2014 15 June 23rd Chittenden, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first outing of the new season to the club's premier carp water at Chittenden.

This lake does get busy so I set the alarm for 5 am to ensure I was loaded up and on the road by 5:45.

I arrived at the fishery about 6:15 to find one other car in the car park. Not too bad I thought especially as I could see where he was. I loaded up the trolley and made my way down the lake to the swims at the very end.

Two pronged attack again today, a waggler just in front of the reeds and a feeder line about a third of the way across. The boillie flavored bait today was halibut frenzy. The bait for the waggler set up was corn and meat.

I was ready to make my first casts at 7:20. On the waggler I started with corn and was into the action straight away. Six fish in the first hour, five bream and a solitary roach. Here's one of them:

The next hour was slower than the first only yielding a couple of bream to the single piece of corn.

The real action started in the third hour, as well as five bream I landed my first carp of the day. It was a nice mirror coming in at 5 lb 14 oz. However this is one of the bream and the aforementioned carp:

Another 60 minutes of fishing brought another 6 bream. The bream total for the day was mounting.

Going into the lunch break the swim slowed again, Only two more bream making the virtual net.

Sometime between 12:30 and 15:00 I made the switch to meat. Before switching the corn attracted two roach. The rest was made up of 6 bream and a carp of 3 lb 13 oz which was definitely caught on meat.

By four o'clock the virtual net had swelled to include 2 more carp and a three more bream. Also for the first time of the day the buzzer went off and I landed a carp of 2 lb 12 oz on the halibut boillie. I don't think they like halibut all that much. I will have to try something different for my next visit.

A quality bream:

When I finally packed up at 17:25 I'd added three more bream and another carp to the day's total which had now reached a respectable 40 fish. The final carp weighed 8 lb 8oz, my biggest of the day.

On the waggler set up I was using 5 lb mainline with a size 16 hook with a 3.8 lb hook length. I did lose quite a few carp today so on my next visit I will beef up the strength of my tackle a shade.

2014 14 June 13th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Finally my first chance of the new season to go to the club's premier venue, Nursery Fields had arrived. I was up at 5 am and because I prepared everything the night before I was on the road by around 5:45.

I didn't expect to be first there and so I wasn't disappointed to see three cars already in the car park. I knew I would still have a good choice of the swims on the far side of the lake when I saw one angler fishing the near side and one on the pegs at the bottom.

The peg I eventually chose was number 12 which has it's lily pads on the right hand. This makes it a lot easier for a right handed angler like myself. As a bonus the reeds around the platform had been cut back so that I could easily put my bank sticks in.

Today I intended to return to my normal dual attack tactic, one waggler rod for the lily pad swim and a feeder rod and feeder for the island bank. I also made the decision to only ground bait the waggler swim at the beginning of the session and just rely on loose feed to keep the fish interested.

I was ready to make my first cast at 7:30. The first out was the feeder rod. On the hook I had a 10 mm monster crab boillie. After casting in the feeder, I sorted my peg out so that everything was just where I wanted. A few minutes after that I was ready to cast the waggler in.

Just as I'd put the maggot on the hook the buzzer went on the feeder rod. I struck and immediately knew that I was into a good one. My luck was in, as a few minutes later I'd netted a 9 lb 9 oz common carp.

I released the carp, re-cast the feeder and sat back down to cast the waggler out. As soon as the float hit the water it disappeared and in came the first roach of the day. As I released the roach the buzzer sounded again. This one was not as big as the first, coming in at 3 lb 12 oz.

I managed after that carp to return to the waggler rod and put another seven roach into the virtual net. At the end of the first hour I'd accumulated 10 fish. A good start.

In the second hour the buzzer went off a further 4 times, alas none of the takers were carp. Instead it was three tench and a very nice crucian. On the waggler, I had four more roach and the first bream of the day.

Between 9:30 and 10:30 the feeder rod slowed down somewhat as it only produced 1 tench. The waggler however was slowing but still produced the day's first barbel, a tench and a further two roach.

It was about this time that the feeder rod's reel got in an almighty tangle so I put it down. Over the next two hours bit by bit I managed to sort it out. On the waggler rod the next hour gave up another barbel and a tench.

I switched swims on the feeder at 12:30 from the far bank to the reed bed to my left. Over the next hour this change of tactics brought in another barbel and another tench. The waggler rod's swim was still going strong, a barbel, a tench and a bream all falling victim to sweetcorn.

Over lunch, which consisted of mini sausages and mini pasties, both rods produced, Yet another barbel and tench on the feeder and just the one roach on the waggler.

I was having a lot of trouble seeing the float in the mixture of sunshine and shadows so I decided to switch floats. Boy, did that make a difference. Lesson learnt, always try another float instead of struggling with your original choice.

