2012 14 June 15th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was going to be my second visit of the summer season to the club’s Nursery Fields lake.

I was up bright and early and out of the house by 5:30. There was moisture in the air but not really any rain as I made way from Shirley to Edenbridge.

I arrived at the fishery around 6am to find the car park empty. This meant I had the choice of any swim I fancied. I loaded up the trolley and headed out. On my last visit I had fished the swim at the very top of the lake so this time I chose the other end. Most of the swims have lily pads to fish to on the near bank and it was one of these (peg 7) that I selected for the day.

I set up a waggler rod with a 3bb float, 5lb main line to a size 16 hook with a 4lb hook length. The feeder rod I set up with a small cage feeder, 6lb main line to a size 14 hook length.

I fed the float rod swim heavily with a mixture of ground bait, hemp, maggots, meat and corn. On the hook I decided to start with homemade strawberry flavoured sweet corn.

It was about 7am when I made my first cast. I was still the only one on the lake.

The first hour on the float rod was a bit slow. All that was interested in the corn was a solitary skimmer bream. On the other hand the feeder rod got off to a flyer. One bream, one tench and a 4lb common carp all fell to a 10mm strawberry boillie.

On the hour I topped up the swim with another ball of groundbait and some hemp, a pattern I repeated though out the day.

During the second hour the feeder swim went quiet however the float swim sprang into life. Eight bream (one of which was a proper one) and a tench all came into the net. I began to suspect that I could be in for a good day.

By 10am another angler arrived. As he passed me we had a small chat about recent visits etc before he disappeared up the lake. I never saw him again!

By 10am the corn was still working well, 2 bream, a tench and my first barbel (albeit a 5inch long specimen) made the net. I also had one more tench on the feeder rod.

The swim was now really alive. During the next hour I had five more of the small barbel as well as the first showing of roach (4), rudd (1) and the might gudgeon (1). The feeder rod had gone really quiet though.

As lunchtime loomed the swim was still producing. I was really enjoying myself (and so far the rain had kept away). Five barbel, 4 tench, 2 more bream and a rudd made the virtual net. I was still using the strawberry corn.

I had my lunch, small Cornish pasties and some cocktail sausages plus a very well earned cup of tea before resuming the fishing. The swim yielded just 2 barbel, 1 roach and a bream in this period however the feeder rod came back to life with 3 tench.

By the end of the lunch period (2pm) the swim was still going strong, 3 barbel, 1 tench, 2 roach and another rudd were added to the total. The feeder rod also produced a tench.

The afternoon session saw ot let up in the productivity of the swim. By 15:20 I’d added 8 barbel, 3 roach, 3 rudd and 3 more bream to the overall total. The feeder rod was going through another of its quiet periods.

As the afternoon started to make way to the evening I switched hook bait from corn to meat. This decision was rewarded by a further 3 barbel, a tench and a 5lb common carp. Two of the barbel came in at around the 2lb mark. The feeder rod also chipped in with a solitary tench.

 At 16:00 the heavens opened and the rain arrived. It was so heavy that I had to bring the rods in and just sit it out. Luckily for me it only lasted for half an hour or so.

The final part of the session followed the same pattern. Five barbell, one of 2lb, a tench and 3 bream one of which was about 1.5lb. The final two fish of the day came on the feeder rod and they were again tench.

The session came to end when I went shallow and had a look close to the bank with a piece of meat. The float shot under straight away and into the lillies the fish went. I exerted as much pressure as I could before the line broke and the float ended up in a tree.

The main reason I packed up when I did though was because I had to get home to watch the England game.

In conclusion I think I had a fantastic day. Eighty nine fish in one day is a very good total for me. I can’t wait to get back there.

2012 13 June ?? Christmas Mill, Edenbridge, Kent

This season I'd made a conscious decision to fish EBAS's other waters rather than stay on the safe Nursery Fields and Chittenden paths.

Taking that in mind I decided to have a go at the club's Christmas Mill pond.

The lake isn't accessible until 7am so there was no need to leave home at the crack of dawn. The previous evening I'd used GOOGLE MAPS to show me where it was and so when I left at 6:30 I was confident I knew where I was going.

