Sunday – My hopes after priming four swims the previous day was to catch a fish from each swim, however their was something sinister lurking sub-surface that spoilt the plan, crayfish. Unfortunately this stretch of the River Wey looks a picture above water level with a colourful display of wild flowers and the air is filled with the sound of bird song especially Woodpeckers that seem to thrive on the odd dead tree which line its banks, but below its absolutely crawling with crays making it an almost impossible stretch to fish, well during the summer anyway. I did get one bite, in a swim on the way to the car but it was no barbel bite, probably a chub, but l will never know as l missed it!

Monday – With a storm brewing and the wind easing it was perfect rudd conditions and l hurried to get away and to the lake before the 5pm rush. I needn’t have bothered as the weed in Frensham this year is as bad as l have ever seen it and only two other anglers were set up, well away from the swim l had in mind. Sprayed maggots bought an almost immediate response from rudd of all sizes and by dusk l had four two’s in the net and my hopes were that a very big hit was on the cards, but the action slowed after dark and by midnight the bites were hard to come by, yet two more two’s had graced my net in that time along with around another twenty 1lb 8oz or bigger! The best rudd went 2lb 6oz, yet it could have been so much better as l suffered a couple of hook pulls from big rudd as well as losing a carp!

Tuesday – Anglers Mail need a rudd front cover so it’s back to Frensham in slightly cooler conditions. The winds swung to the east and its overcast; hopefully the showers will stay away. Casting out at 6pm its action from the off and up until 10pm when things died ld managed an incredible eight two pound rudd including a brace of rudd scaling 2lb 11oz and a brace going 2lb 13oz!

Wednesday – I stayed the night in the hope that they would return at first light but apart from one around a pound they had drifted away or more to the point had switched of, probably due to the lack of oxygen in the water due to the horrendous weed.

Back at home l sent the pictures of to the mail as well as sorting out my kit for a TCF crucian carp feature on Friday, however with permission to fish the complex at night, not normally allowed, l will be casting out with a different species altogether on my mind, silver bream.

Thursday – Spent the morning writing up the text for a ‘What’s Selling Well’ feature for Anglers Mail as well as sorting out the photos before heading of to Mill Farm Fishery in search of a silver bream.

Arriving late evening l set up in the Specimen Lake for the night but worms and maggots proved useless due to the small fish. Sweetcorn seemed to slow things down but at 1am l wound the rods in as the carp were rampant. A few silvers up until darkness did fall but the biggest was around 1lb 4oz and l was fouled by a tench around midnight that l had hooked the biggest silver in the country.

Friday – At 5am l moved to Mill Pond and set up for crucians. The first hour was a nightmare but after a few adjustments l finally found out where they and how they wanted it before absolutely slaughtering the swim. If you want to know how l did it and what l caught then you will need to keep buying Total Coarse Fishing.

Saturday – No fishing due to a wedding in Frome.