when to call it a day

I've never had the good sense to know when to call it a day, as such I usually end up packing away in the dark. My last session was no different except I intended fishing well into the dark.
I chose the stretch of the Trent above Long Eaton for an evening session as its out of the way, cheap and full of promise. How many times do you decide which swim you're going to fish even before you leave home? I know I do and it takes an earthquake to change my mind. On the way down the bank to my pre chosen swim I passed a guy just leaving who told me he'd been there all day and had a few bits and pieces and even lost a carp in the reeds. At that point 2 things should have occurred to me 1,he's been pre baiting all day for me and 2.theres carp in this swim!
Sadly it didnt occur to me and I walked on! I got to my swim, tackled up, dropped a load of bait in, cast out, sat back and thought....... what the hell is going on on the opposite bank and why have I only just noticed? A mediaeval reinactment show was being set up with cars and people and vans all over the opposite feild. In a rare descisive moment I grabbed my gear and walked back to the now peg I'd missed on the way up.
Finally I was set up where I should have been an hour earlier. I used a bait dropper to introduce pellet, hemp and sweetcorn and an open ended feeder semi fixed with a short hook link and size 6 hook. Bait was a pellet with a grain of plastic corn to keep the hair stop in place. I got many usefull tips from my Pete and one that came to me that night was casting the feeder often, settled for every 20 to 30 minutes.
Bearing in mind I've never had a single fish out of this stretch it was no surprise for mytip to remain motionless. Around dark something strange happened, the tip began to bounce and finally sprang back. i tightened up a turn to see if the feeder had been knocked and couldnt get it tight. I struck and met a satisfying thump, a minute later and a bream about 4lb slid out of the dark and into the net. Duck broken!
In the next 2 hours another 6 followed upto 5lb 4oz. I was on a role and there was almost constant activety on the tip when I reached a crisis point, there was no let up in the activety and I only had a feeder or 2 worth of ground bait left so do I mix more or do I tear myself away and do the grown up thing for work in the morning. Grown up? Responsible? Me? No chance! Then in a strange way I was saved, on casting out I got clumsy and caught my hook length in a bosh behind me and bust it off. That was the deciding factor, I wasnt goingto be tying up a new hook length So I packed away and left.
I reckon in the 2 hours since dark I'd put 30lb of bream on the bank and reckon I could have easily reached 100lb.
Lessons learnt? well always use quiet spells to tie an extra rig or 2 and never march blindly to your pre chosen peg!