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A Friday afternoon carping session at Nursery Fields was the planned session for today.
As I left work dead on noon the sun was out and for once laying down some serious heat. The plan was to rush home, have a sandwich, load the car and head off to Edenbridge and fish until the light gave out.
I arrived at the fishery about two thirty or so. It wasn't too crowded so I knew I stood a good chance of getting my favourite carping swim at the top of the lake.
As usual it was a 2 rod set up today. Two 2.5tc carp rods, 6lb main line, size 14 hooks with 15mm pineapple and tutti fruitti boillies.
It took about 45 minutes or so to set up. I made my casts at 15:15 and then settled back in the sunshine awaiting the action to begin.
As it happened I didn't have to wait too long as 15 minutes after the first cast the buzzer on the pineapple rod went off and I was in. A short tussle followed, which I won. The result a common carp of around 4lb.
Thirty minutes later the same rod went off. This time I could tell it wasn't a carp. I was proved right when one of the lake's small tench broke the surface.
Forty minutes later the same rod went off again. Another carp this time, unusually a mirror, this one weighted in at 2.5lb.
Things went quiet for about 75 minutes before yet again the pineapple rod's buzzer went off. The result was another carp with a taste for pineapple. This one was about 3lb, a tad bigger than the previous one.
It was just over three hours into the session when the buzzer on the tutti fruitti rod went off. It was not only a carp but as is so often the case it was also the biggest of the day so far, a mirror of 4.5lb.
Strangely as the evening wore on the runs became less frequent, the opposite to what I would have expected. It was another hour before the pineapple rod's buzzer went. A carp, but not a massive one came to the net. A 4lb common in fact.
Just as I was beginning to think of packing up the pineapple buzzer went off for the final time. The result another 4lb common.
So, my 5 hour carping session came to a close. The pineapple rod won six to one, with all the fish bar one being carp. I was a bit disappointed with the overall size of the carp (biggest being 4.5lb) but hey that's fishing!
Today was going to be my third visit of the season to the club's carp water at Chittenden.
Unusually for me, today was a Monday, a day I traditionally never go fishing. Therefore I wasn't sure how busy the lake would be. I arrived at about 7:00am to discover only three other cars in the car park.
This lake is bigger than Nursery Fields but is in my opinion not as waggler fishing friendly. There are less than 5 good float fishable swims.
My plan for today was to fish the swim at the bottom of the lake where I could place the float tight against the reed bed. I'd fished this peg on my previous visit and had been fairly successful.
I unloaded the car and made my way down the lake. Aside from one angler fishing by the disabled pegs I couldn't see another soul! As I neared the far end I could see that I had it to myself, lovely.
Two rod set up again today, the only difference from last time was that I started with a heavier set up. The float rod (my Shimano carp float rod), 5lb main line to a size 16 hook. The feeder rod was 6lb main line to a size 14 hook.
I fed the float line with a generous helping of ground bait containing corn, meat and very small halibut pellets. I also threw in a generous helping of maggots. For the feeder rod I was going to use 15mm tutti fruitti boillies so I threw in some freebies in the area I was going to fish.
I made my first casts at 8am and then settled back to let battle royal commence.
The fish were onto the bait from the off. I'd decided to start with corn and was rewarded with 5 very nice bream, most of which were between one and two pounds . A 3lb carp was a bonus for the start of the session. The feeder rod remained silent. See pictures below.
As the corn had been successful I stayed on it for the second hour. Three more bream made the virtual net however I didn't have everything my own way as I lost a decent carp. The feeder rod decided the time was right to join in and in came a carp of 5lb and a small catfish!
Three hours in and still on corn. The bream must have been getting full as I only caught one. I did manage another 3lb common though.
The feeder rod went quiet again.
As the swim appeared to be going quiet I switched to halibut hooker pellets, the small ones (sorry don't know the size). Total disaster, not a sniff for an entire hour. The feeder rod stayed quiet as well.
Trying something different again I changed hook bait to bread. It was a good decision as it transpired because aside from the mandatory bream I landed a 5lb common carp.
This hour though will always be remembered for the jaws incident. I'd been lucky enough to land a 7lb common on the feeder rod and had just cast back in and turned to watch my float when I heard a thud and upon turning around saw my rod heading for the lake. I tried to grab it but failed.
