2016 12 May 20th Silver Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

This was going to be my second planned visit to Silver Lake at Gabriel's Farm fishery just outside of Edenbridge in Kent.

As usual I was up and on the road in plenty of time to arrive at the fishery bang on openng time. When I got there I unloaded the car and made my way over to Silver lake's peg 1, which is my favourite.

When I arrived at the peg I noticed there was a lot of blossom etc on the surface of the water which had obviously been falling from the nearby trees. I made the decision to fish at that peg anyway.

Just the one rod today, so it was to the standard waggler set up that I turned to. I fed the swim (about two rod lengths out) and was ready to make my first cast at 7:50.

It was a disaster, the flotsam and jetsam on the water just proved to difficult to fish through. The stuff was getting on the line and sinking the float and even when I tried to sink the line the debris went down with it. I decided I had to move.

I took a stroll up the lake to see if the situation was the same there, luckily peg 2 (or the next one round, can't remember which) was clear. I made the decision to move there as i could cast in the vicinity of the feed I'd put in at peg 1.

It was 8:50 before I was ready to start again. For bait, I commenced with single maggot. I immediately got a roach and a rudd which was a good sign.

By 10:20 I was still on the maggot and I'd added another 5 fish to the virtual net, consisting of roach and rudd again except for a chub which when weighed turned out to be my personal best! I was over the moon (cliche' time).

The next hour was very slow going - just a roach and a perch made the net.

For the next two hours I decided to switch to corn. I managed to get a rudd and a roach however it wasn't a total disaster as I lost what had to be a carp.

After capturing another roach I decided to switch to meat. It was a bit early in the afternoon but I felt I had nothing to lose. By 14:40 I'd bagged a carp and a bream.

My penultimate fish and my fifteenth of the day came in at 17:00 and was another carp.

My last fish and my sixteenth of the day came in at 17:30 and was another carp so at least I ended the day on a high.

2016 11 May 15th Hare Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first visit of the year to Hare Lake on the Gabriel's farm complex just outside of Edenbridge.

I was up and out of the house by 6:20, ready to make the journey down to Edenbridge. The trip was nice and uneventful and so dead on 7 am I arrived at the fishery.

I normally choose a swim car park end of the lake however today I drove to the top, depositting my tackle at my swim at the top of the lake on the way, before parking the car in the car park.

Just the one rod today, a waggler set up that I intended to fish close to the lily pads on the far side of the lake.

Bait wise my plan was to alternate between corn and meat. I knew from previous experience that the lake was full of roach and small carp. There are bigger carp in here but as yet I've never caught one.

I made my first cast at 7:50 and after an hour I'd caught 5 fish consisting of a rudd, three roach and one of the lake's small carp.

The next hour brought much the same results only this time is was six fish and the bream entered the picture for the first time. The alternating of hook bait between corn and meat seemed to be working.

The action slowed down somewhat in the next hour. The corn appearred to be working better than the meat as I only caught three fish, 2 roach and a bream, all of them on corn.

The last hour before lunch didn't bring me anymore fish however I did hook into one that I lost when it ran into the lily pads. Could that have been one of the lake's bigger carp? We will never know.

From 11:50 to 14:50 I caught absolutely nothing. I wasn't unduly worried as most venues take some sort of dip during the middle of the day.

Unfortunately things had now slowed down to a complete crawl. By 16:00 I'd caught just one more carp and one more roach, both on the corn.

By the time I packed up I'd only caught one carp. This made my total for the day 17, not exactly what I was hoping for.

2016 10 May 6th Swallow Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first visit of the year to Gabriels Fishery, just outside of Edenbridge in Kent.

The fishery opens at 7 am so I didn't need to leave so early which was nice. The drive to the fishery was quiet and as I finally arrived at the top car park I found myself to be the first one there.

I unloaded the car and had a quick look around the lake before selecting my swim.

I can only use one rod here so it was just the waggler set up today. 6 mm pellets were going to be my main line of attack.

Just having the one rod to set up I was ready to feed my swim at around 7:45. First I fed three big balls of goundbait followed by a few handfuls of pellets. To help acuracy I'd cast the rod without any bait on into the area where I was going to fish. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the float had gone under while I was feeding the swim! The result was a 2 lb carp. No bait required!

I then settled down to a 'normal' days fishing. I fed 2 or 3 pellets every cast and this tactic seemed to pay off as I caught 9 small carp ranging from a few ounces to a pound in the first hour.

The next hour was even better, 10 small carp and a gudgeon. Was I on for one of those special days?

