25th July Boulthurst Farm, Nr Limpsfield Surrey

Come the long summer months, I often take the opportunity to visit this small pond on a Sunday afternoon for a few hours free lining a piece of meat in the margins.

I arrived around 3pm and set up in the end swim nearest to the car park. As you can see from the photo below I used my feeder rod and 6 lb main line curtesy of the Angling Times.

For groundbait I took a tin of sweetcorn which over the course of the session I fed into the swim above and to the one on the other side whilst fishing the cubes of meat over the top.

Sometimes if the fish are in the area bites can come quite quickly however as a general rule, after 5 and before dark are the best times. This one was taken just after 6pm.

I reckon that the 5 hour session produced about a half a dozen carp but the number caught isn't really the point. It's the adrenaline rush that comes when a carp takes the meat and the rod bends round or even sometimes heads for the pond that does the trick.

Tight Lnes

July 23rd Mill Lake Stubpond Fishery Fellbridge Surrey

After an absence of nearly 3 weeks I decided to pay a return visit to Stubpond.

Although the school holidays were upon us, it was midweek and there are no under
16's allowed in the fishery so I was confident of finding a decent swim on Mill Lake as usual.

To my horror there was another car parked in my usual spot nearest to the lake, had I lost my favourite swim? As luck would have it, no I hadn't, my fellow angler had obviously decided that the top of the lake was for him.

I made my way to the swim and my first impression after an absence of 3 weeks was that the weed growth had really taken control. However what I could see from the surface was nothing compared to what was beneath. The picture below gives some indication of the weed growth:

Some carp were already moving on the surface so I made sure that my set up was correct. I felt good about today as I feel that after several visits I was beginning to learn how this lake behaved.

The groundbait was mixed, handfuls of hemp thrown in plus quite a few maggots. The selected hookbait today was sweetcorn, scopex and strawberry flavoured along with the 'normal' kind. I would switch to meat later on when it had hardened up.


I kept seeing signs of fish moving over the bait. The float kept registering line bites and occasionally going under but with nothing attaching itself to the hook. Initailly I put this down to small roach or rudd having a field day on my free offerings whilst not caring for the hook bait.


This was becoming increasingly frustrating however two hours into the session I did manage to land this beauty:




Through all the frustration of the weed I did manage quite a few carp between 1 and 2 pound and a few tench plus 1 or 2 roach.


At 12 I had finally reached the end of my tether and decided that a change of tactics might be in order. I began to feed both swims with cubes of meat before setting up my feeder rod. I thought that as I was fishing quite close in I could free line some meat in the hope that it would get to the bottom without any interference from the weed. Here's the second swim:


Almost instantaneously the swims came alive and I was catching small(ish) carp at a nice rate of knots.

I also managed to land a couple of good ones like these below:

I ended the day with a good head of fish and a valuable lesson learnt. Do not be afraid to change if your oringal plan doesn't work out. The fish were obviously there and the change of tactics and bait worked a treat.

Tight Lines.

July 19th Boulthurst Farm, nr Limpsfield Surrey

As previously stated this pond only has 4 swims (one's a double). The hot one is the one at the end where the stream enters. According to the club chairman the second best one is the one at the opposite end. Today, I decided to do an afternoon/evening session here if the swim was free as I hadn't tried it before.

I arrived around 3:30 to find that one other person was there but as luck would have it he wasn't in the swim I wanted to fish.

The swim has two very nice and very different swims within it, the first follows the overgrown bank away from all the fishable spots. See below:

The second has trees and bushes hanging over the water giving about 20 yards of margin fishing before encountering the next swim by the lily pads. See below:

I fed both swims with sweetcorn and initially used sweetcorn on the hook until the luncheon meat hardened up. As usual when I fish the margins I was free-lining on my feeder rod. The sweetcorn did not attract any bites but when I switched to meat aounnd 6pm I managed to land this beauty. See below:

I then switched to the second swim while feeding the first and managed to land this carp - see below:
And so the pattern continued for the rest of the session - this one came after a further hour and 15 minutes:

I was on a roll now - 30 minutes later this one was in the net:

Ten minutes later the final fish of the day was caught. The only mirror of the session.

In conclusion a very good short session free-lining meat in the margins. I did miss a few so all was not perfect but a very enjoyable session all the same especially as I had never fished the swim before.

Tight Lines

July 12th Boulthurst Farm, Nr Limpsfield Surrey

After nearly not getting a swim for an afternoon session last week and ending with a 7.5 pound carp I thought I thought that was good enough reason to devote a whole day to the club pond at Boulthurst Farm.

