2012 19 July 15th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

I decided that today I would tackle the club's main lake. I know that the better quality fish tend to be taken after 4pm so I decided to make this an afternoon/evening session.

I was all packed and ready by 2pm. The sun was out but the clouds were looking ominous as I made my way down the lanes to Edenbridge.

When I arrived at the venue there was about a dozen or so cars in the car park. On the way down I'd made up my mind that if possible I would have a bash at one of the swims at the bottom as recently I'd either been fishing midway up the far bank or at the very top.

Before I unloaded the car I went and had a look to see what swims were free. I was in luck pegs 1 and 2 were both unoccupied. I've fished peg one before so today I chose to go with peg 2.

I returned to the car, loaded the trolley and headed off on the short walk to peg 2. This peg is unusual in that it is what I would call a right handed swim. Most of the swims at NF have lillies to fish to but the majority of these are on the left hand side of the swim hence you have to fish it 'the wrong way round'.

The left hand side of the swim has some very fishy looking reeds so after some thought I decided that on this occasion I would fish both swims and forego the sleeper feeder rod.

Next on the preparation front was the groundbait. Do I go for little and often or an initial large feed and a possible long wait for the diners to arrive? I decided on the latter. Into each swim went two generous balls of brown crumb, meat and corn along with a few handfuls of hemp and maggots.

My set up today was quite straight forward 5lb main line, size 16 to 4lb hook length and a 3BB waggler.

By 15:22 I was ready to make my first cast. I eyed up my spot and cast, nothing. I looked up only to see my line stuck in a tree! I not only lost the hook but valuable fishing time as I had to tie another hook on. This time before casting I moved all my stuff 2 feet to the left. I cast, bingo, straight over the feed.

As I suspected the bites did not come quickly although I could detect movement in the swim and surrounding lily pads. First up though was a 4 inch barbel with a liking for corn. By the end of the first hour it was joined by a couple of bream.

I fed the swims again before the start of hour two. The swim on the left I decided I wouldn't touch for a couple of hours. The second hour was slightly more productive, four fish, all of different species, crucian, bream, rudd and a very nice looking tench.

The first seven fish were all caught on corn. However for the remainder of the session I used small cubes of meat. The third hour showed that I might have been a little too early to do the switch as I only caught one solitary bream.

Things took a turn for the better in the last hour and forty minutes of the session. Three more bream and a roach with a liking for meat made the net. The highlight though was the three carp (2x3 and a 2) which also made the net. The carp at this venue do tend to leave it quite late before showing up.

I packed up at 20:00 when I hooked inot another carp and lost it in the lillies (with most of my teminal tackle).

In conclusion, fishing performance wise, this wasn't one of my better sessions. I never quite got into the rythmn. I'm going to put this down to the cough I'd been suffering with for the previous few days.

2012 18 July 1st Private Pond, Oxted, Surrey

Today was the day when I would make my first visit to Holland Angling Society's Private Pond near Oxted in Surrey.

I spent the morning in preparation for the afternoon and evening session. I cooked some hemp and cut the meat. I defrosted the frozen corn and opened a fresh tin. I also chopped some a tin of meat into small cubes.

I set off around 1:30. Even with early afternoon Sunday traffic this meant that I would arrive at about 2pm which would give me a good six hours fishing.

The weather for this summer was not too bad, the sun had been out most of the day but there was still a threat of rain in the air. I thought that the pond would be busy however when I arrived there were only three cars parked on the road. A quick glance to my left showed that Dunks pond had no one on it at all.

I counted five other anglers on the pond none of which were in my three favourite swims. How lucky was that? I unloaded the car (no need for a trolley here) and made my round to peg 8.

You can only use one rod on this pond so today I chose to fish a waggler close to the lilies about 1.5 rod lengths out.

I mixed up my normal concoction of groundbait and when ready fed two large balls into the swim. I also fed some hemp and corn. From my previous session I’d had some maggots left over so I opened the tin only to find that they had all turned into casters. Undeterred I fed those anyway. A lot of them floated and almost immediately eight of the larger carp came to the surface and fed on them.

I decided to use caster from the start as my hook bait and made my first cast at 15:00. The swim was to coin a phrase absolutely boiling with signs of feeding activity therefore it was no surprise when the float dipped straight away and I was into my first fish of the session, a small roach!

My second attempt fared no better so somewhat reluctantly I changed my bait to corn. This pond is full of small carp, the largish being about a pound. By 16:20 I’d caught four of them plus another roach and a solitary rudd.

