It has been a while since I have been able to devote a day to go fishing and this week was no exception, with various social committments filling the blank spots on my calendar. This week, a fishing window opened up on Friday afternoon, when my wife declined a joint grass seeding operation in the garden, due to a sudden cold snap. She obviously saw my fishing mind ticking over and said the magic words “You can go fishing if you want to!” It was already past 3 pm and my options were few, but Savernake Pond is only minutes away in the car, which was already loaded from my recent outing on the River Cut. All I needed was to swap the float rods from the car, for my 10 metre pole, grab some liquidised bread from the freezer, microwave some hook bait punch squares, then steam them over the kettle, while making a flask of tea, grab my camera and get changed at the speed of light, like Superman. By 3:15 I was waving goodbye to my wife and by 3:30 unloading the fishing trolley at my preferred Savernake swim.

Before tackling up, I mixed up my usual groundbait of liquidised bread, ground hemp seed and strawberry flavoured crumb, adding water to form soft balls, that would break up on impact with the surface of this shallow pond, targeting an area eight to ten metres out. With that done, I tackled up with a 16 x 4 antenna pole float to a size 14 barbless hook, complete with a 7 mm punch of bread. Since my last visit, more rain has increased the depth, but set to two feet, my rig was still dragging bottom. No bites? I catapulted a few small balls of ground out and cast over them. A bite on the drop. The elastic shot out of the pole tip, as a stocky junior common ran away from the strike.

Judging by this small common, the carp were already showing an increase in weight over those that I caught six weeks ago, no doubt helped by the local mothers feeding the ducks along this stretch of bank. Another one taken on the drop.

I shallowed up by a few inches and adjusted my shot for a slower fall through and followed with a small ball of feed. The float buried again and another chunky common came to the net.

These were not giving up once hooked, although the heavy elastic soon brought the little battlers under control.

I had been watching some large carp on the surface along the island bank, nosing among the snags, but now they were close to my swim and I chanced my arm with another ball of groundbait, while putting an extra joint on the pole. Even with the additonal two metres of pole and swinging out the pole rig, I was still a couple of metres short. I couldn’t see the fish clearly, their dorsal fins were visible, while slight movements were causing swirls on the surface. My float lifted, then moved to the left, before sinking. I lifted into a heavier fish and the elastic came out, adding to the weight if the pole. This was not one of those big lumps, but a better fish all the same, throwing up a cloud of black mud as it fought back. I ran the pole back, using my trolley as a roller, until I could detatch the top two and slipped the net under a carp that fought well above its weight.

A cold wind was now blowing along the pond and I removed the two lower joints, as it was becoming impossible to hold the pole steady. Sinking the pole tip prevented the float from skating across the surface and I continued to catch.

It was fast approaching 6 pm and was having trouble seeing the bites. I had dropped a few smaller fish off the barbless hook, but I guessed that I had netted about twenty fish, the one below being the last.

Bread punch continues to be my only bait and once again it did not let me down.

These carp continue to grow at a noticeable rate and hope that they are willing to feed during the colder months. When I first moved to this area, Savernake, or as I nicknamed it the Duck Pond, was full of 2 to 5 lb common and mirror carp, which would feed, even with ice in the margins. I look forward to those days again.