I arrived about 7am accompanied by a light rain. The forecast was for rain all day so I put my waterproof trousers and fleesce on. I carried my tackle through the undergrowth to my swim. I was glad I had got changed as my legs were covered in water!

On the way to the swim and I could see fish moving all over the pond including several good ones near the bank where I was walking and planning to fish. I had the feeling today was going to be a good day.

I set up in the usual way, the only difference being that the pond was a couple on inches deeper thanks to the recent rains. Out went a single piece of corn and I sat back and waited for the action to begin. Here is my swim:

No immediate action, not even any signs of life around the swim. Very strange. I kept up my normal feeding pattern but to no avail. By now the early morning rain had disappated and the sun had broken through. The carp continued to cruise on the top all over the pond.

About 8:30 a father and his 7 year son turned up and set up in the swim next to mine. They had all the modern carp gear including rod pod and buzzers. By the sound of thier conversation the young lad had the left hand rod and the dad the right. They were casting to the far side of the pond, I could tell because the height of the bank meant that I could clearly see where their lines entered the water.

After 30 minutes or so off went one of their buzzers and in came a carp of around 3lb. The father came round for a chat and told me what his tactics were, tutti fruitti boile on 10lb main line fished as close to the far bank as possible. The far bank is inaccessible to anglers. He asked me what the largest fish in the pond was and I told him about 15 pounds.

The rest of the morning session followed the same pattern. I was getting absolutely nothing and for them the buzzer went off every 30 minutes or so although to be fair not all were landed. Around lunchtime the young lad came round to see if I had caught anything yet - I replied no and he said "not to worry" as he had had 3 so far - all good uns!.

I decided to have my lunch around 1pm - feeling confident that by now that it wasn't my day and that the float wouldn't go under while I was eating! After lunch I decided to feed the swim under the tree, as that is where the previous week I'd had some success.

I gave it half an hour before dropping the float in - as I did the young lad and his dad came round again for a chat. As they were standing next to the tree I really didn't expect much action but in mid sentence the dad jumped back as the float went and I struck. After a few minutes into the net came a nice cap of around 2 pound. Off the mark at last - not a blank!

I thought a change of tactics might be in order so I switched to the feeder rod and sent the feeder out for a couple of hours. Nothing, not a sniff of a bite. Yes it was definitely one of those days.

All the time I was using the feeder I kept feeding the swim under the tree. Eventually I took the feeder off and feelined meat under the tree. One carp almost immediately was in the net. I fed bread as well as meat and corn. Some of it floated around the tree. I kept seeing the same carp come to the surface and eat the stuff. I put on a large flake and flicked it out. After a few minutes the tip went round, I struck and in came a 4 ounce roach!

4 o'clock came and my 2 new fishing buddies decided to called it a day - I reckon they must have had 10 carp between them - I was struggling on 2 plus a roach.

Over the next 2 hours I managed to extract one more carp from the bush swim (see below). By now the confidence was low and I started to think about packing up. In went a large handful of meat and some corn. I waited and waited and then the tip flew round and we were off again. A few minutes later, with the fish well and truly beaten I went for the net. The fish took this as a sign to leave so it did but gave me my hook back first!

That was it for me - I called it a day right there and then!

Tight lines.

5th July Boulthurst Farm, Limpsfield, Surrey

Now I'm no different from most anglers in that I believe the best time to attack a venue is the period late afternoon until it gets dark. To this end I set off at 2:45 for Boulthurst Farm, the club pond just outside Limpsfield in Surrey.

I arrived around 3:15 to find 3 cars in the car park. I began to panic - there are only 4 swims there! Anyway after a quick walk round I discovered that one of the swims was free - it was the most open and probably the worst on the complex except if you are one of the buzzer brigade in which case it's perfect. The best swim was occupied by a father and 2 small boys. I got chatting to them and they were going to pack up soon so I thought I'll have a quick try in the margins under the bush on a small float rather than the open water and then move round when they leave.

I set up a float rod and plumbed the depth. The water level was very low - the depth was just over a foot. The recent lack of rain was really having an effect on this small pond. I throw in a few grains of corn and flicked the float out.

Immediately there was some action around the float. I took it to be small roach just knocking the line. Suddenly the float shot away and I struck, the fish turned and headed back under the tree where it stayed after returning the hook! Undettered I threw a few more grains out and flicked the float out again. Five minutes later the same thing happened!

The dad and 2 boys decided to call it a day at this point and I took the oppertunity to move swims to actually do what I intended to do and that was have a little go at feeder fishing with a normal cage feeder.

