2020 5 June 3rd Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today, I decided to go for an afternoon/evening carp fishing session at the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields.

On arrival, I found that the car park looked completely full. I know the weather was good but blimey what's going on I thought. I was a bit put out but not disheartened as I know that within a couple of hours most of the cars would have gone.

However, things were worse than that. I discovered that there was a match on at the top of the lake. The bottom appeared full however I did manage to find a spare swim, peg 2. Due to the large number of anglers around me I didn't really have a great deal of water to cast to.

My set up was two 2.5tc carp rods with 8lb main line to size 14 hooks. For bait, I intended to use a variety of flavoured boillies.

Today's swim.

It was 15:10 when I made my first cast.

I don't know if it was the fact that I was cheesed off with the choice of swim for carping or the fact that the lake was overflowing with anglers but I didn't catch a thing. My first blank for I can't remember how long.

Lesson learnt today was "Always check to see if there is a match on before going to Nursery Fields when the weather is good".

2020 4 June 1st Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today, I was back to my favourite form of fishing, the waggler. It was the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields that was going to be my venue of choice today.

My set up was a match rod with 4lb main line to a size 16 hook. For bait I intended to use corn and meat.

Today's swim.

I was ready to make my first casts at 6:47.

Here's how the session went:

8:47 Tench 2lb on corn

10:47 Roach corn

12:58 Ide 1/4lb meat

15:00 Tench meat

17:30 Bream meat

2020 3 May 27th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

First carping and and first afternoon/evening session of the truncated season.

Today, I also baptised my new 2.75tc carp rods.

I fished from 14:40 until 20:30.

My swim today was the last one on the near side down by the dam wall.

Two rods today, one straight in front of me (left hand rod) and one fished tight to the reeds by the dam.

Left Hand Rod - Krill Boillies

16:37 Carp 14lb 4 oz

17:32 Carp 10lb 15oz

Right Hand Rod - Pineapple Boillies

16:37 Carp 6lb 11oz

16:59 Carp 3lb

19:46 Catfish 3lb 12oz

20:02 Carp 2lb

20:19 Carp 11lb 12oz

          Carp 3lb

20:26 Carp 11lb 10oz

20:30 Carp 8lb 13oz

2020 2 May 25th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

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.

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.

2020 1 May 20th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Thanks to the virus, today, was going to be my first fishing trip of the season. Traditionally, my first outing is designed to get rid of the cobwebs, therefore I decided to go to the club’s mixed fishery at Nursery Fields near Edenbridge.

As this was only the third day since the water opened, 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 5 cars already in the car park. My plan for the day seemed to be working.

With the trolly packed, I headed off to the top of the lake which is the home of my favourite swim. There was a slight mist coming off the water. I passed 4 or 5 carp anglers before I arrived at my vacant swim of choice.

Set up today was 1 rod, my 12’ match rod, 4lb main line, and similar sized hook lengths. I intended to start the session on a size 18 hook.

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 6:47. My starting bait was sweetcorn.

If the swim behaved as normal, I was expecting the first action to be with the lake’s small roach. Today, it was not the case, the float disappeared and as soon as I struck the rod bent round and the fish was off to the right. My luck was out as a few seconds later the line slackened, and it was gone. The hook had come out.

I recast and ten minutes or so later the float dived under again. This was not a small roach. The fish shot down the lake, unfortunately across the next angler’s two lines. As I began to turn it the hook length broke and the carp escaped. Strangely, I felt good as I took this to be an omen for the rest of the day.

I went round to the other angler and apologised for running over his lines. Thankfully, he was fine about it.

The swim then went quiet. There were no tell-tale signs of any fish, large or small, which I found strange. Around 9:30, I did manage to catch my first fish of the season, a 4 oz roach.

An hour later a bream had been added to the virtual net. I began to suspect that the extremely hot weather was affecting the feeding habits of the fish.

I had to change my tactics on the grounds that I had nothing to lose. So, it was out with the corn and in with the meat. Almost straight away the float disappeared, and I was into a nice fish. This turned out to be a tench of 2lb 15oz.

The hour from 11:49 to 12:49 proved to be my most productive of the day. I had been feeding the margin swim to my left for most of the morning. I decided to have a quick look to see if anything was there. I was in luck, there was at least, 1 tench, and an ide. The main swim produced 2 ide, all caught on meat.

By 13:50, the virtual net had increased by two more tench, one of them tipping the scales at 2lb 14oz. The afternoon was now extremely hot, and I began to think that if the fish were truly going to come on the feed it would now be in the late afternoon.

