My second consecutive trip to a stillwater with the rivers still being in a poor state because of lack of rain. I last visited the side ponds in July when I mentioned the low water level and now in October it was far worse. An indictment of the parlous lack of rain this area has received over the summer. I estimate that the level was down between 3 and 4 feet. This was very concerning and I feared it would spell trouble for fishing but in fact as it turned out I did very well.

The other surprise was that there was already an angler on the ponds and another arrived shortly after me. There are only really four spots on these ponds and typically I rarely see another angler, a sentiment shared by the second chap who arrived.

I plumbed up with the level showing around 2-3 feet and I threw in some very small balls of crumbed bread and some maggots. There was a slow circulation of the water presumably caused by the light wind and this caused me to set the depth a little deeper, such that the single shot, which was close to the hook, anchored the float.

I didn't have to wait too long before there was some tentitive movement on the float that gradually developed into a sideways run, upon which I struck. It was immediately clear that I had a tench on the line as a powerful fish struggled against the arc of the rod. After a bit of a battle a good tench was netted but with some difficulty, since the low water level and dense nearside weed made for quite a stretch. A dark olive fish of 3lbs 4oz and a very good start.

It wasn't too much longer before I was into another tench. Once again it was quite a battle with the fish trying to get into the reeds both on the far side and nearside of the pond on seperate occasions. Finally it was ready to net but I was standing and had dropped my landing net on the floor. Reaching down for it I must have inadvertently lifted the rod, which put additional pressure on the fish and the hook hold failed. It was possibly a better fish than the first which made it even more annoying.

I didn't have to wait too long for another bite and the third tench was on the hook. This time after a couple of attempts to reach the far side reeds it came in quite easily, which was surprising as it weighed in at 3lbs 11oz.

There followed a period when I was getting quite a few 'fly way' bites that I just couldn't hook. It was suggested to me that they might have been crucians but whatever they were it was very frustrating. After a while I decided to try bread flake as I had been ground baiting with crumbed bread. This was to prove a wise decision as probably less than a minute after my first cast with flake the float went away and another tench was on. This proved quite a battle before a fish of 4lbs 1oz was in the net.

Naturally, I continued with flake and after missing a fly away bite after casting, a little while later another positive bite produced my fourth tench, this time the best fish of the session at 4lbs 8oz.

So, my concerns over the lack of depth in the pond proved to be unfounded. However, the chap fishing along from me didn't manage any tench, only a small perch, while the other chap who was there before me, and further down the pond past the bridge, had three tench. He was fishing a pole with cupped feed, using sweetcorn. So overall the little pond really delivered.

After that fourth tench things really went quiet. It had battled strongly in the area where I was casting, whereas I had managed to steer the earlier fish away into open water. This possibly put the fish down and reverting to maggots didn't even produce the type of bites I had been missing earlier. Both of the other chaps had decided to pack up as they were experiencing a similar drop off in activity and I decided to join them. But I had done very well and had only intended to stay to around 3.00 pm. As it was I packed up at 2.30pm.

A really memorable session.