3rd August - Private Pond, Holland, Surrey

The previous Sunday I'd been carping at Bouthurst Farm so I thought today I would revert back to float fishing down at the club's Private Pond in Holland in darkest Surrey.

I arrived around 7am to find 3 cars parked by the entrance. A quick look over the fence confirmed that my favourite swim was free. I unloaded my gear in double quick time and made my way round to peg 1.

The sun hadn't of course yet reached its peak but already I could feel that it was going to be a very hot day.

The plan of attack today centred around flavoured sweetcorn, bread and meat (later on) as hookbait. A few grains of hemp were going to be fed every cast. For groundbait it was the usual mix of brown crumb (90%) and red carp/tench attractor with a few grains of normal swwetcorn. This would be fed into the swim every hour.

In an attempt to feed off the small rudd I would feed quite a few maggots early on. The margins to the left of me were also fed with flavoured sweetcorn every hour and whenever I caught a fish caught from swim 1.

The swim I'd selected was in the corner of the pond, right in front of some lily pads (See photo below). As I had fished the swim before I knew what to expect. Small carp early, then maybe some crucians and a bonus tench or 2 later on.

After an hours fishing I'd had the usual suspects in the virtual net although not in any great numbers. Two hours in and it was time to cast into swim 2 which was to my immediate left. The float disappearred and the rod had a bit of a bend in it which I took to be a nice tench. Instead it was the best roach I'd ever caught weighing in at just over a pound! See below:

More small carp and the occasional crucian were caught from swim 1 but the better fish came from swim 2. Here's an example:

The quality roach kept appearring throughout the day. I reckon I must have had about 6, all around the pound mark. I was well chuffed with them.

I introduced meat as a hookbait in the afternoon and it was responsible for this very nice common carp of around 5 pound.



By close of play I'd had around 70 fish, a good mixture of roach, rudd, tench, crucian, common and mirror carp. Of the 2 swims the most fish came from swim 1 but the better quality came from the margin swim. See below:


I finally packed up around 7pm very pleased with the results of my latest outing.

Until the next time.

July 31st - Boulthust Farm, Nr Limpsfield Surrey

This trip was my first using my newly aquired carp gear.

I have been accumulating the equipment over the previous year. None of it was expensive as I tend to learn how to do something first before I actually spend loads of cash on expensive equipment.

Here's a picture of my set up.

The two rods are about 15 years old, one is 1.75lb test curve and the other a 2.25 lb. The carp in this pond grow to low doubles however 7lb is my best so I thought the rods would be up to it.

The reels are, an Omni RX35M costing around a tenner last year and the other is a Daiwa BR2650 which is about 15 years old!

The rod pod I brought from Trev's Tackle for a tenner. The buzzers were free with the Angling Times.

Going for the simple solution I decided to use ready tyed hooks to nylon with a hair. I opted for a size 14 hook to start with as this was the size I normally use when free-lining at the pond.

Now for the boilies - my first mistake. As I have never used either a boilie or a hair rig I went for the easy option - self drilled. Not a major mistake you might say well in 6mm it was! A trip to the tackle shop and that was sorted - 10mm, the flavour tutti fruitti.

I then came unstuck as I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to use the Korum Quick Stops. After a while of fruitless effort I put pride to one side and approached the only other angler on the pond for help. He showed me that I needed a special needle to do it and as luck would have it I got one free with the 6mm boilies! Anyway I finally got one attached.

Now for the fishing - I threw a few free offerings into both swims and cast out.

15 minutes later the buzzer went off and a nice 2 pounder was in the net. The session was fairly succesful as I managed to bag 5 carp, the biggest was about 4 pound.

Now for my second 'carp' session which technically should be better than the first.

Tight Lines

25th July Boulthurst Farm, Nr Limpsfield Surrey

Come the long summer months, I often take the opportunity to visit this small pond on a Sunday afternoon for a few hours free lining a piece of meat in the margins.

I arrived around 3pm and set up in the end swim nearest to the car park. As you can see from the photo below I used my feeder rod and 6 lb main line curtesy of the Angling Times.

For groundbait I took a tin of sweetcorn which over the course of the session I fed into the swim above and to the one on the other side whilst fishing the cubes of meat over the top.

Sometimes if the fish are in the area bites can come quite quickly however as a general rule, after 5 and before dark are the best times. This one was taken just after 6pm.

I reckon that the 5 hour session produced about a half a dozen carp but the number caught isn't really the point. It's the adrenaline rush that comes when a carp takes the meat and the rod bends round or even sometimes heads for the pond that does the trick.

Tight Lnes

July 23rd Mill Lake Stubpond Fishery Fellbridge Surrey

After an absence of nearly 3 weeks I decided to pay a return visit to Stubpond.

Although the school holidays were upon us, it was midweek and there are no under
16's allowed in the fishery so I was confident of finding a decent swim on Mill Lake as usual.

