After a couple of mediocre fishing sessions lately, I paid a visit to a pond that is within walking distance of my home, for a confidence boosting few hours in the afternoon. Under an acre in size, the pond sits within the bounds of a sports field and is part of a chain of balance ponds that control the flash flooding of a brook, which runs through the urban area. It is full of a wide variety of coarse fish and I never know what will end up in my net, but that the bread punch has never failed me, despite others using more exotic baits.

Before setting up, I mixed up liquidised bread and ground carp pellets with a sprinkling of strawberry flavouring, adding enough water to form sloppy balls of feed. Being so shallow, I want the balls to keep their shape for throwing, but to break up on contact with the surface of the pond. I fed a metre square area 7 to 8 metres out, to be ready to fish. A simple waggler rig to a size 14 barbless hook, set to two feet deep, just above the muddy bottom, with a 6 mm punched pellet of bread was swung out to the middle of the fed area. The float disappeared in seconds, lifting into a powerful fish that ran off toward the lily bed to my right, taking elastic. Expecting a small rudd first cast, this was a shock, but the heavy 12-18 elastic compensated, the hook held and I netted a golden common/crucian carp hybrid.

The following fish were all good sized netable rudd, the bites being steady sailaways, the fish a range of shades of green and gold.

I had taken a chance on the strawberry flavouring, but it was certainly working and my next bite saw the elastic stretch out toward the middle, the fish, a small common staying deep throwing up a trail of black mud.

Bubbles were now appearing steadily across the fed area and a cast to the middle of them produced a characteristic crucian bite, small bobs and nibbles followed by a gradual sinking of the float.

Although only about 8 oz, I struggled to get this crucian in the net. It rolled and dived in every direction apart from the net, until it finally popped up and lay on its side.

If I thought that the little crucian was trouble, the next was an arm wrenching battle royal, when a 5 lb common carp went off with the tiny 6 mm pellet of bread. The elastic shot out as it headed straight for the big bed of lilies opposite and I struggled to keep the pole at an angle to the fish, afraid that the top two sections would be pulled off the pole. Once it realised that that direction was not working, it ran back along the line of least resistance toward the lilies to my right. Due to the lack of depth, the only form of escape was to run, trying to get in under the bushes and rushing around. Once it began to roll on the surface, I knew it was beat, and broke the pole down to the top three, but getting its head up long enough to net was wearing on my arms, aware that the size 14 barbless hook could come out at any time. Finally a long pull back of the pole brought it toward the landing net and it was mine, the hook in the tip of the lip snagging in the net.

Not my biggest carp ever, but probably the biggest on the pole and certainly from this little pond on the bread punch. The water in front of me was now grey with churned up mud and after a cup of tea and a piece of short bread, I put a couple more balls of feed in and cast out. A dithering bite eventually showed signs of going under and I lifted into a small colourful crucian.

There was more commotion, when a common carp made off at warp speed, but again the elastic did its job and patience saw it to the net.

 These colourful crucians, were now putting in an appearance, this being one of the better ones.

The float cruised away and I was having another workout, as a pound plus common carp charged off, following it around the pond with the pole in ever decreasing circles, pulling it away from the bushes on my side, when it neared the net.

Swinging in a stonking gudgeon got me worried that they would take over the swim, but this was the first of just a few.

I needn’t have worried as now some crucian carp and hybrids moved over the feed, having put regular small offerings into the same spot, bubbles now bursting on the surface.

Still getting the occasional Crucian hybrid, the more colourful versions had taken over and it was one a chuck, although being fussy biters, each “chuck” took about five minutes.

This was one of the better ones, good net fillers, but not as hard fighting as the standard versions.

It was getting close to going home time, all my feed had been fed and I was running out of spaces in my bread, the last fish being another decent rudd.

Bouncing my 13 lb scales, I returned the big common and reweighed the net, the total being 16 lb 4 oz, not bad for a busy four hour session.  Unfortunately the bright late afternoon sun washed out the colours of this image, but I was eager to get the catch back into the water as soon as possible and didn’t want to mess around trying for a better shot. To save more handling, they were slowly lowered into the pond still in the landing net, swimming off safely.