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A bonus 2 hours on a stinking hot Sunday. Totalled 9 dace to 8oz, 6 roach to 4 oz, 5 minnows and a beautiful gudgeon (aren't they all?) Fun, but last as many again were hooked but shook themselves off such was their determination to get free, abetted by the flow of the river. Frustrating, as this included several bigger ones. Keep trying, Martin.

Blimey, what a scorcher. I was hot and bothered by 9am and deeply regretting not choosing one of the shady swims on the east bank. My tactics, unless you can tell me otherwise, I believed were sound: (i) Method feeder into open water where I had seen bubble patches, until the first carp appeared cruising under the surface, when I'd switch to: (ii) a bomb from with a length of floating line long enough to suspend a hook about 6 inches under the surface, concealed within, a hair-rigged pop-up clothed in a large piece of breadflake. (True surface fishing I've found too stressful due to the persistent attentions of those horrid birds). What could go wrong? (i) brought a single 4oz skimmer while (ii) caught nothing. One carp swam absolutely past my offering and wasn't bothered. It was just so hot. I changed swim to take advantage of a 4ft patch of shade from an overhanging branch and swapped again to (iii) float-fished maggot less than a rod length out. In a fun hour, this brought 10 feisty perch (a couple around 6 oz), a roach, a rudd and a 6oz skimmer. The the temp now approaching 30 degrees, I gave up for the shade of the Greenham Mill runoff. In an hour, I was blessed with 13 bleak, a roach, a knap hand of minnow and a rather peeved-looking 8oz brownie. When you've used all your Factor 50 and not had a bite in 5 hours at Willows, to catch anything makes you feel like Captain Ahab.

I've always intended to fish Alders on one of my weekly evening sessions, but the lure of the carp at Willows has always proved irresistible. But arriving to find Willows very busy (l met a number of new members fishing for the first time there) including my preferred 'evening' swim, I decided tonight was the night. However, it was to be a disappointing evening, but with 2 noteworthy events. I Just one bite in 4 hours (a 3lb 12 tench) so crossed the causeway the by now nearly deserted Willows for some damage limitation with a late fish or two, and managed a couple of roach to 4 ounces close in and lost something massive that shot off like a rocket and spat out the hook some 20 yards away. Oh yes, those events: 1 - Last Friday I had to be unlocked from the lake by a nearby angler when I couldn't find my gate key. I couldn't remembering locking the gate when I arrived rather bleary ay dawn, and presumed I must have left it open, with my key dangling from the padlock. On arrival to the same swim today, having paid £20 for a duplicate, I was angry to find the fob at the swim: I must have locked the bloody gate and simply dropped the key, which was now missing from the fob and presumably taken. Later on, a member came round looking for the bobbin he'd lost at the same swim on Sunday. I hadn't seen it and almost jokingly asked if he'd found a key in return. Amazingly he had and I have since been reunited with it- thanks, Simon. Be warned all who fish in dead-carp corner - there is obviously a mischievous spirit that has an eye on your bits and pieces! 2 - Had a great little fight with what turned out to be only a 1lb fish, the one on the cover shot. What would you say it is? I'm pretty sure it's an immature Common, but it had the higher back of a Crucian and had reddish fins. I've never caught any Commons of this weight before so while it may be obvious to you, please excuse my ignorance.

A bonus hour-and-a-half session to use up some baits. A 15 foot rod, centrepin, 2SSG loafer float and a size 16 hook was great fun on the fast running water, and resulted in 4 chub (all between 8 and 12oz), 3 dace to 4oz, 6 small roach, my first fabulous gudgeon of the season and a minnow. Home with a smile on my face and ready for the England v Italy final later.

