Arrival time: 08.30
Weather: Dry and bright start after a wet night with a strong freshening breeze.
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Specimen Avon, Shimano Exage 4000RC, link leger, 8lb line, 10 hook
14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, Rapidex 2400 centre pin with 5lb line, 4lb bottom & 12 hook. Insert waggler.
Baits: Spam, bread paste.
Fish: Three small roach

I was hoping that Fields End would be quieter in October with the peak holiday season over, but anglers are a hardy bunch and there were quite a few around the lake. There were also some bivvies indicating some serious carp fishing in progress.

I couldn't get my first choice of swim so decided to set up in what I call the tree corner. This is a peg that is enclosed by trees and shrubs, which had the advantage of protecting me from an increasingly strong and chilly breeze. You fish off a platform, which I hate as every indiscrete move results in a noise amplified by the boarding. A bit like a drum. Originally the pegs on this lake were formed by timber sleepers infilled with gravel but as these deteriorated the owner opted for the easier platforms. For margin fishers like me this was unwelcome.

Before setting up I put out a couple of handfuls of mashed bread by the margin reeds on both sides of the swim. I had brought a float rod but started with my Hardy Avon by dropping a piece of spam down the right margin. It was in this swim that I caught my biggest carp in 2008, a fish of 19lb taken on luncheon meat close to that right margin. But today nothing reacted to my bait. To be fair that carp was caught in June and the lake wasn't nearly as heavily fished in 2008.

After trying the margins for a while I cast out further with spam and set the rod up on rests with a bobbin while I float fished the left margin. At first I didn't get a touch on the float but after a while on small pieces of spam I missed a couple of bites. Adjusting the float and shotting I finally hit a bite and as expected it was a small roach of around 6oz.

I was to take three similar sized roach and lose a couple when they shed the hook. By midday the early sun had gone and as the breeze freshened I was getting quite cold. And there had been no indication on the leger rod. So I decided to pack up and go home for lunch.

I couldn't see all around the lake but a guy on the south bank had taken two carp legering off the island, a favourite location for the bolt-rig carpers. And another chap nearer me was taking small fish on float. But all in all it seemed quite quiet.

Out of interest I compared today with a trip on 13 October 2011. There are distinct similarities, but on that occasion I did take three carp and later in the day two tench. I regularly used to take tench from this water but in recent years they seem to have disappeared. It's also interesting that in 2011 I remarked on how low the lake was, something that I also noticed on this latest visit.