2011 3 March 19th Mill Lake, Stubpond, Felbridge Surrey

In previous years once the club season has finished I have taken advantage of the club's agreement with Stubpond fishery.

For a mere pound I can fish their great waters.

The trip started to go wrong when on the Wednesday I went to the tackle shop for the maggots. The assistant asked me where I was going. When I told him Stubpond he replied "Oh yeah, I hear it's open now". I hadn't heard that it was closed and told him so. I was then informed that Robert's lease had expired and that he couldn't get it renewed from the owner.

Now the question was, should I go down there and see what it was like or go somewhere else? I eventually decided to go to Stubpond with the option of moving to the nearby Beaver Farm if there were problems.

Unlike the previous monday the weather was fine when I left the house just before 7am. The journey time is about 40 minutes so it was about 7:30 when I arrived at the fishery.

The gates were open which was a good sign. The first thing I noticed was that there was a sign now saying that children were allowed in if accompanied by an adult. The second was that you had to drive around the back of the first 2 ponds to get to the car park.

I then had a walk over to the bailiffs hut and read the notice that all concessions end on the 31/03/2011. Also you now have to use your own nets, you have to dip them first though. Good job I had brought mine.
Back to the car to unload. It's not a long trek to the swim however I tend to take the groundbait stuff on the first trip so that I can mix it up and then leave it to settle while I finish unloading and setting up the gear.

The first thing I couldn't help but notice was the absence of any vegatation on the 'island'. One reason I've always liked Mill Lake is that because of the surrounding greenery it doesn't look like a hole in the ground which the others do.

The water and air was very still, no sign of what was to come as I fed some small balls of groundbait about a rod length out around where I knew in a few weeks time there would be some lily pads. I also fed a genourous helping of hemp.

"Was I fishing an empty pond?" That was going through my mind as I cast out. Thirty seconds later the float goes under and in comes a very small roach. A feeling of relief spread through my body.

A few pieces of hemp and maggot on the hook brought roach after roach. During the day I tried bread, sweetcorn and castor on the hook and they all produced results.

I'd never used castor before but because I'd kept my previous maggots in the fridge for a week or so they had turned. As well as roach I also managed to catch carp on them!

I have to say a few words about the weather. From the first small drops at around 9am it threw it down all day. My hands for the most part were frozen, made baiting up harder! As you can see from the table below it didn't put the fish off.

Fishing start time was 8:00.

Time	Fish	Bait	Weight
8:37	9 Roach 1 Carp	Maggot/Castor Bread for the carp
9:46	9 Roach 1 Carp	Maggot/Castor Castor for the carp
10:34	10 Roach	Maggot/Castor
10:58	10 Roach	Maggot/Castor
11:25	8 Roach 2 Carp	Maggot/Castor Castor for the first carp Corn for the second
11:47	10 Roach	Maggot/Castor
12:13	9 Roach 1 Carp	Maggot/Castor Corn for the carp
12:58	10 Roach	Maggot/Castor
14:00	8 Roach 2 Carp	Maggot/Castor Carp on corn	3.5lb
	7 Roach 1 Perch 2 Carp	Maggot/Castor Carp on corn and maggot
15:12	7 Roach 1 Perch 2 Carp	Maggot/Castor Carp on corn
15:50	7 Roach 1 Crucian 2 Carp	Maggot/Castor Carp on corn	1lb Crucian 6lb Carp

You have to be out by 17:00 and to be honest I was absolutely drenched and cold so decided  it was time to pack up.

120 fish is those deadful conditions was far more than I could have hoped for. Carp showing as well, that was a surprise.

I can't wait to get back down there.

Here are some snaps of the fish.

First carp of the day a nice mirror.

Similar size mirror (not the same one!)

This is one of the commons.

Here is the 6lb'er.



2011 2 March 14th Boulthurst Farm, Oxted, Surrey

Today was the club's last day so I thought I'd finish the season with a days carping on thier farm pond in Oxted.

I was up and ready to leave by 6:30 only to find the biggest frost for weeks waiting for me! The forecast was for 12 degrees in the afternoon so I prayed that they were right.

I got to the pond just before 7:30 to find the car park empty and the gate frozen. After some manipulation I managed to get the gate open and drove in. The beauty of this pond if that I can park the car literally 20 yards from where I was going to fish - 50 yards at the most if I get the swim at the far end.

