Grant Albutt has been recently putting his Acolyte Plus 9ft Feeder rod to the test, fishing for some of the big resident carp that reside in Barston Lakes.

"With the country in the midst of a soaring heatwave I've abandoned my usual river exploits for barbel. But with a change in temperature forecast, I decided to make a trip to an old farm reservoir and target the crucians which reside there.

"I arrived early to avoid the rain that was forecast mid-morning and immediately went about baiting the chosen area with Complex-T 4mm pellets and frenzied hemp and soon had the crucians rolling in the swim. Due to the wind increasing, it was no time for delicate float fishing, so two small In-Line Method feeders were loaded with groundbait and matching pellets and punched out into the swim.

"The change in weather certainly spurred them into feeding and I ended that session with over a dozen crucians averaging 2lb."