skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Today was my second visit of the season to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields near Edenbridge in Kent.
It had warmed up somewhat in the last couple of days after the latest (and hopefully last) cold snap of the winter so I was hopeful of a good day.
It was about 8:20 when I arrived at the fishery. The car park was packed, well seven cars and that counts as packed by my standards. As I was heading off to the far bank today so I wasn't too bothered about not getting a swim.
I unloaded the car and made my way to peg 13 on the back stretch.
Two rod attack, a leger placed on the far side of the lily pads and a waggler rod fished between half and three-quarters of the way across to the island.
Waggler swim - a dark and dreary day.
Feeder swim:
I fed the swim with maggots every few minutes while I was setting up which I thought would give the fish confidence to feed before I actually cast in.
It was 9:40 when I made my first casts. Now it was time to sit back and wait for the action to start.
It was only a few minutes before the float disappeared and I was into my first fish. It turned out to be one of the lake's skimmer bream. This was quickly followed by two nice sized Ide. This made my total for the first hour, three.
The next hour was a real bumper one for me, 1 bream, 2 roach and 2 more of the Ide. My total for the day was now 8.
Much the same for the next hour except that it was totally dominated by roach, four of them to be exact.
The next hour brought me a shoal of roach and rudd. Fifteen of them consisting of 10 roach and 5 rudd some of which were caught on corn. My total for the day had now risen to 27.
Just as quickly as they arrived they disappeared as evidenced by the fact that I only caught one roach in the next hour and three more Ide.
One of the Ide:
By 17:50 when I decided to pack up for the day, another seven fish had made the net, all of them Ide.
My total for the day and one that I was pleased with was 38.
The feeder rod, with the exception of a few line bites, never moved an inch all day.
Today I thought I would pay my first visit of the year to Holland A. S. small carp pond on Boulthurst farm near Oxted in Surrey.
It was about 8:15 when I arrived at the pond. As it was March 14th, the last day the pond was open I found it strange that the car park was empty.
There are only 4 swims on the pond so before deciding which swim I was going to fish I went down and had a look around. The first thing that struck me was that the water was very brown, not it's usual colour at all. I put this down to the amount of rain we'd had the previous few weeks. I wondered if it would affect the fishing.
I settled on the swim on the far right. It was just the one rod today so I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 8:40.
For today I decided that as the pond contained mainly carp to about 7lb I would try the following set up. My rod was a Shimano float rod designed for commercial carp fisheries, a reel with 6lb main line and a large waggler. For hook bait I was going to use 10mm boillies. I intended to fish a line about 3 rod lengths out.
I knew today was going to be a waiting game so I wasn't surprised when there was no immediate action. There was a lot of wind blowing across the pond so I had to change the float several times before I found one that I could easily see the tip of.
Thirty minutes after I'd settled down the float went under and I was into a fish. Unfortunately the hook came out of it's mouth and it was gone. Still it gave me confidence that my method was working.
It was back to the waiting game again. At 10:17 I got the bite I'd been waiting for. It didn't feel too big as it never really fought much however when I weighted it the scales read 8lb 2 oz! Success.
I continued to feed the swim with pellets and boillies throughout the day but by 15:00 in the afternoon there was no further action.
During the afternoon I spotted this fellow on the far bank.
I'd seen activity in the swim all day but assumed they were some of the pond's roach. For the last few hours I decided to switch to 2 pieces of corn as the bait.
I was right about the roach, by 16:30 when I packed up I'd caught 6 of them, all in the 3 to 4 ounce range.
Today was my first visit of the season to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Field, near Edenbridge in Kent.
I arrived at the fishery about 8:15 to find the car park empty. I wasn't surprised as it was a bit chilly and there was rain in the air.
I unloaded the car and made my way up the lake towards my intended swim which was at the end of the island.
Two rod attack today, the first a waggler fished three quarters of the way across on the match rod and a small leger on the feeder rod fished tight to the island.
I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 9:15. First out was the feeder rod. The leger landing about 2 feet from the island, good enough for me. I had fired some maggots into the intended waggler swim while I was setting up.
I cast the float out and within a couple of minutes the float went under and the rod bent! I wasn't expecting this. The fish then took line, I definitely wasn't expecting that. The culprit was a carp of about 4lb with a liking for a single maggot on a size 20 hook.
The first hour was completed by the following, all caught on single maggot: 1 perch, 1 Ide, 1 crucian and 2 roach. A satisfying start to the day.
During the next hour the rain came in a big way to such an extent that I had to cocoon myself under the brolly. The fish must have liked it as much as me because I only caught one roach in that time.
Things took a turn for the better in the next hour when another Ide and four roach made the virtual net. I was still catching them on maggots.
Although there was only one other angler on the lake I wasn't lonely as I had these two for company all day long.
The leger rod had been silent all day. Experience from the last couple of years at this time of the season told me not worry. When a bite did come it would be a good one. At 13:40 I was proved right when the alarm went off and so did the fish. Unfortunately I lost it almost straight away. I was not a happy bunny.
By 13:40 my total for the day had risen to 23 with the addition of 2 rudd, 1 bream and 8 roach.
Around this time I decided to forego the maggots and have a go with corn. Well for the first hour after it worked a treat - on rudd anyway. Six made the virtual net in that time.
About 16:00 I cast the waggler up the adjoining tree and decided at that point that I would pack up that rod and concentrate on the leger rod.
This fellow came to try his luck on my unused bait.
While I was watching the tip there was an almighty splash directly in front of me. So much so that it made me jump out of my skin. After I few seconds I saw it was this fellow.
At 16:30 with my total on 29 for the day I decided it was time to pack up. To be truthful I was freezing!
My 2018 season started off today with a visit to Holland Angling Society's pond near Oxted in Surrey.
I hadn't fished the pond for many years however I did know that it contained predominately roach and perch plus a few carp to around 3lb. Of course things could have changed in the intervening years.
I arrived at the pond about 8:15. The weather wasn't great - it was raining nice and steady however the forecast said that it was due to stop about 11am. It wasn't really cold so that was good.
I unloaded the car and carried my gear to my swim (didn't need to use my trolley as the walk was short).
As this was my first outing of the season I wanted to keep things simple so I decided to only use one rod today. Before I started to set up I fired out some maggots about 2 rod lengths from the bank.
My set up today was a match rod with 4lb main line to a size 20 with a 2.5lb hook length.
I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 9:15.
I was into small roach almost immediately. I was firing out a few maggots every cast and this seemed to keep them interested. By the end of the first hour I'd caught 5 roach, a pleasing start for the time of year.
For the next hour I fed maggots and hemp, not a great amount but enough to keep them interested (or so I thought). By 11:30 my total for the day had risen to 12 with the addition of 4 roach and 3 perch.
I followed the same pattern for the next hour with the exception that at the beginning of the hour I fed the swim with grains of corn. This was my slowest hour so far as only 1 roach made the virtual net.
I stuck to my guns for the next hour and was rewarded with a perch and three roach. The sport wasn't great but it was enough to keep me alive in the conditions. The rain stopped when it said it would so I was glad of that.
At 15:00 I made the decision to have a try with corn. I'm glad I did as the float on hitting the water went down almost immediately. The result was a carp of about a 1lb.
Between 15:00 and 16:35 when the weather finally got to me and I decided to pack up, my total for the day had risen to 25. This consisted of 1 perch, 1 roach and 5 small carp, all caught on corn.
