2012 02 March 23rd Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

As the unusually warm weather seemed to be continuing I decided to go to the Club's carp lake at Chittenden.

I headed off to the venue about 7:30ish. The temperature was already 6 degrees or so - a lot warmer than on the previous Monday.

The swim I wanted to fish was the one behind the first of the islands. I had fished it for the bream in the summer and had a good day so I was optimistic about my chances.

I arrived at the venue just before 8am to find one other car in the car park. Before I loaded my trolley I had a quick look at the lake to see where the other person was. I couldn’t see him but I could see that the swim I wanted was free so I loaded up and set off.

The trek to the swim only took about 5 minutes but using the trolley sure saved me some backache!

On arrival I couldn’t help but notice that the island vegetation (bushes and trees) had all been cleared. It looked like Kojak’s head!

Today was going to be a two-pronged attack. One waggler set up targeting the bream and a feeder rod down the channel targeting any carp that might be on the move.

Bait wise, it was single maggot on the hook for the bream with maggots and hemp being used as loose feed and 10mm strawberry boillies for the carp.

I made my first cast at 8:50 and settled back in my chair to wait for the action to start.

I had to wait almost an hour before the first and second bites. The result was a bream and a tiny roach. I took confidence from the fact that there were fish about.

This confidence turned out to be misplaced as the by 10:40 I’d only added a further 2 roach and another bream.

Unfortunately that very much summed up the rest of the session. I did try corn for an hour but with no success. By the time I'd packed up at 17:30 I'd caught five more roach and three bream. One of which was on bread.

What about the feeder rod? I hear you ask. Well I didn't get a sniff until about 17:00 when the tip went round and I was into a carp of about 2lb. I'm estimating because the terror spat the hook out!

I must say although the fishing wasn't the best sitting on my chair in March in a t-shirt was great!

2012 01 March 19th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was the start of my 2012 season and I was heading off to test myself against the club’s Nursery Fields Lake near Edenbridge in Kent.

I woke to find one of the worst frosts I have seen this winter. Undeterred I loaded up the car and set off around 7:30 am for the venue.

I arrived at the fishery at 8:10 to find one other hardy soul out for a days sport.

The temperature had risen to 4 degrees by this time and the frost was almost a distant memory.

I then loaded up my brand new trolley (a very happy birthday present and a much needed one at my age) and made my way to the top of the lake.

On arrival I found that the water was dead calm. I immediately fed the swim with a few maggots and then began to set up my rod.

Today's line of attack was single maggot all the way. At this time of year on a non commercial it seems the best method to adopt. For loose feed I also had a couple of pints of hemp - I didn't intend to use it all, any surplus would be frozen for use on later sessions.

I made my first cast at 8:50. I only had to wait 30 minutes for the first fish of 2012 to turn up. The victim - a mighty gudgeon.

Each cast I fed either 5 or 6 maggots or a few hemp seeds and this tactic seemed to pay off as at 9:30 I had added a further 2 gudgeon and the first roach of the year.

The next hour was my most productive of the day, 1 Rudd, 2 Crucians, 2 roach, 2 gudgeon and a perch. The only downside was that none of them warranted the use of a net!

The next hour and half only produced three fish, a Rudd and a Crucian and my best fish of the day a bream of 1,5lb! A chance to wet my net!

I decided to take a lunch break at this point. It's hungry work doing all this fishing! Anyway by the end of the lunch break period I'd only added 3 more gudgeon, a bream and another perch.

The afternoon session was a major let down. I had anticipated that as the day warmed up the fishing would improve or least stay the same however when I packed up I'd only added 2 gudgeon, 2 roach and a Rudd.

I packed up around 16:30 and headed off home.

In conclusion I enjoyed myself and that is all that matters. I spent a march day sitting in the sun without once putting my big coat on and watching a load of frogs going at it right in front of me. Also I did see 3 or 4 big carp cruising up the middle of the channel in front of me so I may go for them next time.

2011 31 September 2nd Boulthurst Farm, Oxted, Surrey

As September had arrived I decided it was time to give Boulthurst Farm another go.

I'd fished it in Spring and Summer and now to get the full set I thought I would give Autumn a bash.

I arrived at the fishery just before seven to find the small car park empty. I wasn't really surprised as it wasn't a weekend.

My favourite swim here is the one on the right hand end with a nice over hanging tree to fish to, so you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that since my last visit it had been severely pruned (see photo below).

The first rod with halibut boillies I fished under what was left of the tree and the second, the strawberry rod was fished in the open water on the other side.

