The temperature in the Mediterranean reached the mid forties and wild fires burnt in Greece. It wasn’t that hot in Cornwall and for two days, we enjoyed the sun and the views of Talland Bay from our hotel terraces. The calm blue sea looked inviting, perhaps I’ll take a bass rod on our next visit.

After a long, boring drive back to Surrey, I watched the rain hammer down and the level of the garden pond rise. There would be no point in fishing the river. I postponed my visit to Petworth until Sunday when the hot sunny weather resumed.

I stopped at Stag Park to admire the landscape and the wild flowers. The fields had been sown with clover and the pink sheen extended to the near horizon, only interrupted by strips of cover crop. The scent from the lime trees around Little Springs was strong and the flowers were covered with bees and wasps.

The surface of the lakes was ruffled by a strong southerly breeze. No fish moved. The water temperature had remained high despite the heavy rain and the trout were inactive. I drove to Little Bognor where the springs cooled the lakes and the mature trees kept the sun off the water for most of the day.

Trout were rising repeatedly all over the lower lake. I looked for a black buzzer in my fly box and realised that I had forgotten to replace those lost on previous visits. I only had three, one of which had been chewed. I lost another in the brambles at the waters edge. After an hour, carefully presenting the black buzzer to cruising trout, I thought a change of colour was needed. Thirty minutes later, having tried green and red, I decided to revert to black. I flicked the black buzzer into the margin and a trout rose vertically from the depths to grab the fly. I lifted the fly out of it’s gaping mouth and laughed at my poor timing.

I moved along the bank, under the beech trees and sat on the damp moss near the waters edge. A fish rose to my right, behind a tree trunk. A tricky cast and a twitch of the leader, induced the trout to take and I gently lifted the rod to connect. The fish fought well in the cool water and swam out of the landing net after a short rest.

Rising fish had moved from under the trees to the the centre of the lake. I hid behind a bunch of ferns on the south bank and presented the buzzer to a series of rising fish. The trout moved away clearly unimpressed. The fish were chasing buzzers as they struggled to break through the surface film. I changed to a size 14 dry fly with a foam body. A trout swirled to drown the fly and took it sub-surface. Trout number two also left the landing net in good health.

I must tie a few black buzzers before my next visit to the lakes.