Diary of an average angler

Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Cold & damp with a chilly north-westerly wind. Mainly overcast with occasional sunny intervals.
Tackle: 9ft Shimano Aero X1 feeder rod with 1oz quiver, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line direct to 10 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots and worms.
Fish: One decent bream, a very small roach and a minuscule dace.

The EA website and the OBAS club Facebook page suggested that the river level at Offord had returned to normal so I decided to take a gamble and give it a try. I headed for the Top Stream as I thought it would probably be the least affected by the extra water, but I was to be proved wrong. It had a strongish flow and was very coloured. What's more the bank was slippery and quite dangerous. I had hoped for perch, thus the choice of maggots and worms as bait but I soon doubted my chances.

I had taken a light 9ft quiver-tip rod with a 1oz quiver, a good choice for perch under normal conditions but hardly the best for heavy water. I made only a couple of casts at the Top Stream, the second having snagged me and resulted in an opened hook when I retrieved. At that point I was becoming concerned about how the slippery the bank was becoming as I disturbed the mud, given that I was only a couple of feet from about 10 feet of flood water. I decided, therefore, to go down to the Car Park Pool, as much in the interests of safety as of hoping to catch fish.

There were a few spots on the Car Park Pool where there was slack or slackish water. I set up in one of these but it was soon apparent that there was a lot of hidden weed as I kept getting snagged. I had one bit of interest on the rod top but it didn't develop into anything I could realistically hit. I decided to have a stroll and check out the other possible swims. In one of these I spotted bubbles rising by a bank of reeds that definitely seemed to indicate fish. So I decided to move and the bubbles were still appearing as I set up in the new spot.

I catapulted out some maggots in the area of the bubbles and cast my light leger literally over the them. Nothing happened for a while although I again got some interest on the quiver that suggested small fish. I eventually hooked one, not even realising it was on, and it turned out to be a very small roach.

I changed to worm hoping to attract something a bit better. Responding to a tentative bite I hooked into another small fish, although larger than the roach, but it came off at the water's edge. The colouring suggested it might have been a ruffe, or pope to give the alternative name. I continued with worm and missed quite a good pull on the quiver. It was firm but very quick, suggesting perhaps a perch, or perhaps another ruffe.

I decided to cast a bit nearer the reed bank where I had first seen the bubbles, which were still appearing occasionally, risking perhaps a snagging. But I got a positive bite and hooked into a decent fish. I wasn't surprised when a bream appeared as I was playing it in, the bubbles suggesting that species. I didn't weigh it but it was a decent sized fish and raised my hopes for perhaps a few more.

I then missed a very firm bite while I was eating a chocolate bar! It was, I think, almost certainly another bream. My hopes were still up, thinking that there must be a shoal feeding, but in the event the bites fell away, as did the appearance of bubbles. It seemed that the bream had moved on.

I changed back to maggots in the hope of attracting something else but things had gone quite dead. Reeling in my bunch of maggots I had a minuscule dace on the hook. It hadn't registered a bite and it was amazing how such a small fish could have mouthed a bunch of five or six maggots on a size 10 hook, and actually been hooked. That was to be my last fish.

So, a challenging session with the single bream rescuing what otherwise would have been effectively a blank, the small roach and dace hardly qualifying!