Unluckily for me, although spring had sprung a few weeks ago the UK seemed to have gone back a month or so and the weather was cold, grey and windy - far from ideal, especially as the carp at Follyfoot Fishery love warner conditions. But hey, sometimes you just can't choose when to go and as this was to be my last opportunity I was determined to give it my best shot.

Zigs are an absolute winner at Follyfoot so I decided to fish three rods at various depths and a fourth on the bottom. And absolutely nothing happened... For hours and hours... Not a liner, an indication, a show, a nothing... It was almost as if all the fish had left the lake a decided to go on holiday!

It wasn't until late evening when I'd switched all the rods onto the bottom that the left hand rod burst into life. A solid PVA bag of pellets and a Sticky Baits Buchu Berry Wafter doing the business. A nice fight and a plump boxy common carp was in the net.

I'd love to say that the action picked up over night but despite regular recasting, baiting and switching things around I just couldn't produce a bite. I'd set my alarm for 6am and woke up to a reasonably bright but windy morning. Luckily I did see several shows over towards the aerator (which was still on) and decided it was as good a pointer as I was going to get...

It wasn't possible to cast due to the pylons that bisect the fishery so I walked the rod down the bank, cast, baited and then walked back to my hut. I did't have to wait long for a bite but unfortunately the fish shot straight into the snaggy looking bush that hangs into the margin and cut me off!

Lesson learned, this time the rod went back on the same spot but I fished it locked up and sat on the rod... And off it went!

Another common of a similar size to the first fish and then a smaller ghosty about an hour later, happy days ;)

As the sun rose and the wind got up the action completely dried up and I decided to cut my losses and call it a day at 1pm. I would've loved a few more fish, especially on the zigs but with the weather against me it was quite a result to have landed 3 fish (I'm not 100% sure if any of the other 6 angers had blanked or not but I'd certainly not seen or heard anything...).

But that's it for UK fishing for now - I don't think there'll be another chance to get out on the bank before the off and the next time you see me, it'll be in Australia with (hopefully!) a completely different species on the line!

To be honest, I wasn't expecting too much! The only thing on my side seemed to be a warmer weather front coming and although it was raining on and off, I was really hoping it would swing things in my favour and the carp would be up for feeding.

I arrived in a downpour and after a mad dash to get the kit into the hut, slung two zigs and a bottom bait out. The zigs were at 4ft and 7ft but I varied the depth and position over the next hours and then swapped all 3 rods over to bottom baits an hour or so into darkness (although zigs do work at night, I've never had much luck with them at Follyfoot).

Over the course of the night I had 5 fish to 17lb which was a bit of a result! All the fish fell to Sticky Baits Buchu Berry Wafters in medium size PVA bags of mixed pellets.

The bites completely dried up early in the morning and although the weather changed to a sunny day, there was a stiff breeze heading down the lake and the fish at Follyfoot seem to really dislike wind and chop on the water.

So not a bad winter session! It was great to be out on the bank after such a long gap and who knows, if it stops raining sometime soon I might make it back on over to the river for a pike session sometime soon...

As they were in a pre-spawning mood and not that interested in feeding the action was slow and steady...

But I managed to bank some stunning fish on a 'special' bait including some of the amazing koi/ghosty goldfish that I always enjoy targeting when I come to the lake.

True to form, the weather was predicted to be grim with a cold start and drizzly rain all day... Far out spring, what happened?!

Amazingly there were two other anglers on the lake so by usual standards, it was rammed! I decided to hedge my bets and set up at the far bowl end and fish the died back lily pads with a feeder rod. My first bite came pretty quickly and turned out to be one of the biggest fish I've caught from the lake - result!

Over the next couple of hours I had another three fish but as the rain settled in the bites completely dried up.

In the end I packed down around 2pm as it was freezing cold, chucking it down with rain and with nothing to show for a swim move I was just plain fed up!

Looking at the weather forecast shows that there's no change on the far side of the Easter break...

