2012 26 September 19th Private Lake, Holland, Surrey

Today I decided to give Holland A.S’s Private Lake a go. It had been a few months since I’d been there so I though the time was right.

According to the club rules you cannot enter either of the ponds before 7am so I didn’t have to rush to leave the house, in fact I got up about the same time I usually do for work. On the drive down I noticed that the temperature was a couple of degrees up on the previous week. This was evident when I arrived and saw that there was no mist on the pond.

My favourite swim is peg 8 but today I decided to try the last accessible swim, peg 11. This swim has 2 rod lengths of clear water before the large expanse of lily pads. There is also bed of pads on either side.

I loaded up the trolley to be ready for the longest walk at the venue. When I arrived at the peg I noticed problem number one, the sun although out, was shining straight in my eyes. “Never mind”, I thought “in a few hours it would have moved position and I’ll be fine”.

I then went through my normal set up routine which takes about 30 to 40 minutes. On completion, the swim had been fed, the waggler rod had been set up and the peg laid out just how I like it. I made my first cast, using single red maggot as bait at about 8am.

I didn’t have to wait long for the first bite, a small common of about half a pound. A was very nice start indeed. In fact, by 9.20 I’d accumulated 5 more carp, a tench, a rudd and a crucian.

Confession time now, when I was making preparations for the day’s session I’d forgotten to take the sweet corn out of the freezer. This would have meant that I had to wait a few hours before I could use it if I hadn’t of found some in the fridge. It wasn’t much but it was enough.

As the morning wore on I was still catching fish but the rate dropped enough to concern me. Yes, I had swopped hook bait to corn but based on previous experience at the venue that shouldn’t have caused this much change. I do like to fish a tad over depth so the first thing I did was to take 3 inches off my depth. Straightaway I noticed a change. I was hitting more bites! The problem was apparently sorted.

The rest of the day I caught steadily, even when during the afternoon I switched baits to meat. By the time I packed up I’d added another 27 carp to the virtual net. There was nothing spectacular weight wise, the largest being about 2 pounds. What was somewhat surprising was that no other species got a look in.

Here's a view of the left hand  side of the swim:

 

In conclusion I really enjoyed my day. The sun shone all day which meant that I didn’t have to wear 100 layers of clothing to keep warm. Also, the carp seemed to have grown from very small (2 or 3 ounces in the main) to around the half  to three quarters of a pound mark which is a good sign for the future. On the negative side the lack of other species caught must have been down to the carp bullying them out of the swim. I hope that this does not have any long term effect on the pond.     

2012 25 September 12th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

I have a certain reluctance to fish the club’s carp lake at Chittenden although it is a fine fishery. This is purely down to the fact that in summer it gets very busy and very noisy, that is the constant commentary of certain members. For this reason I hadn’t been down there all summer but today I figured that the crowds might be less and it could be worth a visit.

I set off at around 6:30. The sun was out but there was a chill in the air, this was borne out by the fact that the temperature in the car at one stage registered 4.5 degrees.

There were 2 cars in the car park when I arrived, after a quick look around I saw they were set up on the near bank. This was good news for me as I planned to fish the far side of the first island.

This photo shows the lake when I arrived:

 

I loaded up the trolley and headed off round the lake. Not a lot had changed since my last visit in the spring, even the discarded keep net was still where it was thrown. The NO LITTER policy obviously working!

I quickly set up my 2 rods. Both had size 14 hooks to 6lb main line. The left hand rod had 15ml pineapple frenzy boillies and the left hand one had 10ml monster crab.

I made my first casts dead on 8am. I then settled back on my chair to read my latest Stephen King (11-22-1963) while I waited.

At 9am I decided to feed the swims again with about half a dozen boillies.

The photo below shows the lake after the mist had gone.

 

At 10am I checked the baits on the rods, fed the swims again and re-cast to the same spots. It was about this time that I was joined by a couple of senior members who told me that they had come there because the car park at Nursery Fields was full!

Here is the pineapple swim:

 

At 11am I yet again fed the swims. I began to suspect today was going to be a tough one. I could hear one or two buzzers going off on the other bank but nothing for anyone my side.
Here's the view going up the lake: The angler in the photo was havinga s much luck as me.

Noon came and I once again checked my baits before feeding the swim and re-casting. I also started my lunch, small sausage rolls and a couple of very spicy scotch eggs!

Here's my set up :

13:00 arrived and went with no apparent change in the proceedings. So yet again I fed the swims.

Here's the two guys who couldn't get into NF:

 

 At 14:00 I decided on a little change when I reeled in to check my baits. On the monster crab boillie I wrapped some halibut paste round it for some added attraction.

The clear blue sky of the morning was now replaced by a heavily overcast sky. I suspected the rain was imminent.

The action finally started at 14:35 when the pineapple rod’s buzzer went off and I was into a fish. I knew straight away it wasn’t a carp. It turned out to be a small skimmer. How it managed to get the boillie I’ll never know but all that was academic as it came off as I went for the landing net. I was still blanking!

15:00 came and went after I fed the swims again. The wind was also getting stronger. On a positive note I was getting through my book.

Finally at ten to four in the afternoon the buzzer on the pineapple rod went off big time. This time I knew it was something more substantial than a skimmer bream. I took my time playing it, I didn’t want to lose this one. It circled around in front of me for a minute or two before it came to the net. I hadn’t blanked! When I weighed it I found it was a 5.5lb mirror, not a monster but a welcome sight indeed.

