During lockdown I found myself “stranded” in Germany with @judithpitchers and as luck would have it there was a river just 100m from Judith’s house. This tiny river became an obsession of mine and I’d spend every day walking the river bank, baiting spots and looking for any carpy signs. Before I even put a rod in the water it was obvious from the few carp I actually saw that there wasn’t many carp in this stretch, but it was alive with other species such as chub, bream and big roach. Following a lengthy baiting campaign I did my first session on the river, and I’d barely had chance to get the bobbin on before the rod was away! That turned out to be my only bite that session, and that pretty much set the tone for every session going forward. Most of the bites I had came within a few minutes of casting out, or they never happened at all. And, if that first bite turned out to be a nuisance species the disturbance caused would see any carp immediately doing the off. Very frustrating, but very rewarding in equal measures! The biggest fish I landed from this tiny river was just under 30lb. Incidentally I lost the exact same fish a few weeks earlier, prior to spawning, so I missed out on a river 30lb’er on that occasion!