One of the residents at Marsh Pratley's Orchid Lake at Dorchester made a welcome appearance this week.

The big carp, well-known to the Orchid regulars, is nicknamed 'Dino' and weighed in at 30lb for Andy Kerr, who made the long journey from Kent to fish the water.

This was his first visit to the water - but I wouldn't mind betting it won't be his last!

The successful bait was a Kevin Nash 'Whiskey' bottom bait.

*Work commitments have restricted my visits to the water this week, but I'm planning to go over to the River Severn for a couple of days.

St John's Lake at the Shimano Linear complex continues to produce top-class carp, like this 34lb 10oz fully scaled mirror. Dave Wintoor, from Lydney, was the captor, using popped-up sweetcorn

I am a member of Worcester AC and you can be on the river from Oxford in just over an hour.

I used to fish the Barbel Society water at Clifton, and had some good barbel from this stretch to just over 11lb

However, I once made the mistake of fishing with two rods, and as I was unhooking a fish, the other rod went into the river.

I quickly worked out the price of a new rod and reel and decided I needed to retrieve my stuff. So I stripped off and swam out to the rod that I could see in the distance.

Swimming out was okay but swimming back with the rod in one hand was more difficult and I was grateful for the help of a passing stranger walking his dog.

The moral of this story is keep a close eye on your tackle!

*If you have any angling news, contact Andy on 01865 725606 or email andrew.webber@innogy.com