At 16:00 I checked the baits for the last time as I’d decided to pack up at half past five.

During this time other people had also decided to leave. As I packed up I wondered why things hadn’t worked out for me. Was I in the wrong swim? I had caught from there before however that was before the island had been heavily pruned. The guy fishing opposite me had been catching consistently throughout the day but he had been the only one.

If someone could offer some advice I would be grateful.    

2012 24 August 26th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

After a break of two weeks or so I decided that the time was right to pay another visit to the club’s main lake, Nursery Fields.

I was determined to try a new swim but still use my 2 rod attack. When I arrived at the fishery there were three cars already in the car park, undeterred I loaded up the trolley and made my way to the top of the lake. My intention was to fish one of top swims on the far side.

Unlike last time my luck was in as I found that all the swims in that area were free. After some deliberation I chose peg 14. There were lilies to fish to close in and some to fish to on the far side. It seemed very interesting.

 

As usual I started by mixing up the ground bait and when that was done I preceded to set up the rods. I was ready to make my first casts at 7:56. The feeder rod today had small pineapple frenzy boillies. I was trying something different from the usual monster crab.

 

The last few visits to NF had seen me start with maggot on the hook and today was no different. The ground bait and loose feed had obviously done their job because the first hour yielded 8 roach, 2 tench, 1 small barbell and a perch.

At the end of the first hour I repeated the feed and the results also seemed to repeat themselves, 3 roach, 2 tench, another small barbel and my first bream of the session.

The next hour only yielded three fish. This was in part due to the fact that I decided to change hook bait. I started to alternate between corn and meat. Corn was responsible for the roach and meat for the small barbel. The third fish was the first from the feeder rod and was another small bream.

The last hour of the morning session was the slowest so far, one tench on each of the rods. Perhaps this swim wasn’t as good as it first looked.

After my lunch, 2 scotch eggs and some southern fried chicken pieces I went on an all-out meat attack. I was rewarded with 4 barbel and a couple of tench. The quality of the tench was improving but the barbel was still on the small side.

I went back to corn occasionally but mainly it was the meat that was doing the trick. Only three fish in the next hour, again it was tench and barbel however a solitary bream decided to join the party this time.

The swim was really dying now so I decided to return to the maggots. Numbers wise it didn’t get any better as I only caught four in the next hour. A roach, a barbel and one of each from two species new to the session, a Rudd and a crucian carp. Those crucian are really lovely looking fish.

I was not sure that today’s choice of swim wasn’t the best because when the clock struck four I’d only had another couple of barbel. Sadly these were not the two pounders that live in this lake but their smaller siblings.

I packed up at 18:00 having only added another 2 barbel and a tench. The pineapple frenzy boillies on the feeder rod weren’t faring much better although around 5pm the rod tip shot round and I was into a carp, sadly it wasn’t into me and it broke the hook length as it charged towards the nearby lily pads.

So in conclusion did I have a good day? Of course I did I was out of the house, away from the TV and out fishing. I did catch 44 fish so that was ok. I might go back to monster crab on the feeder rod next time though.    

2012 23 August 9th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

I thought that as the weather was looking good today I would take advantage and have the afternoon off work to go and land some of the NF carp.

I left work at 12, arrived home about an hour later, packed the car and set off for the fishery. There were a few cars in the car park when I arrived so I pretty confident my favourite carping peg would be free.

I quickly loaded up the trolley before heading out to the top of the lake. Sure enough the peg was empty. Lady luck was on my side today.

I set up both rods exactly the same except for the boille flavour and size. On the left rod it was 10mm monster crab and on the right it was 15mm pineapple frenzy. At 15.00 on the dot I made my first casts.

On my last carping session I had to wait nearly three hours for my first bite, today it was only half that as at 16:30 the crab rod’s buzzer went off and I was into my first fish, a tench of around a pound.

Twenty minutes later, same rod, same result. These tench seem to really love crab. If the carp don’t come out to play I felt sure the tench would keep coming. I was wrong as it turned out.

That was it for the early action. I had to wait an hour before the buzzer went off again. Yet again it was the crab rod, only this time it was one of the lakes barbel that had taken it. Thirty minutes later another one took it. Three hours in, four fish, two tench and two barbel not a bad start.

I had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes for the next take. Yet again it was on the crab rod. It wasn’t a carp but another barbel, they do fight like carp though! Just after I put it back the other rod went off and I was into something a little better. A few minutes later it was on the bank, 2.5lb common carp. Mission accomplished.  

Time was beginning to run out. I had to ensure that by the time I had packed up and returned to the car the light would still be good enough for me to see the padlock. To this end I set myself a time of 20:00 to finish fishing.

I was beginning to think about packing up when the pineapple frenzy rod’s buzzer sounded and I was into my biggest fish of the day, a 4lb carp. It was dead on 20:00 when I returned it to the water.

I loaded up the trolley and headed back to the car. There were still another one or two anglers present when I left.

In conclusion, monster crab will catch anything that swims but pineapple will catch the larger ones. So in a way my plan worked a treat!

2012 22 August 5th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge Kent

Today I was determined to get a century of fish after coming within 5 of that total on my last float fishing visit a week or so earlier.

For once the weather seemed to be of the typical summer variety as I left home around 6am for the 30 minute journey to the fishery.

