Monday l dropped into Cemex Kingsmead late in the afternoon to see if the pike were still in swim that accounted for quite a few fish last winter but the lack of small fish had me thinking that few were around. One small jack did fall at dusk but l was expecting more action in the three-hour session and the planned video for Onlinefishing.tv next month will have to be somewhere else, not because l don’t think the fish are around but I’d forgot about the planes from Heathrow! The session was planned in to coincide with the TAC AGM which I attended afterwards at Walton-on-Thames.

Tuesday it was back to Frensham in slightly milder air, however the cold isn’t the thing that puts the rudd but another factor and l wasn’t surprised to find it hard going. The spod rod was once again put into action, depositing a kilo of Sonubaits hemp plus a good helping of maggots onto the spot, however the normal bite period past without incident. An hour later the indicator dropped to the ground and a rudd around a pound came to hand followed by three more to 1lb 8oz, two modest tench plus a rudd lost which was rather slow for the five hour session.

I was hoping to drop in on the river Loddon on Wednesday to test it out for perch but work commitments need to be done and the only thing fishy l managed was to complete some question and answers for Anglers Mail.

Thursday l should have known better as an easterly had blown up and if there is one thing that kills this lake dead is a changing wind. Arriving an hour before dusk our hopes were lifted as straight away a tench picked up my bait but soon had me weeded and eventually the hook pulled. That was it, not so much as another bleep came and with the temperature around 1 degrees and the wind dropping making it feel far colder myself and brother eventually called it a day at 7-30pm.

Friday l had a customer booked in for a rudd session on Frensham and once again could have cancelled as it was even colder today and the easterly was still blowing but knowing Frensham so well l felt that as this new wind had been blowing for a few days that the rudd might have settled down and started to feed once more. Arriving at 2pm we spent a few hours talking about the lake, swim selection, rigs and bait application before spodding some bait out and casting the rods into position. Nick had fished Frensham a few times but had only caught small rudd and was interested in seeing how l balance my kit to target them and what rods to use and was instantly impressed with my Korum Precision Multi-feeder rods with the 1.5lb tips added that l had bought along for him to use. Most bites come just into darkness but two hours later not so much as a bleep had materialised. Undeterred Nick kept recasting and eventually the right hand indicator sprung into life but the chance was missed. An hour later the same rod was away and this time Nick made no mistakes and soon had a big rudd in the net and two ounces shy of 2lb bought him a new personal best. The smile on his face said it all and l knew that another customer was going to leave contented and with the knowledge to return to this special lake and reap its rewards. We continue till 9-30pm in which time Nick unfortunately dropped another good fish before heading to the warmth of the hotel for a well-earned pint!