Part 1: an early start in 'Dead Carp Corner' at Alders with the SW breeze blowing into my face. Had four tench between 3lb and 4lb 14 through the day on artificial corn/orange wafter (1 on float close in, the others on method feeder, all up against the lilies. Also had a hard-fighting bream, yes bream, of 5lb 8. This represents a par day at Alders - it seems impossible to peg down a shoal of the bream. I swapped to light float and maggot for an hour and caught 14 feisty perch (up to 6 ounces) and a roach. I planned to move on at 1:30 and, while packing up the rod tip went berserk. I wound in thinking I'd missed it, to find a four-ounce roach on the end. I'd expected the water at the mill to be less shallow after recent rain, but it was shallower than ever. Using my 15ft rod as whip, in not much time I pulled out 33 bleak, a 4-ounce dace, 2 small roach and 19 minnows. Not a great bag, but the chub, trout and - possibly - grayling I think must be in there, were absent again. I'll give it a couple more goes, living as I do about 500 yards away.

A fun evening after having started with a spate of the heavy showers that had been forecast earlier in the day. One of the more torrential downpours started soon after I'd had my first bite and was playing a carp of maybe 6 or 7lbs. As it towed up-and-down it darkened and there was a loud rumble of thunder in the trees behind me. Not really wanting to be standing there with a rod acting as a lightning conductor, I more or less yanked the fish into the net through the rain-thrashed surface before immediately letting him go unweighed and unphotographed, then ran to hide under my brolly as the storm passed over. No more thunder, but plenty of showers and string winds that made the water choppy and the evening cool. The lower air pressure probably appealed to the fish however with another Common of 5lb 4, probably the strangest carp I've caught - having the profile of two separate fish shunted together (see pic). There were also Mirrors of 6lb 6, 6lb 13 and then a lump of 12lb 10 who looked heavier, but was much appreciated

Well, that was a strange day. There were eight anglers on Willows when I arrived, enough to keep the fish quiet, so I crossed the causeway to the deserted Alders. For several hours I watched patches of Mr Crabtree-eque frothy tench bubbles rising near my float but could not tease a single bite. The patches disappeared with sunshine, so before making my planned move to my local Greenham Mill, I thought I'd switch to a light float and small hook/ maggot combo with a view to winkling-out the odd roach or two to break the stalemate. I made the move 54 perch and 6 roach later! Many of the perch were in the 6-8 oz bracket, and two even needed landing, so it was an unexpectedly fun last 90 minutes. Down at the mill, I lost far fewer fish than last Saturday due to the direct line contact of the centrepin. The only chunky fish I hooked did shake free, but in an hour 20 bleak, 3 dace, 2 roach and 4 minnows completed a fun sortie.

Perhaps I should have expected it. After a week of vets bills, repeated hitting of my funny bone on the elbow with tendonitis, breakdown of my newly serviced hedge trimmers mid job, followed by multiple bee stings when disturbing a subterranean bee hive while clearing up the few leaves I'd severed, a second consecutive quiet session at Willows was almost inevitably on the cards. Knowing the carp would be in the upper levels, I experimented with a zig-based rig once the morning winds had eased, suspending a pop-up just under the surface from a bomb. Surface fishing with the Bonio would have been preferable, but there are so many bloody birds it's just too stressful (at one time I counted 24 birds in my sector of the lake (4 mallards, 6 shelducks, 1 grebe, 3 Hawaiians, 4 coot, 1 moorhen, 5 Canada geese). Results: inconclusive: the popped-up pop up induced some suck-and-spitting before connecting with a rather gormless looking 6lb Common, to top up a hard-fighting, pristine, beautiful, yet only 2lb 4 Mirror on the method feeder in the morning.

Fishing, or England v Germany in the Euros? A dilemma indeed, but I could always watch the highlights when I got home, so bankside I went. There were quite a few anglers when I arrived which meant I couldn't have he swim I wanted, but on an overcast evening with the wind in my face, it looked good. Nothing happened in the first hour except the gusty north wind leading to two unnecessary and spiteful reel tangles which had me breaking the line and retackling twice. But then at 5pm on the dot - kick-off time at Wembley - the buzzer went and I caught Blinky, a one-eyed carp (his good side pictured here) that fought far harder than his 4lb 10 weight. While the texts came in, updating me of the score, little else happened. I switched between method feeder, lift method and shallowed up float to no effect. I've given up surface fishing here because there are so many water birds that pounce on every cast, but that's where the fish were. This was evident from the chap on the other bank, fly-fishing dog biscuits who pulled out quite a few. He also bagged a duck (banked then safely released) which made me feel justified, if way behind on fish. At 8, after not a single bite on floated sweetcorn or bread, a torpedo of a 6lb 6 Common felt sorry enough for me to be caught back on the method feeder. Ah well, at least (spoiler alert) England won.

