2014 13 June 5th Boulthurst Farm, Oxted, Surrey

After a break of almost three years I decided today to visit Holland Angling Society's carp pond at Boulthurst Farm. For a change I decided not to target the carp but instead I'd go for the crucians using standard waggler tactics.

I arrived at the pond about 7am to discover that the car park was empty. This was a relief as the pond only has 5 swims although one of them is a double. The swim I chose is the only one that has some lily pads to fish to.

I was ready to make my first cast at 7:30. The weather was great, the sun was out and my coat was off! Could this be a good day for me?

I started on single maggot and the action started as soon as the float hit the water. The problem was that I think they were very small roach as I couldn't connect with the knocks. At the end of the first hour I'd accumulated 3 roach and a small skimmer bream.

For the second hour I decided to abandon the maggots and go for broke by changing to corn. I was still getting loads of knocks but nothing serious. That was until the float shot away and I was into something that wasn't a small roach. It was the crucian that I was after! Job done before 9:30 in the morning.

The shade now arrived in my swim and I had to put my coat back on! The larger carp in the pond were also now to be seen cruising in the morning sunshine on the top.

It was about now that a second angler turned up. He weighed up whether to go to my left or my right before finally deciding to go to my left and take on the sunken tree, the home of much lost tackle.

Another hour and another three fish. No more of the pond's crucians, just 2 roach and a small bream.

By 11:30 things still hadn't improved. I knew there were fish there I could see them feeding on the loose fed maggots but they were all very small. I did manage to get another two roach on the corn.

The next hour followed exactly the same pattern only this time I managed to get a couple of skimmers.

If the morning was bad then the afternoon was ten times worse. The swim went completely dead. All I had to show for my efforts was another roach.

It was about this time that my mate decided to pack up for the day. He had targeted the carp and had around 5 out, the best of which was about 7 lb.

In the next three hours I managed to get a carp of my own, this one came in at just over a 1 lb but was very welcome after the day I was having. When I packed up at 18:30 I'd managed to get another 2 bream and a further 3 roach!

I decided then to pack up for the day. It was not a day that lived up to my expectations however I still managed to get 19. I will return to put the record straight!