2016 16 June 24th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today I was going to head back to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields. I was on a high after the last session at Chittendon when I caught 100 lb of fish.

I decided to have an afternoon and evening session rather than the more traditional all day one which tended, thanks to age and the heat, to end around 17:00. Today if all was going well I could last until 20:00.

And so it was about 12:50 when I pulled into a relatively empty car park on this quite warm summer afternoon.

I unloaded the car and quickly made my way round to the back of the lake to see what swims were available today.

After I selected my swim I set up my usual two rods. This usually takes about an hour from arrival time and so it was about 13:50 when I made my first casts. Initially I went with meat on the waggler rod and Tangerine Dream boillies on the feeder rod.

The first species to show up was tench, a couiple of them made the virtual net in the first hour.

The next hour was slow, just the one tench on meat. However, there was some action on the feeder rod. The problem was I lost it. I saw it was a carp but I suppose that's the way it goes sometimes.

At 16:16 the feeder rod went off again and I knew I was into another carp. Here was a chance to redeem myself! I knew it wasn't large and this was confirmed when it slid into the landing net. I estimated it to be about 3 lb.

Thirty minutes later I lost another carp on the feeder rod. How frustrating. I did manage another small tench on meat from the waggler swim though.

I had to wait until 17.39 before the action resumed. Again it was on the feeder rod and again it wasn't a monster but I did get it in. A whopping 2 lb of carp.

Five minutes later another meat loving tench made the net from underneath the waggler.

Just after releasing the tench the feeder rod went off again and I was into another carp. No monster this one either. I estimated it to be about 2 lb.

At 18:00 I decided to fish the waggler really close in. There was no interest at first, and then after 15 minutes or so the float shot under and I was into a barbel. Not a massive one but a barbel all the same.

My last fish of the session came at 19:00 and was another small barbel with a lucheon meat habit.

So that was it, not a bad session but not as good as I was expecting.

2016 15 June 10th Chittenden, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first visit of the club's new season to it's carp fishery at Chittenden, just outside of Edenbridge.

I was up and out of the house quite early by my standards. This enabled me to arrive at the fishery around 6.25. I was one of the first there.

I loaded the trolley and headed off to the dam end of the lake where my favourite waggler swim was situated.

It was going to be a two rod attack today, a waggler close to the reeds and a small leger by the overhanging tree in the next swim up.

Waggler Swim

Feeder Swim

I was set up and ready to make my first casts by 7.25.

The feeder rod was the first to spring into action unfortunately I managed to lose it after a bit of a struggle. Perhaps I wasn't warmed up yet?

At 8.19 I caught my first carp of the day. It was tempted by a piece of corn on the waggler rod. I estimated it was about 5 lb. Lovely. I also managed a skimmer bream to make my total for the first hour two!

The next hour was a mirror image of the first, a small skimmer and a 5 lb 10 oz carp both on the corn. I had tried meat during the hour and had managed to lose another carp on it.

By 10:43 the swim had really come alive. First a carp of 3 lb 10 oz on meat. That was followed by a carp of 7 lb 3 oz on the feeder rod which had a tangerine dream boillie on it. The waggler rod then chipped in with the biggest fish of the day so far (8 lb 15 oz) on meat. I also managed to lose another one on the feeder rod. Two more bream also made the virtual net.

The next hour yielded three more carp, 2 on the waggler (6 lb 10 oz and 9 lb 12 oz) and a 4 lb 7 oz one on the feeder rod. This brought up the dozen for the day.

The two hour lunch period was quiet. All the action came on the wggler rod. A carp of 6 lb 7 oz on corn started the ball rolling and three bream on a mixture of meat and corn followed suit.

By mid afternoon the pace had slowed again. Just the one carp made the net. This one came in at 4 lb 13 oz and was caught on corn.

By 15:50 my day's total had risen to 18 with a carp of 6 lb 1 oz which fell to a nice cube of meat.

Half an hour later I'd bagged another carp on meat of 8 lb 5 oz. My total weight for the day was rising to a respectable height.

Fifteen minutes later, again on meat, another carp made the net. This was a  3 lb 7 oz specimen.

Three quarters of an hour later and I was in again. This one was 7 lb 14 oz and the bait was again meat.

Twenty minutes later and I was in again, Another 7 lb 2 oz specimen with a liking for meat. The day's weight tally was getting higher.

Forty Five minutes later (18.23) and I was in again, this time the carp weighed 4 lb 4 oz and again fell to a cube of luncheon meat.

My last fish of the day came in at 18:45 and was a tad smaller at 4 lb 1 oz.

So 24 fish caught in a day the majority of them carp. I couldn't complain about that. The bonus was that allowing for the bream I caught over 100 lb of fish! Only the second time I've ever done that.