Another afternoon session but this time the lake was busier. The Reed End wouldn’t have been my first choice but it was the best pitch of those that weren’t already occupied.

I tried flake and luncheon meat close to the reeds but whereas last week I was quickly into a couple of decent fish before things quietened down, on this occasion nothing. Plenty of fiddly bites, some of which sailed away, but no contact was made. One small roach confirmed my suspicion that these were smaller fish and an occasional small scale on the hook reinforced this view.

I plodded on but got nowhere. The general noise level around the lake was off-putting, holidaymakers now representing the majority of those fishing. I know I shouldn’t, but I get irritated when people put out a couple of bolt-rig feeders and then saunter off to chat at high volume, occasionally dashing back to haul in a fish that’s hooked itself. I’m probably old-fashioned but that doesn’t constitute angling in my book. Moan over.

Click image to view larger version.

As the wind dropped I started putting some dog biscuits out on the surface and eventually a few carp started feeding on them. I changed to my Hardy Avon and at first tried an artificial dog biscuit. They would have none of that! I then tried a hooked floating pellet, but that was similarly refused. As a last resort I tried floating crust and got an immediate take. A stocky 10lb 2oz mirror came to the net after a spirited fight (photo). They seem to be more frantic when hooked on the surface. It was now 18.10.

Persevering with crust I took another mirror at 18.40. This time it weighed 9lb.

From this point on the fish sporadically came back to the surface but I failed to hook another. I missed two or three takes on crust, but I was using bread bought for Tuesday’s trip and it was, quite frankly, not quite fresh enough to survive the forceful sucking of surface feeding carp. In between trying the surface I went back to the margin but nothing obliged. This makes two successive trips where the usually reliable margin has disappointed in the late evening. Perhaps it’s because the fish are spawning, or perhaps the now heavy fishing of the lake has caused a change in feeding patterns.

As I landed my first fish a couple were walking past having just packed up. They are regular visitors to the caravan park whom I’ve met before, and they usually do quite well. However, they said that they had been fishing since 09.00 and had both blanked. So perhaps it’s not just me.

Out of interest, I resurrected my old Mitchell 301 with my Hardy rod. After using modern Shimano reels it felt decidedly clunky, but it did the job with the two decent sized carp.