After a marvellous weekend, weather wise, things deteriorated a bit today.

I was the first on the lake, and started with my Hardy Marksman by dropping a piece of luncheon meat down the right margin. First cast was short, but the second resulted in a bite almost immediately and a good fish tore off. It turned out to be an 8lb 10oz mirror carp that fought very well.

With the heavier tackle, though, there was no real risk of losing it. A couple of chaps then turned up on the platforms on my right, and the obligatory dropping of the tackle boxes onto the platforms put paid to any further margin success.

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I put the Hardy rod to the side and tackled up my Shimano match rod to try for roach and crucians. I used a lighter waggler than on previous visits, a 3BB float shotted with 2BB immediately below the float and a no. 4 near the hook. I alternated between luncheon meat and flake, the former being the most successful initially.

Summary:

07.35 - Mirror - 8lb 10oz - luncheon meat

Changed to match rod.

08.15 - Crucian - 1lb 8oz - flake
09.00 - Roach - about 6oz - luncheon meat
09.05 - Crucian - 2lb - luncheon meat
09.15 - Crucian - 2lb 4oz - luncheon meat (photo)
09.30 - Crucian - 1lb 10oz - luncheon meat
09.40 - Tench - 4lb - luncheon meat
09.50 - Crucian - 1lb 13oz - luncheon meat
10.15 - Crucian - 1lb 13oz - luncheon meat

Bites fell away at this point

12.05 - Roach - about 4oz - luncheon meat
12.40 - Crucian - 1lb 13oz - luncheon meat
14.00 - Crucian - 1lb 12oz - flake
15.15 - Common - 10lb 3oz - luncheon meat
(Foul-hooked in pectoral fin, which was a pity - photo)

This carp was in superb condition and, being foul-hooked, was a real challenge to land on light tackle.

16.05 - Roach - 1lb 3oz - flake (photo)

At around 17.00 the wind was howling and rain threatened. I actually packed away my rods but as I was about to leave I saw brighter skies to the west, so decided to wait and see. Sure enough the wind dropped to a reasonable level and it became brighter. I got the Hardy rod out again and decided to concentrate on the right margin with luncheon meat. I was rewarded by an almost instant bite.

17.25 - Mirror - 8lb 2oz - luncheon meat
17.50 - Dace - 6oz - luncheon meat
18.15 - Mirror - 5lb 14oz - luncheon meat
18.40 - Mirror - 13lb 9oz - luncheon meat (photo)
19.10 - Lost fish. Possibly foul-hooked.
19.15 - Mirror - 8lb 11oz - luncheon meat

So another good day, despite the weather. A 2lb 4oz crucian, my second best ever, a 1lb 3oz roach, a 4lb tench and a muscly 13lb 9oz carp.

Other highlights included seeing two grass snakes swimming nearby, what I think was a Red Kite flying high over the lake and a heron.