I found the lane easy enough and made my way down until I reached the small car park. I unloaded the car but before I made my way to the lake I thought I would walk through the woods till I found the swims (there are only 5). I followed the path into the woods and after about 50 yards I saw the lake. The woods were quite thick and went right to the waters edge making fishing impossible. I carried on following the path and finally made it to a small cutting containing a park bench. On the bench it said 'Botany Bay'. It was as good a place to start as any so I went back to the car for my gear.

The swim looked very fishy, about two rod lengths out there was a set of lily pads. Strangely they weren't very thick. I decided to fish right in front of them. I left the feeder rod in its case today as I wanted to learn the water first.

I mixed up a bowl of ground bait and left it to settle while I set up the float rod. The weather was warm and still so I decided to use a 2bb waggler. I had no idea what if anything I would encounter so went for a size 18 hook with the idea of starting with single maggot.

I made my first cast at 8:00am. The first hour was quite slow. I didn't panic though as I believed that the feed would draw any fish in. I was right, after 30 minutes the float moved to the side but I couldn't hook the fish. This happened several more times before I finally landed one. It turned out to be a roach of about an ounce. By 9:00am I'd added another.

Every hour I fed the swim with another ball of ground bait and some loose maggots. After the first hour I dotted the float down a bit lower. This worked as I managed to catch another 13 roach in the next hour.

None of the roach were of any great size so I made a conscious decision to start loose feeding larger baits with the intention of trying it on the hook later on in the day.

So now I was fishing with single maggot on the hook and feeding with corn every cast I landed a fish. By 11am I had caught another 8 roach and a solitary perch.

Leading up to lunchtime I kept doing the same thing as regards feed. I wanted to wait for the better fish to arrive so I resisted the urge to go on the corn too early. Another 12 roach were added to the net in this time.

The next hour followed the same pattern as the previous one, the only difference being that I only caught a further 10 roach.

After lunch I gave the corn a try, apart from the occasional knock from a small fish the going was slow. I was rewarded with a roach which was bigger than what I had been getting.

Around 2pm I experimented with a small cube of meat. After a few minutes the float dipped and I struck. Immediately I felt some non roach resistance and then the fish started to slowly move away. I was just getting prepared for a fight when the hook was spat and the fish was gone. I assume it was a bream by the way it reacted.

Of the next 10 roach caught five of them came on corn and five on maggot. I went back on maggot after I lost another fish which bolted into the lilies. This one spat the hook as well. This one was either a carp or a tench certainly not a bream.

As the afternoon began to break into early evening my plan seemed to be coming together as I lost 3 more good fish. One broken hook length and two more that spat the hook. One of them was a bream as it reacted in the same way as the first.

By the time I packed up at 18:45 I'd added another 14 roach to the total making a grand total of 82. All bar one were roach.
In conclusion I really enjoyed the day. It was back to real fishing. Turning up at the bankside not really knowing what to expect is what it is all about. The setting was fabulous. There is no doubt that I will be back in the near future.

2012 12 June 1st Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

After losing April due to the unfortunate closure of the lake the wait for the start of the new club season was longer than ever however today it had finally arrived.

I suspected that there would be a fair few down there on opening day so I decided to make an earlier than normal start to get a good choice of swim. I had three or four in mind for my first session of the year.

I was up at 4:45am and out of the house by 5:30 or so. Not surprisingly there wasn’t much traffic about and so I arrived at the fishery in good time. My concerns were confirmed when I discovered that I was the 7^th car there.

My first choice of swim was the one right at the top of the lake facing the island. This is the shortest point between island and bank. After loading up the trolley I walked to the swim and found it empty. Lovely.

I decided on a two prong attack today. The waggler rod to fish down the centre and the feeder rod I would fish close to the far bank.


I set up the float road with a 3bb waggler to a size 16 hook. The waggler was of the clear crystal variety. The feeder rod I setup with a size 16 hook length with a 1/8 ounce bomb to 6 lb main line. Both of these setups contained flaws which showed up during the day. For hook bait I used single maggot and 10ml strawberry boillies respectively.


