Now, with the warmer months behind us and the shorter cold days of winter drawing ever nearer, I thought I would reflect on these pages on how the my summer on the water’s edge panned out.

My initial plan was to fish the still waters until the start of the river season with the aim of banking a good haul of post spawned pike. My diary shows that over the years April and May have been consistently good lure fishing months with the ‘green queens’ eager to regain weight after the arduous efforts of courtship and this year the pattern continued.

I have already mentioned within these pages the particularly good afternoon when trialling handmade swim baits, a session that gave me three doubles and a handful of jacks but the action continued and although I didn’t manage a 20 I did bank a few more doubles and literally countless jacks.

As we moved towards the glorious June 16 the action on the still waters slowed down and on one particular reservoir the weed growth became quickly abundant. Indeed, profuse weed growth is also a lure anglers curse on the rivers and my decision on where to kick off the season is usually made largely around which waters were the most weed-free.

A phone call from a friend made the decision for me when he invited my fishing partner Jamie and me to the fens to fish the 20-feet drain.

We arrived at the venue, greeted by our hosts Yoggy and Kev, and peered over the bridge to get our first glimpse of this new water.

A nice shoal of bream was clearly visible in the crystal water and, although water lilies grew strongly from either bank, the centre channel was reasonably free from weed. So, with the promise of some good fenland doubles in mind, we set forth with high hopes.

I chose to use a medium weight bait casting outfit that gave me a wide lure range from 20 gram crank baits up to 50g jerk baits and I had a bucket of lures ready for any eventuality.

Well, to cut a long story short I blanked. It was a long hard day, we didn’t stop until 10pm, with very few fish on the bank. The water holds many good fish and Yoggy, who lives locally, could tell many a tale of the many red letter days that the water had given him. But June 16, 2009, was not one of them.

We debated by moonlight about the possible reasons for our lack of success but concluded with the much used phrase: “Well, that’s fishing for you” and so ended another day on the river bank.

The continuing spread of weed limited my forays. Sure, I could have soldiered on with a variety of surface and weedless lures but to be honest much of my enjoyment of the sport is about the presentation of the lure – making it behave exactly how you intend and indeed learning how to make the lure do new moves.

But such activity is virtually impossible as your bait catches weed with every cast.

There is one species of fish that lends itself to summer luring perfectly, namely the chub. I have caught a good number of chub on lures over the years, many between 3lb and 5lb but when asked to give advice I often find my words don’t make sense until you’ve tried it.

You see, chub can be almost suicidal, immediately smashing in to whatever hits the surface in a split second but they can also be as wily as an old fox, ignoring every presentation made.

A stealthy approach is vital, creeping along the bank and peering through bull rushes looking for a few big chub circling a swim. Pick your moment, delicately flick a small lure in front of a big fish and the chances are it will have it before you can even begin the retrieve. Miss this chance, however, and you may have spooked this swim for the entire day.

Using the above tactics I had a nice handful of chub with the largest measuring just short of 22-inches, certainly a 4lb plus fish.

Well, the end of summer did give me one first, if not a personal best.

I was luring a nice little stretch of my local river with a lightweight single handed bait casting outfit, a great little rod for scrappy jacks of which I had banked a number. I was bringing back a bronze ABU Atom spoon, mesmerised by its enticing and shimmering flutter, when a small jack of a about 2lb snatched the bait.

After a little fight I was slowly bringing him in to hand land when a bigger pike, maybe 6lb, shot out from under my feet and grabbed the jack.

I applied a little pressure, expecting the 6lb fish to let go but it didn’t. I reached for my net, slid it slowly under the pair, and landed both fish. Incredible!

Now I bet this has happened to many pike anglers in the past but, as I said, it was a first for me. The smaller pike had a few lacerations but both swam off healthily, perhaps only for the scene to be re-enacted once I had departed – but that’s Nature.

So, all in all an interesting summer starting off with some nice double figure pike, a few good chub during high summer and, as the days shorten, the promise of some great autumnal sport.

As I write the leaves are turning and the scent of ivy flowers fills the hedgerows. If late spring is my favourite season for still water piking, autumn is the time that the rivers really come alive so the next few weeks should produce some cracking sport. Let’s hope so.