2015 07 April 17th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

After the relative disappointment of last week's visit to Chittenden I decided today to return to my favorite swim at the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields.

As usual I arrived at the fishery at 7 am. This time I was the first there. I loaded the trolley and headed up the lake towards my chosen swim. At this stage there was no wind, the water was as calm as a millpond.

I set up my usual float and feeder rods. Today's flavored boillie was going to be tutti fruitti. I was ready to make my first casts at 8 am.

I started with single maggot on the float rod. I'd seen signs of small fish in the swim almost immediately after I groundbaited the area so I wasn't surprised to be into the small roach straight away.

I caught seven of them in the first hour. Surprisingly and surely a good omen for the day I also nabbed a couple of the pond's tench on corn late on in the hour. Highlight of the first hour was this crusian of 1.25 lb caught on the feeder rod.

I decided to stay on the corn which slowed the catch rate a bit however I still managed a roach, a couple of bream and two more crucians. The feeder rod waded in with the day's only barbel and another tench.

The wind had now picked up and was blowing in from my left. It was making bite detection more difficult and it also affected my casting. I still managed to catch a tench and bream on the float rod and another tench on the feeder in the next hour.

The next hour brought an even split, two fish from each rod. A roach and tench from the float rod and two tench from the feeder rod. That tutti fruitti flavor was proving a winner!

As is normal for Nursery Fields the swim started to die late morning early lunchtime. It only yielded a tench. The feeder rod was still producing though, another two tench made the net.

By two in the afternoon I began to suspect that I should have changed baits to either pellets or maggots as the swim appeared to be dead. Only two bream made the net in the previous hour. The feeder rod was still producing tench, another two of them.

Aside from a solitary tench on the feeder rod the next sixty minutes were barren. The wind was now quite strong and I was starting to get cold.

I'd been feeding the reed bed to my right all day long and at 16:00 I decided to switch my attention to that swim. Between  then and 18:00 when I eventually packed up I caught fifteen fish, ten were roach and five were tench. The last fish of the day was a small bream on the feeder rod.

As the day came to a close I'd caught 49 fish. Twenty of them tench ranging from just under two pounds down to three or four ounces. It was a shame that none of the pond's carp showed but it didn't spoil the day.

2015 06 April 10th Chittenden, Edenbridge

Another Friday and another visit to the club's carp lake at Chittenden. I was feeling confident today for two reasons, the first, was that during the week the weather had warmed up to such an extent I was sure I was going to take my coat off and secondly because this time last year I caught my personal best carp.

I left home at 6:25 with the temperature in the car reading 7 degrees. Lovely. I arrived at the fishery at 7 am on the dot. There were two cars in the car park already. I did a quick scan of the pond to determine whether or not my swim was free. Good news, it was!

When I arrived at the swim and unpacked my gear I discovered that my feeder reel had an empty spool on it! So, only one rod, the float one would be used today. What a silly boy.

Undeterred I set up my heavier float rod with a 3 bb waggler, 6 lb main line with a size 18 hook on a 2.8 lb hook length. For ground bait it was brown crumb, some red attractor, corn, hemp, halibut pellets and some castors that I had left over from last week's session.

I made my first cast at 8 am. Initially I used a single red maggot. Usually the pond's bream are the first to show and then as the feed builds in the swim the carp move in. It was no surprise then that the first fish in the net was a bream. The second was a small roach. That was it for the first hour.

I was still using maggots on the hook in the second hour. Good job I did because the next time the float dipped the rod bent over and the fish swam away! It wasn't huge by the pond's standards but I still played it carefully. My reward was this perch of 2 lb 9 oz. I didn't know the pond held any perch!

I decided the time was right for a change of bait when I got no other interest in the maggots after the perch was caught. I went on corn. For two hours there was no interest shown in the corn either. Good news though, I'd taken my coat off!

Finally the float went away and I knew straight away I was into a carp. I took my time as the hook length was only 2.5 lb. Eventually my patience was rewarded when the carp came to the surface and then the net. It was 7 lb 8 oz. A welcome relief I can tell you.