I made my first casts at 6:46 and sat down and waited for the new season's action to begin.


To be honest the initial going was a bit slow. A fair proportion of this I felt could be attributed to the fact that I couldn't see the float amidst all the shadows on the water. After 20 minutes of eye strain I gave up and changed the float.


Instant success, the new float disappeared almost as soon as it hit the water and in came my first bream of the summer season. This was quickly followed by my first roach and tench.


The feeder rod was also into the action early, 2 small tench with a taste for strawberries also made the virtual net.


Five fish in the first hour wasn't a bad start so I persevered with the same tactics. For the next hour the going on the float rod was very slow. Only three roach made the net. The surprise was the feeder rod. The tip flew round and in came my first NF carp of the season. It was only a 3lb common but it made my day (I'm easily pleased!).


I kept feeding the swim with groundbait (on the hour) plus three or four maggots every cast. I could see/sense fish in the swim but by 9:45 I'd only added 1 roach and 1 bream to the total. The feeder rod produced another strawberry liking tench.


It was at this point that I realised my second set up mistake. I should have gone with a size 18 hook. The 16, I had to load with 2 maggots and the fish were just not taking them and when they were I was missing the bites. On an 18 I could have swopped to single maggot.


I didn't change hooks, instead I chose to swop hook bait. I went on corn and meat and was rewarded with a bream on meat and a tench on corn.


The hour or so leading up to lunch time was very quiet. I was still going with the larger baits on the float but to no avail. The feeder rod did break the monotony when a 2lb common took the bait.

At noon I took a 5 minute break to consume my lunch. I've learnt from past mistakes not to eat lunch while staring at a float. One reason you could miss your mouth and the second is that you KNOW the float will go under while your hands are already occupied.


By 1pm I'd caught my first barbel of the season. Not a monster, it was about 5 inches long! On the feeder rod I got a cracking bite but unfortunately lost it when the fish spat the hook.


At the end of the lunch period (14:45) I'd added just a couple more of the small barbel on the float rod and I'd lost another good one on the feeder rod. This one had broken the hooklength.


I now realised my third set up mistake. A size 16 hook was not big enough on the feeder rod. I changed to a size 14 after I was broken and had my decision justified when I managed to land a 4lb common at 15:15.

I knew that NF picks up again in the late afternoon so I carried on using meat on the hook. The bites weren't terribly frequent but they did happen. On one such occasion I landed a 1.5lb bream. This was my biggest of the season so far.


At 16:05 just as I was beginning to feel the effects of the early start the tip flew round and I was into another 3lb common. This fish was the last I would have on the feeder rod.


The fish kept coming on the float rod, 4 bream, 3 tench and another small barbel until 18:00 arrived when I decided to call it a day.


So what made me pack up for the day when I did? All through the session I'd been feeding grains of corn and cubes of meat just in front of the reed bed to my right. One or two of the fish mentioned above came from this swim when I'd been 'having a look' during the day. As it was late in the day I changed the depth so that I would just touch bottom (about 2 feet) and dropped the bait in. I drank a cup of tea and then the float dipped and started to slowly move away. I struck and the fish shot off towards the back pegs at a great rate of knots. When I felt it slow I adjusted the clutch and started to apply pressure. At this point all the terminal tackle headed back to me in the air! It had spat the hook. Devastated I decided to call it a day.


In conclusion, a day of mixed fortunes which on the whole I can't complain about. I caught fish (29) and lost a few. I will be back soon.


Wild life update: None seen today. The bailiff has shot everything.

2012 11 26th May Hare Lake,Gabriels Fishery,Edenbridge

After last week's blank at Bloxham I decided to return to Hare Lake for a well deserved confidence booster.

The week leading up to the Saturday had been really hot so I assumed that there would be a fair few at the fishery today and so because of this I left home early enough so that I would be there as the gates open. The temperature was 15.5 according to the car and it wasn't even 6:30 yet, lovely.

I arrived just before 7am to find two other cars in the car park. Lucky for me they turned out to carpers from the night before. Before I loaded up the trolley I took my rod holdall to the swim and 'bagged' it! I then took all my equipment, minus fleece, sweatshirt and coat to the swim.

