2016 20 August 12th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

As it turned out today was my last trip of 2016. A combination of holiday and a new car put paid to serious maggot drowning on my part. So it was off to Chittenden, the club's carp lake for my 2016 swan(shot)song!

I was up and out of the house by 5:30 as today I was aiming to get amongst the fish before the sun could take it's effect on proceedings.

While I was setting up it came to light that I'd forgotton my boillies! What a twerp. That meant that I would only be fishing the waggler today.

I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 7 am. The swim looked good, very fishy, I was hoping for a good day.

I thought I would start on the meat today to see if there was any early morning feeders about. Sure enough there were, by the end of the first hour I'd caught a couple of fish, one bream and a carp of about 3 lb.

The next four hours were very slow. In that time I'd switched to strawberry corn and managed to get another bream. I also lost another carp but I don't think it was a monster.

Another two hours passed with only a carp of 1.5 lb, caught on meat, making the virtual net. Things were not going according to plan.

Another four hours passed before I caught another fish on meat. This one was a small roach!

It was now 18:00 and with just 5 fish caught in the day I decided to call time on this session and as it turned out the season as well.

2016 19 August 6th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

On this early August day I planned to venture out to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields just outside of Edenbridge in darkest Kent.

It was back to the standard all day session today which meant that I was up and out of the house in time to arrive at the fishery around 6:30.

Upon arrival I unloaded the car and headed off to the back of the lake where I intended to fish today.

This is the waggler rod's swim:

This is the feeder rod's swim:

As I've stated in a previous blog entry it takes me about an hour from arrival to first cast. I usually set up the feeder rod first as I can cast it out and if the buzzer goes I am in a position to react straight away. Well that is exactly what happened today. The result was a nice carp of around 5.5 lb which had a liking for tutti fruitti boillies.

Due to this pleasant interruption I didn't make my other first cast until 8.05.

The next bite didn't come on the waggler as I expected but on the feeder rod. It was 8:05 and the culprit was a 2 lb tench.

An hour later and I'd bagged another tench of the same size on the same rod and bait.

Today's bait of choice on the waggler rod was strawberry flavoured corn. It wasn't until 12:05 that I managed to get my first fish on it. The culprit was one of the lake's bream.

From noon until 15:05 the swim went very quiet. I did catch though, the feeder rod chipped in with another tench and because I had switched from corn to meat on the waggler rod I landed a roach and another bream.

My last fish of the session came in at 16:05 and was another bream with a taste for meat. I then decided to cal it a day.

So after a great start the session went completely downhill. Still that's fishing and that's why we love it.

2016 18 July 30th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

Today it was back to club's carp water at Chittenden after a brief sojourn to Bouthurst Farm.

The differnce today was that instead of a day long sesssion I planned to leave at lunchtime and fish into the evening. I would finish before I needed a torch to let myself out.

I was out of the house and on the road in time to reach the fishery at 13:10. There were a few anglers there but not as many as I expected.

I unloaded the car and headed down the lake to my chosen swim of the day. You do work up a bit of a sweat pulling that trolley in the summer heat.

Today was going to be a carp session featuring my two carp rods and some lovely tangerine dream and tutti fruitti boillies. I intended to use maize as feed in the swims. As a bonus I had a combination of hemp, pellets and other assorted boillies which I was also going to use as an addititional attractor.

I had both swimis fed and both rods set up to make my first casts at 14:10. What would today bring? That's the joy of fishing, we never reallly know.

This was my swim to the left.

This was the swim to my right.

The first time the bleeper went off was at 15:06, alas I lost this one. It felt about 5 lb or so and came on the tangerine dream rod.

An hour and 25 minutes later the other buzzer went off, this one I did get in, unfortunately it was a bream of about a pound. The tutti fruitt rod was one up on the day.

Fifteen mnutes later and I'd bagged my first carp of the day. It was 6 lb and came in on the Tangerine Dream rod.

Between 16:45 and 17:59 I lost a further three carp, the second of the three actually took the boillie on the drop,. I had now lost four fish. I began to get worried that I was doing something wrong.

The setup:

At 18:15 I was back on track. This one weighed 7 lb and fell to a tutti fruitti boillie. The run of misses had been broken. Confidence had been restored.

Fifteen minutes later and again on tutti fruitti I landed another carp of 6 lb or so.

At 19:30 the buzzer went off and I was into another one. After a few minutes of playing the fish and with it now being close to the bank I noticed that the line was tangled around the reel and that I wouldn't be able to retreive anymore line. I took the line and keeping tight managed to guide the fish to the net! The result was 5 lb carp.

