I planned from the off to have Nursery Fields as my debut venue mainly because at the same time last year I'd had a cracking day fishing the peg right at the top of the lake. The weather though was a lot different, last year I'd fished without a coat on! Certainly couldn't do that this year!
I was out of bed at 5:45, packed and on the road by 6:30 for the 40 minute journey to Edenbridge.
I arrived at the fishery at 7:10 to find the car park empty, not really a surprise. I unloaded my gear and then put on my brand new waterproof trousers, fishing boots and jacket. I felt a bit like the Michelin man but snug as a bug in a rug at the same time. With Chelsea hat on my head I made my way up the lake to the swim.
As I made my way I was somewhat dismayed to see that all the trees on bank side had been drastically pruned. See photos below:
The swim didn't look too bad, there was a slight breeze blowing left to right and the sun was trying to break through the very cloudy sky.
The plan today was to fish a light waggler set up straight in front me and a smaller leger set up on my feeder rod about three quarters of the way across to the island on my left hand side.
Before setting up began, I fed the waggler swim with some maggots and about a third of a pint of hemp. The leger swim I fed with about a dozen 10ml seafood boillies, which I fired in using my brand new catapult (never had one before).
Next I set up the waggler rod which was my brand new match rod (what an advantage having a birthday in February so close to Xmas!) with a small waggler on 4lb main line to a size 18 hook. Did I forget to mention my brand new match reel! Finally I set up the feeder rod with a very small leger, 6lb main line to a size 16 hook. I also had a brand new feeder reel as well. For bait I used single maggot for the waggler and 10ml seafood boillie for the leger set up.
I made my first casts at 8:10 and then sat back and waited for the action to begin. I waited and I waited. By 11:00 I hadn't had a twitch.There was no indication at all that the fish were going to be active today.
At 11:30 the float dipped and then shot away. I struck and the rod bent over and I was into my first fish of 2013. It was now that I noticed the difference a match rod makes. I could feel everything. A minute or so later I had a nice tench in the net (see photo below).
At least I hadn't blanked on my first outing of the season.
I recast and waited. Nothing for the next hour. It was now time for lunch, so out came the hot oxtail soup. A proper life-saver on a day like today. Just as I finished the cup the float lifted and went away and in came a lovely crucian. The time was 13:10.
At 14:00 the float went again, this time it was a roach of about an ounce. I now had a virtual net with three fish in it.
Despite feeding about 6 boillies every hour, the leger rod never moved. I hadn't seen any sign of any bigger fish all day. That changed at 15:10 when the tip shot round and I was into a fish. I suspected it was a tench but I saw it was a carp pretty early. I could tell it was big by the fight, it took me all around the swim, it was a good job I'd taken the float rod out or else it could have been trouble. A few times I thought it had given up only to see it make off again. I was a bit concerned because I was only using a size 16 hook but it held on until I eventually got it to the net.
When the fish came to the net I could see how big it was. I was gobsmacked. I took the hook out and photographed it before I weighed it. When I did, I found it be 11lb which equals my personal best. Suddenly it wasn't so cold anymore!
I recast both rods and waited to see what else the day had in store for me.
I had an hour of my session to go as I wanted to be out of the fishery by 5pm which meant that I had to start to pack up by 4:30. It seemed that some small roach fancied some afternoon tea as I caught three of them in the final hour along with another tench.
And so at 4:30 after a chat with the bailiff I packed up. I'd had a wonderful day despite everything the weather could throw at me although to be fair it didn't rain much all day just a sprinkle at either end.
Going out again next week!
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