Tinpot revealed:

“Back in April, I began a new fishing adventure and a challenge that had been at the back of my mind for many years, getting to grips with the mighty Burghfield. So far, Burghfield has been everything I’d hoped it would be. It feels very similar to my favourite water of all time, the old leisure sports days, Wraysbury. Real, get your arse in the grass, carping; raw, unmanicured, and bloody challenging, both mentally and physically. With 96 acres of mazy wilderness, and a stock of around a fish per acre, it’s got me hooked that’s for sure.

“As we all know, April was very cold and on my first three trips we had frosts every night and even a dusting of snow on one occasion. May bought some warmer night-time temperatures and things started to look better. It also coincided with two weeks off work and I knew I really had to make this period count as it would be a great chance to string some consistent nights together and hopefully build a picture that would lead to a bite.

“The fish seemed to spend this whole period sitting in a large area of out of bounds and although I was walking the pit regularly, I couldn’t find anything to go on elsewhere. When I finally hooked my first carp disaster struck and I lost it. I was devastated obviously but I got on with it, and over my holiday period, I did manage to land my first and second Burghfield carp.

“Firstly, I had a 17lb blind-eyed common and I’ve got to say that little common had me beaming for a few days, after all, I’d caught a Burghfield carp! Things got better though, when I followed it up with a 42lb 2oz mirror that was an otter attack survivor from a few years ago. A proper old character that looked like it had a few stories to tell. The bites came using a combination of Krill Active, Manilla Active, Vor-tex+, corn and Bloodworm Pellet all soaked in Pure Calanus liquid. I am hopeful that this combination brings me a few more sooner rather than later!”