The improvemnt continued in the next hour. Fourteen small carp made the virtual net. The day's total now 34!

By noon I'd caught another ten carp which numerically was good however they were on average the smallest of the day so far.

The fishing slowed right down during the first hour of the afternoon so much so that I only caught 2!

By 14:00 I'd only added another three to the virtual net. Had I done anything wrong?

I decided at that point that my tactics needed changing. The plan for the rest of the day was to aleternate baits between corn and meat to see if I could bring them back on the feed.

It seemed to work as my total for the day when I packed up at 17:20 was 75 which included my best ever carp from this pond (5 lb 13 oz). It was caught on meat.

2016 9 May 4th Silver Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

With the club waters closed for May it was time for me to make my first visit to Gabriel's Farm Fishery on the outskirts of Edenbridge.

The weather for a change wasn't too bad as I arrived at the fishery dead on opening time (7 am). I then drove the mile or so from the gate to the car park which was as usual empty.

I unloaded the car and made my way round to peg 1 on Silver lake. This peg is my favourite because it allows me to fish up the lake and if reqyuired to either side.

I can only use one rod here so it was about 7.45 when I was ready to make my first cast.

Initially I started with a single maggot on the hook. The first hour brought me six fish, five roach and rudd and a bream taken on corn.

The next hour was even more productive than the first. I managed to capture seven fish consisting of roach, bream, gudgeon and perch. All were taken on a single maggot.

By 10:45 I'd added another six fish to the virtual net consisting this time of gudgeon, roach and bream. These still all came in on maggot. I was trying corn from time to time but with no success.

All day I had these for company.

I decided for the next hour to go exclusively on corn, I knew if I stayed on maggot that I would catch but they wouldn't have been of any size. Anyway the result was a small skimmer bream and a carp of about 2 lb. So the change was a success of sorts.

Only two fish in the next hour on the corn, a roach and a bream. The roach was four or five ounces so better than the ones I'd caught on maggot.

At 14:45 I changed tactics again, this time to meat. Between then and and when I packed up I managed to get another 2 lb carp. That made my total for the day 25. Not bad but not as good as I'd hoped.

I will be back.

2016 08 April 29th Chittenden, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my last visit to the club's carp lake at Chittenden, near Edenbridge in Kent until June as the waters close for the month of May.

For a change the weather was good as I made my way to Edenbridge at about 5:45. I was hopeful of having a good day as my previous one a fortnight or so earlier had been a success.

There were a couple of cars in the car park when I arrived however the anglers were all situated in the upper and nearside section of the lake so I was pretty confident of having some peace and quiet at the lower end of the lake where I intended to fish today.

Arriving at my swim I first set up my feeder rod. Today I was using 8 lb main line to a 6 lb hook length containing a size 14 hook. A 15 ml tangerine dream boillie was going to be used as bait fished over a bed of maize.

When the set up was completed I made my first cast at around 7:30. Immediately there was a splash. I looked down and there was no spool on my reel! After some feeling around I managed to retrieve the spool from the lake bed only to find that the top had come off. The feeder rod was therefore out of play for the day. What a start!

So now I was down to just the waggler rod. I started with a single maggot as bait and for the first hour I was quite successful, 7 roach and 1 bream came to the net.

For the next hour I tried corn however it was a total failure as I didn't even get a bite. I did get interest from the small roach though.

By 10:30 I'd switched back to maggot and had claimed another roach and a carp. It wasn't a monster but a carp all the same. My spirits were lifted somewhat.

For the next hour I tried corn again. This time I was no more successful than the first. It just wasn't going to be my day.

A slight change of tactics (double from single maggot) was the plan for the next hour. The result was 2 roach and 2 bream.

At 13:30 I decided to have a complete change of tactics and so I went on 6 mm pellets. The result was dismal. By 17:30 when I packed up I'd caught absolutely nothing.

And so ended not a very good session.13 fish, all on maggot which is surprising for a carp lake in April. Still that's fishing.

Apologies for no photos - camera was playing up.

2016 07 April 24th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

This trip was going to be my last visit of the club's season to it's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields near Edenbridge in Kent.

It was raining pretty heavily as I loaded the car in readiness for the thirty minute trip to the venue. Yet again I cursed this year's terrible spring weather.

Due to the weather I suppose, I found no other cars in the car park when I arrived at the fishery. I unpacked the gear and made my way over to the back stretch where today's choice of swim was situated.