My first cast hit the water at 7:25. I then settled down to wait for the day's action to begin. It normally takes about an hour before the first bite arrives but with the tree pruned back so much I wasn't sure what would happen if anything.

I was right in my assumption that things would be different today as it was 90 minutes before the buzzer sounded for the first time. The victim was a one eyed common of about 3 pounds. It was the strawberry boillie swim that provided this fish.

It was another 90 minute wait before the action resumed. This time it was a half pound crucian with a liking for halibut.

Two more quiet hours followed in which I managed to consume my lunch. Then at 12:50 the one thing I hate happened, I got a bite on each rod. Lucky for me I got them both in. The first was a 3lm mirror on the strawberry rod and the second was a 7lb common on the halibut rod.

Just after 2pm the strawberry rod struck again and in came a 3lb common.

The next carp on the halibut rod came at 15:20 and was a nice 5.5lb common.

The last fish of the session came at 15:38, a 3.5lb common on the strawberry rod.

I packed up about 6pm.

And so my fishing adventures for 2011 came to a successful end.

2011 30 August 19th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today I aimed to try some scopex feed pellets for the first time at the club's Nursery Fields fishery.

These were bought for me by the dog on Father's day but not being a pellet man I hadn't as yet used them.

I arrived at the fishery between half six and seven. There were a few cars in the car park but not enough to give me reason for concern.

I deployed my usual tactics for this lake, one float rod to fish the lily pads and one feeder rod to fish the island.

I've never used feeder pellets before so today was really a case of experimentation.

First thing I did was ensure that they sank ok straight from the bag. I threw a few into the water in front of me and although some reacted faster than others they all eventually sank to the bottom.

Satisfied with the pellets my next task was to mix some groundbait. Normally I use brown crumb with a red attractor plus some grains of corn and meat. Today instead of the corn and meat I used the feeder pellets.

I fed a few good handfulls and then at 7:36 I made my first cast.

As I was using scopex flaoured pellets my hook bait today was scopex flavoured corn which was coloured blue.

This lake never seems to start very quickly and so it proved today when after the first hour I'd only landed a couple of skimmers.

For the next hour I switched hook bait to Strawberry corn and was rewarded with a 2.5lb carp.

The next hour I switched to nomal corn but this only produced a solitary small tench.

The two hours leading up to lunchtime wern't that much more productive, 1 small tench and a couple of small roach.

At 12:40 I decided to completely change my line of attack. I went on the meat big time. I was rewarded about 15:00 with yet another solitary small tench. Something wasn't quite right today.

It was the same story for the remaining 2 hours or so of the session. Two tench both small and a solitary crucian.

The feeder rod didn't fare much better during the session either. I took one tench and one bream.

I packed up around 6pm as I was a bit knackered. On the results front it was a bit of a disappointing session however a days fishing away from work can never be seen as a disappointment.

2011 29 August 12th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

7I had planned another afternoon/evening session at Nursery Fields as I was having some good results from them. Today was another such occasion however this time I decided to try another swim.

When I arrived the car park was almost full again. Undeterred I put my rod holdall over my shoulder and headed around the lake starting from peg 1 looking for a good swim.

The one I chose in the end was at of the back stretch (peg 13). It has a bed of lillies to the left and open water in front and to the right.

My main problem setting up was that being right handed and with concrete all around I couldn't have the rod where I wanted it. Perhaps the club could move the lillies to the other side of the swim? See photo below.

I adopted the same tactics as I had the previous times I'd fished this swim. One float line to the lillies and a feeder line to the island.

I mixed up the usual groundbait, brown crumb plus some corn and meat and then when it was ready threw in three good balls to the outside of the lillies.

My first cast went in just before 16:00. I didn't hae long to wait before this 4.5 common took a liking to the corn on the hook.

The next part of the session went much the same as normal. The float line producing 3 barbel and 4 small tench and a skimmer bream and the feeder rod proding a couple of fish, a tench and a skimmer bream.

The next bream I caught was a nice 2lb'er. As you can see from the photo below - it looks to me like a proper bream.

Not to be overshadowed by the bream next up on the float line was a common carp of 8lb. This little devil put up quite a struggle become it finally succumbed to my charms!

So another enjoyable session comes to an end. I'm getting to like this lake!

2011 28 August 5th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

For my first outing of August I decided to return to Chittenden the club's carp lake.

I'd spent some preparation time beforehand talking to Bill and Dave(Bike) regarding swims at the bottom of the lake which so far I had never fished. I was so impressed with the feedback that I made up my mind to give them a try.

