I decided to take a chance on Fields End despite not doing that well there of late. Unfortunately my luck didn't really change. I arrived just after the site opened and chose the SW corner spot, because it was nearest the car park and sheltered from the SW breeze. That's not to say that it was a poor choice of swim, since I have caught there in the past.

I started with maggots having prebaited with maggots, hemp and sweetcorn. I was a bit surprised when I didn't get a bite on maggots fairly quickly. But bites did eventually come from smallish rudd, roach and perch. But in among these smaller fish were two reasonably decent rudd. I was hoping, therefore, that even if nothing else came along I might be in for a good rudd session.

Unfortunately that wasn't to be. In fact at times bites fell away even on maggots and changing to sweetcorn or meat didn't produce a touch.

A possible reason for the fall off of bites became apparent when a greater crested grebe popped up near the float. This bird was working the SW corner of the lake throughout my stay and while it might not have been the reason for the poor fishing, it certainly couldn't have helped.

So the hours passed with occasional small rudd etc. but no signs of anything else, and periods of no bites whatsoever.

Then, to make things worse a moorhen somehow managed to take my hook bait. I can't fathom how this happened as I was fishing the bottom with a weighted line, but happen it did. With the help of the bailiff, who turned up at just the right moment, we tried unsuccessfully to disgorge the hook. But in the end I had to cut the line.

This episode completely spoiled the day as I was worried that the bird wouldn't survive. And the fishing didn't improve. The only slightly positive sign was some reed movement close in, which suggested a browsing carp, but despite putting a piece of meat close to the reed nothing came of it.

So, six hours with not much to show at the end of it. I'm starting to get the feeling that Fields End has changed as a result of the heavier fishing and the introduction of modern high protein baits. When I first fished it nearly 20 years ago, bread was my go to bait that caught tench, carp, crucians and good roach. I fear that this is no longer a winning bait and that margin fishing itself might now be too challenging as the fish have become more cautious 😞.