After having not got out fishing for nearly a month I returned to Earith, once again in the hope of catching a tench or two. The other reason for choosing Earith was that I was meeting up with a friend, Chris, and the natural banks on this lake allow a side-by-side arrangement, unlike fixed position platforms. It was very warm, and the high pressure climatic conditions were still present, but in all other respects things looked perfect. A gorgeous looking swim and calm conditions.

The water level had finally dropped since my previous visit so I was able to get to my preferred swim at the back of the lake. And it looked great. The lily pad beds had flourished and there was new reed growth on the small island some ten metres in front of me.

I had taken two rods, which is very unusual for me. The intention was to use my Greys float rod, which is reasonably powerful, and my Drennan barbel rod to try for carp on the leger. However, I had picked up my Shimano match rod instead of the Greys. In such weedy conditions the match rod was a bit risky, should I have hooked into a good tench or a carp. I none the less started on the float, fishing sweetcorn just beyond the near lily pads, the 14 ft rod proving ideal as the float was almost under the rod top.

I had a couple of reasonably positive bites fairly early on but didn't make contact. This was to be repeated, changing to bread flake not proving any more effective. And then the bites died off. Chris had arrived by this time and had brought maggots. I was sure that these would succeed where the corn and bread hadn't, but all I managed were two smallish fish that came off almost immediately after being hooked.

I decided to change over to the leger rod after setting up Chris on the float. Chris has recently taken up coarse fishing after a life of fly fishing for lake trout. So this was a bit of a learning session for him.

While I waited patiently for some action on my cork bobbin, having cast out luncheon meat to the lily pads by the island, Chris was trying to hook roach and rudd on maggots. He caught a couple of small roach and somewhat later a better sized rudd, but that was to be his quota for the session.

I didn't really do a lot better. I had had a couple of drop backs on the bobbin that I was sure were bream. Then, as I was remarking on the amount of fish activity in the lilies and reeds by my bait, the bobbin dropped to the ground and I struck into a fish. It was soon evident that it was a bream due to the lack of real resistance but on the bank it weighed 3¾ lbs, so not a bad fish.

I had a couple of more drop backs on the bobbin but didn't manage another fish. I had also tried bread flake and maggots, the first bream having taken luncheon meat. But nothing worked and by 3 o'clock I was starting to feel the effects of the relentless sun, there being no cloud cover and hardly any breeze to cool things a bit. Then the GoPro on the neck band seized, refusing to turn on. That was the cue to pack up.

I really like the ambience of the lake and just being there was almost enough, but I can't deny that a few more fish would have been welcomed. I've now fished there three times this year and my catches have been far more meagre that during the same period last year, which is disappointing.

The ducklings were cute 🦆