With the rivers still suffering from an excess of rainfall I abandoned a planned trip to Offord and decided instead to visit a local commercial at Rookery Waters. I had fished there before on a few occasions but my only other winter visit ended with a blank. So I wasn't overly hopeful.

I first stopped at a swim I had fished previously, the spot where Kayleigh Dowd won the 2023 Angling Trust Ladies National title with a weight of 123kg 775g. So there are a lot of fish in the lake but she of course was fishing in summer. Having pondered for a while I instead moved to a spot on the opposite side of the bay where remnants of a lily pad bed were visible, offering a feature to fish to. But after a short while there, with a fresh wind in my face, and having brought back weed on the hook on each cast, I decided to return to the swim where I had first stopped.

When Kayleigh Dowd fished the match there was lush vegetation and lily pads but I sat there looking at just plain water with all the margin reeds having been cut back. A much more austere outlook. I decided I would feed maggots on a little and ofter basis into a spot about two rod lengths from the bank and fish a single maggot. I had changed to a 2lb hook length and 18 hook while I was in the previous swim.

With the wind rippling the water it was difficult see any small indications on the float and for a long while things appeared completely dead. I tried the margin and also a longer cast to the footbridge that crosses to the island, but in both cases there was no indication of interest let alone a bite.

I persevered but was on the cusp of calling it a day when I thought I noticed some small fish-like movements on the float. With the rippled water it was difficult to be sure but it was enough for me to keep trying for a bit longer. And that turned out to be a good decision as soon after the float went away and I was into a fish. It felt quite heavy on light tackle but didn't fight that hard, being dogged rather than active. After a short time I netted a mirror carp of perhaps 2-3lb. But weight didn't matter since I had avoided the blank!

I continued fishing and didn't have to wait too long for another positive bite, which proved to be another carp, this time a fully scaled fish slightly heavier than the first. It was very lethargic and came in without too much resistance. It had the look of an F1 but I'm not an expert on the sub species.

I felt that I had finally got the fish in the swim but unfortunately I missed the next positive bite as I had rested the rod while picking up the maggot box. And that proved to be my last bite.

So, what started as a probable blank was turned around in the end by those two carp. I'm not sure how well Kayleigh would have done in those conditions but I'm willing to bet that it would have been a lot better than me!