With the forecast for little wind I decided to go to Fields End Water, my local pit. It's an exposed lake and I was keen to grab a windless day fishing on the waggler. As it was early in the year I took maggots as a smaller bait option but I also had luncheon meat and bread flake. There's a good head of rudd in the lake although I hoped that I might tempt a crucian or two, and perhaps a bigger carp patrolling the margins.

I fished the margin to my left, a spot where I had had some success in the past. Maggots certainly proved to be effective since I had a bite soon after casting and the first of many rudd came to the net. In fact it soon became clear that maggots were going to attract mainly smaller rudd with the bait sometimes being taken on the drop.

Although there were some reasonable fish in the mix, there were also quite a few small ones. There was also the tendency for the smaller fish to take the maggots down, necessitating the disgorger far too often. I decided, therefore, to switch to luncheon meat.

It took a while for the first bite to register on meat. It was a better rudd but not really that bigger than the better ones that I had taken on maggots. Also, some of the bites didn't develop after some early dips on the float. I tried reducing the bait size, which resulted in some more positive bites, but again the rudd weren't that bigger.

I had a small perch on the luncheon meat, one of three I was to catch on this bait during the session. They again tended to take the bait down.

I continued to alternate between maggots and meat with much the same results, my hope for something different to come along not materialising. I had taken just a couple of slices of bread, a bait that was in the past my favourite for this lake. So, with maggots and meat not offering anything other than the rudd, I switched to bread flake. This didn't provide a breakthrough but did attract a few rudd, once again of a similar stamp to what I had already caught. Like meat, bread didn't exclude the smaller fish.

I had sat in the SW corner to be sheltered from the forecast of a very slight southerly breeze. In fact at one point the breeze was blowing into the corner, so more northerly! Also, the corner pitch was among small trees, which resulted in me being in the shade after around midday. The combination of the slight but chilly breeze and shade left me feeling a bit cold, having dressed for warmer conditions. In fact I walked along to chat to the only other angler on the lake, who had just landed a good double carp, and who was in a T-shirt. Yes, it was a good few degrees warmer in the sun.

It was too late to consider a move so I carried on, hoping that something special might turn up. There were carp visible on the surface and one had swam into the reeds on my right, but my hope that I might tempt one in the margin wasn't realised.

I was a bit disappointed that a 'bonus' fish didn't turn up but I did have good sport with the rudd, with some reasonable fish, and of course the three perch. And other than getting a bit chilled towards the end, it was a very relaxing day on a very quiet lake that can on occasions be very busy. Of course, there was always the possibility that something special could have turned up.