Sunday – It was great to catch up with some old faces at The Barbel Societies Conference at The Barceló Hinckley Hotel today and l was made very welcome by Steve Pope, Martin James and Pete Reading as well as others. I think my slide show went down well, however it cant have been as entertaining as Ade Kiddell's who proposed to his girlfriend on stage. Congratulations Ade and all the best for the future.
     
Monday- More miles on the clock again, this time travelling down to Monk Lakes in Kent to produce an Action Replay for the Anglers Mail. Good friend and top class matchman Russ Evans was the angler and he proceeded to take lake 2 apart using meat and catching barbel. It’s going to be another great feature, so watch out for this in Anglers Mail over the coming weeks.

Tuesday – Having spent little time in the office over the past week or so, the days been spent catching up on paperwork, then come 5pm it was time to grab the crucian gear and head of to Marsh Farm for a guiding session with regular Martin Farmer. The weathers not the best, high pressure with a cold wind dropping temperatures well into single figures, to be honest; it’s the coldest I’ve ever been in June! Starting at around 7pm it wasn’t long before the bolt rigs supplied a tench, after this it was steady action till 11pm when, as expected things slowed. Martin finished the session with eighteen fish, eleven crucians to a best of 2lb 13oz 8drams the rest tench to over 5lb.

Wednesday – Another long drive, this time up to the Korum Office to discuss the growth of Korum and how to take the name to the next level.

Thursday – The morning been spent getting through paperwork, whilst the afternoon and early evening been taken up writing the text to go with Russ Evans ‘Action Replay’ for Anglers Mail. Keep an eye out for this one as l have to admit to being quite taken back with the action Stillwater Barbel give.

Friday – Having moved on from the bream lake my thoughts are now on a very big tench, one that will surpass my present best of 10lb 2oz. I’ve had my eye on a Cemex carp syndicate water for a few seasons now and thought that now was as good a time as any. Arriving at the lake mid afternoon l knew straight away that l was under-gunned as the weed had gone mad since a walk around just a week ago, however l found a swim relatively clear close in and baited with Sonubaits hemp plus some red maggots. Bubbles appeared over the left hand spot and an aborted run saw slime on my line, close but not close enough. The night passed without event, then at first light a run on the right hand rod saw the hooklink parting, again close but obviously time to step up my gear and have a rethink.   

Saturday – More fishy paperwork along with drying out all my tackle and creating a plan for another session early next week.