The next hour was the first one that the feeder rod drew a blank. The waggler however produced another barbel, tench and bream. My total for the day was now 36. Not bad at all.

After I'd netted another six fish consisting of roach, tench and barbel I decided to have a complete change of tactics. Over the winter break I'd bought loads of  6 mm halibut pellets. I began to loose feed these instead of the corn and maggots. For hook bait I had some small hookable halibut pellets.

The effect was instant. A barbel took the first pellet and a roach the second. The hat trick was completed with the arrival of another hard fighting tench.

This was the roach:

As the afternoon made it's way into evening the fish kept coming in on the pellets. Then for no reason at all the swim died. I switched baits to meat and the fish started coming again. They were made up of the usual suspects, roach, bream, barbel and tench.

I finished the day on 58 fish. The sun on my head had finally taken it's toll! I shall return in a few weeks to put right what I did wrong.

2014 13 June 5th Boulthurst Farm, Oxted, Surrey

After a break of almost three years I decided today to visit Holland Angling Society's carp pond at Boulthurst Farm. For a change I decided not to target the carp but instead I'd go for the crucians using standard waggler tactics.

I arrived at the pond about 7am to discover that the car park was empty. This was a relief as the pond only has 5 swims although one of them is a double. The swim I chose is the only one that has some lily pads to fish to.

I was ready to make my first cast at 7:30. The weather was great, the sun was out and my coat was off! Could this be a good day for me?

I started on single maggot and the action started as soon as the float hit the water. The problem was that I think they were very small roach as I couldn't connect with the knocks. At the end of the first hour I'd accumulated 3 roach and a small skimmer bream.

For the second hour I decided to abandon the maggots and go for broke by changing to corn. I was still getting loads of knocks but nothing serious. That was until the float shot away and I was into something that wasn't a small roach. It was the crucian that I was after! Job done before 9:30 in the morning.

The shade now arrived in my swim and I had to put my coat back on! The larger carp in the pond were also now to be seen cruising in the morning sunshine on the top.

It was about now that a second angler turned up. He weighed up whether to go to my left or my right before finally deciding to go to my left and take on the sunken tree, the home of much lost tackle.

Another hour and another three fish. No more of the pond's crucians, just 2 roach and a small bream.

By 11:30 things still hadn't improved. I knew there were fish there I could see them feeding on the loose fed maggots but they were all very small. I did manage to get another two roach on the corn.

The next hour followed exactly the same pattern only this time I managed to get a couple of skimmers.

If the morning was bad then the afternoon was ten times worse. The swim went completely dead. All I had to show for my efforts was another roach.

It was about this time that my mate decided to pack up for the day. He had targeted the carp and had around 5 out, the best of which was about 7 lb.

In the next three hours I managed to get a carp of my own, this one came in at just over a 1 lb but was very welcome after the day I was having. When I packed up at 18:30 I'd managed to get another 2 bream and a further 3 roach!

I decided then to pack up for the day. It was not a day that lived up to my expectations however I still managed to get 19. I will return to put the record straight!

2014 12 May 23rd Silver Lake, Gabriel's Farm Fishery, Edenbridge

The Friday before the long Bank Holiday weekend (I get the Queen's birthday on Tuesday off as well) seemed a good time to make a return visit to Silver Lake at Gabriel's fishery in Edenbridge.

I mistimed my arrival at the fishery, getting there 15 minutes before it opened at 7 am. It didn't matter as I saw two white vans heading down the track in front of me.

It turned out there were 4 of them none of whom had been to the fishery before. I gave them the benefit of my somewhat limited experience of the venue. After a look around they decided to join me on Silver.

I made my way to peg 1. When I arrived I immediately noticed the additional reeds surrounding the platform and the growth of the lily pads to my right.

I was set and ready for my first cast at 7:45 am. I got a small Roach on the first cast and thought the result would be the same when the float dipped on the second, however I was completely wrong. The resistance I felt after I struck told me that it was no Roach! Sure enough after a tense early struggle I landed this Carp of 5 lb 3 oz with a liking for single red maggot.

Another four small Roach made the virtual net by the end of the first hour. I swapped hook baits to corn at the start of the second but after a blank 30 minutes I decided to return to the single maggot approach.

Along with the expected 2 roach, I caught 2 small Perch and the first four of the day's Rudd.

The next sixty minutes was very productive in terms of fish caught. The switch to corn yielded two Roach and when I went to back to maggot I managed to get 2 Roach and 15 Rudd!

Nothing on the corn in the hour before lunch so I went back to the maggot. Two small Roach and three small Rudd stopped me blanking.