To my horror there was another car parked in my usual spot nearest to the lake, had I lost my favourite swim? As luck would have it, no I hadn't, my fellow angler had obviously decided that the top of the lake was for him.

I made my way to the swim and my first impression after an absence of 3 weeks was that the weed growth had really taken control. However what I could see from the surface was nothing compared to what was beneath. The picture below gives some indication of the weed growth:

Some carp were already moving on the surface so I made sure that my set up was correct. I felt good about today as I feel that after several visits I was beginning to learn how this lake behaved.

The groundbait was mixed, handfuls of hemp thrown in plus quite a few maggots. The selected hookbait today was sweetcorn, scopex and strawberry flavoured along with the 'normal' kind. I would switch to meat later on when it had hardened up.


I kept seeing signs of fish moving over the bait. The float kept registering line bites and occasionally going under but with nothing attaching itself to the hook. Initailly I put this down to small roach or rudd having a field day on my free offerings whilst not caring for the hook bait.


This was becoming increasingly frustrating however two hours into the session I did manage to land this beauty:




Through all the frustration of the weed I did manage quite a few carp between 1 and 2 pound and a few tench plus 1 or 2 roach.


At 12 I had finally reached the end of my tether and decided that a change of tactics might be in order. I began to feed both swims with cubes of meat before setting up my feeder rod. I thought that as I was fishing quite close in I could free line some meat in the hope that it would get to the bottom without any interference from the weed. Here's the second swim:


Almost instantaneously the swims came alive and I was catching small(ish) carp at a nice rate of knots.

I also managed to land a couple of good ones like these below:

I ended the day with a good head of fish and a valuable lesson learnt. Do not be afraid to change if your oringal plan doesn't work out. The fish were obviously there and the change of tactics and bait worked a treat.

Tight Lines.

July 19th Boulthurst Farm, nr Limpsfield Surrey

As previously stated this pond only has 4 swims (one's a double). The hot one is the one at the end where the stream enters. According to the club chairman the second best one is the one at the opposite end. Today, I decided to do an afternoon/evening session here if the swim was free as I hadn't tried it before.

I arrived around 3:30 to find that one other person was there but as luck would have it he wasn't in the swim I wanted to fish.

The swim has two very nice and very different swims within it, the first follows the overgrown bank away from all the fishable spots. See below:

The second has trees and bushes hanging over the water giving about 20 yards of margin fishing before encountering the next swim by the lily pads. See below:

I fed both swims with sweetcorn and initially used sweetcorn on the hook until the luncheon meat hardened up. As usual when I fish the margins I was free-lining on my feeder rod. The sweetcorn did not attract any bites but when I switched to meat aounnd 6pm I managed to land this beauty. See below:

I then switched to the second swim while feeding the first and managed to land this carp - see below:
And so the pattern continued for the rest of the session - this one came after a further hour and 15 minutes:

I was on a roll now - 30 minutes later this one was in the net:

Ten minutes later the final fish of the day was caught. The only mirror of the session.

In conclusion a very good short session free-lining meat in the margins. I did miss a few so all was not perfect but a very enjoyable session all the same especially as I had never fished the swim before.

Tight Lines

July 12th Boulthurst Farm, Nr Limpsfield Surrey

After nearly not getting a swim for an afternoon session last week and ending with a 7.5 pound carp I thought I thought that was good enough reason to devote a whole day to the club pond at Boulthurst Farm.

I arrived about 7am accompanied by a light rain. The forecast was for rain all day so I put my waterproof trousers and fleesce on. I carried my tackle through the undergrowth to my swim. I was glad I had got changed as my legs were covered in water!

On the way to the swim and I could see fish moving all over the pond including several good ones near the bank where I was walking and planning to fish. I had the feeling today was going to be a good day.

I set up in the usual way, the only difference being that the pond was a couple on inches deeper thanks to the recent rains. Out went a single piece of corn and I sat back and waited for the action to begin. Here is my swim:

No immediate action, not even any signs of life around the swim. Very strange. I kept up my normal feeding pattern but to no avail. By now the early morning rain had disappated and the sun had broken through. The carp continued to cruise on the top all over the pond.

About 8:30 a father and his 7 year son turned up and set up in the swim next to mine. They had all the modern carp gear including rod pod and buzzers. By the sound of thier conversation the young lad had the left hand rod and the dad the right. They were casting to the far side of the pond, I could tell because the height of the bank meant that I could clearly see where their lines entered the water.

After 30 minutes or so off went one of their buzzers and in came a carp of around 3lb. The father came round for a chat and told me what his tactics were, tutti fruitti boile on 10lb main line fished as close to the far bank as possible. The far bank is inaccessible to anglers. He asked me what the largest fish in the pond was and I told him about 15 pounds.

