Mick, our neighbour's father, was visiting, and being a keen angler I invited him along. So we could keep together I suggested he fish at the opposite end of reed bed that forms part of my 'reed swim'. I knew he would get takes in the margin but warned him that he may lose fish. I fished a bit further along, next to a smaller reed bed; a spot I hadn't fished before. We arrived at 07.00. It was very warm (27ºC the previous day) with a light SE breeze.

He caught a small carp almost immediately and went on to have a good day, whereas my progress was slower. I baited with small pellets and bread flake balls and after losing a couple of fish on float fished flake, I started catching crucian carp; the lost fish were also probably crucians. I had 6 crucians between 9 and 10 o'clock, from about ¾lb to 1lb 14oz.

Mick was getting takes on surface-fished crust, so I tried this approach, but the fish were obviously concentrated nearer the large reed margin in his swim. Between periods of surface fishing I picked up another crucian of 1¾lb on flake. I then got a nice roach of ¾lb, again on float-fished flake.

The temperature at this point must have been approaching 30ºC, and despite the protection of an umbrella I was quite uncomfortable and sweating profusely while basically sitting still.

I switched to luncheon meat (still on float) and soon had a good bite, and after quite a tussle landed a 5¼lb leather that was, unfortunately, foul-hooked; thus the hard fight. About an hour later I landed a 3lb tench, again using luncheon meat, but this was also foul-hooked. Mick, meanwhile was getting take after take on the surface near the margins and landed quite a few fish, although he was broken a number of times as well.

As evening approached I concentrated on the surface with pellet initially. Just after 19.00 I landed a 6lb leather, but this was again foul-hooked. I was getting quite despondent at this stage. A bit later, using bread crust in a bait ring, I fair-hooked a nice 7lb mirror that gave a good scrap and partially compensated for what otherwise was a bit of a frustrating day. Still, Mick enjoyed himself, and I did have some good sport with the crucians during the morning.

Nothing worth photographing today.