I decided to fish about 20 yards in front of me and about 2 or 3 yards to the right of the fallen down tree. This was near enough for the carp to come to and far enough away I hoped not to lose any feeders.

The plan for the rest of the afternoon and evening was to use the feeder as stated above and feed the swims under the tree and in front of the bush with luncheon meat so that later on I could try fee-lining some meat.

I know my casting isn't brilliant but I did manage to put it quite close to the spot where I intended it to go. The pond has quite high banks but with the stream forming a gap I was able to position the rod 90 degrees to the feeder and about 6 inches off the surface of the water. I tightened up the line so that the tip was slightly bent and then waited.

A little knock and then another which was quickly followed by the tip slowly going round. I struck and up came a nice roach. Not a bad fish for my first cast. Next cast exactly the same thing. I must be getting good at this. I swopped baits from corn to luncheon meat and was rewarded with a nice carp of about 2 pounds.

Time was moving on and as I'd seen some fishy movement under the tree I thought I would give it a go. So in went some meat and out went a nice big piece on a free line. At the same time I started to pack away my stuff which I would no longer need. Now this a bit of a knack - tidying up while keeping an eye on the tip!

Here is the tree/bush.

Just as I finished the tip bent round and we were away. At first I thought it was in the 2 pound range but once on the surface I saw it was a good size. My feeder rod is strong and with 6lb line on I was confident of landing the beast. Finally into the net it came - a nice 7.5 pounds of common carp! My personal best for the season so far.

And here it is....

That was it for me - It was about 8 o'clock - I'd had 5 hours or so of fairly good sport so it was time to go home and have my dinner!

Tight Lines

03rd July 2009 - Mill Lake, Stubpond Fishery, Felbridge, Surrey

Having given the club ponds a hammering over the last few weeks I thought it would be a good idea to pay Stubpond a visit today.

The previous 4 days had been the hottest of the year so far but the forecast for today was for a drop of some 7 degrees so I thought if the fish had become sluggish in the heat they may now come back to life and feed.

I arrived at the fishery dead on the opening time of 8am to see a change to the notice which notified anglers that the fishery will now close at 6 rather than 5 - great an extra hours fishing for my quid!

Had the pick of the swims again as I was the first on the lake - only just though as another fella was only 2 or 3 three minutes behind me. What struck me about the swim that was different from this time last year was the absence of the lily pads to my right. There were replaced not by clear water but by the type of thick weed that grows under the water. Not to complain too much thougn as the swim was one of the more weed free on the lake. The further you walk away from the car park the weedier it becomes.

I decided to start by fishing as tight as I could to the weed bed that had replaced the lily pads. It wasn't difficult as a good underarm cast did the job wonderfully. I had groundbaited the swim and thrown in a handful or 2 of maggots to get them going. For set up my comercial float rod with 5lb line plus a size 16 carp wide gap hook was used. I knew if I was lucky that the carp here could be anything from 1lb up to around 15 pounds so I wanted to be prepared for anything. Also the set up had to be able to cope with a fish getting in the weeds (the visible and the invisible).

I decided to start with a single maggot to see if the silver fish were active in the swim and to ensure I didn't blank! Ten minutes later I had 3 rudd and a roach, the last of which had swallowed the hook deep and it was an effort to get it out. That made my mind up to change. Off came the maggot and on went normal sweetcorn. To be honest I'd been using scopex flavoured corn a lot lately and only using the 'normal' corn in the groundbait mix. Immediately there were indications on the float that something was interested. Down it went and in came a small tench of just under a pound.

Even though it wasn't yet 9:30 the big yellowish ghost carp that live in Mill Lake began to patrol the surface. They are big. The odd mirror could also be seen feeding on the surface weed. Sometimes they would literally swim beneath my feet!

Back to the action and I began to realise that the swim was alive with fish. Carp up to 2lb and 5 tench up to a pound found their way into the 'net' by lunchtime on corn, bread and scopex flavoured corn. So far I had only lost one fish which judging by it's run, I thought was another small tench.

If you are a regular reader of my reports you will know that 9 times out of 10 I tend to be the only person on the lake/pond. Now something very wierd happened in the morning. Another angler turned up and started to fish in the swim nearest the car park. First off he set up the biggest umbrella I've ever seen (which I mistook for a bivvy at first), complete with one of those beds that carpers use. Ten minutes later the umbrella was down, 10 minutes or so after that he was gone! Very strange.

Around 11 a father and son turned up who told me they hadn't fished there before and wanted the local info! What they did know came from the woefully out of date website which still stated that there were 5 lakes on the complex when in actual fact there was only 4. They decided to set up to my right in the 2 swims nearest the car park. They talked to each other all the rest of the day but it wasn't affecting my fishing so I didn't pay it no mind.

