I'd messaged Peter a couple of times on YouTube and when he suggested we meet up at Enoggera Reservoir I jumped at the chance. Based on his videos, he's got a real handle on the place so fingers crossed he'd be able to put me onto some fish as so far, they'd been more than elusive... I'd suffered 4 blanks if you counted the experimental paddles in the borrowed inflatable kayak!

We met in the carpark at 6am, got on the water, headed up the reservoir to the 1st spot and got casting. Peter kindly let me have first dibs at all the 'hot spots' but try as we might and despite the areas looking prime for a bite we couldn't get a single hit... This continued for the next couple of hours with both of us meticulously working the water, hitting every patch of lily pads and likely looking hole but... nothing.

By this time we'd got to the furthest point from the launching spot and Peter had to head for work the time now being around 9am. I was trying the last of the suggested spots when my phone rang - it was Peter, he'd had a cast at a spot on the paddle back and'd hooked up to a fish! Glancing over my shoulder I could see him only a 5 minute paddle away so I set steam and headed on over, working on the basis that where there's one fish, there's probably more just waiting to have a snap at a lure.

So I began working the water in this new spot and after 20 minutes of diligently working up and down a likely looking margin I received my 1st take! It was pretty darn exciting, only a short fight with a few lunges and the fish was mine! I couldn't believe it, all those blanks and hours spent on the water had finally paid off and I had my first Australian Bass.

And of course, when you've caught one, you want one more right?! So I got to casting and within a couple of minutes I received an absolutely blistering take - the hit was like a freight train, the rod hooped over and I was being dragged into the lily pads!

I just couldn't stop this thing, it went straight into the pads and locked me up solid... Such a shame, I think if I'd been a little more experienced I would've managed to wrestle it away from cover but no joy. In the end, I had to pull for a break resulting in one lost lure and a lost fish.

So a bitter sweet ending to the session but its left me hungry for more. Now that I've got a better read on the water, which lures to use and what the best conditions are I feel like my chances have gone up somewhat - I'll be back!

The first spot to try was the ever reliable Weston Lock over near bath and it didn't disappoint, producing a fine jack after a good 30 minutes of fishing. The water lever was really up and with such a chop on the water I was amazed to get any action, but targeting the slack water and bouncing a bigger lure off the bottom managed to tempt a fish so it was definitely worth the hike over to Bath.

After bath I tried the shallows at Saltford (which was flooded) and then the lock at Keynsham (which was flooded) before heading to Swineford which was, you guessed it... flooded! I've never seen so much water, it was almost up to the top of the wall where the inflow pipe flows into the river in the first swim.

Rather than risk the lethal banks I decided to call it a day and head for home.

Which means that's it for the river season and Jim's Lure Challenge is now at a close. It's been a lot of fun and a massive change for me as I've spent the last 4 or so years deadbaiting for pike on the river. So thank you Jim, it's been a blast!

This time I went armed with a plan: the advice I'd been given was to bait heavily and fish a rod tight to the reeds and a 2nd a rod length off the reeds on the far margin with a 3rd rod fishing as 'chuck it and see'. I was also going 'large', using 20mm custom boilies from Innate Baits and size 6 hooks (which still seem massive to me!).

And the plan paid off!

Massive thanks to Innate Baits, the custom 'signature' boilies really did the business.

We only had an hour or so early in the morning and although the action wasn't nearly as frantic as the day before I did manage this fine looking jack after 10 minutes or so of casting around. Unusually, Jim blanked - a bit of a first, he always catches!

The weather had completely changed, going back to cold and grey and although it wasn't raining the day felt very different. After spending some time at the lock I headed onto Saltford where I spied a huge otter fishing under the bridge which may have explained the lack of bites... I also headed onto Conham River Park for a looksee but it was dead as a doornail...

It was always going to be tough following on from yesterday's epic session but today I couldn't help feel a little deflated, even though I bagged a jack. Praps it was the weather than got me down?! That hit of vitamin D sure did seem to make all the difference, both to the fishing and my mental state ;)

An early start saw me on the road by 7am, my thinking being I could beat most of the traffic coming in/out of Bristol and be at the fishery by 8.30am. Luckily for me, the roads were pretty easy probably due to it being the 1st week of the Easter break (where do all the cars go?!) and I arrived on time and raring to go.

Once I'd got my ticket I headed down to the lake for a look around and to see what swims were free. True to form, all the 'easy' swims (i.e. the ones you can pretty much fish from your car!) were gone which is fine by me - the fish know which areas to avoid! After a bit of a wander round, I settled in a swim directly opposite an island point on the nearside bank which was empty of anglers apart from a single swim right down the other end of the lake. With no fish showing themselves, I figured the island and reed lined margins was as good a starting point as any.

With the far bank being busy and it being the Monday after a sunny weekend, I wasn't in too much of a rush to get rods in the water. I had a feeling the lake would've had a hammering over the last 48 hours and I was more than happy to slowly set up and get the rods out at a leisurely pace, the main focus being to watch the water for signs of fish to either cast or move onto. After a chilly start it was rapidly warming up and my thinking was that if the fish weren't up on the surface, they probably wouldn't be feeding on the bottom till later in the day when it cooled down.

