Well after my dismal performances at the Glebe it was a case of seeing Gareth and the clan back to China, a visit to a car boot to get rid of some things and finally on the Tuesday a visit to Bowood. When I was away Gareth had gone to Bowood and reported seeing bream moving in peg 4 plus some VERY large carp 20-30lbs, so it was to peg 4 that I headed armed with some micro-pellets to try and tempt any better fish to stay and root around.

I plumbed up at 10m and found a clear patch between the submerged weed where I deposited 3 balls of a groundbait mix comprising of crushed expander, vanilla biscuit, cocoa belgique and Gooster 4X4, along with the equivalent of a 250ml cup of mixed micros, wheat hemp and a large pinch of corn. Starting at 9:15 I fished through to 12:30 using a 1g Paster float with the shot bulked six inches from a size 14 hook.

As usual I put on double maggot and got a rudd first put in, then changed to a single grain of corn, loose feeding a pinch of hemp or wheat or micros every few minutes. T 9:30 the float lifted and a firm strike saw me connect with a bream of 2-06, I have got into the habit of weighing each fish in the landing net before placing in the keepnet and recording the weight either on paper or my phone. The next three hours shot by with seven further bream up to 3-04 a solitary tench of 3-06 and a further fourteen rudd and one roach (the silvers weighed 2-12) for a 28-15 total. No sign of carp! Before leaving I threw in what I had left of the wheat in the hope of keeping the fish in the area.

Next day I returned to peg 4 and fished 9:00 to 12:05 using the same tactics, this time accruing eleven bream to 3-14 for 33-12, a pike of 3-04 taken on the spinning rod after several instances of pike strikes in the four feet swim, plus 25 rudd, 3 roach and a small skimmer for 3-08 giving a 40-08 total. Was I pleased – you bet I was!

Sunday 27th sees me travel up to just outside Eccleshall in Staffordshire to fish Bromley Mill in a match organised by Les Hobson who I share a caravan with at the MFS Woodland View match. Les unfortunately could not attend due to ill health but I sorted out draw cards and weigh sheets for the match. Now you may remember from previous ramblings that this is the place that you have to sit in the water and the carp can come and swim around you, ignoring all baits! Well the day did not start well as when I opened my bag to get my waders on I found my right heel had developed a two inch hole where the seam had some apart. Every time I had to go into the water and get back on my seat the first job was to raise my leg to the horizontal and let the water drain out! You just could not make it up!

The match fared little better with two carp taken in the first hour on the bomb, then a lost carp and three bream at 11m while the shallows were ultra frustrating with at one point 15 carp around by float feeding on anything but my bait! I managed to get a further seven carp but lost 8! With three roach my silvers came to 6-13 the carp 49-03 for a 56lb total and rock bottom once again. One day I will get the hang of this carp thing!

My last visit of the month was back to peg 4 for a session from 8:45 to 12:00 using the same tackle and tactics. Not as prolific as previous visit but three bream of 2-13, 3-04 and 2-07 came to the net before I lost a good fish close in in the weed. I then lost a pike of 5-6lb as it cleared the water by a good two feet as it made a run to my right. A lull then occurred but a tench of 4-05 was a welcome addition and together with six rudd and two roach, all on corn, gave me a total of 13-10 which I was happy with. Interestingly when I tried the spinning rod there was no interest from the pike despite constant strikes at the rudd.

Next month sees a visit up North plus the three dayer at Monkhall.