Another wet and windy week with Monday being exceptionally bad. Unfortunately l had a feature booked and with a photographer travelling down had to brave the elements and head of into the gloom with fellow angler Steve Ansell.

The journey to Willinghurst Fishery near Cranleigh Surrey normally takes around twenty minutes however with the River Wey flooding and roads underwater we finally arrived an hour later. Luckily l stalled the photographer and after an hour on the banks in pouring rain, holding onto an umbrella and with no bites forthcoming made the call and cancelled him. The rain had been so relentless that the complex was unable to cope with the volume of water through it and water just overflowed from one to another. Knowing that cold rainwater into a lake is the worst element to contend with was surprised when the alarm sang and a double figured common came to net. Apart from the odd small roach that was my action for the day however Steve did sneak two small carp towards the end of the day.

After drying everything out it was once again time to head out, this time with my father on River Farm Fishery and yes you’ve guessed it, it rained. Arriving later than normal we missed the normal early feeding period but l wanted to see if the roach switched on at dusk. I wanted to try a few new tactics but after a few hours it became obvious that the maggot feeder is the going method here and reverted to both rods fishing them. Dad fished the same but concentrated on just using one rod and finally got on top of what has been a water that hasn’t been good to him taking seven big roach throughout the day to 1lb 14oz. I finally got my act together and took eleven good roach to 1lb 11oz.The waters now closed so anyone looking at travelling down, you will be disappointed.

Thursday l had promised to treat my brother to a session at Old Bury Hill and once again it was raining when we arrived at midday, however great conditions for Zander but with the temperature reading just 5 degrees l was unsure if things would happen. Luckily this fantastic venue lived up to its reputation and soon after casting out Kevin’s bobbin rose and a personal best zander lay in his net, all one-pound of it. Over the next few hours he enjoyed constant action with another twelve runs resulting in a small pike plus seven more zander including a best of 10lb 6oz at last knockings. Either side of the going swim l struggled for just five runs resulting in two modest zeds.

Having know helped supply zander bests for a few friends and families and seeing dad catch some quality roach its time l settled down and concentrated on getting some points on the score sheet in the Cemex Challenge Cup Competition