The hectic guiding schedule continues and with the weather so cold l was happy that on Monday and Tuesday evenings l had clients booked in to fish for rudd at Frensham Great Pond.

Monday arrived and undeterred by a falling temperature that would reach minus four we headed to Frensham. The first couple of hours were spent showing Adrian the rigs and baiting up before we cast our rigs out and awaited a response. Things were really slow and the dusk feeding spell past uneventful. Then out of the blue a bite came and my customer lifted into his first proper rudd, a fish that was to go 2lb 5oz setting a personal best and was followed by two more of 1lb 4oz and another big one of 2lb 5oz!

The following night l was back with regular customer Mel who has requested my services to increase a number of personal best over the coming season. Having caught a best zander last week his next target was rudd, however once again the going swims at Frensham were taken so we had to drop into a swim l hadn’t fished in the past. Luckily out tactics and baiting bought a few fish into the swim and Mel returned home a happy angler once more after catching two rudd, the best 1lb 12oz. During our session we also managed to try out my new style bait boat, which raised a few eyebrows!

I managed to fit in a couple of seasons later on in the week, the first bought eight rudd, including three two’s to 2lb 6oz plus four tench then in a new swim that l dropped into after dark, my one bite bought another big rudd weighing 2lb 13oz.
Friday l spent the day at Cemex Woolwich Green in unfavourable conditions to compile a feature for Total Coarse Fishing. All day l spent looking in the margins, feeding spots with Sonubaits Hemp ‘N’ Corn in the hope that the carp would move in but they weren’t playing ball. I did miss an opportunity at dawn on a Sonubaits Oily Floater floater, yet it was well into the afternoon that l managed my first bite fishing a lump of meat under a pole float, a bite l duly missed. Shortly afterwards my third and last bite met resistance and after a hard fight using a Korum Big Fish 13’ Float rod slipped the net under an immaculate mirror of 10lb 14oz, a hard earnt fish and one l will remember.