2014 16 June 29th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was going to be my first afternoon/evening carping session at the club's mixed fishing venue at Nursery Fields in Edenbridge.

The weather was overcast and not all that warm for the time of year as I made the drive to Edenbridge at around 3 pm.

When I arrived at the car park there wasn't that many cars present, maybe 3 or 4 certainly no more than that. I therefore, felt pretty confident that my choice of swim for today at the top of the lake would be free.

I was proved right in my assumption when I arrived at the top of the lake to find only one other angler there. He wasn't in my swim of choice however.

Today was going to be a two rod attack, one either side of the swim. The first rod would have strawberry 15 mm boillies and the second the same size tutti fruitti ones. Main line was going to be 6 lb to a size 14 hook on a 5 lb hook length.

This is the view down the lake:

I was ready to make my first casts at 16:27. I then settled back in my chair under the trees as it had just begun to rain. How long would I have to wait for the action to begin?

The answer was about two hours. The tutti fruitti rod's buzzer went off and I was in, unfortunately not for long as the fish came off! Undeterred I recast and sat back down to resume waiting.

Twenty minutes later the buzzer on the same rod went off and I was in again. This time I did manage to land the fish. It was a carp of 4 lb.

An hour later the strawberry rod's buzzer went off and I was in again. The culprit this time was a slightly better carp of around 5.5 lb. I didn't bother weighing these carp as they were nowhere near my personal best and I didn't want to keep them on the bank too long.

The strawberry rod was again in action 30 minutes later. Unfortunately it was one of the lake's smaller inhabitants, a 3 lb carp. On runs it was two all between the two flavors.

Immediately I recast, the Tutti Fruitti rod's buzzer sounded and I was in again. This one, like the first one was also lost.

I recast and had to wait only 20 minutes before the strawberry rod's buzzer signaled another run. I got this one but again it wasn't a monster. It looked a shade under 4 lb.

The time was now 20.30 and so I began to think about packing up. As I packed away the strawberry rod the other one went off and this time it wasn't a carp but one of the venue's barbel.

So the final score was 5 fish, three on the strawberry rod and two on the tutti fruitti one. Not a bad session however the fish could have been a bit bigger!