2014 02 March 14th Private Lake, Holland nr Hurst Green, Surrey

I had a Friday off work and as this coincided with the last day of the season for Holland A.C. I decided to head down to Hurst Green and fish their Private Pond.   

The weather forecast was yet again brilliant for the time of year and so anticipating a large turn out, I was out of the house by 6:30. Shock number one, I had to scrap the ice off the car! Shock number two, it was -2.5 when I finally set off.

I arrived at the pond just before 7am to find no one there. I was quite surprised, then again it was quite early.

On the way down I had decided to fish peg 12 which is the peg directly opposite the gate and the last of the available pegs. I unloaded the car and made my way round to the swim. As the sun was gathering strength, mist could be seen rising off the pond. 

I quickly set up and fed the swim. I made my first cast at 7:45.

I started the day alternating between maggot and castor. As normal, the usual suspects turned up first. I had 5 small roach in the first hour.

The next hour I tried sweetcorn but with little success. All I had to show for my efforts was another small roach.

By this time (9:45) the swim was showing signs of fish feeding on the bottom. So, I determined that now would be a good time to switch to corn full time. I was rewarded with 2 small carp and a little roach.

The next hour followed the pattern of the previous one, only this time it was 2 small carp and no roach.

Lunch time came so I thought, with fish activity in the swim but still no great results I would give meat a go. Bad move, I didn't get a sniff of a bite. Mind you, the oxtail soup was very nice.

Another hour, another change of tactics. This time I tried bread flake. Yes you've guessed it, two more small carp. By the way when I say small carp I mean from 0.5 to 1lb. 

I stayed on the bread for another hour however I might as well not bothered as I failed to add to my total! Still it was a very nice day.

My ground bait mix contained some small halibut pellets so for the next hour to decided to try small hookers. I fed three or four pellets every cast. Although I could see fish activity in the swim I only managed to catch one small carp.  

With about 90 minutes to go before I had to leave and with a fair variety of bait left I decided that as I hadn't caught consistently throughout the day on any one bait I would alternate between them all. To my surprise this seemed to work as I caught 8 carp and roach in addition to a surprise crucian!

I finished the day with a haul of 22 fish, nothing large though. The larger carp in this pond eluded me again today. 

In the words of Arnie, "I'll be back".

Tackle used

Rod	Reel	Mainline	Hook Size	Bait
1	12' Shakespeare Match Rod	4lb	18	Maggots Corn Bread Hooker Pellets

2014 01 March 8th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

After a longer than usual break, today was the day when I kick started the 2014 season.

For the past 4 weeks or so I had been preparing for this day. This meant ensuring all existing tackle was clean, any broken or worn out tackle was replaced and any terminal tackle that needed acquiring was bought. Luckily my birthday was only a few weeks previous so the cost to me wasn't too great!

The weather forecast leading up to today was good, sunshine with no wind or rain. Also the temperature was going to above the seasonal average.

With all the gear packed into the car I set off at 6:30 for the 20 mile or so trip to Edenbridge. With the temperature at 7.5 and the Eagles blasting through the speakers, could life be any better?  

I arrived at the fishery at around 7am to find another car parked in front of me with the occupant opening the gate. It must have been my lucky day. I followed the car into the car park and loaded up my gear ready for the longish walk to the top of the lake.

When I arrived at the peg, the lake looked great. I couldn't wait to get started. As normal, today was going to be a two rod attack. The feeder rod to the island and the waggler rod about half way across.

Having set up and baited the swims I cast out at 8am. The new season had started. I only had to wait 15 minutes for the first bite. The surprise was, it wasn't on the waggler rod but on the feeder. As soon as I struck the fish (a carp) jumped out of the lake. After a brief if not rusty struggle I had the fish in the net. A common carp of around 4lb.

It was thirty minutes or so before the waggler went down and in came the first roach of the season. 

As the morning drew on the fishing could not be described as anything but slow. My initial optimism had all but vanished. I was still catching though, a perch, a bream and a mighty gudgeon made it 5 species in the first 5 fish caught. That has to be some sort of feat.

I started the day on single maggot whilst feeding a few pieces of corn every now and again. When I felt the time was right I tried corn on the hook. I waited nearly an hour for the float to dip, when it did I was rewarded with a skimmer of about a 1lb. 

The pattern for the day was set, each hour produced one or two fish. These were a mixture of the usual suspects, roach, gudgeon and bream (who were in the majority).

All through the day I'd been feeding the reed area on my right with one or two pieces of corn every 15 minutes or so. As the day drew to a close I dropped the float next to the reeds. Almost immediately the float went away and I was into what turned out to be a crucian carp of around a 1lb.

