2014 24 August 22nd Swallow Lake,Gabriels Fishery, Edenbridge

Today to spice things up I decided to fish a whole session using banded pellets. Nothing unusual in that you might think however I'd never tried this method before so it was a bit of a challenge to see how I coped.

I decided to go to Swallow Lake at Gabriels Fishery as this is a pond full of small carp and where I can almost guarantee bites.
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I arrived at the fishery about 10 minutes before opening time and as had happened on my last few visits the gate was open. I made the mile or so drive to the lake seeing nothing but rabbits! On arrival at the car park I discovered one other car there but never saw the occupant all day so he must have been on another lake.

The swim I chose today was right at the back of the pond. I'd never fished it before so didn't have any idea of the depth or snags present etc, It was quite close to the island so that was good.

My first problem arose when I tried to get the pellet in the band. It quickly become apparent that I needed some fingernails! I put my thinking cap on and in the end I used my forceps to hook the band and then I put the pellet in and and slid the band off the forceps. Job done!

I fed the swim and made my first cast around 7:30.

I had to wait all of ten minutes before the float went and I was into my first fish on banded pellets! The culprit a small carp of about half a pound. I unhooked the fish and found the pellet still banded, result!

By 8:30 I'd caught four of the little critters. My confidence in the method was increasing. Could I keep it up for the whole session? Here's the biggest of the four:

The next hour was even better than the first as the loose fed pellets were obviously having an effect. I took another seven of the small carp to make my running total eleven for the day.

The next hour and the catch rate increased again! This time I caught nine of the little blighters. First time on the banded pellet and I was at 20 with only three hours gone.

The fourth hour's rate dropped slightly as I only managed seven carp. I put this down to the fact that it started to spit with rain so I had to go back to the car for my waterproof jacket. Here's the best of the seven:

By the time I'd caught another eight carp it was 12:30 and time to start thinking of a quick lunch break. Today I had mini sausage rolls and a scotch egg. Lovely.

After lunch I had a quick attempt at using corn with a band but couldn't work out how to use it so it was back to the pellets. Seven more fell to this tempting bait.

The next hour brought seven more carp including my best of the day, a 5 lb 2 oz 'specimen'! This was my best ever carp from this pond so the pellets were really working for me.

Between 14:30 and 15:30 was my most productive hour in terms of the number of fish caught. Eleven of the small carp made the virtual net.

It couldn't last as in the next hour the catch rate dropped to six! I suppose they must have been getting full!

The rate continued to drop by 17:30 when I decided to pack up I had only caught one!

I was really pleased with myself, 67 fish, all carp on an untried method, albeit on an easy pond. I shall try it again.

2014 23 August 15th Chittenden, Edenbridge

I chose the club's carp lake at Chittenden for today's session.

I arrived at the fishery just after 6 am. There was no one in the car park. I loaded the trolley and set off down the lake towards my favorite swim.

My day didn't start very well as I discovered that after setting up the rod that the line at the top of the reel was very dodgy. It was falling off the spool and breaking way below the specified breaking strain. Somewhat cheesed off I removed all the damaged line and set up again. I was finally ready to make my first cast at 7:17.

For a change I decided to start with bread on the hook rather than my favored corn. In the first hour the float only disappeared once. The culprit was, as expected, one of lakes bream.

By 11:30, I'd tried corn but to no avail. I'd also tried some meat. This did bring me some success, albeit just the two bream. I did miss two carp, both spat the hook. This just wasn't my day!

I changed to pellets on the hook with little success. By 12:30 I'd only added another bream to the virtual net! Not very good.

I rang the changes again, this time back to meat. By 15:13 I'd added another four bream to the day's total.

By the time I packed up at 18:00 I'd caught a further three bream and a carp! Unfortunately it only came in at 5 oz! Probably the smallest one in the lake. Still it proves they are breeding doesn't it?

So at the end of the day I'd caught 16 fish, 15 bream and a solitary carp. Never mind, my next session on this lake is scheduled for early autumn.

2014 22 August 10th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today, I decided to have an afternoon/evening session on the waggler at the club's premier fishery, Nursery Fields.

The weather wasn't the best as I left home around 12 pm for the 30 minute journey to Edenbridge. Rain was definitely in the air.

When I arrived at the car park I found it quite full. This was a shock to me as usually even when the sun is out the attendance on a Sunday isn't very high.

Undeterred I loaded up the trolley and made my way round the back of the lake. I'd decided on the way down to fish one of the early swims as I hadn't done so for about a year. My luck was in as I discovered that they were all free.

I chose peg 4 because it had some very fishy looking lily pads to which I could fish to. I mixed up some ground bait and set up the float rod. It was 13:18 when I made my first cast.

I started with corn on the hook while feeding small halibut pellets every few minutes. It took a while before the swim responded but when it did I was into the roach and bream.

At 3 pm a hooter or whistle went off and I realized that there was a match on! That's why there were so many cars in the car park. I didn't think there would be a match on the Sunday after NF had been closed for a week but there you go.

At 16:20 I changed hook baits from corn to meat to see how that would fare. It galvanized the lake's tench  into action as I seemed to catch one after another. Those little fellas sure put up a fight on light tackle.

As the match anglers filed past me one of the anglers dropped some of his gear and remarked 'I should make two journeys'. He picked his stuff up and made his way to the car park. Later I discovered that he had left his landing net behind. I will give it to Peter next time I am there.

At 17:27 as the evening began to close in I hooked a carp which immediately took me across the lake and into the lilys on the far side. After applying pressure for several minutes the carp finally spat the hook. I was gutted.

Not put off I re-baited the swim and continued fishing. I never got another indication that anymore carp were in the vicinity. By the time I was ready to call it quits I thought I would have a dabble in front of the reeds almost under my feet.

The bait wasn't in the water more than a few seconds before it shot away and so did the fish! Instead of heading across it went down the lake. I was initially lucky in that it passed 2 beds of lilys however it did get in the third. After much coaxing I got it out however on the way back to my swim it went into the second set.

For several minutes I applied pressure in an attempt to get it out. I even walked down the bank so that I was opposite the fish. I did see it from time to time but it was a stubborn fighter and refused to come out. In the end the inevitable happened and the hook length broke. I was gutted.

It was at that point that I decided to pack up and call it a day. In retrospect I had a really good enjoyable session. In total I caught 17 fish, 6 bream, 3 roach, 7 tench and a solitary crucian carp (see below).