2013 04 April 12th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

The good news for this week was that the temperature was forecast to be around 10 or 11 today. I wasn't worried too much about the expected rain.

It was indeed raining as I loaded car up and headed up the road towards Edenbridge. The car's digital display showed 6.5 degrees, a lot warmer the previous week.

An uneventful drive through the Surrey/Kent countryside saw me arrive at the fishery a little before 7am. Once again the car park was empty.

With the trolley fully loaded I set off for the swim. On the way I noticed from the water movement that the wind was coming from the opposite direction than it had the last few weeks. Another good sign.

The rain was still falling as I set up my two rods. I used the same set up as before, waggler on one rod and a small leger on the other. For bait I had brought maggots, castors, corn and bread. After a brief flirtation with strawberry boillies last week I was back on my original choice, monster crab.

I fed the swim with hemp, maggots and a few pieces of corn as I was setting up. I was ready and casting by 7:48. The rain was still falling so for the first time this season, up went the umbrella. I was now set for a days fishing.

For three hours the float never moved. I began to suspect that today wasn't going to be my day again. All that changed though when the float slid under and I was into a small roach of about an ounce. No blanking for me today.

I loose fed a few more maggots and soon the float went again. As the fish came in I thought it was another larger roach however it turned out to be my first NF chub!

The small roach kept coming, until I struck into something that was a bit more substantial. After a brief fight I had my first tench of the day in the virtual net.

A few more roach followed and then the first crucian of the day made an appearance. At this stage I was still loose feeding maggots and apart from the occasional castor I was still using single maggot on the hook.

After my lunch break, another lovely tin of oxtail soup, I decided to ring the changes. Initially I started to loose feed a few pieces of corn and then after an hour or so I began to use corn on the hook. It was quiet at first but then the float went and in came a small skimmer bream. This was followed in quick succession by another crucian and my second tench.

By this stage of the day (aound 2pm) the leger rod had been silent then in what I can only describe as a mad hour the swim went berserk.

First to take the bait was a 4.5lb common (see below). It fought very hard before I was able to slip it into the net. A few minutes later a tench followed it. Fifteen minutes or so further on the rod went again, this time the culprit was a 6lb common.

It wasn't all plain sailing though because when the buzzer went for the fourth time I was playing another skimmer on the float rod. By the time I'd unhooked it the fish on the leger had gone.

Strangely, that was it for the action on the leger rod. About an hours worth I would say.

I went back on the maggots when the swim appeared to die and was  rewarded with a perch and four mighty gudgeon. The roach were also more inclined to take maggots than the corn.

I had brought some bread so as the afternoon wore on I decided to give it a go. After a bit of a wait the float went away and I was into my final crucian of the day.

I kept the bread on and waited to see what would happen. After ten minutes or so I noticed that the float moved slightly against the direction of the wind so I struck and immediately I knew I was into a good fish. The match rod was bent right over and the drag on the reel was doing its job. I was a bit worried because I was using the match rod and this was a good fish. I needn't have been though as after 5 minutes or so I landed a mirror of 6lb. With that fish in the net I decided to call it a day.

As I packed up I did a quick tally of the day's catch:
14 roach
4 crucian carp
4 gudgeon
3 carp
3 tench
2 bream
1 perch
1 chub.
A haul of 32 fish. A better result than the previous week that's for sure. Have we turned the corner weather wise? Let's hope so.

Aside from one angler who turned up lunchtime and was gone before I left I hadn't seen another person all day. That will change over the coming weeks I'm sure.

2013 03 April 5th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today was episode 3 of what I now call Ken's winter series!

I knew I was in for trouble when I had to battle through a snow storm to get to the tackle shop for my maggots the night before.

First mistake of the day was that I forgot that the clocks had gone forward on the previous Sunday and so when I went to load the car up at the normal time I found I struggled to see the garage padlock numbers!

Anyhow I managed to get in and load up with no further trouble.