When I rediscovered fishing last year after a 20-odd year hiatus, I had a couple of short sessions on this very shallow stretch of water about 250 yards from my front door. There is only one swim, two maybe when the weeds die down for winter, and I'd never seen anyone fish there in the 10 years or so I've lived nearby. Foolishly, I didn't pack my centrepin which would have been ideal, but in an hour and a half trotting an 18-inch deep rig, managed3 roach (to 4 ounces), 2 dace (similar), 7 bleak and 2 minnows. My 2lb hook length was also snapped by a nice chub after a very exciting fight. Mind you, I lost a good 30+ other fish, their shaking their heads so vigorously that I hooked and lost them. I wound in fast, I wound in slow, I changed hook size three times and hook pattern twice but could not make them stick. It's barbless hooks only for me, so maybe I'll just have to put up with this on my next trip, unless you have any advice?

Started off in morning rain at Alders, the only one on the lake all day. Typical Alders, quite a few line bites and the method feeder being played with, but no takes. The only fish, two bream in the 5lb range who actually fought quite well, came on float-fished sweetcorn off the lilies in Dead-Carp-Corner. When the clouds cleared and the temperature shot up at midday, the bites stopped and I packed up for Brimpton, my first river Kennet session of the new season. Hmm, I loose fed maggots, a dozen or so every 30 seconds to build up the swim, a lovely bend with both fast and slower water. When I dared, I cast in for the crease between water speeds and held the 4.5AAA Avon float back, set with double-maggot as low as the streamer weed would allow, to two-thirds of water speed through the . After each 20-minute trotting session I gave it a rest and another 15-minute feed. This seems to account for chub after chub for other Kennet bloggers, but I had just the one bite and a welcome, but remarkably un-chubby brown trout. I changed the depth, altered float speed and searched all parts of the swim, so I'm still not sure what I'm wrong, but I just can't catch a chub - or roach, or even gudgeon.

1 - The birds. As if being pestered by geese, cormorants, ducks and terns wasn't enough, I had two grebes building a nest in the edge of the lilies by which I'd intended to fish. Not only did all their tromping about on the pads scare any fish down to the safety of the depths, they had sex right in front of me. Three times. It wasn't much to see and blimey, I thought I was quick. 2 - The fish. My only bite in the first 2-hours came on a method-feeder with single chocolate orange wafter and was worth waiting for. The 18lb 9oz Common was wonderfully fat and my pb. While I was snapped (8lb line) by two other fish, my smile was interrupted only by a 7lb Mirror, 1lb Tench and on lighter float gear later, a small roach and a pretty crucian. 3- Chris Plumb - I was delighted to see my fishing guru was the only other angler as dusk approached and he told me of his 6 tench, 3 carp, numerous roach and perch etc - my hero. You can see more detail on his blog - Chris Plumb's Blog - Fishing Forums from Anglers' Net (anglersnet.co.uk) 4 - The padlock - The new overnight gate had been incorrectly locked by the last user, bless him, meaning though I could remove the NAA padlock, the other Discovery Centre combination padlock had been clicked in the wrong place so I still couldn't undo the gate. After few frantic and unsuccessful calls to the Association dignitaries detailed on my permit and the security company advertised on the gate, our wonderful fishery manager rang back and gave me the combination to escape - 45 mins after I'd hoped to get home with tales of sex and big, fat fish. Dave, I owe you one.

