Again I was hopeful of a good day. The night was cold but the forecast was for a day of sunshine. Driving to the lake the Fenland scenery was spectacular. White frosty fields with a large orange sun shining through the mist. The magic was completed by a barn owl flying across the road in front of me and settling on a gate post.

Unfortunately the magic didn’t carry over to the lake. I had decided to try maggots in the hope of a decent perch, having seen the chap the other week pull out one that was easily over 2lbs. As it was I didn’t get a bite. Nothing for over two hours! The first bite, when it came at 09.30, was positive and resulted in a 3lb tench. Not bad, although the fish had a deformed lower lip, something I’ve seen on a number of tench at this venue.

After this I just had a few sporadic bites, most of which I missed. They were probably tiny perch pulling the maggots, as I did get a couple of these to the bank. I did land one small roach and lost a couple of others that shed the hook. They were reasonable but nothing special.

About midday I decided that if things didn’t improve I would pack up at 15.00. With this decided I started feeding maggots more generously and this did result in a few more bites, but most were missed. Again I think small perch were the culprits. Just before I packed up (at 15.00) I tried fishing in mid-water rather than on the bottom. This produced similar missed bites.

I had the lake to myself for most of the morning. A couple of other people arrived later (I think they were staying on the site) although I wasn’t aware of them catching anything.

I had a friendly chaffinch and robin worrying me for maggots throughout the day, which brought a bit of joy to the proceedings.

I also saw a cormorant, the first I’ve seen on this lake. It circled the lake about a dozen times before landing and then spent about 15 minutes diving for fish.