The rest of the morning session followed the same pattern. I was getting absolutely nothing and for them the buzzer went off every 30 minutes or so although to be fair not all were landed. Around lunchtime the young lad came round to see if I had caught anything yet - I replied no and he said "not to worry" as he had had 3 so far - all good uns!.

I decided to have my lunch around 1pm - feeling confident that by now that it wasn't my day and that the float wouldn't go under while I was eating! After lunch I decided to feed the swim under the tree, as that is where the previous week I'd had some success.

I gave it half an hour before dropping the float in - as I did the young lad and his dad came round again for a chat. As they were standing next to the tree I really didn't expect much action but in mid sentence the dad jumped back as the float went and I struck. After a few minutes into the net came a nice cap of around 2 pound. Off the mark at last - not a blank!

I thought a change of tactics might be in order so I switched to the feeder rod and sent the feeder out for a couple of hours. Nothing, not a sniff of a bite. Yes it was definitely one of those days.

All the time I was using the feeder I kept feeding the swim under the tree. Eventually I took the feeder off and feelined meat under the tree. One carp almost immediately was in the net. I fed bread as well as meat and corn. Some of it floated around the tree. I kept seeing the same carp come to the surface and eat the stuff. I put on a large flake and flicked it out. After a few minutes the tip went round, I struck and in came a 4 ounce roach!

4 o'clock came and my 2 new fishing buddies decided to called it a day - I reckon they must have had 10 carp between them - I was struggling on 2 plus a roach.

Over the next 2 hours I managed to extract one more carp from the bush swim (see below). By now the confidence was low and I started to think about packing up. In went a large handful of meat and some corn. I waited and waited and then the tip flew round and we were off again. A few minutes later, with the fish well and truly beaten I went for the net. The fish took this as a sign to leave so it did but gave me my hook back first!

That was it for me - I called it a day right there and then!

Tight lines.

5th July Boulthurst Farm, Limpsfield, Surrey

Now I'm no different from most anglers in that I believe the best time to attack a venue is the period late afternoon until it gets dark. To this end I set off at 2:45 for Boulthurst Farm, the club pond just outside Limpsfield in Surrey.

I arrived around 3:15 to find 3 cars in the car park. I began to panic - there are only 4 swims there! Anyway after a quick walk round I discovered that one of the swims was free - it was the most open and probably the worst on the complex except if you are one of the buzzer brigade in which case it's perfect. The best swim was occupied by a father and 2 small boys. I got chatting to them and they were going to pack up soon so I thought I'll have a quick try in the margins under the bush on a small float rather than the open water and then move round when they leave.

I set up a float rod and plumbed the depth. The water level was very low - the depth was just over a foot. The recent lack of rain was really having an effect on this small pond. I throw in a few grains of corn and flicked the float out.

Immediately there was some action around the float. I took it to be small roach just knocking the line. Suddenly the float shot away and I struck, the fish turned and headed back under the tree where it stayed after returning the hook! Undettered I threw a few more grains out and flicked the float out again. Five minutes later the same thing happened!

The dad and 2 boys decided to call it a day at this point and I took the oppertunity to move swims to actually do what I intended to do and that was have a little go at feeder fishing with a normal cage feeder.

I decided to fish about 20 yards in front of me and about 2 or 3 yards to the right of the fallen down tree. This was near enough for the carp to come to and far enough away I hoped not to lose any feeders.

The plan for the rest of the afternoon and evening was to use the feeder as stated above and feed the swims under the tree and in front of the bush with luncheon meat so that later on I could try fee-lining some meat.

I know my casting isn't brilliant but I did manage to put it quite close to the spot where I intended it to go. The pond has quite high banks but with the stream forming a gap I was able to position the rod 90 degrees to the feeder and about 6 inches off the surface of the water. I tightened up the line so that the tip was slightly bent and then waited.

A little knock and then another which was quickly followed by the tip slowly going round. I struck and up came a nice roach. Not a bad fish for my first cast. Next cast exactly the same thing. I must be getting good at this. I swopped baits from corn to luncheon meat and was rewarded with a nice carp of about 2 pounds.

Time was moving on and as I'd seen some fishy movement under the tree I thought I would give it a go. So in went some meat and out went a nice big piece on a free line. At the same time I started to pack away my stuff which I would no longer need. Now this a bit of a knack - tidying up while keeping an eye on the tip!

Here is the tree/bush.

Just as I finished the tip bent round and we were away. At first I thought it was in the 2 pound range but once on the surface I saw it was a good size. My feeder rod is strong and with 6lb line on I was confident of landing the beast. Finally into the net it came - a nice 7.5 pounds of common carp! My personal best for the season so far.

And here it is....

That was it for me - It was about 8 o'clock - I'd had 5 hours or so of fairly good sport so it was time to go home and have my dinner!

Tight Lines