I left home just before six to make the 30 minute journey. As is usual for me I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get my first choice swim. When I arrived there was one other car in the car park however lucky for me this fellow early riser was at the top of the lake - nowhere near where I wanted to be.

I unloaded the car and then hauled the first half of my gear down to the bottom of the lake (no I didn't jump in!). Actually it wasn't as far as it looks from the car park. When I got there I dumped my gear and had a good look at the swims available.

I finally decided on the last swim on the car park side - it was a toss up between that and the one opposite. The deciding factor was that this one would be easier for me to fish being right handed!

I setup a float rod to fish parallel to the reed bed and a feeder rod with a small feeder to fish the open water. This would act as my sleeper throughout the session.

My biggest worry was whether I'd be able to cast close to the reeds but not so close as to deposit all of my tackle in there. It was definitely going to be an exercise in concentration that's for sure.

I groundbaited the swim with 3 good handfulls plus some hemp and corn. The first cast hit the water at 7:28am.

I started off really well, after the first hour I'd managed 5 very good skimmers, a roach and a 3.75lb common. I began to suspect that today was going to be a very good one.

The strawberry sweetcorn on the hook was obviously to their liking as the next hour produced 4 more bream and 2 roach.

Unfortunately it was about now that my day took a turn for the worse. Two 'anglers' turned up and set up diagonally opposite me (you can't see them in the photo above). They then proceeded to 'talk' at a volume where everyone on the lake could hear every detail of thier lives. They even at one point broke into song. Now if I was sitting behind buzzers I could have coped with it however I was fishing the float. I do concentrate hard when fishing and after a few hours of these guys my head was absolutely thumping. Not very nice. Rant over.

Anyway back to the fishing. In the next hour there was the one and only bite for the day on the feeder rod. It was a good take and resulted in a 3.5lb carp.

On the float rod I took 1 small carp, 3 bream and a couple of roach. The signs were still there that I was going to get a good haul.

The pattern continued for the next hour - 3 bream and a roach. I kept loose feeding grains of corn every cast and this seemed to be keep the fish in the swim.

I had a little break around noon to have some lunch. I tend to reel in the rods whilst I have lunch for 2 reasons, 1 it ensures that my lunch makes it to my stomach and 2 to give the swim a bit of a rest.

When I resumed the swim was as lively as before. By 12:50 six more bream and a roach were in the net.

The sun had decided to come out today and for the first time this summer I had to use my umbrella as a sun shade! I think the hot tempreture accounted for the slowness of the next hour. I only caught 2 bream and a roach.

As the afternoon wore on the shadows behind me lengthened and I was able to put the brolly down. The fishing improved slightly, 3 bream, 1 roach and the first carp for a few hours.

For the remaining part of the session I changed tactics. I changed hookbait from corn to meat and cast as close to the reeds as possible. I was rewarded with a roach and 2 carp, one being a 7lb mirror.

The last two hours was bittersweet for me. I lost at least 3 good carp not in the reeds as you might expect but by them coming off the hook. The sweet was that dispite losing three carp they kept biting and after getting another 2 bream the float sailed away and in came a 10lb'er - my 5th double of the season and my 5th ever!

What made the capture all the more enjoyable was that my two 'friends' from across the lake who had nominated themselves as the font of all knowledge for Chit declared at one point that "You can't catch anything bigger than 7lb where that bloke is over there". Well sorry to disappoint but they were WRONG!

A great way to end the day.

I shall return to this swim.

2011 27 July 31st Nursery Field, Edenbridge, Kent

Another Sunday another afternoon/eveing session at Nursery Fields.

The weather was really good again so on the car park was almost full. As luck would have it the swim at the top of the lake was free again so I was happy enough.

I intended to employ exactly the same tactics as I did  on my last visit. Again two rods were set up - one, to my left with tutti fruitti boilies and the other to my right on halibut ones.

I made my first cast at 16:45 and settled back to have bit more of Dean Koontz's Frankenstein 4.

It was a good job that the book was good as I had to wait 90 minutes for the buzzer to go off. This time the halibut rod was the first off the mark. The result was a nice little barbel.

I had to wait another full hour before the second bite arrived - again it was on the halibut rod. This time it was one of the lake's small tench. Still they all count.

Thirty minutes later and the tutti fruitti rod decided to get into the action - the result - a similar tench to the previous one.

By now it was 8pm, the sun was still shining so the carp decided to have a munch. First up was one of 4.5lb with a liking for halibut.

This was followed 45 minutes later by another slightly bigger specimen of 5lb also with a taste for halibut.

So that was it for another session. I can't complain the weather was good and so was the fishing. Can't ask for anything more really can you?