I caught my last and biggest carp at 19:50. It weighed 9 lb and came in on the Tangerine Dream rod.

So that was it for the day. I was worried about the lost fish so I enquired on Maggotdrowners and the advice given was that 15 mm boillies on a size 14 drennan hair rig was imbalanced. I shall, in future, change my set up when fishing this method.

2016 17 July 1st Boulthurst Farm, Holland, Surrey

Today I was going to make a visit to one of my old favourite venues, Holland AS's small carp pond in Boulthurst Frrm near Oxted in Surrey.

As there are only 5 swims on this pond it was imperative that I was up and out of the house as early as I could manage.

I arrived at the pond a little after 6 am to find the small car park empty. "Perfect" I thought to myself. I parked the car about 15 metres from the swim on the far right of the pond which meant no need of the trolley today.

I was set up and ready to make my first cast dead on 7 am. As this is a carp pond it was carp rod and a buzzer today. Not a tactic for a day session that I use very often. Tangerine Dream 15 mm boillies were my bait of choice.

I had fed two lines within the swim, one to the right and yes, one to the left. I started with the one on the left. It was thirty minutes into the session when the buzzer went off the first time and I was in. The result didn't threaten the breaking strain of the line, a mere 1 lb of fighting carp!

I then swopped to the right hand swim and ten minutes later the buzzer went again. This one was a bit bigger (2.5 lb) but still smaller than I was expecting.

The pattern for the day was now set, I would change lines each fish or after an unproductive hour whichever came first.

At 8:21 my biggest fish of the day so far turned up. I estimated it to be about 5 lb.

Six minutes later and I was in again, the result was the same, a small carp of about 3 lb. Where were the bigger ones? When I had visited the pond a few years back they went to about 7lb.

I had to wait half an hour before the buzzer went off again. Yet again it was another carp of about a 1 lb. I began to suspect that the club had recently re-stocked the pond with small carp.

Things were slowing down. I had to sit for an hour before the sound of the buzzer disturbed the peace and quiet. The result? Yep another small carp. This one about 2 lb.

The time was now 10:49 and I'd just released another 3 lb carp. These greedy beggars were taking 15 mm boillies like they were Smarties.

Of course I don't mind catching fish but when you come armed for carp around 7 to 10 pound but keep catching fish like the 1.5 lb specimen I caught at 11:30 it is not a fair fight. I had however no choice but to continue.

Between 12:30 and 14:30 I had three more of the small carp. If I'd fished the swim with a waggler and light tackle I would have had a monster day.

Between 14:30 and 16:30 I caugh 8 lb of carp.... with three fish!

At 16:06 I caught my biggest fish of the day. A very nice carp of 6 lb. I felt almost happy!

At 16:48 I caught my last small carp of the day. I decided at that point to give up and go home. Was it me or was the pond just over-stocked with small carp? It's a shame if it's the latter.

2016 16 June 24th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today I was going to head back to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields. I was on a high after the last session at Chittendon when I caught 100 lb of fish.

I decided to have an afternoon and evening session rather than the more traditional all day one which tended, thanks to age and the heat, to end around 17:00. Today if all was going well I could last until 20:00.

And so it was about 12:50 when I pulled into a relatively empty car park on this quite warm summer afternoon.

I unloaded the car and quickly made my way round to the back of the lake to see what swims were available today.

After I selected my swim I set up my usual two rods. This usually takes about an hour from arrival time and so it was about 13:50 when I made my first casts. Initially I went with meat on the waggler rod and Tangerine Dream boillies on the feeder rod.

The first species to show up was tench, a couiple of them made the virtual net in the first hour.

The next hour was slow, just the one tench on meat. However, there was some action on the feeder rod. The problem was I lost it. I saw it was a carp but I suppose that's the way it goes sometimes.

At 16:16 the feeder rod went off again and I knew I was into another carp. Here was a chance to redeem myself! I knew it wasn't large and this was confirmed when it slid into the landing net. I estimated it to be about 3 lb.

Thirty minutes later I lost another carp on the feeder rod. How frustrating. I did manage another small tench on meat from the waggler swim though.

I had to wait until 17.39 before the action resumed. Again it was on the feeder rod and again it wasn't a monster but I did get it in. A whopping 2 lb of carp.

Five minutes later another meat loving tench made the net from underneath the waggler.

Just after releasing the tench the feeder rod went off again and I was into another carp. No monster this one either. I estimated it to be about 2 lb.

At 18:00 I decided to fish the waggler really close in. There was no interest at first, and then after 15 minutes or so the float shot under and I was into a barbel. Not a massive one but a barbel all the same.

