2017 03 March 31st Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Beware The Ides Of March

For my third outing of the season I thought I would make a return visit to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields near Edenbridge in Kent.

As I drove down I could feel that the sun was going to be quite strong for the time of year. This might be a factor in whether or not my trip would be successful. Time would tell.

It was just after 7 when I arrived at the venue. There was one other angler there who could only have been a couple of minutes in front of me. We exchanged pleasantries and some information and then went our separate ways.

Today's tactics was going to be the same as the ones I used at Chittenden the previous week, Initially a float rod and then another rod with a small bomb and a 10mm boillie as bait later on.

When I arrived at my swim I decided on a cocktail approach to my loose feed. A combination of hemp, maggots, corn and pellets was thrown in at regular intervals whilst I was setting up.

I was ready to make my first casts at 8am. The first hour flew by as I had action from the get go. Six fish made the net consisting of roach and ide, a species I found out from the bailiff that had recently been stocked.

I decided as the fish were biting that I would stay on the corn until that slowed down. By 9am I'd added another three Ide to the net.

The swim was definitely alive now. Ninety minutes later and I'd caught one more Ide and three tench. My total for the day was now 13.

By noon I'd set up the feeder rod and was fishing a line close to the island. Just before my lunch (12:30) I'd caught one tench on the feeder rod with the float line chipping in with 4 teach plus 1 each of crucian, roach and ide. I was rocking. I'd be taking my coat off next.

The Nursery Fields lunchtime slump then kicked in as by 13:30 I'd only added one more Ide to the virtual net.

The feeder rod then roared into action, the result was my year's first barbel. A nice 2lb specimen. Total for the day was now 23.

The rest of the afternoon (until 16.05) continued to be full on action. The float rod produced two tench, two bream and four more Ide. The feeder rod however produced a carp of 13lb 4oz, another double for the year and a personal best for Nursery Fields. Total for the day was now 32.

The carp - sorry photo not the best.

For the last 2 hours of the day I fished the margin swim that I'd been feeding, little and often, all through the day. I managed to get my best Ide of the day, around 1lb, and several tench and bream. However there weren't any showstoppers between them.

This fellow managed to keep me company throughout the day.

I packed up at 18:30, having caught 40 fish, one of those being a personal best carp from Nursery Fields. The biggest Ide was a personal best as well, however I'd never caught one before so it doesn't really count.

2017 2 March 24th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

For my second outing of the season I decided to visit the club's carp lake at Chittenden, near Edenbridge in Kent.

Driving down to the venue I noticed that it was very much colder (6 degrees) than the previous week. The good news was that there was an absence of wind. How would this affect the fishing?

I arrived at the fishery just after 7am to find just one other car in the car park. The weather was obviously putting  people off.

I unloaded the car and made my way down to the bottom end of the lake.

Today I was going to start with one float rod and then introduce a feeder rod later on. My initial set up was 6lb main line, size 18 hook and single maggot as the hook bait. I fed the swim with hemp, pellets, maggots and corn as I was setting up.

I was ready to make my first cast at 8am. At this time of year I didn't know what to expect from the day so I was full of positive anticipation as I sat back in my chair to wait for the action to begin.

By the end of the first hour I had caught fish, the only problem was they were very small bream and roach, Still it was better than no action.

The next hour was pretty much the same as the previous one except that the three fish were all small rudd.

By 11:35 the small fish had kept coming in on the maggot. One rudd, one bream and five roach to be exact. Total for the day was now 13.

About 11:45 I made two changes to my tactics, the first was to switch hook bait from maggots to corn, The second was to start fishing a small bomb on the feeder rod with 10mm tutti fruitti boillies as the bait.

By 12:20 my plan seemed to have worked. On the float rod I'd caught 2 bream both bigger than the ones I was getting on maggot (the largest being about a pound) and on the feeder rod I'd landed this 7.5 lb carp. Things were looking up.

The next two hours were slow but rewarding. On the float rod I'd added another bream to the virtual net. On the feeder however I'd caught my first double of the year, a 12 lb 12 oz specimen, I was a happy little bunny.

By 15:30 the feeder rod had delivered another fish, Not a carp but a bream of about 2lb. My biggest of the year so far.

Just after 4pm, as I was starting to have thoughts about packing up, the feeder rod went off again and I was into another good carp (for me that is). This was my second double of the season although not quite as big as the previous one it did weigh 11 lb 2 oz.

It was at this point that I decided to call it a day. Twenty fish caught including two doubles. I can't complain about that.

2017 01 March 19th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Sunday March 19th marked the start of my 2017 season. As has been my practise for the last few years my season debut was to be at the club's mixed fishery, Nursery Fields, just outside of Edenbridge in Kent

As I set out the weather outside was 12 degrees, dry but very windy. When I arrived at the fishery around 7:20, I was surprised to see about 5 cars in the car park, that is busier than what I see in the height of summer.

