June has been a busy month with family commitments meaning I have been as far afield as Yorkshire (family) and Shepton Mallet (for an Antiques Fair acting as PA to my daughter-in-law who was over from China!) .

Fishing has not gone well! Two sessions, first the third round of the Summer League took place at Hungerford on the K&A Canal. I was drawn on C9 which was down from Dunmill Lock.

To cut a 5 hour story short it was hard with me ending up with 15 fish 2 perch, 6 roach and 7 gudgeon for 4oz – yes they were tiny! If you had a bit of shade you caught a bit better but the shade you see in the photos had disappeared by the start of the match. At the weigh in I was amazed that I was not last, indeed the lowest weight was 1oz and there were 2 others on 4oz. The K&A is the best canal in the country but this particular stretch is pretty dire compared to the rest, it tends to be used because there is a large car park whereas parking is an issue on the better stretches closer to Marlborough and Devizes.

June 16th, first day at Bowood, parking up there were only two other cars so I hoped I would get onto my favourite start of season peg -peg 1. Walking down it was good to see the one time ravine you had to cross with the stream had been sorted so there was now a duct with a solid hard surface over it, but that is when the good news stops. Peg 1 was like tap water and badly weeded, of course I had left the weed rake at home but decided to give it a go by clearing two holes in the weed at 11m in front and 13m to my left. Initial loose groundbait with corn and corn deposited I then started in the two feet of water as 9 was being chimed out by the clock tower. When it chimed for 11:30 I packed up, biteless despite having fish roll in the weed on three occasions. Can only improve – next time deeper water will be cleared with the rake.