My last fish of the session came at 19:00 and was another small barbel with a lucheon meat habit.

So that was it, not a bad session but not as good as I was expecting.

2016 15 June 10th Chittenden, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first visit of the club's new season to it's carp fishery at Chittenden, just outside of Edenbridge.

I was up and out of the house quite early by my standards. This enabled me to arrive at the fishery around 6.25. I was one of the first there.

I loaded the trolley and headed off to the dam end of the lake where my favourite waggler swim was situated.

It was going to be a two rod attack today, a waggler close to the reeds and a small leger by the overhanging tree in the next swim up.

Waggler Swim

Feeder Swim

I was set up and ready to make my first casts by 7.25.

The feeder rod was the first to spring into action unfortunately I managed to lose it after a bit of a struggle. Perhaps I wasn't warmed up yet?

At 8.19 I caught my first carp of the day. It was tempted by a piece of corn on the waggler rod. I estimated it was about 5 lb. Lovely. I also managed a skimmer bream to make my total for the first hour two!

The next hour was a mirror image of the first, a small skimmer and a 5 lb 10 oz carp both on the corn. I had tried meat during the hour and had managed to lose another carp on it.

By 10:43 the swim had really come alive. First a carp of 3 lb 10 oz on meat. That was followed by a carp of 7 lb 3 oz on the feeder rod which had a tangerine dream boillie on it. The waggler rod then chipped in with the biggest fish of the day so far (8 lb 15 oz) on meat. I also managed to lose another one on the feeder rod. Two more bream also made the virtual net.

The next hour yielded three more carp, 2 on the waggler (6 lb 10 oz and 9 lb 12 oz) and a 4 lb 7 oz one on the feeder rod. This brought up the dozen for the day.

The two hour lunch period was quiet. All the action came on the wggler rod. A carp of 6 lb 7 oz on corn started the ball rolling and three bream on a mixture of meat and corn followed suit.

By mid afternoon the pace had slowed again. Just the one carp made the net. This one came in at 4 lb 13 oz and was caught on corn.

By 15:50 my day's total had risen to 18 with a carp of 6 lb 1 oz which fell to a nice cube of meat.

Half an hour later I'd bagged another carp on meat of 8 lb 5 oz. My total weight for the day was rising to a respectable height.

Fifteen minutes later, again on meat, another carp made the net. This was a  3 lb 7 oz specimen.

Three quarters of an hour later and I was in again. This one was 7 lb 14 oz and the bait was again meat.

Twenty minutes later and I was in again, Another 7 lb 2 oz specimen with a liking for meat. The day's weight tally was getting higher.

Forty Five minutes later (18.23) and I was in again, this time the carp weighed 4 lb 4 oz and again fell to a cube of luncheon meat.

My last fish of the day came in at 18:45 and was a tad smaller at 4 lb 1 oz.

So 24 fish caught in a day the majority of them carp. I couldn't complain about that. The bonus was that allowing for the bream I caught over 100 lb of fish! Only the second time I've ever done that.

2016 14 June 5th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today I intended to open the club's new season with a trip to the mixed fishery at Nursery Fields.

I was up and out of the house early enough to arrive at the fishery around 7:15.

Having unloaded the car and loaded the trolley I departed the car park and began to make my way round to the far side of the lake. The weather, for a change, was very sunny and warm. Confidence was high.

This was the waggler swim.

This was the feeder swim.

I had set up both rods and fed each swim by 8:15 which was when I made my first casts.

There was no immediate action. I had to wait until 10 am before the feeder rod went off and I was into, I was sure, one of the lake's carp. Alas today was not going to be my day as I eventually lost it in the nearby reeds.

My first fish actually was a roach caught at 13:30 on a small piece of meat. What a slow day. Not what I was expecting that is for sure.

I only had to wait another hour before the buzzer on the feeder rod went off, This time I managed to land the beast. When I weighed it I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a double, 10 lb 10 oz!

Twenty minutes later and I'd bagged a crucian on a piece of corn. I was on a roll!

An hour later and the corn had succeeded again, the victim this time was a nice bream.

At 16:23 the feeder rod's alarm went off again, unfortunately for me the carp, like it's brother earlier in the day, also got the better of me. I was choked.

At 16:00 hours I decided to fish close in with a piece of meat as bait and was rewarded 45 minutes later with a small barbel.

Unfortunately that was it for the day, five fish. Not the session I was hoping for.

2016 13 May 27th Swallow Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my second visit of the season to this pond on the Gabriel's Farm complex just on the outskirts of Edenbridge in Kent.