At noon I was feeling confident enough to make the switch to meat. I began to feed the swim to my immediate left which was against a reed bed about a rod length away. I decided to attack the swim at 1pm.

First drop into the swim and almost immediately the float went away and I had a good size carp on. As I said before the pond has a lot of weed in it and as the fish fought the line gathered more and more of it making the whole job slightly more difficult. Anyway I managed to get it in - a nice one of around 4 pound. See below:

For the rest of the afternoon I alternated between the two swims. The only difference being that the swim on the left I fed exclusively with meat and the other I fed the same way as in the morning except for a few cubes of meat. The fish kept coming in. All good fighters but none bigger than 4 pound. This was probably the best of the lot.

I did however break one of my personal bests - in fact I caught a species of fish I've never caught before. A nice goldfish of about 6 ounces!

I packed up about 5:30. I caught steadily all day for a total of 35 fish, the best being a 4lb carp. The weather as predicted was a lot cooler (although not uncomfortable) than the previous few days and I think this accounted as much for my catch as my skill!

In the words of Arnie - I'll be back.

Tight Lines.

26th June - Private Pond, Hurst Green, Surrey

Off again Friday. This time I was back to the Private pond in Hurst Green to see if I could catch at least one of the 3 carp that got away last time.

I arrived at the venue about 6:30 to be met by one car (someone else here) and a notice saying that due to a pre-booked match the pond was closed from 3:30! I was devastated because as you know the hours before dark are when the bigger fish come out to play!

Peg 1 was free again so that part of my plan was successful. Here is my swim.



According to the forecast the weather was going to produce another sorcher however having driven for 35 minutes in the rain and setting up in the wet I began to doubt it.

Learning from previous experience, I didn't even contemplate fishing the swim directly in front of me but directly went for the one by the lily pads. I fed the swim early as I set up with my usual starting line up (5lb main line, 16 hook). There was a slight difference in that I used Drennan wide gape hooks to nylon this time in the hope that should I indeed hook a good fish my chances of catching it were improved.

I was not happy with having to pack up at 3:30 and this initially affected my concentration. I knew there were plenty of fish around but I just couldn't get into any of them. The first hour yielded only a couple of small roach on single maggot. They were so small I switched immediately to scopex flavoured sweetcorn.

I started to get small carp of a few ounces nearly every cast but nothing more substantial. The pattern for the day was set. One ball of groundbait every hour, a few hempseeds every cast, a few pieces of sweetcorn into the margins to my right every fish caught and an alternation of hookbait between the scopex sweetcorn and bread everytime I caught a fish.

This worked perfectly as I had a bite a cast and almost a fish every other cast. They were mostly small carp but interspersed with these were some fine roach and a good head of crucians (see below).


The odd tench also made it in to the net, including 2 or 3 like this one.


The other angler packed up at 9:30. We bumped into each other as I was returning from a call of nature. I told him I wasn't happy with the situation and he showed me the list of matches booked. Today wasn't on it - so he said according to club rules I couldn't therefore be removed. I didn't particularly want a confrontation so I split the difference and took the chairman's number. I rang him about 10:30 and left a message explaining the situation and asking him to ring me back.

Around lunchtime another member turned up and after an hour or so I went to stretch my legs and had a word with him. Good news he told me the match would only be attended by 5 or so people, including the chairman. I was feeling confident about things now. I even got into one of two decent fish (nothing spectacular though).

Back to the fishing, they were flying in now. One of the guys at work was astounded when I told him that on a previous trip I'd caught close on 100 fish - so this time I counted each one. One piece of sweetcorn for a digit and a piece of meat for the 10's. By 2:30 I had around 60 in the hyperthetical net. I knew things would slow down when I targeted the better quality fish so I took nothing for granted.

I finally spoke to the chairman about 3 o'clock and he said it was fine, I could stay where I was. I took this as a positive sign and immediately switched tactics. I feed cubes of luncheon meat into the 2 swims and then loaded up the hook. First cast away goes the float and in comes yet another very small carp. How do they manage that?

I stayed on the meat until I packed up at 8pm but couldn't connect with anything larger than a few ounces. The sun reflecting off the water had finally taken it's toll. I was knackered. The match finished at the same time and I thanked the chairman, Dave Walker for the favour. All in all I caught 87 fish, 13 shy of my target. Not many of them topped a pound but I did catch a nice cross section. The bottom line was I enjoyed myself.

Here is a picture of my lone spectator. He stayed hanging aound my swim all day!



Tight lines.