I could see the effects of loads of life in the water as fish after fish was topping. I felt I was in for a good day.

I prepared my normal groundbait mix and then set up my float rod with a 3bb waggler rig. I decided I could get away with increasing the amount of initial feed and so with that in mind I fed 2 very large balls of groundbait coupled with a very generous helping of maggots.

I made my first cast at 7:36.

I decided to start on double maggot as for the first time this season I began a session on a size 16 hook. In went the bait and down went the float, the result was a roach of about a couple of ounces.

The small carp on my last visit didn't show up until mid morning however today they were there from the start. They displayed a liking for my maggots. By 8:12 I'd caught 3 carp, 3 roach, 3 rudd and a solitary bream.

My best carp from this lake came in this first half hour. A 4.25lb specimen which I wasn't expecting to get on 2 maggots!

I then swopped hook bait to strawberry flavoured corn to see what effect that would have. It took a while to take off but when it did they went for it big time. By 10:22 I'd caught another 8 carp, a bream and a rudd. The rudd was a good one going about half a pound I would say.

I decided to switch hook baits again, this time to small cubes of meat. This did not turn out to be a good move as by 11:42 I'd only had one more small carp and a rudd although this rudd appeared to be the twin of the one described in the previous paragraph.

After the failure of the meat I switched back to maggot and the next half hour saw six carp, and 1 of 1 each of bream, rudd, roach and my first perch of the session.

Confidence restored I switched back to corn, this time the normal flavoured variety. By this time the sun was high in the sky as was the temperature. I could feel myself beginning to burn. My sunscreen was in the garage in my other box so that was no help! The hottest part of the day coincided with a slowing down of the day's action. In fact in took the best part of three hours to land ten fish. These were 5 roach, 4 carp and a perch with a liking for corn.

The time now was just after 3 in the afternoon. Dismayed by the poor results of the corn I went back to maggots and in 20 minutes had another ten fish. Five roach, 4 bream and just the one carp.

The strength of the sun was now beginning to take it's toll on me but I wanted to fish on if only for a while until the evening session started. I was concerned that apart from the early carp I hadn't had anything of any size and to this end I began to up the size of the baits and to introduce bread flake.

Unfortunately this ploy did not bring the bigger fish out to play either. The small carp (6) and roach (4) were still the main diners.

After one more small carp I decided to pack up. The time was 18:00.

In conclusion, I had a good day relative to my recent disappointment at Broxham. I caught 72 fish which can never be regarded as a bad thing. It was a shame only one of lakes larger inhabitants showed up although a rudd of half a pound is a good fish.

Wildlife Report:

Apart from having a swan swim past me (the first I've seen at this fishery) the only thing of note to mention was that a couple of Canadian Geese families took up residence on the bank next to me for a great proportion of the day. 

2012 10 May 20th Broxham Pond, Edenbridge,Kent

Today was going to be my second ever visit to this pond. The first was a hard session because of the incessant rain and cold. I did manage 3 bites that day one of which turned out to be an 8lb common.

Today I also had a plan. Assuming I was able to grab the same swim as last time I was going to fish the channel linking the two ponds with 10mm strawberry boillies. As groundbait for the swim I was going to use homemade strawberry flavoured corn. Feed the swim and sit back and wait, that was the plan.

I left home at 6:20 with the temperature at 9.0. Although it was extremely cloudy there was a yet no rain.

I found the fishery a lot quicker this time but to my dismay so had 2 other anglers. One I knew to be B(ill)LARGUS and the other I subsequently found out to be a new member called Keith. Anyway as it was dry I drove up and alongside the field until I came to the pond.

Both of the aforementioned anglers were on the piece of land I wanted to fish so I made my 'good mornings' before throwing my plan out of the window. I then made my way around the pond looking for another swim.

On the top bank I found what I would call I real nice fishy looking one. I had open water in front of me but to the right I had a little bay with a tree hanging over it. Some of it was actually in the water.

I baited the swim with a few boillies and quite a substantial amount of corn before proceeding to set up my two rods for the session. One rod, the feeder would fish the boillie swim and the other would be my waggler rod fishing the swim about a rod length in front of me.