Finally, just as I was about to eat my lunch I landed a Carp on corn. It wasn't massive, coming in at 3 lb 9 oz but it was a welcome relief from the small stuff I had been catching. I still managed a Perch and a Rudd before eating my lunch.

For some strange reason the swim then went completely dead until 14:30. I even went on meat but to no avail. I did keep trying though and by 15:08 it had comeback to life. On maggots I caught two each of Perch, Rudd and Roach before capturing a 4 lb 2 oz Carp on corn.

I did have this family to keep me company during the quiet times.

As the afternoon wore on I switched totally to meat. I hoped that the Carp would come back on the feed as the sun started to fade. Signs, initially were not good. At 16:26 all that changed as the float went away and I struck. At first I thought I'd hooked the bottom however something moved. It didn't charge off like a carp would but it was definitely a fish. As it came up it did make some sort of a run albeit somewhat of a gesture. When it broke the surface I saw it was a bream and a big one at that. When I weighed it the scales went round to 4 lb 2 oz, a personal best!

I stayed on meat long enough to catch another carp of 2 lb before switching to bread for the last hour or so. I only managed a couple of carp on bread, the first went about 1.5 lb, the second and my final one of the day went 4 lb 7oz.

I finished the day at 18:30 with a total of 48 fish. That didn't matter it was the personal best Bream that did it for me.

The guys who came in with me also left the same time!

2014 11 May 15th Swallow Lake, Gabriels Farm Fishery, Edenbridge

Another Thursday and another trip to Gabriel's fishery in Edenbridge. This one I hope would be better results and weather wise than my previous visit the week before.

Swallow Lake is the fishery's small carp lake. The majority range from 2 ounces to about a pound however I have been told that there are a few larger ones in there. I armed myself with a variety of baits including maggots, corn, meat and for the first time small hook able halibut pellets.

I arrived at the fishery a tad before 7 am to find the barrier up which is most unusual. Someone must already be there I thought. Anyway I made my way to the top car park and found the other angler, he was on Admiral after it's massive carp.

I had a quick look round the lake and selected my swim for the day. I intended to fish at the edge of the reed bed about midway between the bank and the island.

I was set up and ready by 7:45. I'd fed the swim with 2 large balls of ground bait consisting of brown crumb, corn, hemp, maggots, meat and some halibut pellets. As hook bait I started off with a single red maggot. 

I didn't have to wait long for the first bite. As expected it was a small carp. I fed some more corn and re-cast. Down the float went again and in came another small carp. The pattern was repeated again and again for the first hour. I took 5 carp and 4 gudgeon.

At the end of each hour I fed the swim with another large ball of ground bait. 

I changed hook bait to corn for the next hour having decided that I could be plagued by gudgeon if I stayed on maggot. Eight carp were taken in that 60 minute period.

The next hour went exactly as the previous one except that I got one more carp. That one extra carp proved to be the best of the day. It was maybe 2.5 lb.

Over the next sixty minutes another 9 greedy carp making the virtual net.

I was still feeding 3 or 4 pieces of corn per cast and this seemed to be working well. As the afternoon started the sun was directly above my head and I began to lose the protection of the shade given by the nearby trees. I was expecting a hot afternoon.

For the first hour of the lunch period I changed bait to hook able halibut pellets. I'd never used them before so this was something of a confidence booster. It seemed to work as I caught a further 8 carp.

For the second hour of the lunch period I alternated between the pellets and some small cubes of meat. Again this proved a success as I netted another 10 carp.

For the next hour I alternated between all four hook baits. The fish kept coming, 8 carp and 2 gudgeon. 

I kept alternating the hook bait and kept catching fish. By 15:45 I'd added another 7 carp and 2 gudgeon to the total.

Up to this point my running total was 71 fish. Could I do the magic ton in the 2 hours and 15 minutes I had left before my planned finishing time of 6 pm?

I decided to go all out and use just meat as the bait. I also shallowed the rig up. With this change of method I caught fish after fish. I did lose a few but the total kept rising.

By 6 pm I was 5 short of my target. There was no way I was going to pack up so close to the ton. I had by now run out of meat so for the final moments I went back to the corn.

The change paid off as at 18.08 I landed my 100th fish.

I packed away my gear a happy and contented man. I know the fish weren't massive but I had kept them there all day. The only downside was that I hadn't tempted one of the bigger ones out. Maybe next time.

2014 10 May 8th Hare Lake, Gabriels Farm Fishery, Edenbridge

Due to work commitments I had to have a day off on a Thursday rather than my usual Friday. For this outing I decided to make a return visit to Gabriel's Fishery, only this time I would fish Hare Lake.

