I got to my local lake, The Glade, at about 8:45am and had a survey around the lake - "That's it" I thought - "feeder time!" - out came the quiver rod, the Lineaeffe Hi-Tech feeder, for the day. It was on to the members bank for me and out came the tub of maggots.  I was already clipped up at the distance I wanted and the feeding had started.

I was baiting up for a good hour or so and then at 10:30am the tip shot round and the backwind on the magma reel was rolling like mad. - Only for me to shoot the rod tip in the air and connect with a good fighting fish. It didn't want to surface, but in the end it eventually gave up and I was netting my first fish of the day...a 4lbs 10oz tench

So I started baiting up again - and having a bit of a chinwag with a good friend of mine named Jack. He's you're typical carper, but he's a good one at that, same age as me and has many 20's to his name now, due to persistence and good knowledge of carping (yet he still didn't catch today!!) I walked back to my swim, re-cast and re-baited. After another 15 minutes, I was just about to pick up my rod and to cast out another feeder full of maggots, and as I go to get the rod off the rest the tip flies round again with immense force!

The fight was a lot better and the fish even ended up taking me to the swim on the right of me past a load of rushes - this fish didn't want to get out either! But persistence paid off and I saw another orangey belly and huge pectorals, another tinca was on the way! When it finally gave itself up I swiftly got the net under it and weighed the tench up at 5lbs 2oz ...Happy days!

My mate Jack and his friend who he had taken with him as a guest, were happy to see the fish come out - but what they really wanted were carp ( WHY!?!?!?! ) Plus, the glade is the furthest thing from a commercial you can actually get! It's usually really hard to fish this time of year, but if you get the spot, and the method of fishing right, it can prove productive!

I was happy that I was doing alright. But that wasn't it - I recast and after literally about 2 minutes of the feeder being in the water, I got a gentle tug on the feeder and the tip stayed there. This is a still water of course, so this deemed the occurrence very unusual. So out of curiosity...I struck! What at first only felt like a roach suddenly came in to life after about 10 seconds, and put up a lively scrap yet not as much of a fight as the other two fish. But I had eventually landed another tinca of... 3lbs 6oz

Jack had left and had gone to the carp swims on the public side, his friend had left so I invited the lads opposite over for a bit (it's allowed) and I shared with them the method I was using. How to set up a feeder rig, the different types of feeders you can get, and various ways of setting them up etc. And a bit about the lake itself also, as they were new to it. I let them back out the gate and came back to my rod. It was almost 20 minutes now since my last recast after the 3lbs 6oz tench and once again, the ultra-sensitive 1oz tip on the Hi-Tech feeder rod flew round and I had connected with yet another good fish.

The battle lasted around 5 minutes this time and after which yet another lovely tench had peeked his head through the surface and dived back down with a tremendous splash. After veering it out of the way of a nearby snag, I had finally netted my last fish of the day being a pretty lean and lively....4lbs 5oz Tench