For the waggler swim I fed two large balls of groundbait and several handfuls of maggots. I started with one red maggot on a size 16 hook. I cast in around 7:55.

The first hour came and went without even a small indication of anything living under the surface. Sometime around 9:00am two more cars made an appearance. The new arrivals set up down the far end of the pond.

The second hour came and went again without incident. Despite a new cuppa every hour the cold was beginning to get to me. I had to pinch myself to remember that it was mid-May!

Around 11am Bill decided that enough was enough and headed off for pastures new. One down three to go.

The morning session finished with a grand total of no bites. On the waggler rod I'd tried bread, corn, meat and maggots but nothing appeared to be interested.

Just before I had my lunch the two anglers at the far end decided that they to had had enough and also headed off. Now it was only Keith and myself on the pond.

I can't remember exactly when but soon after lunch a couple of young lads arrived. They then proceed to set up, cast in, walk off, return, reel in and then move to another swim. They did this for about 2 hours until yes three adults and five kids arrived to take them home!

I began to realise that the writing was well and truly on the wall as the afternoon wore on. I can get a bit stubborn when I want to and so I resisted the urge to pack up by telling myself that they will sure to come on in the late afternoon, early evening time.

Keith didn't agree and went home around 4pm. Now I was the last surviving angler. It was now a head to head between and the fish.

At 5:30 I had to concede that the fish had won the day. My record on this pond now read 2 days, 3 bites and 1 fish. This was not a very good day at all.

In conclusion 5 anglers, 1 carp and a few small perch was not a very good haul. It's pretty plain to me that the pond has a very low stocking level which is a shame because on the whole it looks a very nice venue for the club angler.

Wildlife Report 1

On the way there I had a little competition, foxes against rabbits, how many of each could I spot? Before I entered the country lanes I'd spotted 3 foxes and no rabbits however in the country it was the other way round! Three rabbits and no foxes so after all that it was a three all draw.

Wildlife Report 2

Not really a wild life report as such because it involves sheep. The pond is in the middle and at the end of a sheep field. To get from one side to the other they have to travel along a path directly behind me. In the morning they went one way and in the afternoon they all returned. Mostly they ignored me but did stop if I moved!

2012 09 May 12th Hare Lake, Gabriels Fishery,Edenbridge

I couldn’t swing the hours at work this week so I had to go fishing on a Saturday. The venue of choice today was Hare Lake at Gabriel’s Fishery.

I’d fished Hare Lake once the previous season. On that occasion I’d fished the swim at the bowl end of the lake in the wooded area. Whilst there I saw someone having a good day fishing the channel immediately before the lake opens out into the bowl and it was this swim that I hoped to fish today.

I arrived at the venue at 6:55 to find the car park empty (unusual especially for a Saturday) I assumed that the weather was having its toll.

I unloaded the car and packed the trolley ready for the short trip to the swim. The swim on first impression looked very ‘fishy’. On the far bank (far being relative) there was a reed bed and already I could signs of underwater life.

On previous visits to this lake I’d caught mainly roach and skimmer bream so bearing this in mind I decided to start with a waggler and a size 18 hook.

I mixed up the groundbait and threw 2 large balls about three quarters of the way across. I then fed some hemp and maggots in the general area of the groundbait.

Starting on single red maggot I made my first cast at 7:50. Seconds later the float dipped and in came a nice little roach.

The first hour was very productive. The single maggot was working wonders on the hook. It managed to lure 5 more roach, 2 rudd, 2 very small carp, 1 bream and reasonable size perch.

After the first hour I realised that I could probably keep catching these small fish on maggots all day but if I wanted something a little more substantial I would have to change baits. To this end for the second hour I swopped to corn.

As the swim appeared to be alive with fish I fed some more groundbait, loaded the hook with corn and waited. The second hour wasn’t as productive as the first but did yield another small carp and two skimmer bream.

I decided to try a small cube of meat as well as corn for the next hour and this seemed to give me better results, 3 roach, 3 small carp and a bream. The roach and bream were on the whole bigger than those I caught on the maggot.