Over the previous few days and on the journey down I decided that I would fish the reed bed on peg 15 which meant that I could fish a feeder to the island so when I got to the lake I was overjoyed to find only one other car there.

I loaded up the trolley and headed out to peg 15. Can you manage my horror when I discovered that the only other angler present had also chosen peg 15! Gobsmacked I walked past him (complete with the evil eye ‘lol’ ) and settled into to peg 7.

With all plans for peg 15 banished I mixed up a generous helping of ground bait. When it was ready I fed two large balls together with a lot of hemp and a mixture of maggots and casters. With that exercise complete I proceeded to set up my two rods.

The first was the waggler rod. As I was planning to use maggots for the bulk of the session I used a very small 2bb float to a size 18 hook on 5lb main line. The feeder rod had a small cage feeder to a size 14 on 6lb main line. Next I set the peg up so that everything was easily accessible and anything I wouldn’t need all the time was put away in the box. I was still wary of the rain!

I made my first casts at 8:09. Now if you have read any of my previous posts you will have realised I’m sure that I don’t very often break with tradition however today I did. I had decided that instead of feeding maggots every cast I would feed some Nash scopex feed pellets.

The plan seemed to work as almost immediately I was into fish. They weren’t huge but they were swimming so they all count! I normally pack up around 6pm when I’m doing an all day session so using my analytical skills I calculated that I would need 10 an hour to reach the magic ton.

How do I count them I hear you ask? Well each species is allocated a piece of bait (corn, meat etc) and then every hour or when the species caught outnumbers the bait I log the total and start again.

As I stated previously the fish were coming in thick and fast so by 8.56 I’d caught perch, gudgeon, crucian carp, roach, rudd, bream and tench for a total of 16 fish. A promising enough start to the session.

I couldn’t relax though as I was aware that the swims at NF tend to switch off during the lunch hour. I kept to the plan, maggot on the hook, pellets loose fed every cast and a generous helping of ground bait and hemp every hour.

The next hour yielded perch, gudgeon, crucian carp, roach, rudd and my first barbel of the session for 17 fish making the total 33.

For the next hour I started to experiment with corn every other fish. The catch rate slowed somewhat but I still managed to get perch, gudgeon, roach, rudd and barbel for 13 fish making the total 46.

Between 11 and 12 the bites began to dry up although I have to say I was beginning to favour the corn.  Into the net went some crucians, rudd, bream and barbel for 7 fish. The total was now 53 over halfway with six fishing hours to go. Some of the bream were quite good:

I decided as the fishing was slowing down to take a break and have my lunch. Even so I still managed in the next hour to get another crucian and four more bream. At lunch as the cricketers say the score was now 58.

After the lunch period I decided that if I wanted to hit the magic century I would have to switch back to maggots. For the next hour or so I did precisely that. I was rewarded with thirteen fish. Five of them roach. The total had moved on to 71.

Perhaps I was getting a bit over confident because during the mid-afternoon period I only managed three fish, a solitary barbel and a couple of tench. It was now 3pm and the total was 74.

The chances of hitting my target were looking pretty slim as the swim was still not producing in the afternoon as it had been in the morning. By 4pm only 4 more fish were caught, although one was a perch, the first for over 4 hours. I was still 22 away from the magic ton.    
 

The previous stated total did not include anything caught on the feeder rod. All through the day I’d been catching one or two an hour on the feeder. They totalled by the end of the session fourteen which comprised of three bream and eleven tench. When these were included the total now stood at 92 with an hour or so to go.

As the evening set in I thought I would alternate the hook bait between meat, corn and maggot. I was pretty confident that I could catch eight fish in the time so I decided to go for a better quality of fish to end the session on.

The maggots still accounted for a couple of rudd but the meat and corn brought in some good tench and three of the larger barbell. I had ten in total by the end of the session, which meant that I finished the day on 102. The objective had been met!

This is fish number 100.

As I drove home I reflected on what a great day’s fishing I’d had.

2012 21 July 27th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today the weather was so good that I decided to leave work at noon to go home and get my carp gear out before heading to Nursery Fields in Edenbridge.

My intention today was to fish peg 17 at the top of the fishery. I like this peg simply for the reason that it is the shortest cast distance to the island of all the pegs which means that I can use a small bomb and hand feed rather than use a feeder.

I left the house about 2pm for the thirty minute journey to the fishery. When I arrived there were about 10 cars in the car park. Undeterred I loaded up the trolley and headed off up the lake. When I got to the top someone else was in my swim! I couldn’t believe it I’d never seen another person in that swim before. Anyway I carried on round the lake and settled for peg 15.

Today was quite a warm day and I was already beginning to feel the effects of it when I started to set up which is why I was totally gutted to discover that I had inadvertently left my rod pod in the garage. I started to panic but managed to calm myself down enough to review my options.

I emptied my rod rest section of my holdall and after a few adjustments I managed to set 4 of them up to use as a substitute pod. The only drawback being that I had to have one rod each side of the swim with my chair in the middle.

Now I had the set up sorted I baited up my two chosen swims, the first on the left was only 3 rod lengths away and 2 out from the reed bed, the second was about two thirds of the way to the island straight in front me. On the first rod I fished 10ml monster crab boillies and on the other I used 15ml pineapple frenzy ones.

I made my first cast at 15:22 and then sat back with a bottle of coke and my kindle to wait for the action to start. My plan was to recast and to top up the feed every hour.

