After a number of trips to the Nene backwaters I fancied a less energetic day so decided to go over to the local Clay Pit to fish the side ponds. I hoped for a tench or two but would have been satisfied with a mixed bag of whatever turned up.

It was a bit of a last minute decision to go fishing since the weather forecast had originally predicted thunder storms. This was moderated to heavy showers and then to light showers, so I decided to give it a go. In fact it didn't rain other than a few spots.

I hadn't prepared bait-wise so arrived with a tin of sweetcorn, some chesse paste and a few slices of granary bread. As it happened the corn proved to be a very effiective bait.

After an early crucian I was soon into my first tench, a fish of 2.8lbs. A second tench of 3.7lbs arrived within the first hour of fishing.

As the day progressed I caught more crucians all about the same stamp. I weighed what I think was the biggest at 0.9lb, or just over 13oz. I also took a couple of roach.

But in between these crucians I was fortunate enough to take three more tench. I had hoped to catch a tench but was amazed that I managed five. The crucians fought incredibly hard, trying to reach the reeds and brambles immediately to the left. The tench, however, were an entirely different matter, also fighting hard to get into the reeds and brambles but also diving into weed growth beneath my feet. Fortunately I managed to get each one in.

In among the crucians and the tench a single small common carp gave a very good account of itself, almost making the reed bed with its first run.

So what was a last minute decision to go, proved to be a very good decision indeed. There were some quieter spells but it felt like I was catching throughout my stay of around five hours. And all the fish were taken on corn, which I loose-fed in small quantities from time to time.

A very enjoyable few hours.