A muggy, wet and windy night on Monday meant only one species was on my mind, eels, however the much anticipated conditions failed to supply any runs making me feel that the previous week was something very special.

Tuesday saw my father and l heading towards the middle reaches of the Thames in search of river carp but again the night proved unproductive apart from the occasional bream.

Thursday night saw fellow angler, Simon Ashton doing a 300 miles trip south to enjoy the fruits of Frensham but with a south-westerly changing to a north-easterly on his arrival meant sport was going to be difficult. Thursday night saw a constant downpour making three hours waggler fishing with maggot feel like an all night session and results reflected this. Waking to a dull Friday morning saw a few tench taken but once again it was a struggle compared to normal conditions.

With the sun shining and the heat rising during the day Friday expectations were high that the rudd would switch on but they didn’t, and after continuously feeding maggot from 5pm l was finally rewarded with a brace weighing 2lb 4oz 8 drams and 1lb 14oz 8 drams at 11pm. Knowing just how hard the two off us worked at our swims over the two days, our results did little to encourage us back to the venue as the weed has now become such a problem that we fear that every fish is taking naturals and almost ignoring our baits.