I don’t know if it was the heat of the day or my poor angling skills but I never got a sniff as the time first went past 4 and then five and then 6 and then 7 until at 19:10 the buzzer went off on the monster crab rod and I was into what turned out to be a 4lb mirror carp.

I was now off and running, eighteen minutes later a tench took the monster crab boillie. Not to be outdone a common carp of around 2lb took the pineapple boillie on offer. Just after I cast out, the crab rod went off again and in came another tench.

I began to feel that the swims were really coming to life however I was now becoming concerned that the light was going to beat me. Just after 8pm the buzzer on the pineapple rod went off and I was into my biggest fish of the day, a 6.5lb common.

The last fish of the day came on the crab rod and was another tench. This came in as I was packing up at 8.36.

In conclusion I caught six fish in 90 minutes which is it had continued across the whole session would have been fabulous however bearing in mind the disaster that could have been thanks to the forgotten rod pod I was happy enough

2012 20 July 20th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

I took another Friday off from work with a plan to restore my fishing mojo which I think I’d lost five days earlier on peg 2!

I arrived at the fishery just before seven am to find the car park empty which of course meant that I would have first choice of peg.

I started walking around the bottom of the lake in ascending peg order. As the back straight starts there are some fine fishy looking pegs. Today I opted for peg 7 which for me is the perfect NF peg. It has a bed of lilies quite close in to fish to (although they are on the left of the peg) and another set on the far bank where you can drop a feeder close to.

I mixed up the usual amount of ground bait, brown crumb mixed in with samples of hook bait and fed the waggler swim heavily. I also threw in a large proportion of my freshly cooked hemp and a couple of handfuls of maggots. Next I set up the two rods.

As usual for NF I set up the float rod with as small a waggler as possible which in this case was a 2bb one and a size 18 hook on 2.5lb breaking strain hook length. The only concession to the larger carp in the water was the 5lb main line. The feeder rod I set up with a size 14 hook to 6lb hook length and main line and a small cage feeder. For bait I intended using 10ml monster crab boillies.

For the float rod I intended to start with until at least lunchtime with maggots. My plan was to keep feed going into the swim catching maybe some small fish in the hope that the continual feeding of the small fish would attract the larger ones. That was the plan anyway.

I made my first casts at 7:45. The float dipped almost straight away and I was into the first of my 14 roach. It wasn’t huge, around an ounce I would say but it was the blank breaker so it was important.

This was quickly followed by a couple of skimmer bream and one of the many small barbel that reside in this lake.

The feeder rod was also seeing some early action with two good (relatively speaking) tench coming to the net in that first hour. The signs were good that today could turn out to be a great day.

One species that you tend to get when solely using maggots is the striped predator, the perch. There are quite a few in NF however I’ve never caught anything over a couple of ounces. Today I caught seven of the little beggars.

The bream seem mostly to be skimmers although you can catch the odd one of around 2lb if you get lucky. Today I caught 8. I did notice that due I suppose to the shallowness of the water some of the skimmers actually jump out of the water in a bold strike out for freedom.

Though when you catch a good one they look absolutely fantastic the norm is that the very small rudd will gobble a maggot down as soon as it hits the water. I tend to have the bulk of the shot down the hook end when using maggots so that the bait drops quickly through the water. Today I still managed to catch eleven of them.

Nursery Field’s barbel seem to come in two sizes, the small ones which can be taken mainly on maggot and corn are about 5 to 7 inches long. The other ones around the 2lb mark. I’ve, like today tended to catch them at the end of the session on meat and sometimes corn. Fiftteen made the net today, two or three were of the latter variety.

My favourite looking fish of them all is the crucian carp. This lake appears to be full of them. I was surprised at how many could be taken on maggot. The larger ones take corn but the bites are harder to hit. By the close of play the virtual net contained seventeen of them.

No description of a session using maggot would be complete without a mention of the mighty gudgeon. You know you are fishing ‘bottom’ when you get these, an organic plummet if you will. Anyway I managed with some effort to land five of these little scrappers.

The last but by no means least of the species that I caught today is the tench. I’ve never seen one over 2lb from here but even so they do put up a decent fight. Four of them came on the waggler rod the remaining thirteen came on the feeder rod.

Sadly today was not a day for the common or mirror carp to put in appearance which was the first of only two negatives coming out of the session. The other was the weather, at around 6pm the heavens opened and I and my equipment got absolutely drenched which forced me when it finally abated to pack up and go home. Before I left I counted the fish I’d caught and the total was 95, five short of the magic ton.

I will return for another crack at the hundred very soon.  

2012 19 July 15th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

I decided that today I would tackle the club's main lake. I know that the better quality fish tend to be taken after 4pm so I decided to make this an afternoon/evening session.

I was all packed and ready by 2pm. The sun was out but the clouds were looking ominous as I made my way down the lanes to Edenbridge.

When I arrived at the venue there was about a dozen or so cars in the car park. On the way down I'd made up my mind that if possible I would have a bash at one of the swims at the bottom as recently I'd either been fishing midway up the far bank or at the very top.

Before I unloaded the car I went and had a look to see what swims were free. I was in luck pegs 1 and 2 were both unoccupied. I've fished peg one before so today I chose to go with peg 2.

I returned to the car, loaded the trolley and headed off on the short walk to peg 2. This peg is unusual in that it is what I would call a right handed swim. Most of the swims at NF have lillies to fish to but the majority of these are on the left hand side of the swim hence you have to fish it 'the wrong way round'.