The first hour in the afternoon was slow again. I did get a fish though, it was another bream.

It was another sixty minutes before I caught another fish. True to form it was another bream.

The next four hours remained very quiet only one more bream made the virtual net. At 18:00 I decided to call it a day. I'd caught seven fish which wasn't what I'd expected. I will have to try again at a later date.

2015 05 April 4th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

For my first outing of April I thought I would pay a return visit to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields. It hadn't been a spectacular start to the year so far, due in the main to the weather. I hoped things would be different today as the temperature had risen a degree or two of late.

I arrived at the pond at exactly 7 am to find there was not another soul there. Strange for Easter weekend I thought. As I was loading up the trolley another angler turned up.

I made my way up the lake to my intended swim at the top. The reed beds which surround the island had grown a bit in the 2 weeks since I'd last been there. A sign that spring had indeed started.

It was going to be the usual two rod attack again today. The only change was the flavor of boillie. Today it was going to be pineapple.

I made my first casts at 8 am and then settled back to await the day's action to begin.

As usual for this time of year I started my day using single maggot on a size 20 hook. It seemed that the pond's roach were hungry today as in the first hour I landed three small ones. A good start.

The next hour was even better than the first, eight roach made the virtual net. Also the feeder rod sprang into action for the first time of the year. The culprit was one of the pond's small tench.

The next hour was even better than the last, I still caught 8 roach but this tally was augmented by a small rudd. The feeder rod produced as well, this time it was a bream.

The last hour of the morning came and the feeder rod decided to have a rest. The float rod did not. Ten more roach and another rudd made the net. One of the roach was a stamp above the others, I landed this one using a single castor.

The fish and I decided to have a rest and in my case some lunch. The result was that the next hour brought me only two more roach.

I was back on it for the next hour, five roach and a rudd. The feeder rod was still silent.

How many small roach does this pond contain? My tactics of a single maggot on the hook and loose feeding hemp every cast was certainly paying off. This hour four more roach made the net.

By 16:00 five more roach had been added to the total and for good measure another tench fell victim to a pineapple boillie on the feeder rod.

All day I'd been feeding the area close to the reed bed to my right with sweetcorn every time I caught a fish. At 16:00 I decided to abandon my first swim and for the remainder of the day I would concentrate my efforts on the reed bed swim. I also switched baits to corn and bread (alternately not together!).

I didn't have long to wait for the action to begin. After a roach of about 3 ounces I caught this good one (see below). That was followed by my first crucian of the day (also see below).

The next hour brought a roach and a rudd. I was seriously thinking about packing up as it was 18:00 and I was tired. Before I could make my mind up the buzzer went off and the rod headed for the water. I managed to get it and a very lively carp onto the bank. The carp fought much harder than the one from Chittenden the previous week despite only weighing 4 lb 7 ounces. My mind was now made up - I was going home.

My day was not over however as when I was putting away the feeder rod the float went under and I landed my only tench of the day on the float rod. It fell to a piece of bread flake.

Finally after a slow start to the season I'd had a good day. I'd caught 57 fish (mostly roach). I will be back.

2015 04 March 27th Chittenden, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first visit of the year to the club's carp lake at Chittenden.

It was slightly warmer (the ice warning indicator wasn't on) when I left the house at 6:20 for the trip to Edenbridge. For the second time in two visits I arrived at the fishery to find another member opening the gate. Could this be a good omen for the day ahead?

My chosen swim was the one directly behind the island. You can see it from the car park. I've had some success from that swim before.

It was going to be a two rod attack again today. A feeder rod with a small lead and a 10 mm halibut boillie fished about three quarters of the way across to my left and a standard waggler set up fished the same distance straight in front of me. On the float road I used a size 20 barbless hook on 3 lb nylon with 4 lb mainline.

I was set up and ready to make my first casts at 8:00 am. I then sat back in the early morning sunshine to wait for the day's action to begin.

