July 26th Boulthurst Farm, Oxted, Surrey

Every season I like to spend at least one session at Boulthurst targetting the crucians that live there.

I arrived early (6:45) to ensure that I got the lily pads swim as I knew from past experience that that was where they were the most prolific.

I was first there as usual but the sight that met my eyes was most disconcerting. The club supply 2 bins, one in the carpark right next to the pond and one actually in swim 1. These bins were close to overflowing and the area all around them was covered in litter and even discarded articles of clothing! I had a quick walk around the pond and all the swims were in the same condition. How can people not leave things as they find them?

Anyway the swim I chose only had a few empty cans and a discarded loaf of bread in so I cleared that away and set up my tackle for the day.

I had no choice but to use my 13' match rod as my Shimano float rod was broke (see previous blog entry). On the 5lb main line I attached a small 2 bb waggler and a size 16 hook with a 4lb hooklength.

I mixed up my groundbait - 75% brown crumb with 25% carp/tench/brem attractor together with a handful or 2 of sweetcorn. I threw a couple of balls to the farside of the lily pads. (See photo below).

When I've fished this swim previously I've always managed to bag a bonus carp or 2 in between the lily pads and the bank. The water is only about a foot deep but if you feed it enough they will come in at some point during the day.

To this end I set up my feeder rod with 6lb main line and a size 14 hook to a 5lb hook length. While I was waiting for the crucians to be attracted to the groundbait I thought I would feed the margins swim with some corn and have a dabble.

While I was setting up my match rod the tip shot round and I struck expecting a carp but no, it was a roach of about 4 ounces!!!

By 7:45 I was ready to cast into the swim for the first time. I initially used corn as bait. I didn't have to wait too long before I caught my second roach of the day. This was followed fairly quickly by a crucian of around half a pound.

I tried corn in the margins every hour and at 9:00 I landed a 2.5lb common.

The next 3 hours were pretty slow in terms of the number of fish caught but I did have 4 crucians, sadly none made the magic pound mark. I did pick up a carp on corn which was a pleasant surprise. The margins swim produced another carp and another roach.

The afternoon session was not enjoyable for me at all. Around 3pm a group of kids turned up - 4 went in one swim to the side of me and one went down the far end. For the next hour they cast out the biggest float I've ever seen attached to a massive bit of bread. This fell off and so they reeled in and re-cast.

Of course one had to come over and ask me for a light - I don't smoke so couldn't 'help'.

There was a member of the committee fishing at the pond that day but when I spoke to him after they left (having cast into the tree over thier heads) he said that 'it wasn't worth the hassle to challenge them'. I tended to agree.

Anyway after they left I regained some composure and fished on. By the time I packed up (about 6:30) I added 4 roach (1 from the margins again), 1 more crucian and 2 carp (using a large piece of bread flake).

The largest one is shown below:

I did meet fellow Maggot Drowner Mr B Largus today but as we didn't realise it for several days we didn't chat. Oh well there's always next time.

I packed up at 6pm and headed home.

July 7th Boulthurst Farm, Oxted, Surrey

It was back to Boulthurst for another carping session on this lovely summer's day.

It was early when I arrived (I love an early start) and as expected there was an empty car park. I quickly made my way to my favourite swim. The photo below shows what it was like at 6:30 in the morning.

I set up my 2.5tc carp rod with the usual 6lb main line and 5lb hook length to a size 14 hook. I was going to use 10ml seafood and tutti fruitti flavoured boillies.

One set of boillies I put under the tree and the second in the clear water on the opposite side of the swim. Each set no more than 15 yards from the bank.

Thirty minutes after my first cast I had my first run. I played the fish fairly hard as I had to stop it getting into the roots of the tree. Uunfortunately for me it managed to get there and eventually spat the hook. 

I had to wait a further hour and fifteen minutes for the second run. This one I landed - a nice common of 1.5 pounds. It fell to a seafood boillie.

Forty minutes later it's twin brother succumbed to the same flavour!

Twenty minutes later (9:30 by now) I lost another one as it buried itself in the bank under my feet. I went for the net which must have slackened the line and the hook came out. Silly boy.

The weather was warm and the sky quite overcast so I was a bit disappointted with the action to date. I thought there would be more activity than this. 

10:30 arrived and so did my biggest fish of the day - a 3lb common with a liking for seafood.

For the afternoon session I thought I would concentrate on the tutti fruitti swim. Just before one and just after my salmon paste sandwich I landed a half pound roach!

Fifteen minutes later a 3lb common fell to the fruitty bait. I did begin to wonder why the larger carp were not showing as I could see them on the surface all over the pond when the light was right.

Both swims then went through 3 hours of calm before a 2lb mirror grabbed a tutti fruitti boillie.