The last hour before lunch continued in much the same vein, 3 roach, 1 bream and 6 small carp.

Whilst eating my lunch and having a well earned cuppa, I still managed to land six more small carp. I was beginning to suspect that either the larger fish weren’t around or that the smaller carp were just getting to the food quicker. I was feeding relatively heavy in comparison with recent trips but it still didn’t seem to deter the small carp.

The next hour showed a return to the swim of the roach and the bream perhaps the carp were taking a siesta! There were 2 bream and 2 roach as well as another 6 carp.

I was beginning to give up hope of catching anything over a pound in this session however I still had another card to play – bread flake. For the next hour I alternated between meat and flake. The result I hear you ask? Eight small carp and a gudgeon!

I only use the middle of the slice as bait so from time to time I broke off a piece of crust and threw it into the reed bed to my left. Within a few minutes a mirror of about 3lb came up and scoffed the lot! I knew then they were still in there.

After landing another 4 carp and one each of roach, perch and bream I got into an almighty tangle. By the time I was sorted I was left with just line. I took this opportunity to switch to the feeder rod for a spot of free-lining down the margins.

In the margins I used a large piece of flake however I still couldn’t tempt anything substantial and had to be content with 2 more small carp.

In conclusion this was a day of two halves. The first half was dominated by the silver fish and then the second half by the small carp. I’d never caught small carp in Hare before so I can only assume he’s bought some in or stocked it from Swallow lake.

Due to the larger carp not making a visit today I’m forced to have to go back there in the near future to see if they make themselves available.  

2012 08 May 4th Sidewinder Lake, More House Farm Fishery,Haywards Heath Sussex

Today was my second visit of the year to this fishery which is just outside Haywards Heath in Sussex.

The first by the standards set the previous year hadn’t been a success so today I was looking to set things straight.

I was out of the house and pedalling down the motorway around 6:30am. The temperature was a dizzy 7.5 degrees. The windscreen wipers were on but not working furiously for a change.

I arrived at the fishery about 7am and then went straight away to pay my money. Having done that, I hopped back into the car and drove down to the lake.

Peg 14 was free (as was all the others) so I unloaded the car and made for the swim. When I arrived I saw that the bank in front of the swim was practically under water! I was going to get muddy today!

Undeterred by the standing water I managed to set up without any ‘funny’ incidents. In addition to my float rod I thought I would set up a feeder rod to fish the far side of the bay if the going got slow.

Having fed the swim with a fairly generous helping of groundbait and loose fed maggots and corn I made my first cast at 8.20.

I didn’t have to wait long for the first bite. The float started to make it’s way across the swim and after a while I struck and was into my first F1 of the day. As this was caught on a single red maggot I decided to stay on that. By 9.20 I’d added a couple more to the total.

A little after 9:30 a van pulls up and a fellow angler comes over to see how I’m getting on as he had a match there on the following Bank Holiday. Around an hour later he bids farewell and takes his leave!

After he left I re-fed the swim and resumed serious fishing. By 11:30 five more carp of all varieties had been caught. Most it must be said were under the pound mark.

One of the 5 carp caught was a 2lb F1, the biggest I’ve ever had. This was caught on the feeder rod using a 10mm strawberry flavoured boillie.

Corn has always worked well here so I thought for the lunchtime period I would give that a go. As luck would have it the decision was a good one as the next ninety minutes did yield a further six carp.

For the start of the afternoon I gave bread a try. I had some initial success but nothing amazing.

I’d brought along some meat that I could use late on in the day if I wasn’t getting some success. As I was I decided to give it a go. Firstly the float disappeared and I was into my first bream from the lake. I don’t honestly think I’d caught one in there before. It was covered in spawning follicles.

Using just meat it was carp after carp until I had to pack up about 5:15.

I also took a couple of carp on the feeder rod, one a 3lb mirror and the other a nice 2lb white ghostie.

I took 15 carp and 1 bream in the afternoon session all but the two mentioned above were caught of small cubes of meat.

So in conclusion a much better day than the previous one although I feel like the place is really going to come alive when (if) the sun comes out.