I decided to put solid bags to the island point and a likely looking spot on the island margin. With the third rod in the nearside margins, I set about sorting the rest of the gear out. Over the next 6 or so hours not a lot happened rod wise but I did start to see fish! They were crashing to my right in a bay past the next swim and out towards the island point. As I had the time, the marker rod came out and I mapped out the swim, making notes of the spots I'd seen fish and getting the wraps counted for where I wanted to potentially fish overnight.

At around 4ish, the rod out towards the island point ripped off - 1st fish on!

After a short fight, the 1st mirror of the session slipped over the net cord. A good looking fish of around 14lb which I guessed to be the average stamp in the lake. Video done, the fish went back, the rod went out on the same spot and I went back to water watching.

More and more fish were crashing in the bay to my right, so much so that I decided that it was worth baiting up and setting up one rod to fish that area. It was late enough in the day to take the gamble that other anglers weren't going to arrive and set up to my right or in the swim on the other side of the bay... From my swim, the fish were crashing between 12 and 14 wraps out, a bit of a chuck into the oncoming wind but completely doable with a PVA stick rather than a solid bag. So I popped the marker float up in the next swim inbetween 12 and 14 wraps, baited up pretty heavily with boilies, got a rod on the spot and waited.

Frustratingly, the island point rod produced 3 runs over the next hour or so and each one ended up in a lost fish! Time for a rethink as something was going wrong... I'd been advised to use small baits so stepped down from a 16mm boilie to a 14mm, dropped my hook down to a size 8 and slackened off my bait runner. I usually fish them pretty tight but I had a feeling the fish were getting bumped before they had a chance to run.

Speaking of boilies, this is probably a good point to mention what bait I was using. I've been a field tester for Innate Baits for a year or so now and had success where ever I've taken their quality boiles. However, this trip was a little different in that I'd been luckily enough to roll my own bait using my own custom recipe! We've been calling them 'signature' for the moment as the recipe is unique to the angler. My personal recipe was a spicy fishmeal base with tuna, chilli, robin red and a few other 'secret' ingredients. I have to say, the smell and colour was spot on, exactly what I liked and having had one fish already, I was hoping they'd produce a lot more over the next couple of days.

Anyway, back to the fishing! The adjustments to the rigs, baits and set up seemed to make all the difference as the left hand rod where I'd suffered the missed runs sprang into life. A nice fight later and a beaut 17lb mirror was on the mat, happy days.

As the island point seemed to be 'the spot' I decided to get the spod rod out and get some bait going in. The light was rapidly fading and I figured getting a concentrated bed of bait in the same spot before total darkness set in was a good idea. So 10 spods of boilies and hemp went out and I started getting ready for the night.

Having seen so many fish crashing down in the bay, I was slightly surprised I'd not had a pick up... As luck would have it, just as I began toying with the idea of a recast, the right hand rod absolutely steamed off!

Another cracking fish, a stunning mirror of 17lb.

And after that, the flood gates opened... I had my 1st common, an immaculate beast of a fish that was just under the 20lb mark.

Then a couple of mirrors, a scraper 17lb and a smaller 14lb.

It was getting relentless... If I wasn't typing up rigs, I was spodding, or tying PVA sticks, or mixing more stick mix... It was near impossible to keep all three rods in the water so I dropped down to two in the end as it was more manageable!

One thing that did surprise me was the unhooking mat iced up! I didn't think it was that cold, but with a clear sky and a pretty much full moon the air was very thin... Not that it seemed to effect the fishing at all!

I had another couple of smaller commons, a nice low double mirror and then a real supprise - a 15lb catfish that took me all over the lake!

By the time the sun came up, I was exhausted. I reckon I'd had around an hours broken sleep and the bivvy was a mess of tackle, old rigs and bait - too good! The action seemed to die off slightly as the sun came up, so I decided to bait up and rest the swim for a while while I watched the sun break the horizon. It looked like it was going to be another beautiful day.

The rods went out and I climbed into my bag completely knackered but absolutely buzzing. I must've been asleep for about an hour as it was full sunlight when one of my alarms sounded. To be honest, I really thought it had to be another anglers and it took a good 10 seconds for me to realise it was actually mine! I managed to blunder out and grab the right hand rod but as I started to steer the fish back into my swim, the left hand rod started to run... Amazing!

It's easier to say than do, but the advice is always to concentrate on the fish you're playing when you get a double hook up! Somehow, I managed to get the 1st fish in (a small common) and then grabbed the left hand rod to see if the fish was still on... The line was pretty slack as after an inital run to open water, the fish had run towards me and to be honest I thought I'd lost it. But as I took up the slack, it started fighting back! This one really went for it (or maybe I was just knackered?!) but after a hard fight a 20lb mirror slipped into the landing net. What a chunk!

It was with great reluctance that I packed down... My ticket was for 24 hours but after that session, I would've quite happily stayed on for another day!

A big thank you to Todber Manor - the fishing was fantastic and the facilities are top notch. I will be back, maybe to try out Big Hayes or to have another go at Little Hayes as it was just too good.

And a massive thank you to Innate Baits. The boilies really made this session and I can't wait to find out how they work on the next couple of venues planned for this trip.