There was a sharp overnight frost so I had to scrap the ice off the car before setting off on the 40 minute journey down the A22.
I arrived around 8:30 and had a chat with the bailiff who told me that the carp would show as the ponds arn't deep and don't take long to warm up.
I wasn't totally convinced so set up my 13' match rod with 5lb mainline and size 18 hook on 3lb hooklength and a single maggot to target the silver fish until later in the day when I hoped the carp would come on.
A good start brought 7 fish in the first hour including a nice roach which required the landing net. I then rotated hook bait between sweetcorn, bread and meat with only bread being successful (a very nice roach/bream hybrid of about 1lb).
By now the time was about 2:30 so decided to concentrate on the maggots and caught steadily for the rest of the day. The haul included roach, perch, gudgeon and bream.
Highlight of the day was 3 bream around the 2lb mark.
At 4pm the bailiff signalled pack up time.
Now comes mistake of the day.
The first thing I did was dismantle the landing net! Yes you've guessed it halfway through packing up I heard the reel scream and the rod was pointing at the sky with line flying off it.
I played the fish until it was tired and then walked back until I could use the landing net (minus handle) to land a 3lb carp on single maggot.
Lesson learned!
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