With a westerly wind forecast today I went for the west bank; the bush swim that is almost opposite the north end of the island. The day started bright and clear with hardly a breeze, but the wind came up during the day and was veering towards NW. Although I was out of the worst of it, it did cause an undertow that made light waggler fishing a bit difficult.

I started by trying a piece of bread fake free-lined down the margin. I had a pull on the line, but it wasn't a carp. I therefore switched to waggler and, after missing a bite, I hooked and landed a 2lb 10oz tench. It fought very well for its size. I was using my new 10 ft compact float rod.

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Well, so much for the good start. Things went absolutely dead. All I had were a few unhittable bites; probably crucians or roach. Nobody else appeared to be doing that well. Then, at 14.30, I had a solid bite and hit a large fish. After a while I suspected that it had been foul-hooked because of the nature of the fight. It was, and a real battle ensued on my 10' rod, but eventually I landed a beautiful 12½lb leather carp.

As I was landing the fish a chap named Ray sat down to my left. I had spoken to him earlier in the year. He's a match angler who wins quite a few of the local matches. He was into a carp first cast and then proceeded to catch five fish in quick succession using a pellet waggler technique fished at long range.

During this period I managed another fish by free-lining luncheon meat down the margin. This was a fairly-hooked common of 3lb 13oz.

After a while Ray invited me to have a go with his tackle. Under instruction I cast to about midway in the lake. Accuracy was essential as he had fed a small area with pellets using a catapult. He was feeding 6mm pellet and using 8mm on the hook. I managed to hook and land three fish although was broken by another, all within the space of about an hour. One of the fish had a method feeder attached with the hook fairly deep on braid. I managed to get it out but this reinforced my dislike of fixed bolt rigs. Ray went through his set up with me and couldn't have been more helpful. Quite an education really. Other people around the lake were clearly amazed at the rate he was catching fish.

Ray left about 18.00 and I decided to have another 45 minutes, knowing it would be dark by 19.00. Using the waggler and flake I had a good bite right in the margin where I had seen the reeds move. Unfortunately it again transpired that the fish was foul-hooked. It was about 6lb but it had another broken line in its mouth that tangled with mine, so once I had cleared things I returned it immediately without weighing.

A bit of a strange day really - but enjoyable.

As I left one of the 'caravan' anglers came over to ask me how Ray had done it. He had obviously made an impression.