A positive 1.5 degrees showed on the dashboard as I left my courtyard and headed towards Edenbridge. This proved to be somewhat of a false dawn as on the way down I noticed that the fields were all covered in snow.

Seemingly like clockwork, I again arrived at the fishery at 7am. Unlike my previous visit, there was no one else parked up. I wasn't a bit surprised.

With the sound of a woodpecker building his house in my ears, I unloaded my gear, packed it on the trolley and headed up the lake.

There was not much wind at this point in the day so the lake was fairly calm as you can see from the photo of my swim below:

I set up my gear in the same way as the previous two outings, the only difference being the flavor of boillie. I'd run out of monster crab so had to use strawberry instead.

After feeding my swims with maggots and boillies respectively I made my first casts at 8am on the dot. I sat back in my chair and pondered what the day had in store for me.

Well nothing as it turned out. Just like the week before, after an hour or so the early sunshine(!) was replaced by a layer of thick grey cloud which was accompanied by a very cold wind.

Undeterred by the weather and with only a few ducks for company I continued fishing throughout the morning and the lunch period. It was during this time when my day truly hit rock bottom. Believe it or not, snow began to settle on my waterproof jacket and trousers!

As the afternoon wore on even the ducks had the sense to disappear. I didn't have one indication that the fish were going to bite. The only time I had a bleep from the leger rod was because of a strong gust of wind.

I'm nothing if not stubborn so I continued to fish with the hope that maybe a small gudgeon might fancy a free maggot, however it was not to be. Reluctantly I had to admit defeat and so at 4:30 I decided to jack it in for the day. My first (and let's hope only) blank of the season.

They said it was going to be 8 degrees today.... THEY LIED!

2013 02 March 29nd Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Good Friday, the start of the first holiday season of the year. True, however no one thought to tell that to the weather!

Working on the principle it couldn't be worse than the week before I was up, loaded and out by 6:30. The temperature was hovering around freezing point as I drove down the deserted Bank Holiday roads towards Edenbridge.

It was just after 7 when I entered the car park. Deep shock, there was someone else there! I saw that he was on the far side so I took my time loading up the trolley and headed for my favourite 'winter' swim at the top of the lake.

For once the sun was shining and the lake was calm as I set my two rods up. A light waggler and a small leger, exactly the same as the week before. In fact, the method of attack was going to be exactly the same. The conditions promised to be the same, so why not use the same approach, at least to start with.

I made my first casts at around 8am. It was about this time that the sun disappeared and was replaced by a blanket of heavy cloud. The wind also began to blow from the car park side of the lake.

About an hour into the session I was joined at the top of the lake by another angler who turned out to be DAVEBIKE.He was on the pole from the off fishing about two thirds of the way across. For the entire morning neither of us had a touch.

After an excellent serving of Oxtail soup and a packet of crisps I thought I saw the float move. I stared (or rather glared) at it and lo and behold it went under. I struck and in came a roach of about an ounce, No blanking for me today at least.

I managed to bag another couple before Dave's swim sprung into life. Finally there appeared to be a days fishing to be had.

I tried switching hook baits throughout the day between corn and maggots but it appeared that the latter was all they fancied today.

The roach kept coming on and off for the rest of the afternoon. The last 2 were bigger, the first about two ounces and that last one about 6.

A solitary skimmer bream made an appearance at the end of the day which made my total, nine. Eight roach and a bream.

Here's a photo of how my swim looked late in the day:

I packed away the leger rod first as it hadn't had a single knock all day.

Dave gave up about 4:30 and I followed at 5. I was second there and last to leave. I was cold but satisfied that I had done all I could.

2013 01 March 22nd Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

March 22nd marked the start of my 2013 season. A week or so later than than my normal start time. This was due to the exceptionally wintry weather we were still experiencing in the deep south.

I planned from the off to have Nursery Fields as my debut venue mainly because at the same time last year I'd had a cracking day fishing the peg right at the top of the lake. The weather though was a lot different, last year I'd fished without a coat on! Certainly couldn't do that this year!