Due to the weather I could see that no one was at the top of the lake and so it was in that direction that I made my way after I'd loaded up the trolley.

I'd already planned that today I would just keep things simple and fish with just one rod. This would in theory enable me to "get back into the old routine" easily.

Although the temperature according to the car was 12 degrees the strong wind must have made it in reality, at least, half that.

The setup today was a match rod with 4lb main line to a size 20 (yes I can still see it) hook. Bait was primarily single maggot but depending on the day I had with me some corn. No ground bait today just loose fed maggots, hemp, pellets and corn on a little and often basis.

I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 8.22. The question now was, how long before I got my first bite of the season?

The answer was about a minute, the culprit, not unexpectedly, a very small roach. By the end of the first hour I caught another two and a gudgeon, making my total for the day, four.

One of the reasons I 'only' caught four was because I kept getting tangled up when casting due to the strong wind. At the end of the hour I reviewed my shotting pattern. I had all the weight around the float because I wanted to slowly let the bait drop through the water. I decided to make the pattern more even and the result was that I never got another tangle all day. Success!

The next hour's results proved my point, 5 roach and a perch made the virtual net. My total for the day was now ten, double figures.

The fishing slowed down a bit in the next hour. Just the three small roach making the net. Total now was thirteen.

Around noon after another small roach had made the net I decided to give corn a go. I was immediately rewarded with a roach of about 5 or 6 ounces. Much bigger than the ones taking the maggots.

By 13:30 I was still on the corn. I had only more fish to show for my efforts. The good news was that it was my first bream of the season. Not a monster though.

By 15:00 my total for the day had risen to 21. I'd added to the total with another bream and roach on corn plus 2 roach and my first crucian of the season on maggot.

During the day I'd been feeding the margin swim to my left with the occasional piece of corn and so for the last hour I dropped my float in it to see what I had attracted. The result was 2 nice tench.

That was it for the day. I packed up about 16:30. I went home happy after catching 23 fish in all.

2016 20 August 12th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

As it turned out today was my last trip of 2016. A combination of holiday and a new car put paid to serious maggot drowning on my part. So it was off to Chittenden, the club's carp lake for my 2016 swan(shot)song!

I was up and out of the house by 5:30 as today I was aiming to get amongst the fish before the sun could take it's effect on proceedings.

While I was setting up it came to light that I'd forgotton my boillies! What a twerp. That meant that I would only be fishing the waggler today.

I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 7 am. The swim looked good, very fishy, I was hoping for a good day.

I thought I would start on the meat today to see if there was any early morning feeders about. Sure enough there were, by the end of the first hour I'd caught a couple of fish, one bream and a carp of about 3 lb.

The next four hours were very slow. In that time I'd switched to strawberry corn and managed to get another bream. I also lost another carp but I don't think it was a monster.

Another two hours passed with only a carp of 1.5 lb, caught on meat, making the virtual net. Things were not going according to plan.

Another four hours passed before I caught another fish on meat. This one was a small roach!

It was now 18:00 and with just 5 fish caught in the day I decided to call time on this session and as it turned out the season as well.

2016 19 August 6th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

On this early August day I planned to venture out to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields just outside of Edenbridge in darkest Kent.

It was back to the standard all day session today which meant that I was up and out of the house in time to arrive at the fishery around 6:30.

Upon arrival I unloaded the car and headed off to the back of the lake where I intended to fish today.

This is the waggler rod's swim:

This is the feeder rod's swim:

As I've stated in a previous blog entry it takes me about an hour from arrival to first cast. I usually set up the feeder rod first as I can cast it out and if the buzzer goes I am in a position to react straight away. Well that is exactly what happened today. The result was a nice carp of around 5.5 lb which had a liking for tutti fruitti boillies.

Due to this pleasant interruption I didn't make my other first cast until 8.05.

The next bite didn't come on the waggler as I expected but on the feeder rod. It was 8:05 and the culprit was a 2 lb tench.

An hour later and I'd bagged another tench of the same size on the same rod and bait.

Today's bait of choice on the waggler rod was strawberry flavoured corn. It wasn't until 12:05 that I managed to get my first fish on it. The culprit was one of the lake's bream.

From noon until 15:05 the swim went very quiet. I did catch though, the feeder rod chipped in with another tench and because I had switched from corn to meat on the waggler rod I landed a roach and another bream.

My last fish of the session came in at 16:05 and was another bream with a taste for meat. I then decided to cal it a day.

So after a great start the session went completely downhill. Still that's fishing and that's why we love it.

2016 18 July 30th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

Today it was back to club's carp water at Chittenden after a brief sojourn to Bouthurst Farm.

