Now I'm no different from most anglers in that I believe the best time to attack a venue is the period late afternoon until it gets dark. To this end I set off at 2:45 for Boulthurst Farm, the club pond just outside Limpsfield in Surrey.
I arrived around 3:15 to find 3 cars in the car park. I began to panic - there are only 4 swims there! Anyway after a quick walk round I discovered that one of the swims was free - it was the most open and probably the worst on the complex except if you are one of the buzzer brigade in which case it's perfect. The best swim was occupied by a father and 2 small boys. I got chatting to them and they were going to pack up soon so I thought I'll have a quick try in the margins under the bush on a small float rather than the open water and then move round when they leave.
I set up a float rod and plumbed the depth. The water level was very low - the depth was just over a foot. The recent lack of rain was really having an effect on this small pond. I throw in a few grains of corn and flicked the float out.
Immediately there was some action around the float. I took it to be small roach just knocking the line. Suddenly the float shot away and I struck, the fish turned and headed back under the tree where it stayed after returning the hook! Undettered I threw a few more grains out and flicked the float out again. Five minutes later the same thing happened!
The dad and 2 boys decided to call it a day at this point and I took the oppertunity to move swims to actually do what I intended to do and that was have a little go at feeder fishing with a normal cage feeder.
I decided to fish about 20 yards in front of me and about 2 or 3 yards to the right of the fallen down tree. This was near enough for the carp to come to and far enough away I hoped not to lose any feeders.
The plan for the rest of the afternoon and evening was to use the feeder as stated above and feed the swims under the tree and in front of the bush with luncheon meat so that later on I could try fee-lining some meat.
I know my casting isn't brilliant but I did manage to put it quite close to the spot where I intended it to go. The pond has quite high banks but with the stream forming a gap I was able to position the rod 90 degrees to the feeder and about 6 inches off the surface of the water. I tightened up the line so that the tip was slightly bent and then waited.
A little knock and then another which was quickly followed by the tip slowly going round. I struck and up came a nice roach. Not a bad fish for my first cast. Next cast exactly the same thing. I must be getting good at this. I swopped baits from corn to luncheon meat and was rewarded with a nice carp of about 2 pounds.
Time was moving on and as I'd seen some fishy movement under the tree I thought I would give it a go. So in went some meat and out went a nice big piece on a free line. At the same time I started to pack away my stuff which I would no longer need. Now this a bit of a knack - tidying up while keeping an eye on the tip!
Here is the tree/bush.
I arrived around 3:15 to find 3 cars in the car park. I began to panic - there are only 4 swims there! Anyway after a quick walk round I discovered that one of the swims was free - it was the most open and probably the worst on the complex except if you are one of the buzzer brigade in which case it's perfect. The best swim was occupied by a father and 2 small boys. I got chatting to them and they were going to pack up soon so I thought I'll have a quick try in the margins under the bush on a small float rather than the open water and then move round when they leave.
I set up a float rod and plumbed the depth. The water level was very low - the depth was just over a foot. The recent lack of rain was really having an effect on this small pond. I throw in a few grains of corn and flicked the float out.
Immediately there was some action around the float. I took it to be small roach just knocking the line. Suddenly the float shot away and I struck, the fish turned and headed back under the tree where it stayed after returning the hook! Undettered I threw a few more grains out and flicked the float out again. Five minutes later the same thing happened!
The dad and 2 boys decided to call it a day at this point and I took the oppertunity to move swims to actually do what I intended to do and that was have a little go at feeder fishing with a normal cage feeder.
I decided to fish about 20 yards in front of me and about 2 or 3 yards to the right of the fallen down tree. This was near enough for the carp to come to and far enough away I hoped not to lose any feeders.
The plan for the rest of the afternoon and evening was to use the feeder as stated above and feed the swims under the tree and in front of the bush with luncheon meat so that later on I could try fee-lining some meat.
I know my casting isn't brilliant but I did manage to put it quite close to the spot where I intended it to go. The pond has quite high banks but with the stream forming a gap I was able to position the rod 90 degrees to the feeder and about 6 inches off the surface of the water. I tightened up the line so that the tip was slightly bent and then waited.
A little knock and then another which was quickly followed by the tip slowly going round. I struck and up came a nice roach. Not a bad fish for my first cast. Next cast exactly the same thing. I must be getting good at this. I swopped baits from corn to luncheon meat and was rewarded with a nice carp of about 2 pounds.
Time was moving on and as I'd seen some fishy movement under the tree I thought I would give it a go. So in went some meat and out went a nice big piece on a free line. At the same time I started to pack away my stuff which I would no longer need. Now this a bit of a knack - tidying up while keeping an eye on the tip!
Here is the tree/bush.
Just as I finished the tip bent round and we were away. At first I thought it was in the 2 pound range but once on the surface I saw it was a good size. My feeder rod is strong and with 6lb line on I was confident of landing the beast. Finally into the net it came - a nice 7.5 pounds of common carp! My personal best for the season so far.
And here it is....
That was it for me - It was about 8 o'clock - I'd had 5 hours or so of fairly good sport so it was time to go home and have my dinner!
Tight Lines
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