I was out of bed at 5:45, packed and on the road by 6:30 for the 40 minute journey to Edenbridge.

I arrived at the fishery at 7:10 to find the car park empty, not really a surprise. I unloaded my gear and then put on my brand new waterproof trousers, fishing boots and jacket. I felt a bit like the Michelin man but snug as a bug in a rug at the same time. With Chelsea hat on my head I made my way up the lake to the swim.

As I made my way I was somewhat dismayed to see that all the trees on bank side had been drastically pruned. See photos below:

The swim didn't look too bad, there was a slight breeze blowing left to right and the sun was trying to break through the very cloudy sky.

The plan today was to fish a light waggler set up straight in front me and a smaller leger set up on my feeder rod about three quarters of the way across to the island on my left hand side.

Before setting up began, I fed the waggler swim with some maggots and about a third of a pint of hemp. The leger swim I fed with about a dozen 10ml seafood boillies, which I fired in using my brand new catapult (never had one before).

Next I set up the waggler rod which was my brand new match rod (what an advantage having a birthday in February so close to Xmas!) with a small waggler on 4lb main line to a size 18 hook. Did I forget to mention my brand new match reel! Finally I set up the feeder rod with a very small leger, 6lb main line to a size 16 hook. I also had a brand new feeder reel as well. For bait I used single maggot for the waggler and 10ml seafood boillie for the leger set up.

I made my first casts at 8:10 and then sat back and waited for the action to begin. I waited and I waited. By 11:00 I hadn't had a twitch.There was no indication at all that the fish were going to be active today.

At 11:30 the float dipped and then shot away. I struck and the rod bent over and I was into my first fish of 2013. It was now that I noticed the difference a match rod makes. I could feel everything. A minute or so later I had a nice tench in the net (see photo below).

At least I hadn't blanked on my first outing of the season.

I recast and waited. Nothing for the next hour. It was now time for lunch, so out came the hot oxtail soup. A proper life-saver on a day like today. Just as I finished the cup the float lifted and went away and in came a lovely crucian. The time was 13:10.

At 14:00 the float went again, this time it was a roach of about an ounce. I now had a virtual net with three fish in it.

Despite feeding about 6 boillies every hour, the leger rod never moved. I hadn't seen any sign of any bigger fish all day. That changed at 15:10 when the tip shot round and I was into a fish. I suspected it was a tench but I saw it was a carp pretty early. I could tell it was big by the fight, it took me all around the swim, it was a good job I'd taken the float rod out or else it could have been trouble. A few times I thought it had given up only to see it make off again. I was a bit concerned because I was only using a size 16 hook but it held on  until I eventually got it to the net.

When the fish came to the net I could see how big it was. I was gobsmacked. I took the hook out and photographed it before I weighed it. When I did, I found it be 11lb which equals my personal best. Suddenly it wasn't so cold anymore!

I recast both rods and waited to see what else the day had in store for me.

I had an hour of my session to go as I wanted to be out of the fishery by 5pm which meant that I had to start to pack up by 4:30. It seemed that some small roach fancied some afternoon tea as I caught three of them in the final hour along with another tench.

And so at 4:30 after a chat with the bailiff I packed up. I'd had a wonderful day despite everything the weather could throw at me although to be fair it didn't rain much all day just a sprinkle at either end.

Going out again next week!

2012 26 September 19th Private Lake, Holland, Surrey

Today I decided to give Holland A.S’s Private Lake a go. It had been a few months since I’d been there so I though the time was right.

According to the club rules you cannot enter either of the ponds before 7am so I didn’t have to rush to leave the house, in fact I got up about the same time I usually do for work. On the drive down I noticed that the temperature was a couple of degrees up on the previous week. This was evident when I arrived and saw that there was no mist on the pond.

My favourite swim is peg 8 but today I decided to try the last accessible swim, peg 11. This swim has 2 rod lengths of clear water before the large expanse of lily pads. There is also bed of pads on either side.

