10th August - Boulthurst Farm, Limpsfield, Surrey

Having got myself in a bit of trouble last time with tangles etc I decided a change of swim was on for my next visit.


I arrived at the pond about 3pm and intended to fish until the light went which was somewhere between 8 and 9 at this time of year.


I decided to fish the swim at the opposite end of the pond from the one I tackled last time. I was very wary of getting into line tangles when fish from one rod ran over the line on the other one.


This is view down the pond from the swim I chose:


The good thing about this swim is it gives me two clear options, the first a margin swim of about 20 yards until the bend in the pond and the second being the clear open water of the pond.


I'd taken a tin of sweetcorn with me as groundbait and emptied half of the tin in each of the 2 swims in an attempt to draw the carp in, or failing that the roach which in turn would draw the carp in through thier uninterrupted feeding.


The first rod was set up to fish the margin swim. It is the stronger of the two and I was sure that if I was going to get anything approaching really heavy it would be on this rod.


The second rod was set to fish the open water swim. I was just hoping for some passing trade!


Both rods were set up with 6lb main line. On rod one I had a size 12 hook to 6lb line and on rod 2 I had a size 14 to 5lb. Both were set up using the smallest leger possible (1/4 ounce?).


As before I used 10mm boillies, tutti fruitti and monster crab. The Monster Crab on rod 1 and the Tutti Fruitti on rod 2.


The first hour was fairly uneventful but the second brought my first run. A nice common of around 3 pound on rod 1.


The rest of the day was really split into 2 halves, rod 1 was productive until the last hour or so then it went quiet. Rod 2 on the other hand was quiet all afternoon until the last hour. In that last hour I managed to bag a nice 7 pounder.


At the end of session I'd bagged about 8 carp ranging from 2 to 7 pounds. The only disappointing thing was that I lost about 3 good fish when they ran into the snags under the tree. I know I was applying too much pressure all at once as the hooklength generally broke. I need to learn to calm down and gently apply the pressure as the fish heads towards the snags which hopefully will force the fish into open water.

Till the next time.

Sorry about teh lateness of the report but I've been busy fishing!

7th August Boulthurst Farm, Limpsfield, Surrey

Time for another session fishing for carp on the pond using standard carp tactics.

A change of swim this time. The favoured one on the far left of the pond was free, which for a Sunday afternoon was a bit of a surprise. See photo below:

The first rod I set up with Monster Crab boillies and cast about 20 yards to a spot about 6 feet parallel to the fallen tree. The second rod I set up with Tutti Fruitti boillies and cast about 10 yards to a spot under the tree.

Having learnt from my mistake on the previous carp outing I'd gone and invested in 10mm boillies! Which one would be the most successful?

I didn't have to wait too long for the first run. The buzzer went off and a small carp of around 3 pound was in the net. It fell to the Monster Crab boillie.

I think that at the end of the session I'd bagged about 5 good sized carp. These were the best of the bunch:


Both swims produced some carp and because I was using 10mm boillies a few roach as well!

A lot of angling is about learning your lessons. One run took me through the line of the other rod and caused a great big tangle (birds nest) that had to be dealt with after I landed the fish. How could I solve the problem? I'm not sure as the bank is about 2 foot above the water level so there this a fair amount of line out of the water for the fish to run across. I was fishing the 2 rods at 90 degree angles so had a good starting point. I suppose I'll have to visit the forum for some help.

And so on to the next session.

5th August Boulthurst Farm, Limpsfield, Surrey

My last few trips to Boulthurst I'd been targetting the carp either by free-lining on the quiver tip or using the buzzers and boillies however today I decided to see what I could catch using 'conventional' float tactics.

The swim I selected was right by the entrance (there are only 5 swims) and is the only one with a set of lily pads to fish to (See picture below).

The plan of attack for the day was to fish on the far side of the lilys for the roach and crucians whilst feeding the margin swim between the lillies and the bank for any patrolling carp.

For bait I'd taken the usual suspects - maggots, bread, sweetcorn and meat for the hook plus brown crumb, carp/tench attractor and hemp for groundbait.

For the first hour I used flavoured sweetcorn but never had a bite although I could tell from the float movement that there were fish there. Also during that first hour I fed the margin swim with three of four pieces of corn every cast. I had an initial go in there but nothing showed any interest.

I fed more groundbait and switched hookbait to maggot, which to be fair got me fish but they were all small roach. I was however searching for something a little bigger. Another switch, this time to bread and away we went. I had, for about 30 minutes a crucian a cast! Lovely.

As the second hour drew to a close, I tried the margin swim again and managed to land this common carp.

The margins went quiet for the next 6 hours although I did continue to feed the line. The lily pads swim was still producing roach and some nice crusians, bread still being the bait of choice.

I still continued to test the margins through the quiet spell and eventually something arrived and took the bait, this very nice common carp:

Another hour and a half of silver fish followed before the margins swim produced this common:

The most memorable thing about the day was the debut of my new box. As stated before, I'd taken a 15 year break from fishing and since returning I have had to replace some, if not all of my previous equipment. My birthday was in February and I'd been promised a new box. It finally arrived at the end of July - see photo below:

Oh the increase in comfort, absolutely bliss for a man of my age.

Eleven hours after arriving at the swim I landed this final carp of the day again from the margins!

What a day - one of my best at the venue. I must have caught in excess of 70 fish. Roach, Rudd and Crucian Carp mainly but topped off with some larger carp all through the day from the margins.

Till the next time.