2011 17 June 12th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

It was Sunday afternoon again, Le Mans had finished so I decided to load the car up with my carp gear and head out to Chittenden for another afternoon and evening session.

The drive was much more relaxed as I now knew my way.

The rain had stopped for about an hour as I drove into the carpark so that was good.

On the way down I had decided to fish the opposite side of the island than I had done on my previous visit. This was assuming of course that the swim was free.

No rain was falling on my head as I unloaded the car and made my down to the lake. There were a few people scattered about but it was nowhere near full. The signs were favourable that my hoped for swim was free. As I made my way around the bank I could see that it was indeed free.

I set up roughly in the middle of the island. One rod I cast close to the island on the right hand side and the other I cast in the channel between a bed of lillies and the island.

As you can see from the photo below there was a fairly strong wind blowing down the lake which I hoped the fish would follow:

Thirty minutes after my cast the heavens opened however this tiime I came prepared! Up went the brolly and 5 minutes later I was snug as a bug.

I didn't have my notebook with me but I can remember the highlights so you'll have to bear with me.

It was around 4pm when I made my first cast. So the session lasted about 4 hours.

I didn't have to wait long for the first bite, it was on the halibut pellet and it turned out to be a 5lb common. A good promising start.

The hallibut boillies seemed to be the ones to be on as the buzzer went off a second time and in came a ******* of about 0.5lb. I'm not allowed to reveal what it was as the club wants to keep their presence a secret even though there is a picture of one on the website's front page!

The next bite proved to be the highlight of the day. Despite being quiet for over an hour I had a lot of faith in the bait that was sitting just outside of the lillies. This faith was rewarded when the buzzer went off and I found myself into a good fish. The fight lasted what seemed like an age and I was ok until it broke the surface. When I saw how big it was I began to panic big time. Nevertheless I managed eventually to land it. A 12.5lb common. A new personal best by 1.5lb! I was chuffed. My 3rd double of the year.

The rain continued as did my good fortune, the 12lb'er was followed by 1 more carp of 5lb, 2 of 6, 2 of 7 and 1 of 8 all caught on the lily pads swim.

The final hour gave me a further three carp but they were all under 3lb.

I packed up at 8pm, soaking wet but extremely happy.

Can't wait to get back there.

Some of the carp caught:

2011 16 June 10th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

This was my long anticipated first trip to Edenbridge and District Anglers Society's pride and joy, Nursery Fields in Edenbridge, Kent.

I was up at 5am and on the road at 5:45 for the 20 mile journey. It's not that far from Chittenden, the society's other lake and I found it really easily which is a relief because I do get a bit worried when I drive into the unknown.

As I pulled into the empty car park I felt a sense of relief that there was no one there. I could take my time walking round the lake and choosing my swim. After the first lap round there was only one winner, peg 1 (didn't know it was peg 1 at first). It is a corner peg with plenty of lily pads which are quite close to fish too.

Apologies for the quality.

Here is a view of the swim from the opposite bank.

For a change the weather was fine and sunny as I set up. I intended to fish close to the pads with the float well shotted down for easier bite detection. Obviously I knew what to expect species wise but not size wise so to be safe I used 5lb main line with a 4lb hook length.

Next up was the groundbait. I like to initially lay what I consider to be a good amount of feed at the beginning of a session and then spent the rest of the day topping it up. To this end I mixed a generous helping of brown crumb and red tench/carp attractor (about 90/10 split). Into the mix I added some meat and corn. When ready I put in two large balls. I had some hemp with me so in went about half a pint. I also had some maggots/casters left over from a previous session so in went some of them.

So off I went with the eagerly awaited first cast. There was some initial float movement which told me that there was something alive in this lake but no instant take. Thirty minutes or so into the session and the float dived under, I struck, the rod bent and I was into a good sized skimmer. Just as I was about to celebrate a non blank day the fish came off! Undettered I re-cast and a few minutes later it's brother made the net. I now knew there was at least 2 bream in the lake!

Now that I had caught I settled down into the job. Feeding regularly with free offerings and with strawberry sweetcorn on the hook I started to attack the swim. After the first hour I began to catch quite regulaly. Roach, Skimmer Bream and small Tench mainly.

During the day a few other anglers came and as each passed me they stopped for a word. We discussed how things were going and they all agreed that what I was catching was about as good as it gets apart from the carp which normally make an appearance in the late afternoon.

Around 11am I set up my feeder rod with a small cage feeder which I loaded with some of my groundbait mix. For bait I attached a 10mm strawberry boillie to a size 14 hair-rigged hook. I cast in, put the rod in it's 'sleeper' position and carried on float fishing.

I didn't have too long for the tip to go round. A nice skimmer of around the pound mark. The next one was a small tench. It appearred that my tactics were working. I didn't think it would be long before a carp came a knockin'.

The early afternoon period followed the morning's pattern. I was consistently catching fish however they were all on the small side. My fist personal best from Nursery Field came around 15:30 when I tried using maggots on the hook. After one unsuccessful attempt to land a 2 ounce roach the float and bait landed just in front of me. Before I had a chance to retrieve it the float went under and I was into the smallest barbel you'd ever likely to see. Half an ounce if it was a day! A personal best all the same though!

As the afternoon progressed the carp began to show on the surface. I made the decision to switch to meat to see if I could tempt a few out.

For the first time ever since my return to fishing I never got a sniff using the meat. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

I did get a take by a carp on the boillies late on in the day but unfortunately it managed to get into the lily pads and that is where it stayed. Shame as it would have completed a good days fishing.

In conclusion I think this could be a very good lake for me once I have learnt a bit more about it. There are some good looking swims which I need to explore further. The carp will not elude me forever!