I had to wait about 30 minutes or so before the float disappeared. The culprit on this occasion was a tiny skimmer bream.

Things didn't improve too much in the next hour as I only bagged two small roach. The feeder rod remained silent.

Between 10 and 11 am I only landed another small roach. I'd come to the conclusion by now it was going to be another hard day.

Undeterred I kept going. The last sixty minutes of the morning session brought only, yes you've guessed it another small roach!

For the next four hours and twenty minutes the swim completely died. I wasn't getting any knocks on either the float or feeder rod. The wind was now up and it was cold enough for me to start shivering.

As I was beginning to think about packing up the float went away and I struck. This was no roach. Initially I thought I was hooked on the bottom because it didn't move. Then it began to swim away not far but far enough to take line and to put a bend in the rod. I can't say it fought like Mike Tyson but I still concentrated hard and finally it was in the net. A nice mirror of 6 lb 15 ounces. My first real carp of the year.

I decided at that point to call it a day. My total for the day was six! My worst day ever at Chittenden. I will be back.

2015 03 March 22nd Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

For once this week's trip was on a Sunday. That was different but the poor March weather wasn't.

It was about 2.5 degrees when I loaded the car around 6.30 am. It had been very cold as well when I last visited the venue two weeks previously and the fishing had been very hard. Still today was another day things may be better.

First piece of luck of the day occurred when I arrived at the gate, someone was there before me which meant all I had to do was close and lock it - result. As it turned out we were the first two arrivals.

As usual I headed up the lake to the top swims as these had always been kind to me at this time of the year. To add to the good omens the wind would be blowing in my face, perfect. What could go wrong?

After last week's one rod attack I decided to revert back to my favorite tactic, a swim feeder placed close to the far reed bed and a waggler set up fished about half way across. I used a size 16 hair rig on the feeder and a size 20 on the waggler.

I fed the swims and made my first casts at 8:10. I then sat down and waited for the action to begin.

Unlike my previous visit I could at least see the movement of small fish. None of them however showed any interest in my solitary red maggot. I had to wait nearly two hours for my first bite. When it arrived the culprit was a tiny roach (See below).

By 11 am I was beginning to get cold despite wearing several layers of clothes. The fishing had improved, 2 more small roach had made the net.

Same thing happened the next hour, another two roach. So the morning session was over, 5 roach on the waggler and nothing on the feeder.

Another hour another roach. The next was my most productive by far, three roach! Had all the other species flown south for the winter and hadn't yet returned? The buzzer on the feeder rod remained silent,

Between 2 pm and 3 pm I had another roach and my first bream of the season albeit a very small skimmer.

The next hour brought another small skimmer bream. I was now getting very cold. Only an hour to go before I could head home for a warm bath.

Can you believe it? In the context of the day the fishing went mad in the last hour. Five roach made the virtual net bringing my total for the day to 17. Fifteen roach and two bream.

One strange thing happened today. In the middle of the afternoon two members, one with a saw came and begun to cut some old sticks from the trees directly behind me. It turned out they needed them for their runner beans!

2015 02 March 13th Private Lake, Holland nr Hurst Green, Surrey

Holland Angling Society closes it's ponds from March 15th until June 1st so today would be my last chance to visit the Private Pond.

I left home around 6:30 for the drive to Oxted. The weather relative to the time of year had been good leading up to today so I wasn't surprised to see that the thermometer in the car read 5 degrees.

When I arrived at the pond there were no other cars there. Strange I thought being so close to the seasons end. I unloaded the car and then had a look around. The top end of the pond is usually covered in lily pads but none as yet had broken the surface.

Peg 8 is my favourite so that was my choice of swim for today. My Set up was a 12 foot match rod, 4 lb main line to a size 20 hook. First line of attack would be single maggot.

I mixed a relatively small amount of ground bait which consisted of brown crumb, red silver fish attractor and hemp. Before I cast in I fed about half a bait box of hemp, a couple of small balls of ground bait and a few handfuls of the maggots I had left over from last week. I made my first cast at 7:45.

