It was over a year ago that I was last at Fields End Pit. The place doesn't change much, although I noted that steps had been added to access many of the platforms, which sit at the bottom of sloping banks. The caravan park seems to have grown, and I wasn't surprised to find tackle in many of the swims when I arrived, but no sign of anglers.

When I first went to Fields End in 2006 there was one small field for touring caravans and most of the anglers around the lake were locals. Now I rarely see a local. Everybody else on the lake seemed to be carp fishing; the obligatory two rods neatly set up while the anglers in some cases were lounging at the top of the bank waiting for the fish to hook themselves. To me that isn't fishing, but it now seems to be the norm on commercials.

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Last time I was here I wanted to fish what I call the reed end swim, but it was taken so I fished the reed corner. Today the reed end was free, so I settled down for some float fishing, hoping for crucian carp, perhaps a tench or two, and perhaps even a carp.

I started with bread flake and was soon getting bites I couldn't hit. I'm sure they were roach. After a while I changed to meat. My source of luncheon meat used to be the Co-op, but since the Chatteris store closed I've had a job finding it elsewhere. I bought some chopped pork and ham from Tesco, but it turned out to be far too soft, with the fish getting it off the hook long before I could make contact. However, among many missed bites I did hit a few, and most turned out to be roach. I caught roach throughout, until I packed up just after 15:00. I didn't weigh any of them but the biggest was probably around 10 oz.

I had a mirror carp of 5lb quite early on (09:40), and just after midday (12:10) took a 6lb common carp (photo). About an hour later I was broken trying to stop what felt like a far bigger carp getting into the reeds. I weighed my first crucian carp at 1lb 8oz; the second was probably around ¾lb. The tiddler perch took the meat bait, which hasn't happened to me before at Fields End.

I tried a bit of legering with my 10ft rod, placing the bait alongside the reeds, but although the line tightened a couple of times, probably from roach, there was nothing doing.

I had decided to pack up around 15:00, although I had in any event used up all my meat bait. It was a matter of new bait every cast because it was so soft. Even the bread flake lasted longer.

I have done so little fishing recently that I actually felt a little bit out of practice today. For example, I managed to snag my line in the nearby tree even before I started fishing, and needed to re-tackle afterwards. Then a little later the line snagged a dead bullrush stem. I flicked it off but the line seemed to be cut by the stem, so yet another re-tackle. And I had quite a few line tangles. So I need to go again as soon as possible, but must first find a source of suitable luncheon meat.