The day didn't start well. I had set out for the Clay Pit but after a long road diversion I arrived to find it closed because fish were spawning. I decided to go instead to Fields End, the nearest alternative. On settling into my pitch I thought I had lost my car keys only to find them in the grass where I had unpacked my gear, but only after returning to the car park on the far side of the lake. I then discovered I had left my bread bait at home, limiting me to maggots and sweetcorn. But on the plus side the lake was very quiet with only three other anglers when I arrived.

I prebaited with hemp and maggots, and started to fish with maggots. I almost immediately hooked a small roach that came off, followed by another that I landed. It soon became apparent that maggots were going to attract small fish. I opened a tin of sweetcorn and with the change of bait started to catch better quality roach. In fact I was getting a bite a cast and landing a lot of fair quality fish, although almost as many were slipping the hook and I was also missing a lot of bites.

This set the pattern for the day with a considerable number of nice roach being landed and many coming off. I thought I might have hooked a carp at one point but it turned out to be a foul-hooked rudd that was bigger than the roach I had been catching.

I had another fairly-hooked rudd of a similar size later in the session and one small dace when I reverted to maggots for a while. I was surprised, however, that I didn't pick up a crucian, or a carp, since in the past I have invariably done so among the roach. Perhaps if I had not left the bread at home I would have stood a better chance of catching something other then the roach, but it wasn't to be.

Although it turned out to be very much a roach day I enjoyed the session. The sport was continuous and the weather improved from an overcast start to a very warm June afternoon. The lake remained very quiet with only a small number of anglers and the water fowl provided some additional interest.

Things did slow down a bit after 2pm but I had decided to pack up around 3pm and I did continue to catch roach, just not as frequently as earlier.

All in all it was a very good day after a rather disrupted start. And the rivers will soon be open again!