To be honest I panicked when I saw the rod being pulled up the lake like a scene from Jaws! I did however manage to pull myself together enough to walk up the lake to the next set of anglers to warn them that my rod was coming.
The two anglers attempted to cast their rigs over my rod trying to hook the line but all initial efforts failed. I started to panic again when the fish turned and headed towards the island on the other bank.
One of the guys and I went around to the far side to try from there only to find that the fish had stalled in front of the island. Just as I was beginning to lose hope there was a cry from the first chap. He'd hooked my rod and got it back!
I made my way back to their swim as fast as I could. When I got there we separated the lines (easily) and I reeled the fish in. It was a common of about 5lb.
So everything turned out well, extremely lucky for me. I must take this opportunity to thank Alan Armitage and Jimmy Thompson for their help because without them I would have been dead when I got home.
Almost as soon as I re-cast the feeder rod out the tip went round and I was into another carp. This time a 4.5lb mirror.
It was now 1pm and to quote Genesis "It's one o'clock and time for lunch" so I reeled in both rods (stable door and horses spring to mind) and sat back for a sandwich and a cuppa.
After lunch I got back to the matter in hand, fishing. I stayed with bread as the hook bait. I managed three carp, one of 4lb, one of 5.5lb and one of 3lb. The bream were back as well, two of them to be exact.
Between two and three pm I thought I would give meat a try. Sure enough it was a success, 2 bream , another 2lb'er and three more carp (two of them 3lb and the other 3.5lb) were all landed during this period. The feeder rod stayed quiet.
I stayed on the meat for the last two hours which turned out to be extremely quiet. One bream and a carp of about 3lb came in via the float rod and a 4.5lb carp, the last fish of the day came in on the feeder rod.
So a very eventful day comes to an end. Thirty one fish and one rod caught. Lesson learnt today!
Another Sunday afternoon session, this time on the Private Lake owned by Holland A.S near Oxted in Surrey.
I set off around 2:30 to make the relatively short trip to the fishery. It was dry but humid, so I braced myself for rain.
When I arrived the place was filled with anglers, I expected some but not as many as this! Undeterred I got out of the car and went in search of a free swim. I hadn't walked very far when a loud hooter went off, it was the end of a match!
Peg 6 was free and as I had never fished it before I decided to set up there while the match boys weighed in and cleared off home.
With lily pads in front and to the right of me one rod was all I could use today. I set up my match rod with a small waggler and set about plumbing the depth. The swim was very shallow which said to me that this could be the reason why the swim wasn't used for the match.
I chose to fish the lilies on my right as these were nearest to the open water and it was slightly deeper water. Before casting in I fed the swim with ground bait and a lot of maggots and corn. Straight away there were signs of fish activity. By this time the match men had all gone home.
Using sweetcorn as hook bait I made my first cast at around 15:40. Despite the obvious presence of fish and the knocks I was getting it proved pretty difficult actually hook many. This was borne out by the first hours' poor showing. Three small carp and an even smaller rudd to be exact.
For the next hour I switched hook bait to meat to see if I could not only tempt the bigger stuff but also help me hook more than I had with the corn. Numerically and size wise it wasn't a great success as I only caught 4 small carp.
I stayed on the meat for the next hour as I thought that now I was into the evening some of the bigger specimens must surely make an appearance. Alas I was to be disappointed again. Three small carp and a roach made the virtual net this time.
Between 18:40 and when I packed up at 20:00 I could only add a further three fish, two more of the small carp and my one and only tench of the session.
And so I came to the end of a very disappointing session. Fifteen fish in a 4 and a half hour session on this lake was not what I expected. Was it the match beforehand, the shallowness of the water or my dodgy angling skills? Probably all of the above.
Today was my first true carping session of the season. For me a good session is arriving at the lake at about 3pm and sitting behind some buzzers soaking in the sunshine and generally chillin' until the light gives out.
The temperature was a good 27 degrees as I left my house at 3pm to make the drive to Edenbridge.
On arrival I saw there were a few cars in the car park but nowhere near what I was expecting. I loaded the trolley and made my way up the lake to the top end where the casting distance to the island is the shortest.
The vegetation on my favourite peg at the top is too high by the fishing platform so I parked myself in the next one along.
My set up today was 2 rods, both with 6lb main line to size 14 hooks and 15mm boillies. One had pineapple flavour and the other had tutti fruitti.
I made my first casts at 16:40 and then settled back and waited for the action to begin.