A slow day. At least it was dry after yesterday's torrents, but thirteen degrees was less than half of what it was on Wednesday and the ten days or so previously, which shut the fish up. It seemed a struggle for everyone around the lake. I had some occasional bites of float-fished sweetcorn and bread, but my only two successes in the whole day were both on the method feeder in the margins: a beautiful little 3lb 8oz Common and then on the last cast of the day, a 3lb-er that I didn't bother weighing or photographing. A grebe visited my corner of the lake a good ten times through the day and I wonder if that contributed to the timidity of the fish. A disappointing session maybe, but I love being out there, even in a padded gillet in June, and however absent the fish seem to be, you never know if there's a whopper just about to take your bait...

I've never seen so many fish. With the temperature soaring to thirty degrees, the surface was alive with cruising carp. Out came the dog biscuits, with the plop-plip of every cast bringing surface attention. Gobbling down every freebie, the canny fish could tell if there was a hook/line involved, mouthing then instantly spitting my otherwise identical bait out time and time again. Commons of 5lb 15 and 6lb 4 came when I increased their urgency by catapulting in freebies, but the bloody ducks and moorhens moved in whenever I did this, substantially limiting the opportunity. The afternoon remained hot, sticky and totally frustrating as fish after fish after fish failed to get snagged despite aggressive chomps at my hook bait. I did connect with two, and lost both, one after ten minutes of fight, which only added to my cussing. With darkness coming, I had to do something different, and found I had 2 slices of bread left sweating in a bag from the weekend. I drew the float up to 6 inches depth and moulded a chunk of flake around the size 4 hook. A fish took it within a minute. With a softish 15ft float rod, I didn't have much grunt to control it, so relieved as I was to get it in after a 10-minute fight, I was disappointed to find this mirror was 'only' 6lb 9. I had just enough light for one more cast and a better fish was on almost immediately. This time it was a 10lb 4 mirror, and a truly ugly fish. With a deformed mouth and lumps on its side it really was a brute and frankly, I didn't want my picture taken with it! A strange way to end the fishing year; I had got quite stressed at the impossibility of me not hitting so many takes and the attentions of the local birdlife, but I was pleased to self-discover a simple technique for luring those surface-feeding fish when I next face them.

I rang the changes and tried a different NAA lake for a change, mainly as Dobsons has many more bankside trees and vegetation to provide shade on what threatened to be a hot day. Another benefit is the ability to fish with two rods (it's one only at my usual Willows and Alders), meaning I could toss a method feeder out to my right, and float fish near the overhanging willow to my right. I opted for the shallower end (my swim was around 8ft deep one rod length out, anticipated fewer bites and was not disappointed! The only morning action came after I'd fluked a method feeder cast inches away from the defunct swim position by the opposite bank. Within seconds the rod was almost pulled into the water and whatever it was, turned the afterburners on full. In a few seconds it was gone, the 4-inch 10lb method link snapping below the loop. I'd tested it earlier and was annoyed as well as shaking. I feel I have been let down a few times by commercially-purchased hook lengths in this way. I don't really want to go up any higher in thickness - let me know if you any ideas? Turns out it was the only touch on the method all day. Finally, bites started to come in on the float. Sweetcorn accounted for a lovely 5lb 4 tench and then three sparkling roach, around the 6 to 8 ounce mark. Yes, Alders or Willows would probably resulted in more fish, but it was great fun and those few hours of shade in a more natural-looking environment was much appreciated.

At 57, I am surely too old to be having sleepless nights over fishing, but the worry over which lake, which swim, kept me awake and anxious into the small hours. In the end, I went for the less popular Alders, which became a good decision. While spawning carp crashed in the middle of the lilies, I kept to the edge, method feeding a variety of hook baits before finding one that worked for today - double hair-rigged artificial corn. Having lost a good tench in the snags near my feet, I was happy to play a large fish in open water which came in as an 11lb 7 Common. There was a strong westerly breeze that ruffled the water which I'm not sure kept fish quiet, or kept them feeding, so that on a day of numerous missed bites, I had four tench (two over 5lbs), and three bream (also two over 5lbs) totalling over 40lbs for the day.

