A day of missed opportunities, frustration and, dare I say, some lessons learned.

Due to a very late night babysitting the grandchildren on Tuesday, I arrived a bit later than normal (08.45) but the reed swim was vacant, so I settled in. It was bright with broken light cloud, very mild and the wind was a fairly light north westerly.

I threw in some feed pellets and rolled-up bread balls while I was tackling up. First cast with a waggler and flake resulted in a quick firm bite, a strong run into the adjacent reeds and one lost hook. Having tied a new hook and re-cast, I got a fiddly bite with the float lifting and dropping; it finally slid away, and again a strong run into the reeds saw my hook disappear. I feel this may have been a tench because of the nature of the bite.

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I switched to my new Korda carp rod with heavier line (6lb) and free-lined flake. I soon had a run and, yet again, the fish was lost in the reeds. A minor success followed as I extracted a 2½lb common from the reeds. Despite its small size it fought like stink, and I began to realise that now the water has warmed up the fish are stronger and have more endurance. My achievements earlier in the year in getting large fish to the bank using light lines is obviously not now viable. To prove a point I lost two more fish in the reeds. Lesson learned; I shall upgrade my tackle for the next trip.

After lunch I tried some floating crust about 15 metres out. Although there were no signs of surface activity it was worth a go, and I was rewarded with a 10lb leather. I couldn't, however, entice any more fish on the top, despite introducing pellets. I then lost another fish in the reeds!

Switching to float-fished cheese, against the odds I managed to pull a nice 7½lb common away from the reeds and land it, but it was touch and go at times.

With the onset of evening I reverted to floating crust and hooked a good fish only to lose it in the reeds to my right, which being less dense than those to the left had up to then not seemed to pose a risk - another lesson learned.

A frustrating period followed as the fish continued to rise to crust but the loaf I had bought, despite being long-dated, proved to be hopeless, with the crust just crumbling off the hook. I changed to pellets and although the fish were now rising to them they refused my hook bait. I managed to fool one fish by placing the pellet close to the reeds; it darted out and grabbed it and after a ferocious close-up battle I landed a 6lb leather.