I had to wait just under 2 hours for the first take. When it arrived it was a good one. Because of the island the fish can only run right or left so the only snag to keep it out off was the lilies on my right. Minutes after the bite I had a lovely 7lb common on the bank. On this occasion it was the pineapple boillie that tempted it.
I only had to wait 35 minutes for the next bite. When it came I knew straight away that it wasn't a carp and sure enough when it broke the surface I discovered that I'd hooked one of the lake's small tench. This one fell to the tutti fruitti boillie.
Just over an hour later the same rod went off again and just like the previous run I knew straight away it wasn't a carp. Sure enough when it too broke the surface I was proved right when I saw it was a small barbel.
Less then ten minutes after returning the barbel to the water I was back in again on the pineapple rod. This was not a small fish. After struggling for what seemed an age I managed to land it and after a quick weight in discovered that it was an 8lb common.
The swims then went quiet for just over an hour before the silence was broken by the buzzer on the pineapple rod going off again. This was another carp but no monster as it only weighed in at a couple of pounds.
My last fish of the session came at 20:50 and yes it too fell to the pineapple boillie. Alas it was not a carp but another of the lake's small tench.
That spelled the end of my first carping session of the season. Six fish caught but only 3 of them carp. Pineapple won four against two so I shall be using that again.
For once a day trip to Nursery Fields on a Sunday.
Peg 3 was my target for today having been thwarted on my previous visit. As usual I arrived at the fishery just after 7am to find that there were quite a few cars already present. This did not bode well for my plan as most people tend to keep their walking short and peg 3 is one of the near ones.
I unloaded the car and made my way to the lake. As soon as I reached it I could see that the peg was taken. Second choice was one of the top swims on the far bank. On the way to the swim I passed peg 3 and discovered it was Peter the bailiff who had nicked it.
Anyway I carried on up the far bank until I reached one of the few pegs where you can fish to the lilies right handed as can be seen from the photo below.
Big tactical change for today was that I was only going to use maggots as loose feed. Hook bait today was going to be onlycorn, bread and meat. I was going for quality not quantity.
I mixed the usual ground bait and set up my two rods. The first, a standard 3bb waggler with size 16 hook and 5lb main line. The second a feeder rod with a small feeder on 6lb line with a size 14 hook.
Using corn on the waggler rod and monster crab 10mm boillies on the feeder rod I made my first casts at 8:10am.
My master plan seemed to stall in the first hour as I never got a tickle on the corn. The feeder rod though was alive producing a bream and a tench.
Roles were reversed in the second hour as I switched hook bait to bread. The waggler rod yielded a bream and a tench and the feeder rod, nothing!
Another switch of bait and the waggler productivity went down again. Just a solitary tench with a taste for meat came to the net. Another tench and a roach came in via the feeder rod.
With none of today's baits setting the world alight I went back to corn. The change was a success if only to bring the lake's barbel into play, two of them in fact. The feeder rod stayed silent and still.
As I was going through a quiet period(!) I decided to have an early lunch so in came the rods, out came the flask of tea and the food. I then took advantage of the sunshine to enjoy a very pleasant 10 minute break before resuming battle.
Another change of hook bait, this time to bread started the afternoon session. As it turned out it was the best of the day as far as numbers and variety of species were concerned. In no particular order there were 2 crucians, 2 roach, 2 tench, 1 bream and 1 barbel. The feeder rod joined in as well producing 2 further barbel. The bream was a good size, see below:
I realise now that I should have stayed with the bread however I didn't and opted to go for another session on the meat. This produced only two fish, a barbel and a tench. The feeder rod was active but only just with the capture of another tench.
The next hour was my best on the corn although to be fair it only resulted in 4 fish. One each of bream, barbel, roach and tench. The feeder rod produced yet another solitary tench.
Back to the bread and yet again the fish responded. This time primarily tench, 3 of them to be exact and a lone bream. The feeder rod chipped in with a single crucian carp.
From 16:30 to packing up time at 18:00 I went back on the meat. The result was a slow finish to a slow day. Just the two barbel made the net. The feeder rod producing nothing, apparently it had shot its bolt for the day.
So was the day a success? I did go for quality which meant a drop in the numbers of fish caught would be expected however I couldn't tempt any of lakes carp to come out to play. Bottom line, I did enjoy the day so that is all that really matters.