The left hand side of the swim has some very fishy looking reeds so after some thought I decided that on this occasion I would fish both swims and forego the sleeper feeder rod.

Next on the preparation front was the groundbait. Do I go for little and often or an initial large feed and a possible long wait for the diners to arrive? I decided on the latter. Into each swim went two generous balls of brown crumb, meat and corn along with a few handfuls of hemp and maggots.

My set up today was quite straight forward 5lb main line, size 16 to 4lb hook length and a 3BB waggler.

By 15:22 I was ready to make my first cast. I eyed up my spot and cast, nothing. I looked up only to see my line stuck in a tree! I not only lost the hook but valuable fishing time as I had to tie another hook on. This time before casting I moved all my stuff 2 feet to the left. I cast, bingo, straight over the feed.

As I suspected the bites did not come quickly although I could detect movement in the swim and surrounding lily pads. First up though was a 4 inch barbel with a liking for corn. By the end of the first hour it was joined by a couple of bream.

I fed the swims again before the start of hour two. The swim on the left I decided I wouldn't touch for a couple of hours. The second hour was slightly more productive, four fish, all of different species, crucian, bream, rudd and a very nice looking tench.

The first seven fish were all caught on corn. However for the remainder of the session I used small cubes of meat. The third hour showed that I might have been a little too early to do the switch as I only caught one solitary bream.

Things took a turn for the better in the last hour and forty minutes of the session. Three more bream and a roach with a liking for meat made the net. The highlight though was the three carp (2x3 and a 2) which also made the net. The carp at this venue do tend to leave it quite late before showing up.

I packed up at 20:00 when I hooked inot another carp and lost it in the lillies (with most of my teminal tackle).

In conclusion, fishing performance wise, this wasn't one of my better sessions. I never quite got into the rythmn. I'm going to put this down to the cough I'd been suffering with for the previous few days.

2012 18 July 1st Private Pond, Oxted, Surrey

Today was the day when I would make my first visit to Holland Angling Society's Private Pond near Oxted in Surrey.

I spent the morning in preparation for the afternoon and evening session. I cooked some hemp and cut the meat. I defrosted the frozen corn and opened a fresh tin. I also chopped some a tin of meat into small cubes.

I set off around 1:30. Even with early afternoon Sunday traffic this meant that I would arrive at about 2pm which would give me a good six hours fishing.

The weather for this summer was not too bad, the sun had been out most of the day but there was still a threat of rain in the air. I thought that the pond would be busy however when I arrived there were only three cars parked on the road. A quick glance to my left showed that Dunks pond had no one on it at all.

I counted five other anglers on the pond none of which were in my three favourite swims. How lucky was that? I unloaded the car (no need for a trolley here) and made my round to peg 8.

You can only use one rod on this pond so today I chose to fish a waggler close to the lilies about 1.5 rod lengths out.

I mixed up my normal concoction of groundbait and when ready fed two large balls into the swim. I also fed some hemp and corn. From my previous session I’d had some maggots left over so I opened the tin only to find that they had all turned into casters. Undeterred I fed those anyway. A lot of them floated and almost immediately eight of the larger carp came to the surface and fed on them.

I decided to use caster from the start as my hook bait and made my first cast at 15:00. The swim was to coin a phrase absolutely boiling with signs of feeding activity therefore it was no surprise when the float dipped straight away and I was into my first fish of the session, a small roach!

My second attempt fared no better so somewhat reluctantly I changed my bait to corn. This pond is full of small carp, the largish being about a pound. By 16:20 I’d caught four of them plus another roach and a solitary rudd.

I fed more groundbait and loose fed corn and hemp on the hour throughout the session. I repeated the caster exercise with the same results. I just couldn’t get through the small stuff even though I knew the larger carp were there. It was very frustrating.

Anyway the next hour brought 5 carp, 3 roach and another single rudd.

It was at this point that I decided to feed the margins swim to my left and right with small cubes of meat. I did this every time I caught a fish.

At 18:00 I switched hook bait to meat and also alternated casts between the three swims. The swim on my left produced small carp and a couple of tench. The swim on the right produced nothing at all. The main action took place in my original swim.

The obvious danger of fishing so close to lilies is that it’s not far for any good sized fish to run. One time the bait hardly had enough time to start to sink before it was taken by something larger than normal. I struck quickly but not quick enough to stop it entering the pads. For what seemed like an age (in reality about 10 minutes) I applied pressure trying to get it out. Somewhat inevitably the five pound line snapped and I lost the fish and all my terminal tackle.

With all my terminal tackle gone I made my mind up to strengthen my approach. I switched from 5lb line to six and upped the hook size from 16 to 14.

I was rewarded 20 minutes later when I hooked into and landed this 6lb common carp.

I carried on until 20:00 but that was the best of the action. By then I had added 11 carp, 3 roach and 2 tench to the net.

In conclusion this was not one of my better sessions. I never really thought I was in the zone, maybe it was because I was never comfortable using my 20 year old 13 foot match rod because I was still waiting for my replacement Shimano section, maybe it was just one of those days.

Wildlife Update:

Can this be termed ‘wildlife update’? I’ll leave you to decide. Anyway the swim I was fishing was quite overgrown and I had to set my rod rest up quite close to the local vegetation. After the session I saw that my hands and arms were covered in bites. At home in the shower I discovered more on my legs. The best though were the two huge ones on my face. I looked like a teenager again for about 5 days afterwards!



