread pudding baked and wrapped by the lovely Mrs S at home on the kitchen worktop. No food, unless I fancied worms or casters, at least I'd picked up my bottle of water to enjoy in the rain. I drew one of the new platforms below Guyers Bridge to fish there for the first time. While the rain cleared, the canal water remained thick as a pot of terracotta emulsion. It was a session of infrequent bites for all. The winning weight, at around 8lb less than half that caught by last year's winner, came from two swims down. I ended up with 2lb 8 including a 1lb 10 perch to come just outside the top ten. It was still great fun though, the platform allowing me to fish the pole with no concerns over tripping pedestrians or cyclists behind. I'll definitely fish there again. The bants in the pub after were fun even in the raffle didn't come my way. But more importantly the lasagne, though dry and burned, was food from the gods for a late middle-aged glutton who hadn't eaten for 22 hours.

With temperatures crumbling as autumn starts to get in gear, I started my migration from lakes to the canals and rivers. The morning could have been perfect for perch at first light- misty and still, but overnight it had dropped to four degrees, the coldest since spring, and maybe that turned them off. I managed to get some pole practise in prior to the match at Enborne on Sunday, presenting and jiggling a worm right in front of their reedbed ambush points, but only managed one of about half a pound. By the time the sun was climbing and the mist gone, I'd had just 2 more bites, a 5oz roach and having swapped to maggot, a bleak even small by bleak standards. Sticking to the plan, I upped-gear and stepped it out to a remote swim at Speen Moors. 4-foot deep, not too weedy, far bank vegetation and a good 50 yards+ to trot, it screamed chub and perch, and I'd been excited to fish it since discovering it by accident the other day. But disaster struck. Twice. In assembling the float rod, I managed to snap the tip off - don't ask me how. (Can anyone recommend a 14 or 15ft trotting rod that doesn't have a tip the width and strength of cocktail stick?). Then, though I'd replaced the line last week, I quickly discovered it was as brittle as a witch's hair estimating it about half of its alleged 5lb breaking strain remaining. This would be fine for roach, but if a chub came along, I knew I'd have to be very gentle as any sort of lunge would inevitably cause a snap. Third cast in, a chub (I'm guessing) did come along. i gave it as much pressure as I dared and had it on for 30 seconds or so before I could no longer keep it out of the snags it was determined to take me to. There it did that inexplicable fishy thing of swapping hook from mouth to snag, and I gingerly landed a section of tree. And that was the end of the excitement. I managed a chublet and maybe half a dozen roach between 3 and 6 ounces, but any hopes that I'd somehow developed any running water fishing skills while on the lakes in summer proved unfounded. The rain brought an almost welcome end to a largely disappointing session.

Monday - Day off for my Auntie Jackie's funeral (don't be sad, it was her time) allowing me a bonus 3 hours fishing beforehand. I'd planned a river trip, but with brisk winds and showers forecast, decided instead to huddle under the brolly in the comparative shelter of Willows. As I sat biteless and without a puff of breeze (WHY do i ever follow the forecasts?), a guy set up to my left and had soon caught two carp, while a chap arrived to my right and caught three. I eventually had just the one, a 6lb 2 Mirror, and that was that. Tuesday - my usual afternoon/evening escape. Yesterday's wind finally arrived and was now making up for lost time. All the books say to fish into a new wind, so I bravely took seat on the east bank and took what it blew at me. However, once again this didn't work, and though the unexpected half hour rain took the wind away with it, I didn't get a single bite on 2 rods that I could be certain wasn't the work of crayfish. So, no fishy picture for you to enjoy, but this one of my auntie, uncle and cousins taken by me circa 1973 with my Kodak Box Brownie. RIP Auntie