It was slightly warmer (the ice warning indicator wasn't on) when I left the house at 6:20 for the trip to Edenbridge. For the second time in two visits I arrived at the fishery to find another member opening the gate. Could this be a good omen for the day ahead?
My chosen swim was the one directly behind the island. You can see it from the car park. I've had some success from that swim before.
It was going to be a two rod attack again today. A feeder rod with a small lead and a 10 mm halibut boillie fished about three quarters of the way across to my left and a standard waggler set up fished the same distance straight in front of me. On the float road I used a size 20 barbless hook on 3 lb nylon with 4 lb mainline.
I was set up and ready to make my first casts at 8:00 am. I then sat back in the early morning sunshine to wait for the day's action to begin.
I had to wait about 30 minutes or so before the float disappeared. The culprit on this occasion was a tiny skimmer bream.
Things didn't improve too much in the next hour as I only bagged two small roach. The feeder rod remained silent.
Between 10 and 11 am I only landed another small roach. I'd come to the conclusion by now it was going to be another hard day.
Undeterred I kept going. The last sixty minutes of the morning session brought only, yes you've guessed it another small roach!
For the next four hours and twenty minutes the swim completely died. I wasn't getting any knocks on either the float or feeder rod. The wind was now up and it was cold enough for me to start shivering.
As I was beginning to think about packing up the float went away and I struck. This was no roach. Initially I thought I was hooked on the bottom because it didn't move. Then it began to swim away not far but far enough to take line and to put a bend in the rod. I can't say it fought like Mike Tyson but I still concentrated hard and finally it was in the net. A nice mirror of 6 lb 15 ounces. My first real carp of the year.
I decided at that point to call it a day. My total for the day was six! My worst day ever at Chittenden. I will be back.
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