It has not just been a resilience to the weather that has been required this week, but a fair bit of enthusiasm too in order to get fish on the line.

A lot of commercials slowed right down with more than a few fish hard to find. Those with a reasonable stock of silvers gave the more reliable catch rates to small baits such as soft pellets used in conjunction with meagre introductions of micro pellets as feed.

In recent years the green variations appear to have had just the edge in cooler water temperatures than other samples often containing a different enzyme base in their recipies.

For those who find this hard to accept, the results of the few who continually are the most successful on the large, semi-professional match circuit tend to re-inforce the view. Extremely reliable at getting into the frame, qualifying for the largest of competitions and then coming out on top in that domain establishes their credibility.

To some extent the same successful scenario is repeated across the country on a smaller scale in more contracted competition areas. In East Anglia we have our own successful stars, but few are really able to cut the cake and take the biscuit when they step outside into a new geographical arena. That at least holds a similarity to the performance on rivers, past and present – local knowledge and researching efforts still reap big rewards with no substitute for experience. Luck plays a part along with a good draw of course. It is is hard to catch fish from where they are not, but a really good angler can soon turn a seemingly bad peg into an often productive one drawing in fish with a surprise win.

However, at a number of venues, what carp did decide to feed were weighty and beautifully conditioned commons nearing double figures. Mid-week Broome's central Kidney Pit obliged for Peter Hayward and it still had a few good hunks like this hanging round the edges at the water drop offs, but the feeder around pegs 4-6 seemed to be the most productive. The big B Pit with its islands, nooks and cranny bays, always provides some shelter, and an interesting challenge for a variety of methods for quality silver fish.

Wissett down there at Halesworth is becoming one of the more reliable venues for its nearest and furthest lakes, with reliable stocks of varying sizes of carp. Burgh Apton's little lake may seem limited in opportunity but at least it is fairly sheltered behind its high hedges, and the trend is one of consistently yielding the best framing weights throughout the entire season. But get it wrong and it is back to a few rudd and a couple of smallish carp.

Hot spot here is around the bridge to the island, where it is understood the proprietor feeds his fish.