This last 17 days since the last part of the blog was published has been a busy one!. Starting not at Bowood but a session at Blacklands on peg 3 at Heron from 9:15 to 12:30.

Priming the swim at 10 with worm and 2 o’clock with micros I started on the worm with a 1g Paster in the 7ft of water.The roach were obliging as were the better skimmers and by swapping between the lines I ended up with 22 roach, 10 bream/larger skimmers, a rudd, a small skimmer, a perch and a tench for about 20-23lb.

June 16th arrives and I head to Bowood with a hop and a skip (I wish!) fishing 9-12 in very hot conditions on peg 1 I had a frustrating time with the weed in the 20 inches of water with bream of 1-06 and 2-08, 4 skimmers and 5 rudd for 5-03 despite seeing better fish moving through the area .

That evening I was joined by younger son Gareth and we headed back to Bowood as he had decided it would just about be worth joining for his remaining time in the UK and a prospective visit in February. Anyway we settled on peg 3 for me and he went on peg 4 fishing 6:45 to 9pm. Feeding two balls of groundbait and loose feeding wheat in the 3-4ft of water I decided to do the opposite of my usual heavy float approach for weed and set up a homemade float taking just 2 number 8 shot that were bulked 5 inches from the size 14 hook. It seemed to work as after 20 minutes the float wobbled and lifted which resulted in a tench of 4-08, this was the start of a better session with two further tench of 4-08 and 3-08 plus bream of 2-08, 2-08 and 5-00 for a 22-08 total. Gareth had 2 bream and 3 tench including one of 6lb.

Saturday was a non-fishing day with my wife’s birthday taking precedent. Sunday evening saw us back on the same pegs fishing this time from 6pm to 8:50. Fishing exactly the same way except this time we had to endure heavy rain for about an hour saw me accumulate bream of 2-15, 1-06 and 1-02 plus tench of 4-08 and 4-08 plus 2 rudd for a 14-12 total Gareth had a more torrid time losing several tench in the thick weed but did manage to sneak one out plus rudd.

Tuesday sees me back at peg 3 fishing 9:30 to 12:30.Fishing as before with a dozen grains of wheat being loose fed every couple of minutes I was kept busy with five bream of 3-00,3-00,3-02,2-12 and 2-08 plus I lost 5 through hook pulls in the weed. These were joined by a tench of 5-06 and another of 3-08 that was foul hooked in the tail and stirred up the swim to such an extent that I only had 3 rudd and a roach after it for a 24-02 total.

Friday sees me travel up to Makins Fishery near Nuneaton for the Pellet Guys Pairs. I had been drawn with a regular at Makins Ian Ward and on the first day I was drawn on peg 23 on the Snake. The name is a bit deceptive as it is not a snake lake but does have an island that peg 23 is right by, in fact I could touch the island with 6m of pole!

I was faced with trying tight to the island, the “track” at 3m or the margins. In the end the margins were the only productive areas but after 3 hours I had a roach and a small skimmer.The margins were showing lots of activity, firstly on the right where there were two major snags- the tree roots and a shrub that was growing unseen below the water. The left hand margin was towards the end full of fish but drop a bait in and they vanished. A very frustrating match saw me lose 9 carp, five were foul hooked and two of the others snagged me in the right margin, I did manage to get a few carp out for 19-11 and last place in the section. My partner fared no better either so it was on to the last day with only pride to fish for.

Day 2 sees me on Lizard peg 36.

Open water today but a lovely looking right margin and a left margin with a ;large swathe of tree roots visible under the water. I set up a rig for 11m, 5m and the margins plus a mugging rig.I began at 5m but soon went out to 11m over the two balls of groundbait and pot of pellets and corn I had deposited at the start. It was not a brilliant start but a couple of skimmers and a carp that I managed to mug with my normal rig helped. I plodded away and although the right hand margin looked great it produced one roach! I managed to put together another mugged carp on my margin rig and three further ones from the left margin but lost 2 in the snags and one hook pull. Three small carp came to the meat at 5m and I ended up with 37-11, not last but definitely down the wrong end of the lake!

Monday sees me back on peg 3 at Bowood – I know it sounds boring fishing the same peg but I prefer to make hay while the sun shines so to speak!Fishing 9:40 to 12:40 I managed bream of 3-04,3-00, 3-00 and 1-06 plus tench of 3-00 and 3-13 plus a small skimmer for a 17-00 total.

Another member had come down and asked me about peg 1, I told him that if there was any colour in the water it was worth fishing but was very shallow. On leaving I saw him fishing on the peg and he had been getting a few bream which set me thinking as usually the bream would have moved further up by now.

Friday I am back and on peg 1, not as coloured as I would like but enough colour to show there were still fish about and if that was not proof enough the black shadows confirmed their presence. I fished 9:40 to 1:10 setting up the usual way and feeding wheat in two areas- one to the left and one directly in front both the same distance out and apart from 2 roach and 2 rudd had a brilliant session with 17 bream up to 4-06 for 51lb all taken on corn. Peg one is a long way off the main bank and rather than carry the fish for a photo took a quick snap and got them back in.

I am off for one last evening session shortly with Gareth to finish off June.

A short part one for June as only two short visits made and Bowood looms on the 16th! The first visit was to Clivey Fishery down at Dilton Marsh as I needed to see Chris Haines who runs the lake and associated tackle shop. Anyway I went light with just the whips and some maggot plus a few expanders. I picked a peg at the far left hand corner from the entrance, away from all the other anglers.

I kept it simple with a 4.5m Chinese whip and a 1g “orange” float with 0.10mm hook length to a 16 and double maggot. I introduced two small golf balls of groundbait and loose fed after that with the maggots. Things were slow to start and it was clear that the carp were getting into the spawning mood with various “thrashings” taking place around the margins.First bite was a skimmer of about 4oz after about half an hour, I then managed to miss the next three bites before several more skimmers , a solitary roach and a carp of about 2lb were landed in the following hour and a bit, I also pulled out of a good fish that did not steam off but merely plodded around, probably not realising it was hooked! I packed up on the two hour mark as I needed to make my way home, satisfied with the 4-5lb of fish after the slow start.

My only other excursion was another short session between 10 and 12 at Burbrook lake- an old Victorian bathing pool run now by Chippenham AC which I was able to access on an exchange ticket. Again I set up with a 4.5m whip in the 7+ft of water but this time with a 1.5g Paster float to 0.10mm hook length and a new style 16 hook I was trying – the eye was set towards the gape of the hook rather than straight or off set. The day was very hot and there was a huge “ball” of roach around the 1-2oz size, numbering several hundred moving around slowly just below the surface, I was amazed also by the number of chub swimming about on top- not big at probably 12oz to 1.5lb size but more than I could count!

Despite the temptation to fish up in the water I set up to fish a n inch or so over depth with the bulk set about two and a half feet away from the hook and 3 no8 droppers below it. I introduce a single ball of soft groundbait and then loose fed over the top with maggot. It took about fifteen minutes to get a bite that was a skimmer (the only one of the day), that was followed by a solitary roach and 16 perch by 11:55. I was just thinking of starting to pack up when there was a slight dip of the float, a lift and I was into something better – a bream of around the 3lb mark. Naturally I gave it an extra five minutes – just in case! It was not to be, so another 2hours on the whip had produced another 5lb weight!

My attention now turns to the 16th and Bowood – my intention is to fish the shallows for the first week or so but the lack of rain may make me rethink!