On the downside I  got into a bit of a tangle that took me at least 10 minutes to unravel. Once I managed it I promptly stood back on my rod breaking the middle section.

So the history of the rod is this - Bought it new 2 seasons ago, broke the top section last season, broke the middle section this season - any guesses for next season?

2011 15 June 5th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

The day or rather the afternoon had arrived when I was going to make my first trip to Chittenden, Edenbridge and District Angling Society's carp water.

I had decided to go to Chittenden for the afternoon as I expected there to be millions at Nursery Fields, their other main stillwater. During the morning I sorted out my carp gear, bait etc and loaded up the car. The plan was to leave around 3pm, arrive at 4ish and leave when it got dark.

I memorised the route as best I could (21 miles, last 3 unknown to me so not to bad) and then set off. There were a few spots of rain on the way but nothing to cause me any worry.

On arrival I encountered my first problem, I couldn't open the gate. The instructions said, "dial in number and then push button". I dialed the number and then found that there was no button! After a while I thought I would walk to the lake and ask for assistance. On my way down I met a car coming the other way who then showed me how to get in, turned out the instructions were for the previous year's lock!

Having now gained access to the grounds I made my way down to the lake. My first impression was that it was huge compared to the venues that I normally fish.

Straight in front of me as I reached the lake was some disabled swims facing the bigger of two islands. Although by now it was around 4pm I didn't initially set up on one but did on the area immediately to the right of them.

As I began the process of setting up the heavens opened and I realised the predicament I'd got myself into. The area I was in was bare clay and it began to stick to my trainers and everything else! So after ten minutes of pouring rain I made the decision to move to the very end of the disabled swims - 2 yards in total. Here I was free of the clay.

I set up my two rods as follows:, the first with a 10mm halibut pellet bollie cast about two thirds of the way to the island to the right of me, the second with a 10mm strawberry boiliie about 12 metres from the bank to the left. As I sat down to wait the heavens opened even more and the rain came down even harder. I hadn't expected this for a summers evening session!

The time was 16:30 when I made for first cast. I poured out a cup of hot tea and sat down on my wet chair! Oh as I was doing a summer's evening carping session I hadn't thought to bring my umbrella - silly me!

Less than 20 minutes after casting in the buzzer on the halibut rod went off and I was into my first Chittenden fish. A combination of a not very hard fighting fish and the 2.75tc carp rod saw the fish into the net fairly quickly. I could see it was a good one and the scales confirmed it - 11lb, equalling my personal best set a couple of weeks earlier (but on a different water).

As luck would have it there was another angler close by (called Paul) who agreed to take a snap of me holding the fish.

Thirty minutes later off it went again, this time a small carp of about a pound had taken a liking to my halibut boillie.

I then had a wait of about 90 minutes before my next bite which was again on halibut. This time it was a 7lb common. I was beginning to like this lake!

Didn't have to wait as long for the next bite (13 minutes) - again it fell to a halibut boilie. A 8.5lb common!

A quarter of an hour passed before the next one came in - this time a common of 5lb yet again falling to a halibut boillie.

I was really on a roll now - less than 10 minutes later I landed my only fish on the tutti fruitti boilles, a 6.75lb common. I was in albeit a wet fishing heaven!

At half seven with the rain still pouring down I caught my final carp, a small 1.5lb common.

As I packed up I reflected on the fact that this session had been absoloutely great and that much of the success was in my opinion down to the pouring rain. 

2011 14 June 1st Private Pond, Hurst Green, Surrey

The new club season opened today and I chose Holland's Private pond in Hurst Green as the venue to make my club season debut.

The tempreture was a few degrees lower than normal for the time of year and I wondered as I set off that morning if it would affect the fishing.

I arrived at the pond nice and early (around 6:30 or so) to find that I was the first one there. I had three choices of swims, Peg 1 the first swim I ever fished and my previous favourite, peg 8 my current favourite and peg 11 the end peg under a great big tree. As the pond only has 11 peg you can tell it's not that large.

I chose peg 8 as you could easily fish just in front of a large bed of lily pads with just a flick of the rod. However I was slightly disappointed to discover that the lily pad bed had been severely cut back and that I would have to cast in all day!

Undettered I began to set up. I mixed up the groundbait as usual, brown crumb with corn and meat mixed in. I intended to feed initially 2 big balls and then one every hour thereafter.

I knew the pond was full of small roach and rudd so I forego the maggots and went straight on the corn. Five minutes in the float indicates a bite and I am into my first fish. Alas it was not to be as the fish spat the hook. Ten minutes later off it was again and in came a nice tench (around 3lb) , my first one of any size of the season.

At that moment the bailiff came round and asked to see my card - I duly obliged. We had a chat for ten minutes or so and then he went on his merry way.

After having a good tench on my first few casts I felt sure that today was going to be a cracker. How wrong could you be! For the next hour or so the float never moved. I could see bubbles coming up around the feed but nothing was interested in my hook bait.

Time moved on and the small carp began to show, by 9:30 three small carp, one roach and a crucian were all in the 'net.

The promise of the early morning period had died away by lunchtime. Six rudd, ten carp,one crucian and another solitary roach made for relatively slim pickings.

Just before 12 another angler asks to see my card!

The afternoon conditions were very strange for the first of June, on the far bank where the sun was shining it was warm and comfortable, on my side in the shade it was chilly! I couldn't help but think that this was the reason for the relatively poor fishing.

I will still persevering with the corn and was rewarded with a 3lb common, my biggest fish of the day.

The remainder of the day was productive in terms of fish caught but they were all small carp.

I'm not complaining - it was a good day out and that is what it's all about.

Oh I nearly forgot, the Holland chairman came round about 4pm and asked to see me card! Three times in one day - I must be very shifty looking!