Much the same as last week, all my preferred spots were occupied. But I did quite well last week in the pitch a couple along from the reed end, and it was free again today. I adopted the same tactic, namely a free line with bread flake fished down the margin.

Things didn't kick off quite as quickly as last week but soon after 15.00 the line tightened and I was into a fish. It soon became evident that it was foul-hooked, seemingly a risk when free lining judging by how often it occurs. It was a leather of just over 9lbs (photo) and was very difficult to get in, as is often the case with a foul-hooked fish.

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I didn't wait long for my next fish. Same bait, same tactic, and this time a leather of just under 8lb (photo). It was actually hooked just outside of the mouth, so technically a foul-hook but it played like a fairly hooked fish.

Less than half an hour later, just before 15.00, another take resulted in a solid resistance but this time without the fast first run. This is often symptomatic of a heavier fish and this was borne out after a long tug of war involving multiple surges as I tried to bring the fish in. Another leather, it was thick set and weighed just over 16½ lb (photo). Quite an unexpected bonus.

Things then went quiet for a while. I had noticed movement in the reeds to the left but had been unable to entice a fish with either bottom fished flake or floating crust. But around 17.30 some crust that had been there for a while was taken. I put out a piece of crust and after a couple of missed takes tempted a fish, which tore off into the lake. A fully scaled mirror it was just over 9lb (photo).

About 15 minutes later, having reverted to bottom fished flake in the margin, I landed a fine looking common of just over 5½ lb. A short while after this I hooked another margin fish that took a lot of line, but unfortunately after about five minutes the hook hold failed.

The surface feeding seemed to have stopped so I carried on fishing the margin bottom but changed to luncheon meat. This was almost instantly rewarded with a take and another common, this time just under 8½ lb. One hungry roach was also caught on luncheon meat! It was now 18.40 and I had decided to pack up at 19.00.

As a final bonus, just before I was thinking of calling it a day, another take on bottom fished flake resulted in another fine leather carp, this time weighing just under 13½ lb. A very satisfying end to what was a good afternoon's carping.

Interestingly, when I arrived and was walking around the lake to my pitch, I noted a number fo anglers with the classic two-rod carp setup, dutifully sitting waiting for their alarms to sound. I didn't see them catch much during the day and in fact heard one bemoaning the lack of action. I still find it faintly amusing that while they were sitting awaiting fish from far out into the lake, I caught seven carp with two 10lb+ fish no further than four feet from the bank. And with a rig consisting of just a hook and a bait no more sophisticated than a loaf of baker's bread.