The weather forecast was for a NE wind turning to W later in the day. A difficult call, but I decided to fish on the west bank by the tree, where I hoped to get the crucians going first thing and then towards evening tempt the carp on the surface, as this spot is good for getting fish feeding off the top close-in.

It was bright with a few spots of early rain. Amazingly only two of us were on the lake for the first hour or so even though the caravan site seemed quite full. I arrived at 07.00 and fished a waggler on my new compact 10ft float rod; a little powerhouse designed for margin fishing, among other things. I had to wait until 08.15 for my first fish; a crucian of 1½lbs. By this time the NE wind had blown up and it was both chilly and difficult to fish with the waggler. I therefore moved to the reed-corner swim. Before I moved, though, I had the rare opportunity to see a water vole in full view. It actually perched on the base of the fishing platform.

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I had been float-fishing on a 5lb line before I moved and made the mistake of casting the same set up into the reed-corner swim. A carp took the bait almost immediately and I lost it just as quickly in the reeds. I changed to my barbel rod with 12lb line and free-lined the swim. At 09.50 I landed a 6lb mirror on flake.

I reverted to the waggler and fished the reeds to the right, which are not as dense, thus giving me a better chance to land the fish. I had a tench of about 1-1¼lb and about an hour later a nice crucian of 1lb 10oz, both on flake. I then hit another fish that just felt solid. I guess it was a tench and when it finally moved off I managed to keep it clear of the reeds on both sides of the swim. As I was bringing it in to net Helen phoned. I wouldn't usually answer in such circumstances, but Mum had had a fall, so I took the call. At this point the fish darted for the reeds just under my feet and without a second hand to retrieve line I couldn't stop it, whereupon it managed to free itself from the hook.

About half an hour later a carp took the bait and proceeded to dart across the swim straight into the thick reeds on the left, and was lost.

At this point I had to leave as things were not good with Mum.