Somewhat surprisingly the temperature read 0.5 degrees as I headed through the countryside on the way down to Edenbridge. The fishery opens at 7am and I reached the barrier about 6:55, perfect timing. There was one angler in front of me so I knew that with 5 lakes to choose from I would get a good swim today.
I unloaded the car and made my off to peg 1 on Silver Lake. I've had some really good sessions on this peg before so it was really an easy decision to make for my first visit of the year.
I mixed up the usual ground bait concoction and then set up my one and only rod of the day. My Shakespeare 12' match rod. I was still using pretty light tackle. Four pound main line to a size 18 hook. I then attempted to plumb the depth. I soon discovered that my original chosen line contained a submerged lily pad bed which had yet to rise to the surface. I had to move my projected line 2 metres or so to the left to find a snag free bottom.
I made my first cast just before 8am. For hook bait I started on single maggot. The float barely touched the surface before it disappeared and I was into my first roach of the day.
Another roach and a skimmer bream accompanied the roach into the virtual net by the end of the first hour, however the highlight of that hour was a 1.5lb common carp with a taste for maggots.
A good start and with the carp around I decided to change hook bait and go for the sweetcorn. Disaster, not a sniff for an entire hour so it was back to the maggots.
At 10am I went back on the maggot and the action resumed. It was almost a fish a chuck but not quite as 8 roach, 1 perch, 2 gudgeon and another skimmer made the net.
At this stage of the day I made the decision to alternate on an hourly basis between maggot and corn. So on went a piece of corn. I sat back and waited. Imagine my surprise when the float went and in came a perch of about 3/4lb! To complete the hour a 3lb common carp also with a liking for corn came in.
Another hour another change of bait, this time back to the maggot. Yet again it seemed like a fish a chuck although they were a lot smaller than the ones on corn. I managed 12 roach, 4 perch and a solitary gudgeon.
Lunchtime arrived, sadly only for me as just 2 roach fell to my corn bait. As well as changing bait every hour I was also throwing in a large ball of ground bait to keep whatever was about interested.
Business as usual for the next hour when I switched back to maggot although this time the perch really made it onto the scene, 7 roach, 6 perch and a gudgeon all fell victim to the little grub. It was now 3pm and so I decided to retire the maggots for the day.
I had one last go on the corn before I started using meat. The result was 1 roach and a 2lb carp.
For the next 90 minutes I used meat as the hook bait. I loose fed the swim corn and maggots in an attempt to draw the larger fish in. I was only fishing about a rod lengths distance from the bank. In that time I had 9 carp between 2 and 3 pounds. They went absolutely wild. Each one was a fight as I was only using 4lb line and my match rod.
A great finish to a brilliant day. I ended up with a total of 62 fish. I shall be back at some point in the season.
Man v Fish
One of the carp decided at the last minute to get itself snagged up on an underwater lily pad weed bed. For the life of me I could not get it out. Right side pressure, left side pressure and straight up pressure could not shift it. I was thinking it was all over when it occurred to me that if I slackened of the line it might come out. So I put the rod on the rest and watched the float. Sure enough less than a minute later the float moved and out it came. A short time later it was in the net. Man wins battle of wits with fish.
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