Today, was going to be my first trip of the season to the
club’s carp lake at Chittenden near Edenbridge.
As this was a Bank Holiday and people were just being let
out of lockdown to fish, I decided that an early start would be the wise thing
to do. The alarm went off at 4:20. Just before 5am the car was loaded, and I
was on my way to Edenbridge.
When I arrived around 5:40 there were 6 cars already in the
car park. My plan for the day was working.
I did hit trouble though when I started to load the trolley.
I discovered that I had left my landing net in the garage. The air turned blue.
I made the decision to go back home and return the next day. As I just passed
the Fours Elms turning on the return journey, I remembered that my carp landing nets live in my rod
holdall! I turned the car round and headed back to the lake.
No one else had turned up since my departure so I was not
too perturbed.
With the trolly packed, I headed off to the dam end of the
lake which is the home of my favourite swim. I passed a lot of catfish anglers
before I arrived at my vacant swim of choice.
Set up today was initially 1 rod, my 12’ Shimano float rod, 6lb
main line, and similar sized hook lengths. I intended to start the session on a
size 16.
For bait I had brought, sweetcorn, meat, and an assortment
of pellets.
First task was to mix the ground bait so that it could sit
for a bit while I set up. Halfway through setting up I fed the swim with three
or four balls.
I was ready to make my first cast at 7:00. My starting bait
was sweetcorn.
If the swim behaved as normal, I was expecting the first
action to be with the lake’s bream. As with last week at Nursery fields, the
fish did not follow the prescribed script. The float disappeared and once
contact had been made the rod bent over and line left the reel at a rate of
knots. The culprit turned out to be a carp of 6lb.
Ten minutes later the float went again, and the fish moved
away, taking line very slowly. Finally, it stopped, and I started to apply more
pressure to try and turn it. Alas, at that point the hook came out. I think,
judging by the run speed, that it was a catfish that had taken the bait.
The next hour was very quiet. The only action was another of
the lake’s bream.
These guys came for a look but couldn't offer any helpful advice.
These guys came for a look but couldn't offer any helpful advice.
The next four hours passed very slowly with hardly any
action at all. A switch from corn to meat attracted another of the lake’s bream
but that was all.
By 14:00, I had spent another hour on the corn alas it was
no better than the meat. This was not the sort of day I was expecting after the
long lay-off.
All that was to change over the next hour. By now I was back
on the meat. I had four bites, each of them extremely similar. The fish took
off extremely slowly. Despite some pressure from me the fish had no intention
of stopping. Two of the fish headed straight for the island. Unfortunately, I
could not stop either one from being snagged up. The third, which I judged to
be the larger one took me down the centre of the lake before I managed to turn
it. For a few minutes I played it in front of me. Then, unexpectedly, the fish
turned and headed for the island where I lost it.
The fourth one behaved in the same way, however this one I
did manage to land. As I suspected it was a catfish of 6lb 4oz, my first of the
season.
The swim I was in gets the sun around 16:00 to such a degree
that I really cannot see the float. Rather than squint for the rest of the day
I decided to change my approach. I set up my feeder rod so that I could
freeline a pellet which was wrapped in ground bait, like a pseudo method
feeder.
In the two and half hours that I fished this method I had
two pulls. Both were from carp, the first came in at 11lb 11oz, my first double
of the season and the second I estimated to be around 2lb.
I decided to pack up at 18:37 and head home.
In conclusion, it was my first trip of the year to this
venue and I had caught 9 fish. The carp, obviously, were not feeding however
the catfish were. If I had used stronger tackle, I may have got them in. Never
mind, onto the next session.
