I was up bright and early and out of the house by 5:30. There was moisture in the air but not really any rain as I made way from Shirley to Edenbridge.
I arrived at the fishery around 6am to find the car park empty. This meant I had the choice of any swim I fancied. I loaded up the trolley and headed out. On my last visit I had fished the swim at the very top of the lake so this time I chose the other end. Most of the swims have lily pads to fish to on the near bank and it was one of these (peg 7) that I selected for the day.
I set up a waggler rod with a 3bb float, 5lb main line to a
size 16 hook with a 4lb hook length. The feeder rod I set up with a small cage
feeder, 6lb main line to a size 14 hook length.
I fed the float rod swim heavily with a mixture of ground bait, hemp, maggots, meat and corn. On the hook I decided to start with homemade strawberry flavoured sweet corn.
It was about 7am when I made my first cast. I was still the only one on the lake.
The first hour on the float rod was a bit slow. All that was interested in the corn was a solitary skimmer bream. On the other hand the feeder rod got off to a flyer. One bream, one tench and a 4lb common carp all fell to a 10mm strawberry boillie.
On the hour I topped up the swim with another ball of groundbait and some hemp, a pattern I repeated though out the day.
During the second hour the feeder swim went quiet however the float swim sprang into life. Eight bream (one of which was a proper one) and a tench all came into the net. I began to suspect that I could be in for a good day.
By 10am another angler arrived. As he passed me we had a small chat about recent visits etc before he disappeared up the lake. I never saw him again!
By 10am the corn was still working well, 2 bream, a tench and my first barbel (albeit a 5inch long specimen) made the net. I also had one more tench on the feeder rod.
The swim was now really alive. During the next hour I had five more of the small barbel as well as the first showing of roach (4), rudd (1) and the might gudgeon (1). The feeder rod had gone really quiet though.
As lunchtime loomed the swim was still producing. I was really enjoying myself (and so far the rain had kept away). Five barbel, 4 tench, 2 more bream and a rudd made the virtual net. I was still using the strawberry corn.
I had my lunch, small Cornish pasties and some cocktail sausages plus a very well earned cup of tea before resuming the fishing. The swim yielded just 2 barbel, 1 roach and a bream in this period however the feeder rod came back to life with 3 tench.
By the end of the lunch period (2pm) the swim was still going strong, 3 barbel, 1 tench, 2 roach and another rudd were added to the total. The feeder rod also produced a tench.
The afternoon session saw ot let up in the productivity of the swim. By 15:20 I’d added 8 barbel, 3 roach, 3 rudd and 3 more bream to the overall total. The feeder rod was going through another of its quiet periods.
As the afternoon started to make way to the evening I switched hook bait from corn to meat. This decision was rewarded by a further 3 barbel, a tench and a 5lb common carp. Two of the barbel came in at around the 2lb mark. The feeder rod also chipped in with a solitary tench.
At 16:00 the heavens opened and the rain arrived. It was so heavy that I had to bring the rods in and just sit it out. Luckily for me it only lasted for half an hour or so.
The final part of the session followed the same pattern. Five barbell, one of 2lb, a tench and 3 bream one of which was about 1.5lb. The final two fish of the day came on the feeder rod and they were again tench.
The session came to end when I went shallow and had a look close to the bank with a piece of meat. The float shot under straight away and into the lillies the fish went. I exerted as much pressure as I could before the line broke and the float ended up in a tree.
The main reason I packed up when I did though was because I had to get home to watch the England game.
In conclusion I think I had a fantastic day. Eighty nine fish in one day is a very good total for me. I can’t wait to get back there.
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