I was out of the house and on the road in good time to ensure that I arrived at the fishery dead on opening time at 7 am.

I was all set up and ready to make my first cast at 7:50. The swim had been fed with a generous helping of groundbait and miscellaneous loose feed.

I started off on pellets as this was quite successful last time. After an hour I'd bagged four of the pond's small carp.

Another seven followed in the next hour making my total for the day eleven. A promising start to the session.

Seven more in the next hour and the total was now 18! Could I be on for one of those red letter sessions? Time would be the judge of that.

It was was now a few minutes before noon and the virtual net stood at 24. The pellets and method of loose feeding seemed to be keeping the fish interested.

Alas the next hour only yielded another two. It was a time for a change of tactics as perhaps the fish had wised up to the pellets.

The fish came back slightly after I changed to corn. Four of them to be exact. My total at 14:00 was thirty for the day. Not bad but less than I'd hoped for.

By 15:00 the corn had produced another four. Consistent if nothing else!

By the time I packed up at 16:30 I 'd swopped to meat and added a further nine carp to the net. This made my total for the day 43. Not too bad.

2016 12 May 20th Silver Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

This was going to be my second planned visit to Silver Lake at Gabriel's Farm fishery just outside of Edenbridge in Kent.

As usual I was up and on the road in plenty of time to arrive at the fishery bang on openng time. When I got there I unloaded the car and made my way over to Silver lake's peg 1, which is my favourite.

When I arrived at the peg I noticed there was a lot of blossom etc on the surface of the water which had obviously been falling from the nearby trees. I made the decision to fish at that peg anyway.

Just the one rod today, so it was to the standard waggler set up that I turned to. I fed the swim (about two rod lengths out) and was ready to make my first cast at 7:50.

It was a disaster, the flotsam and jetsam on the water just proved to difficult to fish through. The stuff was getting on the line and sinking the float and even when I tried to sink the line the debris went down with it. I decided I had to move.

I took a stroll up the lake to see if the situation was the same there, luckily peg 2 (or the next one round, can't remember which) was clear. I made the decision to move there as i could cast in the vicinity of the feed I'd put in at peg 1.

It was 8:50 before I was ready to start again. For bait, I commenced with single maggot. I immediately got a roach and a rudd which was a good sign.

By 10:20 I was still on the maggot and I'd added another 5 fish to the virtual net, consisting of roach and rudd again except for a chub which when weighed turned out to be my personal best! I was over the moon (cliche' time).

The next hour was very slow going - just a roach and a perch made the net.

For the next two hours I decided to switch to corn. I managed to get a rudd and a roach however it wasn't a total disaster as I lost what had to be a carp.

After capturing another roach I decided to switch to meat. It was a bit early in the afternoon but I felt I had nothing to lose. By 14:40 I'd bagged a carp and a bream.

My penultimate fish and my fifteenth of the day came in at 17:00 and was another carp.

My last fish and my sixteenth of the day came in at 17:30 and was another carp so at least I ended the day on a high.

2016 11 May 15th Hare Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first visit of the year to Hare Lake on the Gabriel's farm complex just outside of Edenbridge.

I was up and out of the house by 6:20, ready to make the journey down to Edenbridge. The trip was nice and uneventful and so dead on 7 am I arrived at the fishery.

I normally choose a swim car park end of the lake however today I drove to the top, depositting my tackle at my swim at the top of the lake on the way, before parking the car in the car park.

Just the one rod today, a waggler set up that I intended to fish close to the lily pads on the far side of the lake.

Bait wise my plan was to alternate between corn and meat. I knew from previous experience that the lake was full of roach and small carp. There are bigger carp in here but as yet I've never caught one.

I made my first cast at 7:50 and after an hour I'd caught 5 fish consisting of a rudd, three roach and one of the lake's small carp.

The next hour brought much the same results only this time is was six fish and the bream entered the picture for the first time. The alternating of hook bait between corn and meat seemed to be working.

The action slowed down somewhat in the next hour. The corn appearred to be working better than the meat as I only caught three fish, 2 roach and a bream, all of them on corn.

The last hour before lunch didn't bring me anymore fish however I did hook into one that I lost when it ran into the lily pads. Could that have been one of the lake's bigger carp? We will never know.

From 11:50 to 14:50 I caught absolutely nothing. I wasn't unduly worried as most venues take some sort of dip during the middle of the day.

Unfortunately things had now slowed down to a complete crawl. By 16:00 I'd caught just one more carp and one more roach, both on the corn.

By the time I packed up I'd only caught one carp. This made my total for the day 17, not exactly what I was hoping for.