2011 18 June 20th Private Pond, Hurst Green, Surrey

It was time for my second visit to Holland AS's Private Pond today.

The plan was if possible to fish peg 1, my old favouite in the corner if it was free. I had fished peg 8 at the far end the time before.

I arrived just before 7 to find no one there again so peg 1 was mine for the taking. I unloaded the car and made the short trip from the entrance to the peg.

My plan was two fold, the first was to fish as close to the lily pads in the corner as possible and the second, later in the day to fish the margins swim to my left.

As you can see from the photo below the weather for once was good. There was also very little wind.

In went the usual mix of groundbait, some corn, meat and hemp plus a generous helping of maggots. Then it was corn on the hook, a small cast and then a wait for the fish to turn up.

The first cast went in at 7:40 and after the first hour I'd managed three roach all with a liking for corn.

After each fish I fed the margins swim with a few grains of corn. This would I hoped be looked on as a random act by the fish.

By the end of the second hour additions to the 'net were 5 roach, 1 tench and 2 small carp. One of the roach was a netter and came from the margins swim.

I had a slightly slower third hour, 2 roach, a crucian and a small carp. The crucian came from the margins.

For the fourth hour I switched to bread and caught 4 roach and another 2 small carp, one of the roach was from the margins swim. I felt like it was one of those days where I was going to catch no matter what bait I used. I also felt that as the time was 11:40 I had missed the boat for the larger carp and that I would have to wait until the evening for them to show.

For the ealy lunchtime period I switched back to strawberry flavoured corn and had my most productive hour so far: 5 roach, 3 carp and a solitary crucian. One of the carp came from the margins swim.

The end of the lunchtime period brought 2 more roach and carp plus another tench, the first for several hours. Again it was the strawberry corn that was doing the damage.

The swim wasn't being as prolific as I would have expected , 3 or 4 fish an hour (especially of that size) is a bit depressing based on previous visits.

The trend continued in the afternoon, by 14:40 I had another 2 roach, 3 carp and a tench which came from the margins swim.

For the rest of the afternoon/evening I continued to catch well. The highlight of the day came at last knockings when I landed a 2lb tench my best of the season so far.

All in all a good day, 50 fish in 12 hours. I will definitely be heading back there later on in the season.