After the relative ease of catching fish at Fields End on Tuesday, Block Fen brought me back to reality. It had a been a very warm day and even at 16.30 it was very hot. The breeze hardly affected the sheltered corner I fish but there was some line drag. More annoyingly there was a family of moorhens that emerged, tiny chick in tow, every time I cast, obviously looking for titbits. Unfortunately they often snagged the line forcing a re-cast, and the whole process started again.

I used my sliding pellet waggler approach again that is a superb way of dropping the bait right next to the reeds. However, despite working back and forwards around the reed bank and achieving some spot-on casts, nothing happened. By 20.30 I was ready to give up but I then got my first bite and after a short but eventful fight landed a 4½lb common. Not a big fish but a notable catch on such a difficult day.

There were two anglers further down the opposite bank, one of which was using three carp rods and a pole. I couldn’t see the other’s set up. Other than small fish on the pole he caught nothing while I was there, although his mate landed a couple of tench on a feeder rod. The chap with the three rods was ‘loud’ and about 19.30 he made his way to my side of the pond and proceeded to throw in enough bait to feed every fish in the water for about a week. If this had been happening earlier on in the day, and possibly the previous day (they were staying overnight and may have been there the previous day) then I should think every carp in the pond was stuffed to the gunnels.

It’s a small water, with only five or six fishable swims. Furthermore, of the handful of carp I’ve caught in the last two years, at least one fish, and possibly two, have been landed twice, indicating that there are not that many fish in there.

Having caught a fish, and the fact that the breeze dropped leaving a bewitchingly calm late evening, caused me to keep on trying, but despite what I think was attention from smaller fish, the float remained in sight and largely undisturbed. My decision did, however, expose me to some extremely voracious mosquitoes and I suffered a number of painful bites, one of which has caused my right hand to swell quite disturbingly. I think anti-mosquito spray is a must for any future visits.