I didn't have to wait long for the float to disappear. The culprit was a roach of about an ounce. I fed a few more maggots and re-cast. Yet again the float went away and yet again it was another small roach.

It carried on this way for about 50 minutes. I decided at that time to give sweetcorn a go. Withing 10 minutes I'd caught another roach which brought my total for the first hour to 10.

I followed the same tactics for the second hour and was rewarded with seven roach and the season's first carp (small) and tench (also small) making my total for the day 19. This was six more than last week's grand total.

For hour three I think the pond's head of small carp had bullied the roach away as I didn't manage to catch a single one. I did manage two more small carp on single maggot though.

Sixty minutes later a combination of maggot and corn as bait saw me land a further three small carp. I actually had to use the landing net for the first time this season!

After consuming my Oxtail soup I went straight into the lunchtime session. I landed eight fish, 2 small carp, 3 roach and 2 very nice crucians. My total for the day was now 31.

It was now that I started to hit trouble. The weather was still reasonably clear and dry but the temperature had dropped drastically. I wasn't sure if it would affect the fishing but it did as by 14:00 I'd only caught three more small carp.

During the day I'd been feeding some pellets into the swim and so as the fishing was slow I decided to have a change of tactics. I went for a banded 6 mm pellet set up. I was rewarded almost straight away with another small carp.

By the time I'd packed up at 17:00 I'd landed three more small carp on the pellet.

I finished the day on 38 from four different species. I shall have to return when the pond re-opens in June.

2015 01 March 6th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

At long last the 2015 season had arrived. As with previous years I decided to make my first session at the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields.

The temperature was cold (2.5) but still when I loaded the car prior to making the 30 minute or so drive to the lake in Edenbridge.

When I arrived about 7:15 there was already one car in the car park. I unloaded my gear and made my way up the lake, stopping only to have a few polite words with the other angler.

It took me a bit longer than usual to set up as I was a bit rusty! Anyway by 8:30 I'd set up and cast a feeder rod with a 10mm halibut boillie to the island. I'd also set up another rod with a standard waggler rig with a size 20 hook on a 3.8 lb hook length to 4lb mainline.

As there was no wind to speak of so seeing any bites wouldn't be a major problem. 

On the waggler I used a single maggot as this was, in my opinion the best chance of getting some bites this early in the season.

I waited for most of the first hour for a bite, when it came it was from a small roach. 

I was loose feeding 3 or 4 maggots a cast and a handful of hemp every 30 minutes or so. I was rewarded in the second hour with another small roach.

By 11:30 I'd only bagged another small roach. By now I'd worked out that today was going to be a struggle. There was no action what so ever on the feeder rod. 

By the time I got to my Oxtail Soup lunch break I'd only added another small roach. Peter, the bailiff had been round and he told me that everyone else was struggling for bites. That made me feel a whole lot better.

Then, as if someone had thrown a magic switch the roach turned up to feed! In the next 60 minutes I caught eight of them. Could I have turned a corner?

Then inexplicably just as they suddenly turned up they suddenly vanished. Perhaps something bigger had bullied them away? I decided to give a piece of sweetcorn a go but after 30 minutes of inactivity I decided that wasn't going to be anymore successful. I did get another small roach on a single maggot bring my total to a dozen for the day.

At this time of year I always take a few slices of bread because I've had some good fish on it especially late in the day. Because of this I switched to bread around 15:30. Almost immediately I was rewarded with my first Rudd of the season.

That I'm afraid to say was the end of the days action. I packed up at 17:00.

The feeder remained inactive all day however when the small roach started feeding I did start to get a lot of beeps indicating line bites which showed there was fish activity. They however died away when the roach went off again.

All day I'd been feeding a few pieces of corn by the rushes to my left and so for the last hour or so I changed the depth of the float and gave it a go. Nothing, not a sausage.

So the first session of the season was over, 13 fish in the net, 12 small roach and a small rudd.