The feeder rod was silent for most of the day after the explosive start. It did spring into action once more. It was a carp but not a common or a mirror but another crucian of about a 1lb.

One of the roach (or whatever it is) that I caught had a very distinctive coloring (see below):

I decided to pack up at 4:30 having had a good enjoyable day. As the season progresses so hopefully will my catches.

Tackle used

Rod	Reel	Mainline	Hook Size	Bait
1	12' Shakespeare Match Rod	4lb	20 18	Maggots Corn Bread
2	12' Maver Abyss Feeder Rod	6lb	16	Monster Crab 10ml Boillie

2013 22 August 7th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today or to be accurate this afternoon I decided to have another crack at getting peg 3 at the club's premier fishery, Nursery Fields.

I took a leisurely drive through the Kent/Surrey countryside before arriving at the fishery around 14:30. The car park had cars in but wasn't busy. At first glance the bottom of the lake where peg 3 is looked full but I decided to check it out anyway.

After the short walk to the lake I could plainly see that peg 3 was free. My luck was in, albeit at the third attempt. I had anglers either side of me but hey you can't have everything in this life.

Usual set up for Nursery Fields today, one waggler rod and another feeder rod. This time with a small feeder rather than a small leger. 

I mixed a healthy amount of ground bait containing brown crumb, sweetcorn, maggots, meat and some small halibut pellets. I threw a couple of large balls in by the pads where I intended to fish. Almost immediately I saw signs of fish activity. A positive sign indeed.

I made my first casts at 15:30 and then retreated to my comfy chair to await the start of the action. Well, I waited and waited but despite all the obvious fish activity in the swim I could only land a solitary tench. The feeder rod also chipped in with one small tench.

I switched to meat for the next hour but didn't fare any better. It was getting very frustrating. Only one tench made the virtual net! Two bream was the contribution from the feeder rod this time.

Another change of hook bait followed, this time I went for bread. It was successful in the sense that it doubled the take of the previous hour (2) and it did attract another species, bream. The feeder rod was quiet for the entire hour. 

I was well into the evening session now and things were not looking too great. I switched back to meat and was rewarded with another tench. The feeder rod had got into a tangle so taking the time into consideration I decided to retire it for the session. 

On peg three there is a tree on the left hand side which has it's roots partially overhanging the water. I took the decision to place a few pieces of meat there and then gently lower my float on top of them. Less than a minute later the float shot away and I was in. This was no tench. Eventually it came to the surface and then my net where it revealed itself to be a 3lb common!

I fished without success for another 20 minutes or so in my original swim before I decided to have another go under the tree. Sure enough the same thing happened only this time this fish ploughed off towards the lilys on the far bank. I couldn't let it get there so I started to tighten the clutch. It still kept going until finally it broke the hook length. I was gutted.

That was it for me, the final straw as they say. As I packed up I reflected on the fact that I had thought the swim looked very fishy but in reality it was a bit of a letdown. Was it a bad swim, an off day or my skills that were to blame. I don't know but I will try it again.

2013 21 August 4th Leppards Pond, Edenbridge, Kent

This season I'd decided to try a few of the club's lesser known ponds. This Sunday afternoon I decided to visit Leppards Pond.

Now I don't live in Edenbridge so for directions I had to rely on the handbook and the club's forum. Surprisingly these got me to the main gates on the first attempt.  

And that's where the trouble started.

According to the handbook your supposed to enter the normal number preceded by a zero. I did that and ............. nothing.

I checked and double-checked the number, still nothing. I decided that my next course of action would be to ring a committee member for advice. As I was heading back to the car another vehicle turned up and parked behind me.

He wasn't a member however he did know that the owner had reversed the zero! After entering the correct number and opening the gate, despite the best efforts of the tricky lock mechanism I was in. Now to find the pond.

The next set of gates were open (lucky me). I then set off down the track. After 100 yards or so I thought I had changed sports. I was now in the World Rally Championship! The track was awful. If you value your car please drive extremely carefully down the track.

After what seemed like an age but in actual fact could have only have been a few minutes the track brought me to a locked gate. I unlocked the gate, confirming I was heading in the right direction and carried on. 

Further on down I arrived at a large field. By this point I was worried about the car and if i'd ever find the pond. I decided to get out of the car and have a walk. At the bottom of the field I looked right and saw a parked SUV. I'd found it! I returned to my car and drove to the pond. As my car was facing the opposite way to the other one I realised I must have gone wrong somehow.

There were two other members fishing the small pond. I must admit that on first impression it did look rather fishy.

The two anglers already present had two of the sides of the pond covered so I chose to go down the right hand side. There was plenty of clear water in a sort of bay area. I chose to fish midway between the near and far banks.