I fed more groundbait and loose fed corn and hemp on the hour throughout the session. I repeated the caster exercise with the same results. I just couldn’t get through the small stuff even though I knew the larger carp were there. It was very frustrating.

Anyway the next hour brought 5 carp, 3 roach and another single rudd.

It was at this point that I decided to feed the margins swim to my left and right with small cubes of meat. I did this every time I caught a fish.

At 18:00 I switched hook bait to meat and also alternated casts between the three swims. The swim on my left produced small carp and a couple of tench. The swim on the right produced nothing at all. The main action took place in my original swim.

The obvious danger of fishing so close to lilies is that it’s not far for any good sized fish to run. One time the bait hardly had enough time to start to sink before it was taken by something larger than normal. I struck quickly but not quick enough to stop it entering the pads. For what seemed like an age (in reality about 10 minutes) I applied pressure trying to get it out. Somewhat inevitably the five pound line snapped and I lost the fish and all my terminal tackle.

With all my terminal tackle gone I made my mind up to strengthen my approach. I switched from 5lb line to six and upped the hook size from 16 to 14.

I was rewarded 20 minutes later when I hooked into and landed this 6lb common carp.

I carried on until 20:00 but that was the best of the action. By then I had added 11 carp, 3 roach and 2 tench to the net.

In conclusion this was not one of my better sessions. I never really thought I was in the zone, maybe it was because I was never comfortable using my 20 year old 13 foot match rod because I was still waiting for my replacement Shimano section, maybe it was just one of those days.

Wildlife Update:

Can this be termed ‘wildlife update’? I’ll leave you to decide. Anyway the swim I was fishing was quite overgrown and I had to set my rod rest up quite close to the local vegetation. After the session I saw that my hands and arms were covered in bites. At home in the shower I discovered more on my legs. The best though were the two huge ones on my face. I looked like a teenager again for about 5 days afterwards!



2012 17 June 29th Nursery Fields Edenbridge

In my eyes there is nothing like a good afternoon and evening session whether it be on the float or carping with the boillies.

So with the above in mind I decided that I would go for an afternnon/evening carping session at the club's Nursery Fields venue.

I left work at 12 and was home by 1:00 having just stopped to pick up lunch at the Golden Arches. I then finished loading up the car (i'd started the previous evening) and made my way in sunshine down to Edenbridge.

In my head I'd already picked the swim I wanted, peg 17 right at the top of the lake and so when I arrived and saw only three cars in the car park I knew I had a very good chance of getting it. I was proved right, as after I loaded up my now 'can't do without' trolley and made my way to the lake to find all but one of the other anglers set up on the nearside bank. The other was midway down the far bank.

Today's plan was to fish 2 rods each with identical setups, small bomb on 6lb line to a size 14 hook on a 5lb hook length. The left hand rod I was going to fishing 10mm Monster Crab boillies and on the right I would fish 15mm Pineapple Frenzy ones.

I made my first cast at 15:24. The plan was to feed the swims with half a dozen boillies each hour that went by without catching a fish.

I only had to wait 45 minutes for the first bite which I successfully landed. It was a 2lb barbel with a liking for pineapple. I didn't suspect that this was the trigger for some fast and furious action.

In the space of 38 minutes I landed four tench on monster crab and one on the pineapple rod. At least twice the bait was taken before I had the chance to put the line through the buzzers.

After writing the note above the buzzer on the monster crab rod went off again and in came my 6th tench of the session. The score now was crab 5 pineapple 2.

Ten minutes later the action was repeated as yet another tench which fancied crab made the virtual net. I was beginning to really enjoy myself!

I now a thirty minute respite in which I was able to have a well deserved cup of tea. The quiet was broken by a five minute spell in which I landed another two tench on the crab rod.

I had to wait another forty five minutes for the next bite, unexpectedly this came on the pineapple rod. Not a surprise though was that it was another tench.

I returned the fish and just after I re-cast the line tightened and I was in again. This time I had my first carp of the day, a nice looking mirror.

Ten minutes later, on the same pineapple rod I landed my second carp, this time though it was a common. The score now was crab 8 pineapple 7. Nothing to choose between them.

The next fish came 15 minutes later and was on the pineapple rod again and yes this time it was a tench. Now both baits were equal.

The above fish was caught at 18:49. I fully expected the sport to pick up but strangely it went quiet. In the next hour I only got two more tench both on the crab. I was puzzled.