Two rod attaack again today. The feeder rod was going to fish the reed bed to my left and the waggler rod the swim by the lillies on the right. I was going to use the same tactics on the feeder rod that I had used the previous week at Chittenden. That is to say, heavily feed maize and fish a 15 ml tangerine dream boillie on the hair over the top.

The reed bed on the left is where I fished the feeder rod.

After the feeding of the swims and the setting up of the rods I was ready to make my first casts at 7:55. The rain was still coming down albeit a bit lighter.

This is the view from my swim down the lake.

The first hour was quite productive, at least on the waggler rod. I had six fish consisting of roach, rudd and small bream. All were taken using single maggot.

This is the view from my swim up the lake. Yes, there was someone else there today!

The next hour brought another seven fish, all the same as the above except the bream were replaced by perch. These were all caught in the first 30 minutes as I unsuccessfully tried corn for the second 30 minutes of the hour.

The next sixty minutes almost mirrored the last. The rudd were absent however as I caught six roach and perch on single maggot and nothing on corn.

The last hour before lunch yielded four more roach, one of them somewhat unexpectedly came on a piece of corn.

The first hour after lunch returned to the normal pattern of the day, all on maggot, nothing on corn. This time I managed four fish, a couple of roach and  a couple of gudgeon.

Sixty minutes later and I'd bagged another three roach. I was getting the feeling that this was going to be the extent of my catch for the day. The feeder rod hadn't moved all day either.

The time was now 14:00, by 15:00 I'd only added another roach to my 'bulging' net. Things were slowing down somewhat.

For the next two hours the swim completely died except for one good bream with a liking for corn.

I packed up around 17:30. Despite a promising start I ended the day with 32 fish. They all came from the waggler, the feeder rod stayed motionless all day.

2016 06 April 17th Chittenden, Edenbridge

Today I was going to pay another visit to the club's carp fishery at Chittenden near Edenbridge in Kent. I hadn't exactly set the season alight so far so I was hoping that today would put that right.

It was quite chilly as I loaded up the car. I took the hint and made sure that I had packed all my waterproof gear and fleece to ensure that I was going to be as comfortable as possible during the day.

I arrived at the fishery about 6:30. I quickly unloaded the car before setting off on the trek to my swim. The lake was giving off a lot of early morning mist which showed how cold it had been the night before. Not a good sign for day's fishing.

Two rods today, a waggler rod with six pound line with, initially, a size 18 hook and a feeder rod with eight pound line and a size 14 hook.

I had been watching Matt Hayes on Discovery Shed over the previous few days and one of his tips was to bait the swim with free offerings of one colour whilst fishing a bait of another colour on the hook. I decided today to give this a go on the feeder rod's swim. First, I fed it with a very genourous helping of yellow maize and then baited the hook with an orange tangerine dream flavoured boillie.

I made my first casts at 7.30 and then sat back and waited for the action to begin. I thought it would be a while as it was still pretty cold but the must had cleared somewhat.

As it happened I only had to wait 20 minutes or so. The feeder rod's buzzer went off and the line started to race off the reel. I struck and immediately I knew it was a good fish. I played it for ages (or it seemed that way) before I managed to get it into the net. When I weighed it the displayed showed 12 lb 4 ounces! My plan had worked!.

Fifteen minutes after returning the fish the buzzer went again. This one came in at 6 lb 11 oz, smaller but just as welcome.

By 9:30 I'd lost another big one, I say big one because it actually broke the hook length.

Just after 11 am I caught my first fish on the waggler rod, not unexpectedly it was a bream. It gave me hope for that swim if nothing else. I also managed to bag my third carp on the feeder rod, this one came in at 8 lb 14 oz. Today was going very nicely.

The first hour of the lunch period brought another carp, this one was not quite a double, 9 lb 3 oz.

While I was eating my lunch I was visited by this fella.

An hour later and I was into my second double of the day. This one just made it, 10 lb 12 oz. Obviously my tactics were working.

The last hour of the lunch period brought me yet another double, my third of the day and for the first time in my angling career (about 50 years!) two on the spin. This one was 10 lb 14 oz.

At 15:01 I had my hat trick as I caught my third double and what turned out to be my last carp of the day. This one was my second biggest of the day, 11 lb 12 oz. I had a smile a mile wide.

What of the waggler I hear you ask. Well aside from the aforementioned bream the waggler had done nothing. Just after 3 pm I switched to baits to single maggot. I did have some success however it wasn't great. Four very small roach and another small bream.

I called it a day just after 17:00. I'd had a fantastic day, thirteen fish in all, the majority of which were good quality carp. I owe it all to the advice given by Matt Hayes. Thank you sir.