I had gained some prior knowledge of the pond from Bill's forum entry. Based on this knowledge I decided to initially target the roach and hope that with correct feeding the carp will move into the swim in the evening.

I placed a healthy amount of ground bait in the swim along with some maggots and corn. For rod set up I decided to use my match rod as I didn't expect the pond to hold any monsters.

With corn as my chosen hook bait I made my first cast at around 2:30. The action started almost immediately with 7 roach with a liking for corn coming to the net. They were all around 2 or 3 ounces.

I stayed on corn for the next hour but could only manage one rudd. I kept getting bites but couldn't connect with any. I think the fish were just very small.

The next hour followed a similar pattern to the previous one, plenty of knocks on the corn but only 2 roach caught. It was beginning to get a bit frustrating. 

I gave it another hour on the corn. Sadly for me it only produced another roach. Due to the fact that I was worried about the car and that deadly track I decided to pack up at 5:30 and head off home.

I went out the way the other two had came in and to be fair it was a lot easier on the car. The middle gate this time was locked so I had to open it. The gate at the front was of course locked and yet again it proved difficult to open but I managed to get out and head home.

So a short session full of small roach. I did see carp jumping so I think I will go back at some point and try again. 

2013 20 August 2nd Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

A Friday afternoon carping session at Nursery Fields was the planned session for today.

As I left work dead on noon the sun was out and for once laying down some serious heat. The plan was to rush home, have a sandwich, load the car and head off to Edenbridge and fish until the light gave out.

I arrived at the fishery about two thirty or so. It wasn't too crowded so I knew I stood a good chance of getting my favourite carping swim at the top of the lake.

As usual it was a 2 rod set up today. Two 2.5tc carp rods, 6lb main line, size 14 hooks with 15mm pineapple and tutti fruitti boillies. 

It took about 45 minutes or so to set up. I made my casts at 15:15 and then settled back in the sunshine awaiting the action to begin.

As it happened I didn't have to wait too long as 15 minutes after the first cast the buzzer on the pineapple rod went off and I was in. A short tussle followed, which I won. The result a common carp of around 4lb.

Thirty minutes later the same rod went off. This time I could tell it wasn't a carp. I was proved right when one of the lake's small tench broke the surface.

Forty minutes later the same rod went off again. Another carp this time, unusually a mirror, this one weighted in at 2.5lb.

Things went quiet for about 75 minutes before yet again the pineapple rod's buzzer went off. The result was another carp with a taste for pineapple. This one was about 3lb, a tad bigger than the previous one.

It was just over three hours into the session when the buzzer on the tutti fruitti rod went off. It was not only a carp but as is so often the case it was also the biggest of the day so far, a mirror of 4.5lb.

Strangely as the evening wore on the runs became less frequent, the opposite to what I would have expected. It was another hour before the pineapple rod's buzzer went. A carp, but not a massive one came to the net. A 4lb common in fact.

Just as I was beginning to think of packing up the pineapple buzzer went off for the final time. The result another 4lb common.

So, my 5 hour carping session came to a close. The pineapple rod won six to one, with all the fish bar one being carp. I was a bit disappointed with the overall size of the carp (biggest being 4.5lb) but hey that's fishing!

2013 19 July 29th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was going to be my third visit of the season to the club's carp water at Chittenden.

Unusually for me, today was a Monday, a day I traditionally never go fishing. Therefore I wasn't sure how busy the lake would be. I arrived at about 7:00am to discover only three other cars in the car park. 

This lake is bigger than Nursery Fields but is in my opinion not as waggler fishing friendly. There are less than 5 good float fishable swims. 

My plan for today was to fish the swim at the bottom of the lake where I could place the float tight against the reed bed. I'd fished this peg on my previous visit and had been fairly successful. 

I unloaded the car and made my way down the lake. Aside from one angler fishing by the disabled pegs I couldn't see another soul! As I neared the far end I could see that I had it to myself, lovely.

Two rod set up again today, the only difference from last time was that I started with a heavier set up. The float rod (my Shimano carp float rod), 5lb main line to a size 16 hook. The feeder rod was 6lb main line to a size 14 hook.

I fed the float line with a generous helping of ground bait containing corn, meat and very small halibut pellets. I also threw in a generous helping of maggots. For the feeder rod I was going to use 15mm tutti fruitti boillies so I threw in some freebies in the area I was going to fish.

I made my first casts at 8am and then settled back to let battle royal commence.

The fish were onto the bait from the off. I'd decided to start with corn and was rewarded with 5 very nice bream, most of which were between one and two pounds . A 3lb carp was a bonus for the start of the session. The feeder rod remained silent. See pictures below.