It was now 20:10 and I was beginning to think of packing up however the fish had other ideas. The buzzer on the pineapple rod went off and I lifted into what I knew was a decent fish. Two or three minutes later I'd landed an 8lb common.

To be honest as I returned it to the water I thought that was it however I'd just got back to my chair when the crab rod went off and suspecting another tench I was somewhat surprised when the fish shot off down the lake. I finally got it in I found it to be a 5lb common.

As the time was getting on for 8:30 I decided that when I recast I would give it another 10 minutes and then I would call it a day.

As I started to clear up my swim the crab rod's buzzer went off for the last time and I was into what turned out to be a 3lb common. I landed and returned the fish under the gaze of the bailiff who was doing his rounds.

Just as I was about to bring in the pineapple rod it's buzzer went off and in came a barbel. I'd started and finished on one.

In conclusion I was really pleased with this seassion. I'd met my expectations, the rain had kept away and I'd caught 20 good fish, 12 on crab and 8 on the larger pineapple. I will be back.

Wildlife Update:

I was driving back through the Surrey hills when as I rounded a bend I came across a baby deer (fawn) in the middle of the road. I came to a stop as quickly as I could and got out the car. A quick look round told me that I hadn't hit it. I was glad but very shaken!

2012 16 June 24th Christmas Mill, Edenbridge, Kent

Having fished the previous afternoon and evening I couldn't get up as early as I wished for my second trip to this club water. Even so I was out of the house and on my way at 6:30.

Much to my dismay the rain had arrived with a vengeance the night before and it was still coming down hard as I went down the semi flooded lanes.

Christmas Mill only has five swims and of those only one of them has lily pads close enough to make waggler fishing possible. This was the swim I fished on my last visit and was the one I planned to fish today.

When I arrived at the postage stamp size car park I was dismayed to find another car there. I feared the worst. Dejectedly I made my way to the lake through the water soaked woods until I arrived at our swims. My fears were confirmed when I found the swim I wanted occupied by none other than Keith who I met on a recent outing to Broxham. Incidentally on that occasion Bill and the aforementioned Keith had also nicked my swim that day! I think they should be suspended from the club!

In the end I chose the second of the five swims with the intention of fishing around 2 rod lengths out in clear water. At least it was a plan of sorts.

I set my waggler rod up with a 3bb float, 5lb main line and a size 18 with a 3lb hook length. My intention was to target the tench and bream.

After setting up the rod I ground baited the swim in my normal way and then set up my chair, box, bait, tackle bits and pieces and most importantly the umbrella as it was still raining hard. Once done I picked my rod up only to discover that when laying it down some line had got caught up in a tree. I did sort it out but the result was that I found my terminal tackle was so knotted that I would have to set up again! After I cut the line and was ready to start again I pulled the line to get some off the spool. The line did not come off easily and the rod bent round so much that it snapped making it three breaks in three years! I investigated and found that the line had snagged around one of the several logs on the bank.

As I set up my spare rod I began to suspect that today wasn't going to be my day.

I was still somewhat upset when I finally made my first cast of the day at 8:30! I started with corn on the hook as I wanted to avoid the very small fish that I knew would almost certainly take a maggot.

Almost immediately the float went under and I was into a fish however I missed it. Buoyed by the fact that something took the corn I tried again. This time I was successful and in came a roach of about 3 ounces. This was quickly followed by another.

With the rain still coming down heavily the swim then died. For the rest of the morning I persevered with the corn but was totally unsuccessful. As a confidence booster before I had my lunch I went on single maggot and caught 5 rudd, 2 roach a little perch.

After lunch the rain stopped being persistent and went into sporadic mode. I have to say it still felt chilly except on the few occasions when the sun came out.

The afternoon session followed the same pattern as the morning one. The going was very dire. There was no sign of any decent fish activity in my swim. Elsewhere on the lake I could see fishing jumping.

I carried on with the bigger baits, corn, bread and meat but apart from the occasional tickle from smaller fish nothing showed.

By four in the afternoon Keith had called it a day and left to watch the football. I decided to have another dabble with the maggots and 'pulled' in another five minutae roach and rudd before I too called it a day at 18:00.

I will go back but only if Botany bay is free.

Wildlife Update:

During the afternoon I heard a rustle at my feet and looked down to see a mouse run up to my corn and with two paws on the edge of the box lean over and make off with a piece. A few minutes later he came back and did the same with the strawberry flavoured variety. He repeated this several times before in fear that would have none left if it continued I complained and he disappearred! Absolutely amazing episode.

