After being outgunned on my 13ft multi-float rod on the last visit I had set up my new Hardy Avon Specimen rod that I bought last year at an offer price. It was its first outing. I had paired it with my Rapidex centre pin and 6lb line. First cast, using bread flake, resulted in a firm bite five minutes later and a fish rushed into the reeds, breaking me easily. The tackle upgrade obviously hadn’t worked. I then lost another fish that slipped the hook as I was trying to stop it getting into the reeds. Not a good start!

I changed to luncheon meat and at 08.15 landed a Mirror of 6¼lb, but as I was playing it I thought it was much larger. It seemed that the Avon paired with 6lb line was still not well matched, as when I was playing the fish I didn’t feel that the rod was buffering the line adequately.

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I decided to retackle by taking the Shimano baitrunner off my light feeder rod in the holdall, and the 8lb spool off my compact float, and use this 8lb setup on the Avon. This proved to be a much better match. It meant dropping to 6lb on the compact float rod but as I had this set up for surface fishing the fish would be hooked further out, giving me more leeway with the lighter line. However, I need to review my rod/reel pairings for future trips.

The day provided a good variety of fish with a few good ones. I stuck with the waggler until after lunch although I had been putting out biscuits to see if there was any surface activity. This was the mornings catch:

08.15 - Mirror 6¼lb - luncheon meat
09.00 - Tench - 2¼lb - luncheon meat (really hard fight)
09.15 - Crucian carp - 1½lb - luncheon meat
09.35 - Leather - 7½lb - luncheon meat
10.05 - Ide - 13oz - luncheon meat

At this point I will mention that Ide is a virtually unknown species to me, having done most of my fishing many years ago. Charlie, the owner, had mentioned that there were lots of Ide in the water. At first I had thought the 13oz fish was a slender roach.

10.30 - Tench 3½lb - luncheon meat
10.50 - Rudd approx ½lb - luncheon meat

Charlie also expressed surprise at people mentioning rudd. However, I’m sure this fish was a rudd by its fin coloration and protruding lower lip.

11.45 - Mirror - 4½lb - luncheon meat.

I changed to my compact float rod having managed to get fish feeding on the surface. It proved difficult to get takes and I lost the first two fish I hooked; the first slipped the hook and the second got me into the reeds. Eventually at 14.55 I got a 7lb Mirror on biscuit.

A bit frustrated with the surface fishing I went back to the Avon and the waggler with luncheon meat. First cast the float had just cocked when it tore away and the rod was nearly wrested from my hands. After a hard fight a nice 9½lb Leather came to the net at 15.35.

Back to the surface with my compact float I took a 8¾lb Mirror at 16.45. However, I was still being frustrated my the lack of interest in the hook bait while the free offerings were gobbled up. I threw in some crust and this was taken, so I embedded my 16 hook in a large piece of crust, which was soon taken. After a hard battle a beautiful 12lb common was landed - just! As I went to net it the hook came out but because I had played it out, it just lay there, allowing me quickly to push the net under it; lucky or what?

The frustration on the surface continued but about an hour later, at 18.35, I got a powerful take and the fish steamed off at a frightening rate towards the marginal reeds. The acceleration was phenomenal and maximum side strain with my little rod and 6lb line did nothing to slow it down. It crashed into the reeds and my hook came back semi-straightened.

After that I went back to the Avon/waggler setup and at 19.00 had a positive bite and hooked a good fish. However, I soon recognised the symptoms of a foul-hooked fish, and sure enough I eventually landed a nice 12lb Leather hooked right at the back of the tail, which made it interesting to net.

The wind had now freshened and a late evening bonanza didn’t seem to be in the offing. In fact things went quite quiet. I therefore decided to call it a day, but a very rewarding one.