The hot weather continues, though with a warm southerly breeze rippling the surface, there was hardly a carp to be seen, My attempts to loose feed doggy bikkies to see who was around proved futile, as within seconds I had terns diving hard into my swim and those bloody ducks from Saturday swimming down for their tea. So I switched to plan B, the method feeder, thinking that my swim was shallow enough for the wafter to be spotted wherever the fish were, and soon lost a good fish, it falling off the hook (yes, that old story) having been apparently well snagged-on for a good few minutes. So I swapped rigs for that Guru QMI hook, and over the next 4 hours had Mirrors of 9lb 9, 6lb 9, 2lb 4, Tench of 2lb 9, 1lb 2 and Commons of 6lb 12, 8lb 10 and 9lb 9. Wow - over 40lbs of fish! I can't say the hook made the difference, but having said that, nothing else dropped off. A truly fun evening made absolutely no sweeter than walking back to the car past two 'carpies' who had caught nothing.

A scorching day, and my strategy was sound: (1) Until the sun climbed above the trees, I would fish the shady, shallow north corner, upagainst the lilies and winkle out some tench. (2) Once the sun hit the water, I would switch to the method feeder in the remaining shade of the shallow end to my left and (3) when the carp started to rise I would switch to surface-fished dog biscuits. What could go wrong? I had to admire my own watercraft and cunning. (1) No bits in 1.5 hours against the lilies, though several large fish topped close to the float. (2) Instant success. A rod-puller of a bite resulting in a Mirror that far outbattled its 3lb 4oz weight. No further bites (3) The carp were very visible, cruising below the surface, but only occasionally came into my 'zone'. The first time they did resulted in a hard-fighting 9lb 10 Mirror that again I thought was bigger. His splashing and general disturbance seemed to put the others off and they never returned in big numbers. What did come were diving terns and even worse, five bloody shelducks (I think), hungry for dog biscuits and able to spot them a mile off. They loitered around my swim the whole afternoon, taking every cast as an invitation to dinner, with me having to whip the controller float as they approached, even if the carp were showing. It was so frustrating. i even tried throwing biscuits to them in the distance, but one would always peel off and set sail for my hookbait. I missed one carp that took the hook when cast in section of choppy water when the breeze finally came, but didn't stick. In the last five minutes a biggy swam right up to my bait, took it in, I prepared for a strike, and it spat the thing out and disappeared just as the shelducks moved back in. I hate shelducks. I told them as much.

After recent excesses, today was pretty quiet for me and the four other anglers on the lake. one who spent more time spodding than fishing. I scaled down to a single grain of corn after initial inaction to stimulate a 2oz and then a a spunky 6oz roach. There was no future in this tiddler-bashing so I switched swims to throw a method feeder at the reliability of the island. With still nothing more than the very occasional indistinct line bite, I chopped and changed 'twixt float and feeder trying to break my luck. It worked. I wound back what I presumed was debris around the feeder to find I'd caught a crucian carp, a slightly battered 2lb 4oz, more passive than the feeblest of bream and the first I've caught since the 1970's! It's been a long wait and frankly, in all honesty, was barely worth it. So continued a largely inactive day until disturbed by a rude sharp bite and a 10lb 4 oz mirror. A nice end to a slightly disappointing day. Despite the crucian that I've been chasing for sooo long.

It started off as one of those evenings. Firstly, the thread seems to have worn on my landing net meaning it wouldn't attach to the pole without lashings of gaffer tape. Though gloriously warm, a strong easterly wind soon got up, causing a strong undertow which carried vast amounts of floating debris through my swim and dragging the float. It's blowing in my face also contributed to two birdnests around my reel in the first half hour, both unsolvable and requiring breaking and tackling up again. Then the drawers in my tackle box jammed, the strong-arm tactics to free them sending floats, feeders et al all across the bank. Then a chap who had walked past me while I struggled with first tangle with a young boy walked back to his car - his son had run out of patience, but in that half hour they had caught three carp on the surface. Blimey, I thought- if the kid was bored at that, how would he deal with a 6-hour blank on a winter canal? So I changed swims to change my luck. The fish came in pairs. I had a 6lb 2 Common and 10lb 9 Mirror on dog biscuits before the sun left the top of the water and the surface action abruptly stopped. I switched to method feeder against the still sunny far bank and had two small Mirrors of around 3.5lbs Turning to float-fished artificial sweetcorn at close range near the lilies, in came a long, lean and dark Common of 5lb 13 then rounded off with a 3lb 8 tench. Only one fish fell off the hook tonight (a smallish one) after my spate of drop-offs in the last few trips. A fun evening.