2012 17 June 29th Nursery Fields Edenbridge

In my eyes there is nothing like a good afternoon and evening session whether it be on the float or carping with the boillies.

So with the above in mind I decided that I would go for an afternnon/evening carping session at the club's Nursery Fields venue.

I left work at 12 and was home by 1:00 having just stopped to pick up lunch at the Golden Arches. I then finished loading up the car (i'd started the previous evening) and made my way in sunshine down to Edenbridge.

In my head I'd already picked the swim I wanted, peg 17 right at the top of the lake and so when I arrived and saw only three cars in the car park I knew I had a very good chance of getting it. I was proved right, as after I loaded up my now 'can't do without' trolley and made my way to the lake to find all but one of the other anglers set up on the nearside bank. The other was midway down the far bank.

Today's plan was to fish 2 rods each with identical setups, small bomb on 6lb line to a size 14 hook on a 5lb hook length. The left hand rod I was going to fishing 10mm Monster Crab boillies and on the right I would fish 15mm Pineapple Frenzy ones.

I made my first cast at 15:24. The plan was to feed the swims with half a dozen boillies each hour that went by without catching a fish.

I only had to wait 45 minutes for the first bite which I successfully landed. It was a 2lb barbel with a liking for pineapple. I didn't suspect that this was the trigger for some fast and furious action.

In the space of 38 minutes I landed four tench on monster crab and one on the pineapple rod. At least twice the bait was taken before I had the chance to put the line through the buzzers.

After writing the note above the buzzer on the monster crab rod went off again and in came my 6th tench of the session. The score now was crab 5 pineapple 2.

Ten minutes later the action was repeated as yet another tench which fancied crab made the virtual net. I was beginning to really enjoy myself!

I now a thirty minute respite in which I was able to have a well deserved cup of tea. The quiet was broken by a five minute spell in which I landed another two tench on the crab rod.

I had to wait another forty five minutes for the next bite, unexpectedly this came on the pineapple rod. Not a surprise though was that it was another tench.

I returned the fish and just after I re-cast the line tightened and I was in again. This time I had my first carp of the day, a nice looking mirror.

Ten minutes later, on the same pineapple rod I landed my second carp, this time though it was a common. The score now was crab 8 pineapple 7. Nothing to choose between them.

The next fish came 15 minutes later and was on the pineapple rod again and yes this time it was a tench. Now both baits were equal.

The above fish was caught at 18:49. I fully expected the sport to pick up but strangely it went quiet. In the next hour I only got two more tench both on the crab. I was puzzled.

It was now 20:10 and I was beginning to think of packing up however the fish had other ideas. The buzzer on the pineapple rod went off and I lifted into what I knew was a decent fish. Two or three minutes later I'd landed an 8lb common.

To be honest as I returned it to the water I thought that was it however I'd just got back to my chair when the crab rod went off and suspecting another tench I was somewhat surprised when the fish shot off down the lake. I finally got it in I found it to be a 5lb common.

As the time was getting on for 8:30 I decided that when I recast I would give it another 10 minutes and then I would call it a day.

As I started to clear up my swim the crab rod's buzzer went off for the last time and I was into what turned out to be a 3lb common. I landed and returned the fish under the gaze of the bailiff who was doing his rounds.

Just as I was about to bring in the pineapple rod it's buzzer went off and in came a barbel. I'd started and finished on one.

In conclusion I was really pleased with this seassion. I'd met my expectations, the rain had kept away and I'd caught 20 good fish, 12 on crab and 8 on the larger pineapple. I will be back.

Wildlife Update:

I was driving back through the Surrey hills when as I rounded a bend I came across a baby deer (fawn) in the middle of the road. I came to a stop as quickly as I could and got out the car. A quick look round told me that I hadn't hit it. I was glad but very shaken!

2012 16 June 24th Christmas Mill, Edenbridge, Kent

Having fished the previous afternoon and evening I couldn't get up as early as I wished for my second trip to this club water. Even so I was out of the house and on my way at 6:30.

Much to my dismay the rain had arrived with a vengeance the night before and it was still coming down hard as I went down the semi flooded lanes.

Christmas Mill only has five swims and of those only one of them has lily pads close enough to make waggler fishing possible. This was the swim I fished on my last visit and was the one I planned to fish today.

When I arrived at the postage stamp size car park I was dismayed to find another car there. I feared the worst. Dejectedly I made my way to the lake through the water soaked woods until I arrived at our swims. My fears were confirmed when I found the swim I wanted occupied by none other than Keith who I met on a recent outing to Broxham. Incidentally on that occasion Bill and the aforementioned Keith had also nicked my swim that day! I think they should be suspended from the club!

In the end I chose the second of the five swims with the intention of fishing around 2 rod lengths out in clear water. At least it was a plan of sorts.

I set my waggler rod up with a 3bb float, 5lb main line and a size 18 with a 3lb hook length. My intention was to target the tench and bream.

After setting up the rod I ground baited the swim in my normal way and then set up my chair, box, bait, tackle bits and pieces and most importantly the umbrella as it was still raining hard. Once done I picked my rod up only to discover that when laying it down some line had got caught up in a tree. I did sort it out but the result was that I found my terminal tackle was so knotted that I would have to set up again! After I cut the line and was ready to start again I pulled the line to get some off the spool. The line did not come off easily and the rod bent round so much that it snapped making it three breaks in three years! I investigated and found that the line had snagged around one of the several logs on the bank.