The weather continues to be a challenge and today was no different: misty, rainy, windy, cold but then brightening up later in the afternoon. The drive out of Bristol wasn't too bad and after a detour to Premiere Angling to pick up half a pint of maggots I started down the twisty turny roads towards the Hunters Rest Pub and the lake.

The mist had got so bad that upon arriving I couldn't actually see the lake from the car park! It was eerily still and quiet as I borrowed the gear through the fields (two nights in a bedchair and my back was shot, so no rucksacks on shoulders today...). Not surprisingly I found the lake was deserted...

I started about setting up the gear and it was then that disaster stuck: I'd reorganised my bag after the trip away, skimming it down to day session gear and although I'd packed two rods I'd somehow only packed one reel...

Aaaarrrrg. How incredibly annoying! After turning the air blue and working through every possible idea of what to do I decided to make the hour round trip home to get the reel... Just really, really irritating.

So after another long drive I arrived back at the lake at 11:30am slightly stressed out but this time with the right amount of tackle. My idea was to do a lap of the lake but as I arrived in the point swim I'd fished in my my last session a carp jumped close to the tree island... A good a sign as any that there were fish in the area! I wasted no time getting the feeder rod set up and baited with a ball of 12 or so red and white maggots. Luckily my first cast was on the money and I set about sorting out the ledger rod which I'd decided to fish close to the second small island, again with maggots.

I didn't have to wait long for a bite as the feeder rod rattled off ten minutes later. A nice scaley mirror was on the end, nothing massive but it was a start.

And then nothing happened for quite some time... I got badly snagged a couple of times and lost a feeder (work party task, clearing snags?). The weather changed with the mist burning off and the sun coming out occasionally from behind big fluffy clouds. The big problem though was a cold wind started blowing across the lake, strong enough that white capped waves were washing into the far bank... not ideal!

So after a few hours of no action I decided to up sticks and head round to the other end of the island. It would mean fishing head on into the wind but it would be worth it if I could locate some fish.

Twenty freezing minutes later another move was on the cards as although I'd had one aborted pickup on the ledger, there wasn't anything else happening. As the fish didn't appear to be on the end of the wind I decided to try the sheltered bank near my original peg. The water was flat calm and I fancied the idea of a bit of margin stalking.

One thing that I'd started doing since arriving at the lake was to prebait some margin spots. Having had a bit of a lead around on the last session I'd discovered that the margins were straight down from the bank side and pretty deep. As I'd loads of hemp and maise left over from my fishless overnight sessions I decided to bait three spots and headed over to the first of these.

Over the next hour I had loads of liners and one aborted pickup but nothing really happened. It was fun though, sneaking around and dropping a rig into a likely looking spot, I've a feeling that once it warms up (if it ever warms up...) the margins will be very productive...

Although it had been tough going so far the action really picked up for the last couple of hours. Maybe the island spot being rested made a difference but I picked off three fish in quick succession! But the real excitement came from the prebaited near margin spot to my right. As I'd been baiting with hemp and maise I changed my hookbait on the ledger rod to two grains of maize that I'd been soaking in pineapple liquid - super sweet!

The rod was placed by hand and walked back to the rests and it took about five minutes for the first bite to come... The bobbin hit the blank and the rod ripped off with a one toner - very exciting!

I managed two more fish from that margin before packing down, a smaller common and another bigger common that had got snagged on a broken line. Luckily I managed to untether it and get the line out of the lake but I decided not to photograph the fish as it was a bit of a struggle getting it in.

So despite the weather, the reel fiasco and the later than planned start it was another enjoyable session at Hunters Lake. Unfortunately I've only till the end of May to fish the lake as the Crosshands Angling Club have decided to drop their membership of the federation meaning the access to the River Avon is being dropped. As they've also dropped Ham Green lakes but not changed their tab price so club membership isn't really an option for me now.

So I'm on the hunt for another club! It's a shame as the Holiday Inn Lake, Hunters Lake and the River Avon have all been really fun to fish over the last couple of months. I was also very keen to fish Ashlea Farm but maybe I can sneak a session in there before my ticket runs out...