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.