I loaded up the trolley to be ready for the longest walk at the venue. When I arrived at the peg I noticed problem number one, the sun although out, was shining straight in my eyes. “Never mind”, I thought “in a few hours it would have moved position and I’ll be fine”.

I then went through my normal set up routine which takes about 30 to 40 minutes. On completion, the swim had been fed, the waggler rod had been set up and the peg laid out just how I like it. I made my first cast, using single red maggot as bait at about 8am.

I didn’t have to wait long for the first bite, a small common of about half a pound. A was very nice start indeed. In fact, by 9.20 I’d accumulated 5 more carp, a tench, a rudd and a crucian.

Confession time now, when I was making preparations for the day’s session I’d forgotten to take the sweet corn out of the freezer. This would have meant that I had to wait a few hours before I could use it if I hadn’t of found some in the fridge. It wasn’t much but it was enough.

As the morning wore on I was still catching fish but the rate dropped enough to concern me. Yes, I had swopped hook bait to corn but based on previous experience at the venue that shouldn’t have caused this much change. I do like to fish a tad over depth so the first thing I did was to take 3 inches off my depth. Straightaway I noticed a change. I was hitting more bites! The problem was apparently sorted.

The rest of the day I caught steadily, even when during the afternoon I switched baits to meat. By the time I packed up I’d added another 27 carp to the virtual net. There was nothing spectacular weight wise, the largest being about 2 pounds. What was somewhat surprising was that no other species got a look in.

Here's a view of the left hand  side of the swim:

 

In conclusion I really enjoyed my day. The sun shone all day which meant that I didn’t have to wear 100 layers of clothing to keep warm. Also, the carp seemed to have grown from very small (2 or 3 ounces in the main) to around the half  to three quarters of a pound mark which is a good sign for the future. On the negative side the lack of other species caught must have been down to the carp bullying them out of the swim. I hope that this does not have any long term effect on the pond.     

2012 25 September 12th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

I have a certain reluctance to fish the club’s carp lake at Chittenden although it is a fine fishery. This is purely down to the fact that in summer it gets very busy and very noisy, that is the constant commentary of certain members. For this reason I hadn’t been down there all summer but today I figured that the crowds might be less and it could be worth a visit.

I set off at around 6:30. The sun was out but there was a chill in the air, this was borne out by the fact that the temperature in the car at one stage registered 4.5 degrees.

There were 2 cars in the car park when I arrived, after a quick look around I saw they were set up on the near bank. This was good news for me as I planned to fish the far side of the first island.

This photo shows the lake when I arrived:

 

I loaded up the trolley and headed off round the lake. Not a lot had changed since my last visit in the spring, even the discarded keep net was still where it was thrown. The NO LITTER policy obviously working!

I quickly set up my 2 rods. Both had size 14 hooks to 6lb main line. The left hand rod had 15ml pineapple frenzy boillies and the left hand one had 10ml monster crab.

I made my first casts dead on 8am. I then settled back on my chair to read my latest Stephen King (11-22-1963) while I waited.

At 9am I decided to feed the swims again with about half a dozen boillies.

The photo below shows the lake after the mist had gone.

 

At 10am I checked the baits on the rods, fed the swims again and re-cast to the same spots. It was about this time that I was joined by a couple of senior members who told me that they had come there because the car park at Nursery Fields was full!

Here is the pineapple swim:

 

At 11am I yet again fed the swims. I began to suspect today was going to be a tough one. I could hear one or two buzzers going off on the other bank but nothing for anyone my side.
Here's the view going up the lake: The angler in the photo was havinga s much luck as me.

Noon came and I once again checked my baits before feeding the swim and re-casting. I also started my lunch, small sausage rolls and a couple of very spicy scotch eggs!

Here's my set up :

13:00 arrived and went with no apparent change in the proceedings. So yet again I fed the swims.

Here's the two guys who couldn't get into NF:

 

 At 14:00 I decided on a little change when I reeled in to check my baits. On the monster crab boillie I wrapped some halibut paste round it for some added attraction.

