A really nice day. There wasn't a ripple throughout the morning and with only two other swims occupied it was very quiet. If only all fishing days could be like this.

I started with the 13ft float rod and luncheon meat, and at 07.40 landed a nice tench of 2lb 6oz. I had missed a couple of bites previously that I suspect were also tench. Soon after I had a close-up view of a reed bunting. I had to check the bird book to see what it was; a first sighting for me.

A couple of carp followed at 08.20 and 09.10; a linear mirror of 6lb 14oz and a mirror of 5lb 8oz. I then tried a crust/flake hook bait and at 09.30 landed a lovely 3lb 14oz tench.

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About 10.30 I noticed some fish near the top so changed to my 10ft compact float and free-lined a floating crust about 10 metres out. A positive take resulted in a 5lb 10oz mirror. Unfortunately after this a slight breeze blew up that was coming directly at me, making free-line casting difficult. After one unsatisfactory attempt at casting a crust I let it sink near the reeds. Striking at a movement of the line I landed a 2lb crucian carp. This is my third 2lb fish after two the previous week.

Because of the breeze I added a controller float to the free-line on the 10ft rod and started catapulting out dog biscuits. This got the fish feeding on the surface quite close in, and with biscuit on the hook, just before 14.00 I got a positive take but had taken a phone call from Helen. Dropping the phone I struck into a good fish. After a long tussle a fine 14½lb leather carp was landed. Unfortunately it was foul-hooked in the tail, possibly because I was late to the strike due to being on the phone. Being foul-hooked did, however, make landing the fish much more difficult, and I was impressed with the amount of pressure I was able to exert using the compact 10ft rod with 8lb line. A powerful little set up.

After this I took four more carp on biscuit between 14.30 and 16.10: a linear mirror 4lb; a mirror 4¼lb; a leather 4¼lb and a common 8lb 10oz (photo). The second leather was taken on a pink 'biscuit' that I fished out of the water; I must investigate these commercial baits! The common was taken on a plastic biscuit I bought a while ago and hadn't tried.

I went back to the waggler but only had unhittable bites. While waggler fishing I noticed that fish were still coming to the top, so I tried a biscuit on the waggler rig, taking off the sinker shot so the biscuit would float. I was rewarded with a 9lb 14oz mirror that proved to be quite a battle on the light tackle.

Back on the waggler, using luncheon meat, at 17.50 I hit a fish that I thought was a small crucian, but when it came in it turned out to be a 1lb roach. A beautiful fish that, when added to the tench and crucian caught earlier, made a very varied bag.

Reverting to a floating biscuit on the waggler setup, this time a plastic biscuit, I hit a good fish but it got me into the reeds and despite being able to move it by hand-lining, it eventually did the hook transfer trick and left me stuck in the reeds. Hook and plastic biscuit were lost.

I packed up the waggler and decided to finish the day with the 10ft rod, controller float and floating biscuit. At 19.30 a good take resulted in a 7lb 2oz mirror. At this point I decided to call it a day.

Although a couple of other anglers turned up during the day it was as peaceful as one could hope for, and the weather was near on perfect. A good mixed bag, a couple of nice sized carp and spotting the reed bunting all added up to a memorable day, despite having a bit of a headache at the end of it - too long fixated on the float!