As I set up my spare rod I began to suspect that today wasn't going to be my day.

I was still somewhat upset when I finally made my first cast of the day at 8:30! I started with corn on the hook as I wanted to avoid the very small fish that I knew would almost certainly take a maggot.

Almost immediately the float went under and I was into a fish however I missed it. Buoyed by the fact that something took the corn I tried again. This time I was successful and in came a roach of about 3 ounces. This was quickly followed by another.

With the rain still coming down heavily the swim then died. For the rest of the morning I persevered with the corn but was totally unsuccessful. As a confidence booster before I had my lunch I went on single maggot and caught 5 rudd, 2 roach a little perch.

After lunch the rain stopped being persistent and went into sporadic mode. I have to say it still felt chilly except on the few occasions when the sun came out.

The afternoon session followed the same pattern as the morning one. The going was very dire. There was no sign of any decent fish activity in my swim. Elsewhere on the lake I could see fishing jumping.

I carried on with the bigger baits, corn, bread and meat but apart from the occasional tickle from smaller fish nothing showed.

By four in the afternoon Keith had called it a day and left to watch the football. I decided to have another dabble with the maggots and 'pulled' in another five minutae roach and rudd before I too called it a day at 18:00.

I will go back but only if Botany bay is free.

Wildlife Update:

During the afternoon I heard a rustle at my feet and looked down to see a mouse run up to my corn and with two paws on the edge of the box lean over and make off with a piece. A few minutes later he came back and did the same with the strawberry flavoured variety. He repeated this several times before in fear that would have none left if it continued I complained and he disappearred! Absolutely amazing episode.

2012 15 June 23rd Broxham Pond, Edenbridge

I decided today to yet again tackle my nemesis which is the club's Broxham Pond in Edenbridge.

Currently my record stands at 2 visits, 3 bites and 1 fish, albeit an eight pound common.

The aforementioned carp was taken on a 10mm strawberry boillie in the channel between the headland and the far bank.

My plan today was to fish from 15:00 to around 20:00 using just my carp gear.

The sun was shining as I set off at around 2pm for the pond. If there were other anglers present I planned to go to either Chittenden or Nursery Fields.

I didn't have to put this plan into action as the car park was empty and there were no cars parked up at the pond. I let myself in and then made my way up the field to the pond.

Having unloaded the car and made my way to the swim I set up both rods. Both of them used 6lb main line to a size 14 hook with a 5lb hook length. On the rod which I was going to fish the channel I put on 10mm Monster Crab boilie and on the one in open water I put on a 15mm Pineapple Frenzy one. Next I threw in some free offerings before setting up my chair and landing net etc. I made my first cast around 15:30.

The first hour passed without incident. I reeled in both rods to check the bait and then re-cast. The wind began to get stronger as evident by the waves that began to appear. The buzzer on the rod in the channel kept blipping but I put this down to the wind.

Around 5:30 another EBAS member turned up for a look and a chat. He told me of the days when this pond was full of fish! I must say his visit did break up the monotony.

Time passed. The afternoon turned into the evening. The buzzers remained silent. I could see no movement on the surface depicting fish activity. I feared the worse.

As the evening wore on my supplies of sweets and tea began to dwindle. The wind was now strong enough for me to begin to get cold. Yes this is still June.

Finally I had to admit that it wasn't going to happen today. They (if they do exist) had beaten me again.

I packed up, loaded the car and drove home arriving just in time to see France surrender to Spain.

Wildlife Update:

As I made my way across the field I counted 5 rabbits as I came in and a dozen on my out! How many actually live there is anyone's guess.

2012 14 June 15th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was going to be my second visit of the summer season to the club’s Nursery Fields lake.

I was up bright and early and out of the house by 5:30. There was moisture in the air but not really any rain as I made way from Shirley to Edenbridge.

I arrived at the fishery around 6am to find the car park empty. This meant I had the choice of any swim I fancied. I loaded up the trolley and headed out. On my last visit I had fished the swim at the very top of the lake so this time I chose the other end. Most of the swims have lily pads to fish to on the near bank and it was one of these (peg 7) that I selected for the day.

I set up a waggler rod with a 3bb float, 5lb main line to a size 16 hook with a 4lb hook length. The feeder rod I set up with a small cage feeder, 6lb main line to a size 14 hook length.

I fed the float rod swim heavily with a mixture of ground bait, hemp, maggots, meat and corn. On the hook I decided to start with homemade strawberry flavoured sweet corn.

It was about 7am when I made my first cast. I was still the only one on the lake.

The first hour on the float rod was a bit slow. All that was interested in the corn was a solitary skimmer bream. On the other hand the feeder rod got off to a flyer. One bream, one tench and a 4lb common carp all fell to a 10mm strawberry boillie.

On the hour I topped up the swim with another ball of groundbait and some hemp, a pattern I repeated though out the day.

During the second hour the feeder swim went quiet however the float swim sprang into life. Eight bream (one of which was a proper one) and a tench all came into the net. I began to suspect that I could be in for a good day.

By 10am another angler arrived. As he passed me we had a small chat about recent visits etc before he disappeared up the lake. I never saw him again!

By 10am the corn was still working well, 2 bream, a tench and my first barbel (albeit a 5inch long specimen) made the net. I also had one more tench on the feeder rod.