I arrived at the fishery at 7:02 (it opens at 7 am). The weather was 10.5 degrees with the sky very overcast. There was as yet no wind.

When I arrived at the car park there was already two cars there. A shock for a Thursday. The occupant of one of the cars got out and we had a chat. It turned out that this was his first visit and that he too intended to fish Hare. He disappeared off and I loaded up the trolley. When I arrived at Hare I discovered that he was in the very swim I'd planned to fish. Another bad omen?

After a quick look round the lake I decided to fish the lilies at the bottom of the lake. One because it looked fishy, and two because the surrounding trees might offer me some protection if the rain came. As it happens the trees caused me more problems than they solved.

I was set up and ready to make my first cast by 8 am. I intended to fish light today as the lake really only contains roach and bream in any serious numbers and the carp that I have caught from there are at most about 3 lb.

My first cast never hit the water as I managed to hook the tree to my left. It wouldn't be the only time. The second cast was spot on. I didn't have to wait long for the float to dip. The culprit was a small skimmer bream.

The rest of the first hour was quite fruitful. I managed to bag a further eight bream and three roach. Ominously though it had begun to rain quite hard.

With the umbrella up I continued to fish using corn as the bait instead of the maggots that I used in the first hour. The activity in the swim had died to such an extent that I only managed to catch 4 by 13.30. Three of them were carp , two small and one about 3 lb. The other was a skimmer bream. 

My mate who had nicked my intended swim moved about 10:30 and then I saw him go home about 2:30 pm!

The afternoon session was really hard work. The wind was causing me untold problems. I went into the trees a further 4 times. The number of tangles it caused was pretty soul destroying. Did I catch anything? Well I managed to add a roach, a bream and two more small carp before I finally threw in the towel at 5:00 pm.

I did have this fella for company though.

I'll have to go back and try this lake again later on in the season. Hopefully this time no one will be in my swim!

2014 09 May 2nd Silver Lake, Gabriels Farm Fishery, Edenbridge

With the club closed down for the month of May, I decided to make my first visit of the year to Gabriel's fishery on the far side of Edenbridge, in Kent.

The fishery doesn't open until 7 am, so I didn't have to get up especially early. I was on the road by 6:30 and arrived at the venue some 40 minutes later.

After being let in, I made my way down the twisty one mile or so track to the first of the fishery car parks. Not surprisingly it was empty. I put it down to the poor weather forecast.

Being first there of course meant that I had choice of lake and swim! I had already planned to fish Silver lake, which is the venue's match lake. Peg 1 is my favorite swim so that would be today's choice. 

I was set up (one rod only today) by 8 am. I started with a single red maggot. It didn't take long for the float to disappear and I was into my first roach of the day. 

I had thought hard about my tactics for the day. In the end I decided I would feed a ball of ground bait consisting of brown crumb, corn, hemp, halibut pellets and maggots every hour. With every cast I would feed 3 or 4 maggots. For each fish caught I would feed a couple of grains of corn.

It seemed to pay off in the first hour as I caught 19 fish. This included 2 bream, 2 Gudgeon, 2 Rudd and 11 Roach.

As I had fed corn all the previous hour my next tactic was to try corn after feeding the hourly ground bait. When or if I caught a carp I would switch back to maggot for the remaining time left in the hour. The seemed to work as I caught a 2 lb 7 oz carp a few minutes after changing. I managed to get 2 Rudd and 6 roach on the maggot. 

The tactic worked again at the start of the next hour. This time the carp weighed 3 lb 15 oz. On the maggot I got a Rudd and a further 4 roach.

The process would have been repeated again at 11 am however this time I lost the carp almost at the end of the fight. Back on the maggot I managed to get 3 gudgeon, a Rudd, a bream and 6 roach.

Between 12 and 1 pm there was no interest in the corn so after about 20 minutes I made the switch back to maggot. This change yielded 6 roach.

After I'd eaten my lunch I tried again. This time the tactic worked. The result, a carp of 1 lb 15 oz. The switch to maggot got me 2 Rudd and 6 more roach. The highlight of the hour though, was a shock carp of 1 lb 5 oz on a single maggot.

By 2 pm I was feeling confident that I was doing things well. I was into a good rhythm. I lost another one on corn which was disappointing as it felt a good one. As per the plan I then switched to maggot and got 1 Rudd and 4 more roach. Before the hour ended I landed a carp of 5lb 8 oz on single maggot. Today was my day!

Alas it was not too last as between 3 and 5:20 pm when I packed up I only managed 2 fish, a roach and a carp of 4 lb 4 oz with a liking for bread.

As I packed up I reflected on a day where I came up with a tactic that worked, 69 fish, six of them carp. I'd say I had a successful day albeit in quite chilly May conditions.