More experimentation and some lessons learned in my first session on hair-rigged sweetcorn, hoping to reduce the number of bites not connected to, or just dropping off. A new swim for me, and in the first hour I lost five fish. Big ones too. One snapped me up, the hook falling out of the others, two being large Commons that I reckon were around the 20lb mark. One of these took me from the bite, 15 yards to my left, straight past me and sped against the clutch 25 more towards the island. Having held on, it then took line regularly over the 15 minutes or so that it was with me. With the net ready and the battle nearly won, it dived under the platform I was fishing from and with the splash I heard under my feet, it spat the hook out and swam out to freedom, looking much like the shark passing the boat in Jaws. Hmph. At least the new hook patterns arrive this week. It went quiet for an hour giving me time to stew in my juice and feel increasingly uncomfortable in the north wind. When the elusive next bite came, boy I played the fish carefully, not straining at all and basically boring it into the net: a 3lb 9 Mirror. Buoyed by this, I was more confident with the next to keep steady pressure on when it let me, though it still took well over 10 minutes to beach - a handsome Common of 10lb 15. The sun came out to celebrate, the clouds burned off, the wind stopped, the temperature soared and the fish went down deep and hid for several hours. With not long of my time left, the carp finally reacted to the dog biscuits I'd been trickling in, large mouths surfacing to scoff as many as I could throw in. I hastily changed to a self-cocking float and went to hook a biscuit (Bakers Originals) for the first time. Grr, they were either too big or wrongly-shaped to be banded, and too hard for bayonets, all that is, except for the softer cubes that would swell and fall off the hook in seconds. Is nothing ever easy? I did manage to get one to stay on long enough to catch a feisty 3lb 4 Mirror, but with my increasing frustration against the clock, and a re-bait required every chuck, it was clear no matter how ravenous the biscuit-munchers were, they all seemed to recognise and avoid the one with a hook in. Smart cookies! If even half of those dropped fish had stuck, it would have been an incredible day. In the end, I felt I had underachieved though ending 'Magnificent May' with over 250lbs of fish, I cannot really be disappointed.

My close-season concentration on these two adjacent lakes continues and went with a plan. I followed perceived wisdom and fished 6 - 8am at Alders. I had line bites and knocks every cast, but nothing took it properly. So as per schedule, I crossed the causeway to Willows and alternated between 2 hours method feeder then 2 hours float-fished corn. The feeder accounted for three hard-fighting carp - maybe the warming water has pumped them up, as they all put up a show worth more than the 3lb 4, 5lb 8 and 5lb 0 they came in at. From my point of view, it was just lovely to sit without coat or jumper with my float not looking like the Eddystone Light battling against a North Atlantic squall. My float sessions were short on bites, but having said that, I connected with four large fish, each of which fell off the hook after between 10 seconds to 2 minutes of 'fight'. Hmm, I'm clearly doing something wrong. I don't think I'm being impatient at the net and pulling too hard, and a size 14 hook/2 pieces of corn seems appropriate to a 5lb hook length and a soft-ish 11ft pellet waggler rod. Any ideas? I've ordered some artificial corn to hair rig, and some Guru QM1 hooks which apparently have a better hook-sticking rate. Who knows. Any other ideas gratefully received¬