The swim was now really alive. During the next hour I had five more of the small barbel as well as the first showing of roach (4), rudd (1) and the might gudgeon (1). The feeder rod had gone really quiet though.

As lunchtime loomed the swim was still producing. I was really enjoying myself (and so far the rain had kept away). Five barbel, 4 tench, 2 more bream and a rudd made the virtual net. I was still using the strawberry corn.

I had my lunch, small Cornish pasties and some cocktail sausages plus a very well earned cup of tea before resuming the fishing. The swim yielded just 2 barbel, 1 roach and a bream in this period however the feeder rod came back to life with 3 tench.

By the end of the lunch period (2pm) the swim was still going strong, 3 barbel, 1 tench, 2 roach and another rudd were added to the total. The feeder rod also produced a tench.

The afternoon session saw ot let up in the productivity of the swim. By 15:20 I’d added 8 barbel, 3 roach, 3 rudd and 3 more bream to the overall total. The feeder rod was going through another of its quiet periods.

As the afternoon started to make way to the evening I switched hook bait from corn to meat. This decision was rewarded by a further 3 barbel, a tench and a 5lb common carp. Two of the barbel came in at around the 2lb mark. The feeder rod also chipped in with a solitary tench.

 At 16:00 the heavens opened and the rain arrived. It was so heavy that I had to bring the rods in and just sit it out. Luckily for me it only lasted for half an hour or so.

The final part of the session followed the same pattern. Five barbell, one of 2lb, a tench and 3 bream one of which was about 1.5lb. The final two fish of the day came on the feeder rod and they were again tench.

The session came to end when I went shallow and had a look close to the bank with a piece of meat. The float shot under straight away and into the lillies the fish went. I exerted as much pressure as I could before the line broke and the float ended up in a tree.

The main reason I packed up when I did though was because I had to get home to watch the England game.

In conclusion I think I had a fantastic day. Eighty nine fish in one day is a very good total for me. I can’t wait to get back there.

2012 13 June ?? Christmas Mill, Edenbridge, Kent

This season I'd made a conscious decision to fish EBAS's other waters rather than stay on the safe Nursery Fields and Chittenden paths.

Taking that in mind I decided to have a go at the club's Christmas Mill pond.

The lake isn't accessible until 7am so there was no need to leave home at the crack of dawn. The previous evening I'd used GOOGLE MAPS to show me where it was and so when I left at 6:30 I was confident I knew where I was going.

I found the lane easy enough and made my way down until I reached the small car park. I unloaded the car but before I made my way to the lake I thought I would walk through the woods till I found the swims (there are only 5). I followed the path into the woods and after about 50 yards I saw the lake. The woods were quite thick and went right to the waters edge making fishing impossible. I carried on following the path and finally made it to a small cutting containing a park bench. On the bench it said 'Botany Bay'. It was as good a place to start as any so I went back to the car for my gear.

The swim looked very fishy, about two rod lengths out there was a set of lily pads. Strangely they weren't very thick. I decided to fish right in front of them. I left the feeder rod in its case today as I wanted to learn the water first.

I mixed up a bowl of ground bait and left it to settle while I set up the float rod. The weather was warm and still so I decided to use a 2bb waggler. I had no idea what if anything I would encounter so went for a size 18 hook with the idea of starting with single maggot.

I made my first cast at 8:00am. The first hour was quite slow. I didn't panic though as I believed that the feed would draw any fish in. I was right, after 30 minutes the float moved to the side but I couldn't hook the fish. This happened several more times before I finally landed one. It turned out to be a roach of about an ounce. By 9:00am I'd added another.

Every hour I fed the swim with another ball of ground bait and some loose maggots. After the first hour I dotted the float down a bit lower. This worked as I managed to catch another 13 roach in the next hour.

None of the roach were of any great size so I made a conscious decision to start loose feeding larger baits with the intention of trying it on the hook later on in the day.

So now I was fishing with single maggot on the hook and feeding with corn every cast I landed a fish. By 11am I had caught another 8 roach and a solitary perch.

Leading up to lunchtime I kept doing the same thing as regards feed. I wanted to wait for the better fish to arrive so I resisted the urge to go on the corn too early. Another 12 roach were added to the net in this time.

The next hour followed the same pattern as the previous one, the only difference being that I only caught a further 10 roach.

After lunch I gave the corn a try, apart from the occasional knock from a small fish the going was slow. I was rewarded with a roach which was bigger than what I had been getting.

Around 2pm I experimented with a small cube of meat. After a few minutes the float dipped and I struck. Immediately I felt some non roach resistance and then the fish started to slowly move away. I was just getting prepared for a fight when the hook was spat and the fish was gone. I assume it was a bream by the way it reacted.

Of the next 10 roach caught five of them came on corn and five on maggot. I went back on maggot after I lost another fish which bolted into the lilies. This one spat the hook as well. This one was either a carp or a tench certainly not a bream.

As the afternoon began to break into early evening my plan seemed to be coming together as I lost 3 more good fish. One broken hook length and two more that spat the hook. One of them was a bream as it reacted in the same way as the first.

By the time I packed up at 18:45 I'd added another 14 roach to the total making a grand total of 82. All bar one were roach.
In conclusion I really enjoyed the day. It was back to real fishing. Turning up at the bankside not really knowing what to expect is what it is all about. The setting was fabulous. There is no doubt that I will be back in the near future.