As the corn had been successful I stayed on it for the second hour. Three more bream made the virtual net however I didn't have everything my own way as I lost a decent carp. The feeder rod decided the time was right to join in and in came a carp of 5lb and a small catfish!

Three hours in and still on corn. The bream must have been getting full as I only caught one. I did manage another 3lb common though.
The feeder rod went quiet again.

As the swim appeared to be going quiet I switched to halibut hooker pellets, the small ones (sorry don't know the size). Total disaster, not a sniff for an entire hour. The feeder rod stayed quiet as well.

Trying something different again I changed hook bait to bread. It was a good decision as it transpired because aside from the mandatory bream I landed a 5lb common carp.

This hour though will always be remembered for the jaws incident. I'd been lucky enough to land a 7lb common on the feeder rod and had just cast back in and turned to watch my float when I heard a thud and upon turning around saw my rod heading for the lake. I tried to grab it but failed.

To be honest I panicked when I saw the rod being pulled up the lake like a scene from Jaws! I did however manage to pull myself together enough to walk up the lake to the next set of anglers to warn them that my rod was coming. 

The two anglers attempted to cast their rigs over my rod trying to hook the line but all initial efforts failed. I started to panic again when the fish turned and headed towards the island on the other bank.

One of the guys and I went around to the far side to try from there only to find that the fish had stalled in front of the island. Just as I was beginning to lose hope there was a cry from the first chap. He'd hooked my rod and got it back!

I made my way back to their swim as fast as I could. When I got there we separated the lines (easily) and I reeled the fish in. It was a common of about 5lb. 

So everything turned out well, extremely lucky for me. I must take this opportunity to thank Alan Armitage and Jimmy Thompson for their help because without them I would have been dead when I got home. 

Almost as soon as I re-cast the feeder rod out the tip went round and I was into another carp. This time a 4.5lb mirror.

It was now 1pm and to quote Genesis "It's one o'clock and time for lunch" so I reeled in both rods (stable door and horses spring to mind) and sat back for a sandwich and a cuppa.

After lunch I got back to the matter in hand, fishing. I stayed with bread as the hook bait. I managed three carp, one of 4lb, one of 5.5lb and one of 3lb. The bream were back as well, two of them to be exact. 

Between two and three pm I thought I would give meat a try. Sure enough it was a success, 2 bream , another 2lb'er and three more carp (two of them 3lb and the other 3.5lb) were all landed during this period. The feeder rod stayed quiet.

I stayed on the meat for the last two hours which turned out to be extremely quiet. One bream and a carp of about 3lb came in via the float rod and a 4.5lb carp, the last fish of the day came in on the feeder rod.

So a very eventful day comes to an end. Thirty one fish and one rod caught. Lesson learnt today!

2013 18 July 21st Private Lake, Holland nr Oxted, Surrey

Another Sunday afternoon session, this time on the Private Lake owned by Holland A.S near Oxted in Surrey.

I set off around 2:30 to make the relatively short trip to the fishery. It was dry but humid, so I braced myself for rain. 

When I arrived the place was filled with anglers, I expected some but not as many as this! Undeterred I got out of the car and went in search of a free swim. I hadn't walked very far when a loud hooter went off, it was the end of a match! 

Peg 6 was free and as I had never fished it before I decided to set up there while the match boys weighed in and cleared off home.

With lily pads in front and to the right of me one rod was all I could use today. I set up my match rod with a small waggler and set about plumbing the depth. The swim was very shallow which said to me that this could be the reason why the swim wasn't used for the match.

I chose to fish the lilies on my right as these were nearest to the open water and it was slightly deeper water. Before casting in I fed the swim with ground bait and a lot of maggots and corn. Straight away there were signs of fish activity. By this time the match men had all gone home.

Using sweetcorn as hook bait I made my first cast at around 15:40. Despite the obvious presence of fish and the knocks I was getting it proved pretty difficult actually hook many. This was borne out by the first hours' poor showing. Three small carp and an even smaller rudd to be exact.

For the next hour I switched hook bait to meat to see if I could not only tempt the bigger stuff but also help me hook more than I had with the corn. Numerically and size wise it wasn't a great success as I only caught 4 small carp.

I stayed on the meat for the next hour as I thought that now I was into the evening some of the bigger specimens must surely make an appearance. Alas I was to be disappointed again. Three small carp and a roach made the virtual net this time. 

Between 18:40 and when I packed up at 20:00 I could only add a further three fish, two more of the small carp and my one and only tench of the session.

And so I came to the end of a very disappointing session. Fifteen fish in a 4 and a half hour session on this lake was not what I expected. Was it the match beforehand, the shallowness of the water or my dodgy angling skills? Probably all of the above.