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Today was going to be my first visit of the year to the club's carp water at Chittenden near Edenbridge in Kent.
It was about 8:10 when I arrived at the fishery. The car park was empty so I had a choice of swims. As this was my first visit of the year I decided to load up the trolley and head off down to the dam end of the lake where my favourite swim was.
As I got to the bank I saw that the water level was very high and that the water was extremely coloured. Having seen the same at Boulthurst Farm a few weeks back I feared the worst.
When I arrived at my swim I was taken aback by some of the alterations that had been done. Nearly all the bank side trees had been cut down including the overhanging one that I used to fish under. Also a lot of the vegetation behind me had been removed. On the plus side the new boarding around the swims was much better than the old slippery platforms.
It was the usual two rod attack today, the feeder and my Shimano float rod replacing my match rod as there are some big ones in here!
I was set up and ready to make my first casts at 9:10.
On the waggler rod I started with a size 18 hook with 2 maggots. I fed two or three maggots every subsequent cast to ensure a trickle of feed went into the swim. A the end of the first hour the only occupants of the virtual net were 3 skimmer bream.
Another hour passed with only two more bream making the net. I did see one or two carp jumping in the distance so that raised my spirits somewhat.
The next hour and the bream kept coming although this time they were joined by a solitary roach.
Between 12 and 1pm I decided to switch hook baits from maggot to corn. Nothing showed any interest at all.
I was back on the maggots for the next hour. Seemed to work as three roach and two bream made the net. The feeder rod was silent.
I tried corn again for the next hour but once more the landing net remained dry.
From 15:10 to 17:15 when I packed up the waggler rod produced just one more roach however the feeder rod's buzzer sounded for the only time of the day. The result was a carp of 3lb or so.
I finished the day on 14 fish, a bit disappointing but that's life.
Today was my third visit of the year to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields, near Edenbridge in Kent.
It was pouring with rain as I made my way to the fishery as shown by the fact it took me an hour instead of the usual 35 minutes.
When I did arrive I went to the entrance gate and found it open. It wasn't the previous angler's fault but some yobs who'd broke in using bolt cutters to cut through the padlock.
The good news was that as I arrived the rain decided to depart.
There was one other car in the car park and I could see the angler on the far bank which meant that my intended swim for the day was vacant.
The usual Nursery Fields attack today, one waggler rod and a feeder rod with a small leger and 10mm boillie fished close to the island.
I was set up and ready to make my cast at 9:40 having fed both swims with a generous helping of free offerings.
As expected the first visitors to the dining table was a shoal of small roach. I managed to nab five of them in the first hour. A pleasant surprise in the first hour was the sound of the bite alarm going off. It turned out to be a bream of about 1.5lb.
An hour later the virtual net was almost full (!) with the following: 2 tench which were around 2lb, 1 Ide, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon and 2 more roach. The feeder rod had also chipped in with a couple of the good sized tench.
Over the lunchtime period the fishing slowed somewhat however this could have been down to my decision to swop baits from maggot to corn. Anyway another four fish came in, 2 roach and 2 of the lake's crucians. Total for the day now stood at 19.
I was still on the corn at 2pm. The weather could almost be called warm, I'd even taken my coat off. Another tench and Ide were in the net.
By 15:35 three more fish with a liking for corn had made the net. Two roach and another crucian. Also the feeder rod's bite alarm had gone berserk and I was into a good one. It seemed like it took me forever to land but eventually I did. When I put it on the scales it registered as my first double of the season (11lb).
By the time I packed up at 17:45 four more fish had made the net. From the waggler came a Roach, Tench and a Bream. The final fish from the feeder rod was also a Tench.
Just before I packed I packed up I tried down the margin with a piece of corn. I'd been feeding it with one or two pieces all day. Five minutes in and the float disappeared. After a titanic struggle the fish won and cleared off. It was either a massive Tench or more likely another good carp. Unfortunately I never got to see it.
