It was indeed raining as I loaded car up and headed up the road towards Edenbridge. The car's digital display showed 6.5 degrees, a lot warmer the previous week.
An uneventful drive through the Surrey/Kent countryside saw me arrive at the fishery a little before 7am. Once again the car park was empty.
With the trolley fully loaded I set off for the swim. On the way I noticed from the water movement that the wind was coming from the opposite direction than it had the last few weeks. Another good sign.
The rain was still falling as I set up my two rods. I used the same set up as before, waggler on one rod and a small leger on the other. For bait I had brought maggots, castors, corn and bread. After a brief flirtation with strawberry boillies last week I was back on my original choice, monster crab.
I fed the swim with hemp, maggots and a few pieces of corn as I was setting up. I was ready and casting by 7:48. The rain was still falling so for the first time this season, up went the umbrella. I was now set for a days fishing.
For three hours the float never moved. I began to suspect that today wasn't going to be my day again. All that changed though when the float slid under and I was into a small roach of about an ounce. No blanking for me today.
I loose fed a few more maggots and soon the float went again. As the fish came in I thought it was another larger roach however it turned out to be my first NF chub!
The small roach kept coming, until I struck into something that was a bit more substantial. After a brief fight I had my first tench of the day in the virtual net.
A few more roach followed and then the first crucian of the day made an appearance. At this stage I was still loose feeding maggots and apart from the occasional castor I was still using single maggot on the hook.
After my lunch break, another lovely tin of oxtail soup, I decided to ring the changes. Initially I started to loose feed a few pieces of corn and then after an hour or so I began to use corn on the hook. It was quiet at first but then the float went and in came a small skimmer bream. This was followed in quick succession by another crucian and my second tench.
By this stage of the day (aound 2pm) the leger rod had been silent then in what I can only describe as a mad hour the swim went berserk.
First to take the bait was a 4.5lb common (see below). It fought very hard before I was able to slip it into the net. A few minutes later a tench followed it. Fifteen minutes or so further on the rod went again, this time the culprit was a 6lb common.
It wasn't all plain sailing though because when the buzzer went for the fourth time I was playing another skimmer on the float rod. By the time I'd unhooked it the fish on the leger had gone.
Strangely, that was it for the action on the leger rod. About an hours worth I would say.
I went back on the maggots when the swim appeared to die and was rewarded with a perch and four mighty gudgeon. The roach were also more inclined to take maggots than the corn.
I had brought some bread so as the afternoon wore on I decided to give it a go. After a bit of a wait the float went away and I was into my final crucian of the day.
I kept the bread on and waited to see what would happen. After ten minutes or so I noticed that the float moved slightly against the direction of the wind so I struck and immediately I knew I was into a good fish. The match rod was bent right over and the drag on the reel was doing its job. I was a bit worried because I was using the match rod and this was a good fish. I needn't have been though as after 5 minutes or so I landed a mirror of 6lb. With that fish in the net I decided to call it a day.
As I packed up I did a quick tally of the day's catch:
14 roach
4 crucian carp
4 gudgeon
3 carp
3 tench
2 bream
1 perch
1 chub.
A haul of 32 fish. A better result than the previous week that's for sure. Have we turned the corner weather wise? Let's hope so.
Aside from one angler who turned up lunchtime and was gone before I left I hadn't seen another person all day. That will change over the coming weeks I'm sure.
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