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!