Saturday, 7 April 2012

2012 04 April 5th Silver Lake, Gabriels Fishery,Edenbridge, Kent

Due to the temporary closure of the club’s two main waters I was forced into looking for an alternative venue for today’s trip. After much deliberation I decided to give Silver Lake at Gabriel’s Fishery in Edenbridge a bash.

I knew as soon as I got out of bed that today was going to be different from my last two outings. It was dam cold! Still the decision had been made so I duly loaded up the car and set off about 6:30. The fishery opens at 7am so there was no mad panic to get there.

On Silver Lake there is a nice little bay on peg 1 where you can easily fish two or three different areas during the day and it was this swim that I hoped to get today.

I arrived as expected dead on 7am. I drove the half mile or so up the track to the fishery car park only to find 4 cars already there! I loaded the trolley up and headed off to the lake. I could see also immediately that the swim was free – my luck was in.


As the weather was so cold I didn’t think I would have to feed much today so I made up a small amount of groundbait featuring brown crumb, some small scopex pellets and a few grains of corn. For hook bait I intended to use single maggot.

I made my first cast at 8:00. To my complete surprise the float went under straight away and in came a Rudd of about 3 ounces! No blanking for me today then.

By 8:53 I’d added 3 roach, a gudgeon and another Rudd. Apart from the constant shivering I was off to a good start.

I was catching enough to keep me interested but for the sake of my health I had to put my waterproofs on as the wind was bitterly cold. By 10am I’d paid my £2 and added 3 more gudgeon, 2 Rudd and 2 roach to the virtual net.

At 10:30 I was confident enough in the swim to have a change of bait. I tried a small piece of bread flake. Almost immediately the float went away and I struck. This was no roach, it never moved so I thought it was one of the lake’s larger bream. When it did come to life and I managed it get a look at it I saw that it a mirror carp! To say it was a mighty tussle would be an exaggeration but they still have to be landed and I managed to net this one. It turned out to be a nice four pounder and my first of the season.

The morning session finished with 5 roach and 2 gudgeon as there was no more action on the bread and I’d switched back to maggot.

During the morning I’d been feeding a couple of grains of corn into the reeds to my left each time I landed a fish. I’d had a look during the morning but hadn’t had any signs of fish activity. After lunch I tried with a piece of bread flake. The float dipped and then shot away and I was into another carp. This one fought a bit harder but not by much. The result was another mirror weighing in at 3.75lb.

I’d also during lunch picked up my first perch of the day.

The early afternoon period was numerically my most productive as by 14:15 I’d added 5 roach, 3 gudgeon, 1 perch, 1 Rudd and my first bream. It was a tad warmer by now but not enough to remove any layers of clothing.

As the afternoon wore on people began to leave. I decided to give it until 5pm and it was starting to get really cold again. As luck would have it at 16:50 I got into an almighty tangle and that as they say was that!

I finished the session with 6 more roach, 4 gudgeon and 3 egg filled perch.

So in conclusion I would say apart the weather it was an enjoyable day. I’d caught 46 fish including my first two carp of the season. I will have to go back when the weather improves.

Wildlife Update: At one point during the day a robin landed on my rod as I was holding it. He looked at me shivering away and his eyes seemed to say “I have no choice being out here – what’s your excuse?”

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