2014 19 July 18th Hare Lake, Gabriels Farm Fishery, Edenbridge

Today I thought for a change I would make a return trip to Gabriel's farm to see how the fishery performed during the summer months.

The fishery doesn't open until 7 am so today I had a bit of a lay in! Anyway I arrived at the gates at 6:50 to find them already open! I drove the mile or so to the lakes to find a couple of cars already there.

I had made the decision to fish Silver Lake today but when I got to my favorite peg the reeds that were just in front of the platform in May were now so thick it would have made retrieving any fish caught very difficult. Because of this I decided to try my favorite swim on Hare lake instead.

I was set up and ready to make my first cast at around 7:40. Unlike the previous week today was going to be a hot one as already I was down to my t-shirt! That's the British weather for you!

I started on corn over a ground bait mix of crumb, meat, pellets, corn and hemp which was fed close to the reeds on the far side. I was rewarded in the first hour with six fish made up of rudd, roach and bream.

The second hour was a bit slower, only three fish made the virtual net. A bream, a roach and the first carp of the day, albeit only about 1.5 lb.

The third hour brought in 8 fish, two of them carp (around a pound) and the other six were roach. They all fell to a piece of corn.

The next hour was the quietest so far with just 1 small roach falling victim to the magic corn.

As I entered the lunch period the sun was really beating down on me so for a change I put my umbrella up to protect myself from the effects of its rays. Two bream and a roach made the virtual net in that hour.

I decided after lunch that it would be a good time to switch hook baits. I had prepared some small cubes of meat the night before and now was the time to give them a try. I was rewarded with 2 roach and a carp of 1.5 lb.

For the next hour I switched baits to small hook able pellets. No surprise what I caught, three more roach in the 2 to 3 ounce category.

I went back on the corn in another attempt to catch something other than a roach. Well I sort of succeeded as I managed to get a bream and a roach.

By the time I packed up at 17:30 when the sun had finally taken it's toll on me I'd added another two roach to the net making the day's overall total 33.

In conclusion, it was another day where I either I han't really succeeded or the lake is just top heavy with roach of 2 or 3 ounces.