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!