On the far side were some dense Norfolk reeds that sagged over, just tickling the water’s surface. A big, dark common leapt twice. The large rings were easy to see and it made my choice easier, for at least a few hours.

The lake bed is notoriously weedy, with strands of low-lying Canadian. Not knowing exactly what I was landing on, I opted for a choddy. This is a rig that I have the ultimate confidence in casting over detritus. Ninety-nine per cent of the time they’re presented beautifully.

I whipped up a short choddy on 20lb Mouth Trap and created a large, sweeping curve. This makes the rig trickier to deal with and I kept it running between two beads on a length of leadcore. By having it running, I knew that it would settle over the light weed.

I tied on my trusty White Crab pop-up using dental floss and this was whipped to the D. Having seen exactly where the hefty common showed, I soon had a hook bait on top of it, a few yards off the reeds. I didn’t want to make too much disturbance, so employed a 1oz lead and decided not introduce any free offerings.

Using a single bankstick and buzzer I settled the line, letting it sink out of the way, and tightened up the clutch. I knew that if I were to get any action it would come before it got dark, so I sat next to the rod. The bay is only a couple of feet deep and my feelings were that they’d move out into deeper water once darkness fell.

It was around 35 minutes later that my tip wrapped round and I bent into a slow-moving carp. It surged left out of the bay and with the rod bent double I coaxed it away from a marginal bush. As I got it closer to the net, it woke up and it took a further 15 minutes to get her in the net. It must have been the fish that was showing because a chunky, dark common lay before me. It was a fish that I knew and on the scales she went 33lb 4oz. I was lucky to bag another in the middle of the night – a low twenty.

Since then, I’ve hopped onto the lake next door and blanked six nights on the trot so far. I’ve been locating them via the boat. The days and evenings have been warm, allowing me to almost pinpoint them on a daily basis. However, I feel that the warm days and rapidly decreasing night temperatures have sent them into a strange state of mind. It seems very tricky on there at the moment, but that’s part of the fun!

Other than that, I had an enjoyable day on the Grand Union Canal, receiving four bites. I love a day on the cut because the carp are so willing to feed, regardless of the conditions. The boats seem to keep them on the move and you can always locate a fish or two.

It’s a great time to get on the zigs too. I went for a short filming trip to Becks Lake in Biggleswade for the website with my mate Richard Stewart and Elliott Gray. I opted to fish zig rigs because the fish were clearly up in the water, boiling just under the surface. Using a sloppy spod mix over 8ft zigs, I caught a couple of crackers to just under 20lb. Spodding slop over zigs is an underused method these days. However, on high-stock waters, consistent feeding is key. It creates a competitive feeding scenario and you can have some magnificent results. Anyway, onwards and upwards, spring is here!