I made my way to peg 1 and begun to set up. There was mist covering most of the pond and the overhanging tree had lost all its greenery from the last time I was there. The eidence of some poor casting was hanging down from most of the branches. A small fortunes worth I would guess.

Anyway I decided to fish one rod under the tree with small seafood flavoured boillies and one in clear water using small strawberry ones.

I cast out both rods and settled down for the wait. To ensure the correct degree of comfort I was wearing a t-shirt, sweatshirt, fleece and parka with a hat! Waterpoof trousers completed the outfit!

Nothing happened for the first hour so I determined to check the baits every hour and to feed each swim with a half dozen small boillies befiore re-casting.

At noon the sun came out enough to tempt 4 carp to patrol up and down the pond! Hope for me then.

At 12:43 the buzzer finally went off and I sprung into action. At first it headed for the tree roots but I managed to stop it and turn it into the clear water. At this time the result was known and in came a nice common of 4 pound. Not a monster but on this day literally a life-saver!

I re-cast with added hope. Nothing. As the day went on the temprature dropped again and in my mind any chance of further fish with it.

I did last until 5pm but to no avail. I did spot some more carp cruising but nothing showed any interest.

So that was the end of the season at Boulthurst Farm. Highlight of the year was my near 100 pound of carp in June and the low point my one and only blank of the season in September.

2011 1 March 09th Private Pond, Holland, Surrey

I have to take all my outstanding annual leave by the end of March so traditionally my fishing season starts around the middle of March.

As the club lake closes on the 14th I thought I would go there and try for the silver fish. I thought it would be a tad too cold for the carp and it would also give me the chance to get back into the swing of things!

It was chilly and breezy as I loaded the car at about 7am however the forecast was for tempratures up to 11 degrees in the afternoon so I wasn't too perturbed.

I'd spent the previous couple of days sorting out my tackle and bait ready for the trip and as I set off I was convinced that I was totally ready. After two miles I was struck by the thought that I hadn't packed my landing net! Sure enough after stopping and checking in the boot the net was nowhere to be seen. I had to return home, get the net out of the garage and start my journey again!

I eventually arrived just after 8am to find no one there!

The previous year I'd fished peg 1 and had no bites at all until late in the afternoon when I got a carp of around 5lb whilst legering. I'd put this down to the shallower water in that peg. This year I went to peg 8 which is slightly deeper (although not by much).

In the summer there is a great big set of lily pads directly in front of the swim but as you can see from the photo below at this time of year they have all died off.

My tactics for the day were pretty basic, I was going to feed small balls of groundbait every hour, initially maggots on the hook and loose feeding maggots and hemp. Depending on the results I was ready to change to bread or sweetcorn.

I cast out around 8:40 and as expected nothing happened for the first hour or so.

On the hour I caught my first fish. a roach of about 2 ounces. No blank for me today then!

As I kept feeding 4 or 5 maggots a cast the roach kept coming. Once I'd had quite a few I switched to bread punch and then bread flake to see what would happen. I got nothing on the flake but the roach liked the punched bread (smaller helpings!).

Next I tried a piece of sweetcorn (the groundbait I'd been feeding contained some corn) but all that succeeded in doing was allowing me time to drink a cup of tea!

After lunch I tried some flake again and managed a carp albeit one weighing less than a pound. Tried flake for the next hour or so but nothing so switched back to maggots and started catching the roach again!

When I got fed up with that I changed to corn and caught another small carp and then it died again.

As the afternoon wore on the sun disappearred and the sky became over-clouded. The temprature dropped and I begun to think of when to pack up. I decided to pack up around 5 in a couple of hours time.

To this end I made the decision to increase the size of the number of maggots I was feeding - perhaps I could feed off the small ones. After I couple of casts the float disappearred and the rod bent - in came a perch which must have been just under a pound. My second only perch at this venue.

Fifteen minutes or so later the float disappearred again and in came the best roach of the day. While I was playing the fish the club chairman turned up with his grandson and we had a chat as we admired the fish.

I last another hour or so before I packed up and went home.

I don't often get the chance to use my keep net but the rules allow it at this time of year.

Another club season at the Private Pond over. Overall a good one for me.

Can't wait for June 1st.