Just before 5pm I had another small common before finally calling it a day at around 6pm.

I did enjoy the day (I nearly always do) however I was disappointed with the results.

Better luck next time me thinks.

July 4th Private Pond Holland Surrey

I'd spent my last 2 fishing trips carp fishing at Boulthurst Farm, so I thought I was due a session on the float at the Club's Private pond in Holland whisch is in darkest Surrey.

I arrived around 6:3o and went straight to peg 1 in the corner. There is a lily pad bed to the right and another along the margins to the left whcih are good features to fish to. (See photo below).

I fed sweetcorn into both swims and a mixture of groundbait, hemp and maggots into the swim by the lily pads which would be my main line.

I intended to set  up 2 rods because these swims tend to mainly produce small (under a pound) carp but occasionaly a larger specimen can be had from the margins in the afternoon.

The first rod I set up was my feeder rod. This had a very basic free-lining set up in that I put a 3 bb shot on the 6lb main line just before the 5lb hook length. This had a size 14 hook.

Whilst I was setting up the second rod I cast the first one into the margins swim using a piece of sweetcorn as bait to see if there were any early morning callers - there wern't!

The second rod had 5lb main line to 4lb hook length and a size 16 hook with 2 bb float. I had plumbed the depth and set it around two feet which was a couple of inches over depth.

First cast and there was a strange sound followed by the float landing just in front of me! Upon inspection I discovered that my rod had broke - brilliant! I hadn't cast with any force as the lily pads are quite close.

Luckily I carry my old 13' match rod with me so I re-setup using that.

I started off using sweetcorn on the hook as I had pre-baited the swim with a fair amount of it.

By 9am I'd had 7 small carp none of them bigger than a pound but fish never the less.

I was loose feeding every cast into swim 1 (normally corn) and into swim 2 (the margins) every fish caught.

By 10:20 I'd added 3 more small carp, 2 goodish roach from swim 1 and this tench from the margins swim which took a fancy to a piece of meat. 

I was by now settling into a nice pattern. I was feeding maggots to the lily pads and using corn on the hook. By 11:30 this had accounted for a further 8 small carp, 2 roach and another tench. I was also having a look in the

The next two hours produced 9 carp and yet another solitary tench.

One of the 9 carp was this specimen taken from the margins swim.

By 14:30 I was still catching consistently. I did try bread flake for a while but the very small roach kept picking at it which made bite detection almost impossible.

Despite that I still managed to add 2 more tench and 8 carp to the net.

The margins swim was still proucing the odd good carp. The one below came in at 15:40.

From around 4pm the glare of the sun off the water was getting too much for me so I put the float rod away and put a small amount of weight on my feeder rod and used that instead. The tip being far easier to see than the float.

This method brought me 11 carp, 2 tench and 5 roach.

I was on a roll now, I was alternating between the swims, taking a fish from each until I packed up because to be fair I was getting very tired!

Highlight of the last session was this 9lb common taken from the margins - my best ever carp from this pond. Luckily I managed to get someone to take this picture.

The last session yielded 3 tench and 8 carp making a grand total of 73 fish. A very pleasing day.

June 28th Boulthurst Farm, Oxted Surrey

After the fantastic success of my previous visit (16th June) I couldn't wait for the next opportunity to get down amongst them at the Farm.

I arrived at the pond around 6:15 and immediately set up in my favourite swim (see below). Thirty minutes later I had my first cast.

I had never really tackled this pond from an early start, I'd previously been there mainly in the afternoon and evenings so I was a bit surprised when I had no action until 8:50.

The buzzer went off and I played the fish up to the lip of the net. At that point it decided that it didn't want to meet me and spat the hook out.

I re-cast to the same spot. Fifteen minutes later the indicator went again and I was in for the second time.

This one was even more reluctant to meet me - he spat the hook way before the net came into play.

I began to think it wasn't going to be my day. My third cast went into a tree which seemed to confirm my worst fears. 

At 9:55, using a pineapple 15ml boillie I manage to tempt a nice chub of around 1 pound into the net.

Twenty Five minutes later the tutti fruitti fllavour struck gold as I landed a nice 5lb common.

Regarding the chub I caught, I was informed last year that chub had not been stocked in the pond and that it was probably a rogue immigrant. Well, at 11:20 I either caught another or the same one as I did an hour or so before! This one was caught on a seafood boillie.

By now the fish were playing ball, 30 minutes after the second chub I had a small common.

One of the advantages (or disadvantages depending on how you look at it) of using small boillies is that other species can often take the bait. Sometimes these other species are a nice size. At 11:55 a Roach decided to have a boillie. The buzzer wasn't tripped but I saw the line move around. I struck and in came the roach.