The clear blue sky of the morning was now replaced by a heavily overcast sky. I suspected the rain was imminent.

The action finally started at 14:35 when the pineapple rod’s buzzer went off and I was into a fish. I knew straight away it wasn’t a carp. It turned out to be a small skimmer. How it managed to get the boillie I’ll never know but all that was academic as it came off as I went for the landing net. I was still blanking!

15:00 came and went after I fed the swims again. The wind was also getting stronger. On a positive note I was getting through my book.

Finally at ten to four in the afternoon the buzzer on the pineapple rod went off big time. This time I knew it was something more substantial than a skimmer bream. I took my time playing it, I didn’t want to lose this one. It circled around in front of me for a minute or two before it came to the net. I hadn’t blanked! When I weighed it I found it was a 5.5lb mirror, not a monster but a welcome sight indeed.

At 16:00 I checked the baits for the last time as I’d decided to pack up at half past five.

During this time other people had also decided to leave. As I packed up I wondered why things hadn’t worked out for me. Was I in the wrong swim? I had caught from there before however that was before the island had been heavily pruned. The guy fishing opposite me had been catching consistently throughout the day but he had been the only one.

If someone could offer some advice I would be grateful.    

2012 24 August 26th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

After a break of two weeks or so I decided that the time was right to pay another visit to the club’s main lake, Nursery Fields.

I was determined to try a new swim but still use my 2 rod attack. When I arrived at the fishery there were three cars already in the car park, undeterred I loaded up the trolley and made my way to the top of the lake. My intention was to fish one of top swims on the far side.

Unlike last time my luck was in as I found that all the swims in that area were free. After some deliberation I chose peg 14. There were lilies to fish to close in and some to fish to on the far side. It seemed very interesting.

 

As usual I started by mixing up the ground bait and when that was done I preceded to set up the rods. I was ready to make my first casts at 7:56. The feeder rod today had small pineapple frenzy boillies. I was trying something different from the usual monster crab.

 

The last few visits to NF had seen me start with maggot on the hook and today was no different. The ground bait and loose feed had obviously done their job because the first hour yielded 8 roach, 2 tench, 1 small barbell and a perch.

At the end of the first hour I repeated the feed and the results also seemed to repeat themselves, 3 roach, 2 tench, another small barbel and my first bream of the session.

The next hour only yielded three fish. This was in part due to the fact that I decided to change hook bait. I started to alternate between corn and meat. Corn was responsible for the roach and meat for the small barbel. The third fish was the first from the feeder rod and was another small bream.

The last hour of the morning session was the slowest so far, one tench on each of the rods. Perhaps this swim wasn’t as good as it first looked.

After my lunch, 2 scotch eggs and some southern fried chicken pieces I went on an all-out meat attack. I was rewarded with 4 barbel and a couple of tench. The quality of the tench was improving but the barbel was still on the small side.

I went back to corn occasionally but mainly it was the meat that was doing the trick. Only three fish in the next hour, again it was tench and barbel however a solitary bream decided to join the party this time.

The swim was really dying now so I decided to return to the maggots. Numbers wise it didn’t get any better as I only caught four in the next hour. A roach, a barbel and one of each from two species new to the session, a Rudd and a crucian carp. Those crucian are really lovely looking fish.

I was not sure that today’s choice of swim wasn’t the best because when the clock struck four I’d only had another couple of barbel. Sadly these were not the two pounders that live in this lake but their smaller siblings.

I packed up at 18:00 having only added another 2 barbel and a tench. The pineapple frenzy boillies on the feeder rod weren’t faring much better although around 5pm the rod tip shot round and I was into a carp, sadly it wasn’t into me and it broke the hook length as it charged towards the nearby lily pads.

So in conclusion did I have a good day? Of course I did I was out of the house, away from the TV and out fishing. I did catch 44 fish so that was ok. I might go back to monster crab on the feeder rod next time though.