The next hour only produced one ide and the sun was really doing me in! How I wished I had remembered the sunscreen!

Due to the light on the water, I changed my float, which had a sensitive tip, to one that had a thicker tip so that I could see it a lot better. This change seemed to work as another ide and bream made the virtual net in the next hour.

Just before 5pm, I caught my last one, another ide with a liking for meat. 

I tried the margin swim again, but with no success, until 18:20 when I decided to call it a day. 

In conclusion, it was my first trip of the year and I had caught 13 fish. None of them were tiddlers but then none were giants either. I had been out in the fresh air, as evidenced by my current impression of a lobster. I had enjoyed myself and that is all that matters at the end of the day.

2018 17 June 13th, Coulden's Farm, Edenbridge

Today I decided to switch from EBAS waters to somewhere I hadn't been before. I chose Coulden's Farm on the outskirts of Edenbridge.

I had never been to the venue and wasn't all that sure where it was, so I decided to use the car's satnav. The fishery was found very easily and that's when it started to go wrong!

I had checked the opening time on the website and had arrived about 5 minutes after the published time. The gates were locked and there wasn't another soul in sight!

Luckily for me there was a phone number on the notice board. I gave it a ring and the owner told me the combination so that I could let myself in.

Obviously as the first one in I had the opportunity to walk around the pond to determine the most fishy looking swims. I decided to fish against the only set of lily pads in the pond.

All was going well until I plumbed the depth. The pond was very shallow and so I would have to fish at the top of lily pads not down the side as I intended. The depth was 2 foot.

It was just the one rod today as two on an unknown water might have proved too difficult. I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 7:10.

for bait and terminal tackle I had a waggler set up to a size 16 hook on 4lb hook length which was big enough to take a grain of corn.

The first hour was a bit of a disappointment, as although I was getting bites, I couldn't connect with any of them.

By 9:40 I'd actually caught two rudd and lost a carp which, although disappointing, gave me hope.

For the next hour I alternated between corn and meat. The fish were still there as I caught another four however they were all rudd.

At 11am the owner came round and advised me to up the size of my hook as he felt a size 16 was too small to hook the fish. I changed to a 14 and by 12:40 I'd added another 4 to the net, 2 rudd and my first two small carp of the day.

Between 12:40 and 14:00 my total for the day rose from 10 to 21. The bad news was that the fish were all rudd. I couldn't seem to get the pond's other inhabitants.

Fifty minutes later and another five rudd had made the virtual net. I was beginning to get a bit frustrated.

Three more rudd came into the net over the next hour. It looked like that was it for the day unless the early evening brought a change.

Alas, that was a bit of pie in the sky as by the time I packed up the net had reached 34 fish with the inclusion of 4 more rudd and a solitary carp.

The owner had left about an hour before. Prior to leaving he'd left me instructions on how to lock up!

2018 16 June 6th, Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today, I decided to make a return visit to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields on the outskirts of Edenbridge in Kent.

It was just before 7am when I arrived at what was, a fairly well populated car park. I wasn't too bothered as the lake is large enough to accommodate far more anglers than I've ever seen up there.

I unloaded car and made my way round the lake looking for a swim that best suited my style (hit and hope!).

It was going to be my usual two rod attack today and so it wasn't until 7:50, after I'd set up and fed both swims, that I was ready to make my first casts.

It was a great start to the session as the waggler rod produced a tench, a bream and a roach while the leger rod produced two hard fighting tench.

An hour passed and the virtual net now contained 10 fish. The original five were joined by 2 tench, a bream and two small roach.

By 11am the net bulged with 14 fish with the addition of a bream, two roach and a crucian carp weighing 2lb!

The hour before lunch, brought the session's first ide, another bream and two roach. Total for the day, just before I stopped for lunch, was 18, not bad at all.

The hour after lunch was pretty slow. Only an ide and yet another small roach made the net.

The following hour was just as slow as the waggler line only produced a solitary crucian. The leger line did chip in with another tench.

By mid-afternoon (15:00) the day's total had crept up to 26 with the addition of a gudgeon, two ide, a bream weighing 3lb 6oz and yet another small roach.

The roach took over the next hour with four of them making the net accompanied by 2 ide. The leger rod also made a contribution, another tench.

The last two hours were special for me in that I broke my bream pb twice in 20 minutes! The first came in at 6lb 2oz, the second at 6lb 3oz! They were joined in the net by the only tench caught on the waggler that day and the only ide caught on the leger line.

I packed up at 18:00 a very contented man. A personal best bream and a 2lb crucian in one session how could anyone not be.