Diary of an average angler

Arrival time: 09.00
Weather: Warm and sunny, rising to 22℃, with a light SSW breeze
Tackle: 14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, Rapidex 2400 centre pin with 5lb line, 4lb bottom & 14 hook. Insert waggler.
Baits: Hemp seed, sweet corn, luncheon meat.
All fish taken on corn
Fish: Three barbel (two foul-hooked), two carp and many roach

The weather forecast was for a warm spring-like day and it didn't disappoint. A great improvement on my last visit and this time the NE corner was free and I dropped into my favourite spot.

I pre-baited with hemp seed and corn and started with float-fished corn. The first roach came almost immediately and, unlike last time, it was the first of many. I didn't count but took probably somewhere between 10 and 15 fish.

The roach fishing was interrupted when I hooked a large fish that after a long battle proved to be a big barbel. On the bank it weighed 8½lb, making it a PB for me. This was followed by a carp of 7½lb that fought like it was much larger, indicating perhaps that the fish are livening up with increasing water temperature.

After a few more roach another carp was hooked and again the battle was hard. This time it was a fish of 7¾lb.

Following this I lost a fish in the reeds to the left, almost certainly a carp, this being a constant danger in this swim.

Then came a surprise. I hooked another large fish that took over ten minutes to get in. It turned out to be a big barbel foul-hooked in a pelvic fin. It weighed exactly the same as my earlier fish, making me wonder if it was in fact the same fish! If it was I'm surprised it had the energy to fight for so long as my first barbel needed a long recovery period having given its all.

After a couple of more roach I was again battling a large fish, which proved to be another smaller barbel that was also foul-hooked, this time in the dorsal fin. For one moment I feared it might again be the 8½lb fish. I didn't weigh it but it clearly was much smaller.

My assumption was that the hemp seed had attracted barbel and while foraging the two foul-hooked fish had swum over my bait dragging the float under.

I'm always disappointed if I foul-hook a good fish but on balance today was very successful, in no small part due to the roach that obliged me throughout the six hours I was there.