Just past noon I switched boillie flavour to seafood and lo and behold I caught another chub (or the same one for the third time!).

Less than 10 minutes after the chub was released the buzzer went again and in came a 5lb common. I was beginning to get on a bit of a roll.

The aforementioned roll continued with another roach and unblieveably another chub! I now suspect that there is more than one chub in this pond.

At 12:30 the wheels came off my roll as I missed another one - unusual for me this season - I must have been having one of those days!

The swim then settled into a 3 hour quiet period which gave me the oppertunity to contemplete life, the universe and everything.

The calm was broken at 15:35 when I landed a 4lb common after switching to tutti fruitti boillies.

Ten to four came and I lost another one. I was definitely off form today. Just to confirm that I lost another 20 minutes later.

As the evening wore on the fishing slowed down which was the opposite of what I expected. As the clock struck 6pm I landed another fairly good roach.

I was beginning to think about packing up when the buzzer went and I got a 4lb common on a pineapple boillie. This gave me the energy to carry on.

I had my last bite at 19:30 which became my 6th loss of the day so I decided it was time to pack up and go home.

I did enjoy the day though.

June 16th - Boulthurst Farm, Oxted, Surrey

This was my first visit of the year to the pond.

There are only 4 swims on the pond (one's a double) so I had to get up early to be assured of getting one.

To this end I did as much preparation the night before as I could which effectively meant I just had to load up the car, eat my cornflakes and shower before heading off.

I arrived just before 7 to find that the car park was empty. Great, I thought, first choice of swims. I selected the one on the far left hand side and moved all my gear down.

The famous swim.

Here's the opposite side to the swim:

It was the debut outing for my new rod pod (Xmas pressie) and carp rod (birthday pressie). The carp rod is a 2.5tc Shimano Alivio direct from Argos.

For the setup I used 6lb mainline with a size 14 hook on 5lb hooklength. For weight I used the smallest bomb I could find (1/8 ounce) and had this running on the main line between 2 small pieces of shot. For bait I used 10mm seafood and tutti fruitti boillies.

The photo below shows my setup and swim:

First cast went in at 7:14, first bite at 7:50 and also the first one missed!

Less than 10 minutes after re-casting the buzzer went off again and I landed a 9lb common, a personal best for this pond by 2lb! My day was made already. See photo below:

The spot under the tree was proving to be a hot swim as I had 3 carp in the first 2 hours and a chub which I caught last year from the same spot!.

Landing a carp at 8:40 proved to be a complete disaster as my landing handle broke. The height of the bank was enough to prevent me from using it anymore so I had to improvise. To this end I used an extenable bank stick as a make shift pole for the remainder of the day. 

Here's a full timetable of events:

7:14  First cast

7:50  First Bite missed!

8:00 9lb Common Carp - Seafood Boillie

8:10 4.5lb Common Carp - Seafood Boillie

8:15 6lb Common Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

8:40 6lb Common Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

10.05 2.5lb Common Carp - Seafood Boillie

10:20 4oz Roach - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

10.35 3lb Common Carp - Seafood Boillie

10.58 1lb Chub - Seafood Boillie

11.22 4oz Roach - Seafood Boilie

11:59 3lb Common Carp - Seafood Boillie

12:25 6oz Roach - Seafood Boilie

12:38 4oz Roach - Seafood Boilie

12:47 6lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

13:24 1lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

13:39 6lb Common Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

It was around this time that I found a landing handle and net in some bushes. Upon inspection I discovered that it was broken, it wasn't the universal screw type so I couldn't use it with my pole.

14:31 6lb Common Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

15:27 2lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

15:41 3lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

16:31 2lb Mirror Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

17:44 4lb Mirror Carp - Seafood Boilie

18:09 2lb Mirror Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

18:18 2lb Mirror Carp - Seafood Boilie

18:30 6lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

18:40 3lb Common Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie

19:03 4lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

19:25 3lb Mirror Carp - Seafood Boilie

20:12 2lb Common Carp - Tutti Fruitti Boilie
20:30 3lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

20:42 2lb Common Carp - Seafood Boilie

I finished the day with a total estimated weight of 93 pounds which I was very pleased with. I was just too tired to continue as I would have liked to have got to the magical 100 pound mark. I would have counted to 105 just to be sure.

There had been several changes to the venue since my last visit including the cutting away of the bushes on the bank and behind where we sit. I never used to be able to see my car from the swim but as you can see from the photo below (it's the blue one!) - I can now!

June 11th - Private Pond

It was the end of the flexi period and as I had completed my time by 11:20 I headed home with the intention of a good afternoon and evening session at the pond.

On the way home I got a tin of sweetcorn and a loaf of bread. The plan was to go with these only, no hemp, meat or maggots this time.

