Having raked and then baited a swim on Cemex Little Moulsham for the past two weeks l felt it was time to see if my efforts had drawn any massive crucians into the swim. Tuesday l set up with high hopes and already had settled for a liner or a bite as a result so when the liners started at dusk my thoughts reflected back to a couple of seasons previous when the same happened and l went on to land two, four pound fish. Taking into concideration that lm fishing almost under my rod tips in relatively shallow water l assumed that there was only one culprit and when l did eventually receive the long awaited bite at 4am it was short lived as the take was aborted. Straight away l started questioning my rigs and decided it would be back to the fluorocarbon next time as l feel the hooking properties are far better than braid, especially when scaled right down.

The following night l spent in the company of my brother on the river Loddon in search of a big eel but apart from a modest bream things were quiet and lm beginning to feel that the super snake isn’t going to turn up this year.

Some maybe aware that at the start of next year l will be offering a guiding service and who better to take out for a trial session than my father. All he bought along was a chair and something to eat so with the conditions overcast we headed to one of my favourite stretches of the loddon to see if we could tempt a chub or even a barbel. Luck was with us as the car park was empty so with a few hours before the 5pm rush we stealthily crept into the first swim. Lowering the bait in, it took just fifteen minutes for the Korum Precision Specialist 1.75lb blank to sweep round and dad land a 10lb 13oz barbel. During that short wait l made dad sit through some agonising pulls on the tip, indications that lm sure he would have struck at so it was great for him to learn the importance of patience, something he taught me many years before. It was one of the new Sonubaits Barbel & Carp hookbait pellets in the Hemp and Spicy Sausage flavour wrapped in the same paste that did the business on this occasion. The next swim produced just knocks but the third supplied another barbel of 8lb, this time the wait was even shorter around two-minutes! Dad then asked if he could watch me fish and laughed as l missed a bite then caught a chub and amazingly a perch, both weighing around six-ounces. I think l will stick to watching in future!

Friday night l returned to Little Moulsham and settling back in the same swim with conditions a little bit wild expected the liners to start but they never, however at 11pm a screamer developed obviously not from a crucian but one of the original commons weighing 19lb 15oz. Not bad on single grain of corn hair-rigged on a size 18 Korum S5 hook and 5.94lb Grand Match hooklink! A juddery take at 6am had me scrambling to the rod but by the time l lifted the rod the fish had gone and thoughts on what it might have been started to circle once more.