My weekly evening session and a chance to see if the fish will be where I found them in last weeks sun. Today though, despite fair forecast, there was a steady cool wind from the south, putting a chop on the water and having me grabbing my coat to go over my thick jumper as early as 5pm. It was a much slower start, though I did pick up a hard fighting Common of 8lb 7 and one of the newly stocked Mirrors of 2lb 2. Then it all went quiet. I switched to a float with sweetcorn around the emerging lilies for a nice roach, a skimmer and, around 9pm when the wind mercifully stilled, twin tench, both 3lb 8 on the nose, the first with one more eye than the other. I returned to method feeder when I could no longer see the float and finished with a 10lb 2 Common. Over 27lb of fish and drove home thinking I should have caught more. How times change. Oh, and I need to find out how the flash works on my camera

Woe betide my landing net of shame. More a different world than a different weather system as the previous days stormy winds have died away and the morning session starts still and clear. Alders does its best to lure me with a shoal of fish bubbling the surface, but I walk my tackle by, as today is a Willows day, And so it should be, as I soon have a Mirror in at 5lb 9. But having lost another when a Drennan hook-link, brand new on this morning, snaps as the loop, it goes quiet. My decision to switch the one permitted rod to a lift-method float with sweetcorn on a 14 hook is a good one. Ten minutes later, a strong bite and I'm into a big fish, no, a very big fish. On only 5lb line. I can only hang on as it takes me way out left, way out right, and all areas in between. The hook seems well set and i can give it maximum strain on the understanding that every time it asks for line, I give it. I can wait, indeed I have to. I gain line on it several times, but though I bring it bankwards, each time it decides it isn't for him and powers off again. I play it, no exaggerating. for 15 minutes. With my rod arm starting to ache, the fish finally starts to give some signs of tiring, with each hard-nosed press against the direction I want it to go not quite as forceful. and I can now see the float stop on the line above the water though I've still not seen the fish. I lower the net into the water in preparation for our meeting, and let it lie on the bed in front of me, , the pain from the tendonitis in my left elbow making it impossible to scoop in the normal way, only lift it above the exhausted fish from below then pull it in with two hands. The fish goes left then right again, but I sense it knows I am winning now winning. With a p.b. carp of 15lb I rationalise that this one must at least 20 when, still unseen, it makes a do-or-die dive under the prostrate landing net, pulling the rod tip down into the mesh and separating hook from fish and its gone. It even has the audacity to take the sweetcorn with it. I'm left with a glimpse of black tail as it disappears, my only evidence that it was a fish and not a mini-submarine. Still shaking and swearing, five minutes later the float zips under again. The pound-and-a-quarter tench is a beautiful little fish, but with the greatest of respect to it, no substitute Writing this piece up eight hours on, I've thought of little else but that lost fish and still feel nauseous. Even Chelsea losing the Cup Final last week didn't feel quite this bad. As for the landing net, it's only three weeks old, or else I would have taken it to the flame. Gutted.

What a day. The back end of May, and I'm in thick jumper, gilet and coat as the lakes are once again buffeted with 40mph winds the whole day, flipping the lilies up off the water while with on/off (mainly on) rain flattened them down again. My plan to fish Willows was blasted away by the sou'westers, as all I could do was huddle under my brolly, which I'd had to lash to the otter fencing behind me for fear of it ending up in Slough. With the incessant lowing flipping the lilies and creating more special effects on the water than a Mission Impossible movie, the only break in a slow morning was a vey welcome 3lb 14 tench, with the next fish, a rather nice 6lb 10 bream not making a show until lunchtime. No sign of its shoal-mates however, and it was another wet hours wait for a 3lb 6 tench. With two hours to go, I chucked in my hand and took my chances on the even more exposed adjacent Willows. The wind from the left made casting accurately impossible, and tightening up slack line a tricky and lengthy process. My landing net was called into action to rescue my hat that the wind blew into the surf. It also made the rod tip bounce around like a pogoing punk at a Pistols gig, but still the four bites I had were easily spotted, so fierce were the takes. The first and last fish both dropped off the hook, but the day was made a good one by a 7lb 8 Mirror and a long and lean Common of exactly the same weight.