The differnce today was that instead of a day long sesssion I planned to leave at lunchtime and fish into the evening. I would finish before I needed a torch to let myself out.

I was out of the house and on the road in time to reach the fishery at 13:10. There were a few anglers there but not as many as I expected.

I unloaded the car and headed down the lake to my chosen swim of the day. You do work up a bit of a sweat pulling that trolley in the summer heat.

Today was going to be a carp session featuring my two carp rods and some lovely tangerine dream and tutti fruitti boillies. I intended to use maize as feed in the swims. As a bonus I had a combination of hemp, pellets and other assorted boillies which I was also going to use as an addititional attractor.

I had both swimis fed and both rods set up to make my first casts at 14:10. What would today bring? That's the joy of fishing, we never reallly know.

This was my swim to the left.

This was the swim to my right.

The first time the bleeper went off was at 15:06, alas I lost this one. It felt about 5 lb or so and came on the tangerine dream rod.

An hour and 25 minutes later the other buzzer went off, this one I did get in, unfortunately it was a bream of about a pound. The tutti fruitt rod was one up on the day.

Fifteen mnutes later and I'd bagged my first carp of the day. It was 6 lb and came in on the Tangerine Dream rod.

Between 16:45 and 17:59 I lost a further three carp, the second of the three actually took the boillie on the drop,. I had now lost four fish. I began to get worried that I was doing something wrong.

The setup:

At 18:15 I was back on track. This one weighed 7 lb and fell to a tutti fruitti boillie. The run of misses had been broken. Confidence had been restored.

Fifteen minutes later and again on tutti fruitti I landed another carp of 6 lb or so.

At 19:30 the buzzer went off and I was into another one. After a few minutes of playing the fish and with it now being close to the bank I noticed that the line was tangled around the reel and that I wouldn't be able to retreive anymore line. I took the line and keeping tight managed to guide the fish to the net! The result was 5 lb carp.

I caught my last and biggest carp at 19:50. It weighed 9 lb and came in on the Tangerine Dream rod.

So that was it for the day. I was worried about the lost fish so I enquired on Maggotdrowners and the advice given was that 15 mm boillies on a size 14 drennan hair rig was imbalanced. I shall, in future, change my set up when fishing this method.

2016 17 July 1st Boulthurst Farm, Holland, Surrey

Today I was going to make a visit to one of my old favourite venues, Holland AS's small carp pond in Boulthurst Frrm near Oxted in Surrey.

As there are only 5 swims on this pond it was imperative that I was up and out of the house as early as I could manage.

I arrived at the pond a little after 6 am to find the small car park empty. "Perfect" I thought to myself. I parked the car about 15 metres from the swim on the far right of the pond which meant no need of the trolley today.

I was set up and ready to make my first cast dead on 7 am. As this is a carp pond it was carp rod and a buzzer today. Not a tactic for a day session that I use very often. Tangerine Dream 15 mm boillies were my bait of choice.

I had fed two lines within the swim, one to the right and yes, one to the left. I started with the one on the left. It was thirty minutes into the session when the buzzer went off the first time and I was in. The result didn't threaten the breaking strain of the line, a mere 1 lb of fighting carp!

I then swopped to the right hand swim and ten minutes later the buzzer went again. This one was a bit bigger (2.5 lb) but still smaller than I was expecting.

The pattern for the day was now set, I would change lines each fish or after an unproductive hour whichever came first.

At 8:21 my biggest fish of the day so far turned up. I estimated it to be about 5 lb.

Six minutes later and I was in again, the result was the same, a small carp of about 3 lb. Where were the bigger ones? When I had visited the pond a few years back they went to about 7lb.

I had to wait half an hour before the buzzer went off again. Yet again it was another carp of about a 1 lb. I began to suspect that the club had recently re-stocked the pond with small carp.

Things were slowing down. I had to sit for an hour before the sound of the buzzer disturbed the peace and quiet. The result? Yep another small carp. This one about 2 lb.

The time was now 10:49 and I'd just released another 3 lb carp. These greedy beggars were taking 15 mm boillies like they were Smarties.

Of course I don't mind catching fish but when you come armed for carp around 7 to 10 pound but keep catching fish like the 1.5 lb specimen I caught at 11:30 it is not a fair fight. I had however no choice but to continue.

Between 12:30 and 14:30 I had three more of the small carp. If I'd fished the swim with a waggler and light tackle I would have had a monster day.

Between 14:30 and 16:30 I caugh 8 lb of carp.... with three fish!

At 16:06 I caught my biggest fish of the day. A very nice carp of 6 lb. I felt almost happy!

At 16:48 I caught my last small carp of the day. I decided at that point to give up and go home. Was it me or was the pond just over-stocked with small carp? It's a shame if it's the latter.