I've only ever fished peg 1 here but I've been told that the bigger tench reside at the other end so on the way I prayed that there were some spaces availabale up there. The pond only has 11 swims.

Luck was on my side, there were other anglers there but they were all on the near side around the middle of the pond. I quickly got my gear and made my way to the far side, top end swim peg 11.

Directly in front of me was a large bed of lily pads. To the left was the island but that was really out of range for float tackle so didn't figure in my plans. There was however a set of reeds/lilys both sides of the platform.

The first task was to mix the groundbait - 75% brown crumb and the rest carp/tench red attractor. I fed the swim about 2 rod lengths out.

As I was setting up my float rod I could see the swim bubbling away almost immediately. I hoped they would be crucians or even some of the larger tench.

As soon as the first cast went in (about 14:00) the corn was attacked. I struck and in came one of the ponds smaller carp (4 - 6 ounces).

This was the pattern for most of the session. A non stop array of small carp, all of which bent the rod but none were actually "rod benders".

In amongst the small carp were some tench but they were no bigger than a pound. I was, however pleased with the roach below:

Whilst fishing the swim in front of me I had also been feeding, with a couple of pieces of corn every 10 minutes or so the 2 margin swims either side of me. Around 5pm I dropped the float in to have a look. The carp below was the result.

I packed up at 9:30 or so having had over 40 fish. I was disappointed that I didn't get one of the bigger tench or any of the crucians but there's always the next tiime.

June 05 - Private Pond, Oxted, Surrey

The two ponds of Holland Angling Society opened on the 1st June, however due to other commitments I wasn't able to get down there until the 5th.

As luck would have it the weather was pretty poor at the beginning of the week but by Friday the signs were good that it was going to be a scorcher. The fish were sure to be more active after some injection of heat into the water.

It's a bit less than 30 minutes drive to the pond so I could be up at my normal work time and still be there by 6:15. Needless to say I was the first one there.

My favourite swim there is peg 1 and as this was my first visit of the season I thought I would go there. It has the advantage of being a corner swim with lily pads deep in the corner plus a nice margin swim on the other side of the platform to another set of lily pads. The only downside is that it is a bit on the shallow side. See picture below:

I've known this swim produce some good fish from the margins all day here so I initially fed some corn into the swim and set up my feeder rod to free line some corn while I was setting up my main float tackle.

The tip went round very gently almost straight away but I missed the bite. I re-cast (actually dropped) the bait and carried on setting up. Within 5 minutes the tip went again and this time I was in. I could tell straight away it wasn't a monster however it was a nice tench of about a pound.

With my float set up complete I retired the feeder rod and cast to the far side of the lily pads with a single maggot - straight away the float dipped and in came a small roach. I decided to change baits immediately and out went a piece of corn. No action initially but after a while I was into the small carp, none of which topped a pound.

By 8:20 in addition to the first Tench, I'd got 2 Roach, and 5 small Carp.

The pattern was set for the rest of the morning: whilst I continued to catch on the sweetcorn by the lilys I also fed the margins swim, with an experimental cast every hour or so.

By 11:30 I had caught another 17 carp and a solitary roach all bar a couple on sweetcorn.

Appropriately enough the fish kept feeding during the lunchtime. The Tench pictured below was 1.5 pounds my best fish of the day so far.

The two hour lunch period yielded in addition to the tench above, 2 roach and 9 carp. It was also the beginning of a mini heatwave. I had to put the umbrella up to avoid getting sunstroke!

As the afternoon wore on I began to think that my day was going to entirely consist of small carp and that the bigger stuff were not going to show even though they did start to show on the surface.

However the margins swim came up trumps when this 5lb common carp took a liking to large piece of bread flake.

By 14.55 in addition to the carp above I'd added 1 Crucian, 2 Roach and one more small Carp.

I was at this time beginning to get tired due to the early start, the sun on the water and staring all day at the float. I didn't want to go home yet so I decided to pack away the float rod and fish the remiander of the day on my feeder rod. No feeder, just bait and 2 small shot to get it down.

I could flick the bait out to exactly where the float had been with a small amout of effort. For the next 3 hours or so I carried on catching small carp, almost a fish a cast. The tip proving far easier to watch than the float.

I packed up about 6:30 having caught around 60 fish. Not a bad first outting of the season.

Rant

I'm not one who usually complains for the sake of it but I must say I wasn't too impressed with the behaviour of the club members who were also fishing the pond today.

Firsty one of the guys talked/shouted a conversation to his mates for most of the day, the majority of it non fishing related.

Secondly apart from one of them, they all cleared off to the pub lunchtime leaving their gear in the swims. Now I know there are only 11 swims on the pond and could, if people turned up for an afternoon session have led to an altercation if there were no other swims available.

Rant over.