2012 15 June 23rd Broxham Pond, Edenbridge

I decided today to yet again tackle my nemesis which is the club's Broxham Pond in Edenbridge.

Currently my record stands at 2 visits, 3 bites and 1 fish, albeit an eight pound common.

The aforementioned carp was taken on a 10mm strawberry boillie in the channel between the headland and the far bank.

My plan today was to fish from 15:00 to around 20:00 using just my carp gear.

The sun was shining as I set off at around 2pm for the pond. If there were other anglers present I planned to go to either Chittenden or Nursery Fields.

I didn't have to put this plan into action as the car park was empty and there were no cars parked up at the pond. I let myself in and then made my way up the field to the pond.

Having unloaded the car and made my way to the swim I set up both rods. Both of them used 6lb main line to a size 14 hook with a 5lb hook length. On the rod which I was going to fish the channel I put on 10mm Monster Crab boilie and on the one in open water I put on a 15mm Pineapple Frenzy one. Next I threw in some free offerings before setting up my chair and landing net etc. I made my first cast around 15:30.

The first hour passed without incident. I reeled in both rods to check the bait and then re-cast. The wind began to get stronger as evident by the waves that began to appear. The buzzer on the rod in the channel kept blipping but I put this down to the wind.

Around 5:30 another EBAS member turned up for a look and a chat. He told me of the days when this pond was full of fish! I must say his visit did break up the monotony.

Time passed. The afternoon turned into the evening. The buzzers remained silent. I could see no movement on the surface depicting fish activity. I feared the worse.

As the evening wore on my supplies of sweets and tea began to dwindle. The wind was now strong enough for me to begin to get cold. Yes this is still June.

Finally I had to admit that it wasn't going to happen today. They (if they do exist) had beaten me again.

I packed up, loaded the car and drove home arriving just in time to see France surrender to Spain.

Wildlife Update:

As I made my way across the field I counted 5 rabbits as I came in and a dozen on my out! How many actually live there is anyone's guess.

2012 14 June 15th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was going to be my second visit of the summer season to the club’s Nursery Fields lake.

I was up bright and early and out of the house by 5:30. There was moisture in the air but not really any rain as I made way from Shirley to Edenbridge.

I arrived at the fishery around 6am to find the car park empty. This meant I had the choice of any swim I fancied. I loaded up the trolley and headed out. On my last visit I had fished the swim at the very top of the lake so this time I chose the other end. Most of the swims have lily pads to fish to on the near bank and it was one of these (peg 7) that I selected for the day.

I set up a waggler rod with a 3bb float, 5lb main line to a size 16 hook with a 4lb hook length. The feeder rod I set up with a small cage feeder, 6lb main line to a size 14 hook length.

I fed the float rod swim heavily with a mixture of ground bait, hemp, maggots, meat and corn. On the hook I decided to start with homemade strawberry flavoured sweet corn.

It was about 7am when I made my first cast. I was still the only one on the lake.

The first hour on the float rod was a bit slow. All that was interested in the corn was a solitary skimmer bream. On the other hand the feeder rod got off to a flyer. One bream, one tench and a 4lb common carp all fell to a 10mm strawberry boillie.

On the hour I topped up the swim with another ball of groundbait and some hemp, a pattern I repeated though out the day.

During the second hour the feeder swim went quiet however the float swim sprang into life. Eight bream (one of which was a proper one) and a tench all came into the net. I began to suspect that I could be in for a good day.

By 10am another angler arrived. As he passed me we had a small chat about recent visits etc before he disappeared up the lake. I never saw him again!

By 10am the corn was still working well, 2 bream, a tench and my first barbel (albeit a 5inch long specimen) made the net. I also had one more tench on the feeder rod.

The swim was now really alive. During the next hour I had five more of the small barbel as well as the first showing of roach (4), rudd (1) and the might gudgeon (1). The feeder rod had gone really quiet though.

As lunchtime loomed the swim was still producing. I was really enjoying myself (and so far the rain had kept away). Five barbel, 4 tench, 2 more bream and a rudd made the virtual net. I was still using the strawberry corn.

I had my lunch, small Cornish pasties and some cocktail sausages plus a very well earned cup of tea before resuming the fishing. The swim yielded just 2 barbel, 1 roach and a bream in this period however the feeder rod came back to life with 3 tench.

By the end of the lunch period (2pm) the swim was still going strong, 3 barbel, 1 tench, 2 roach and another rudd were added to the total. The feeder rod also produced a tench.

The afternoon session saw ot let up in the productivity of the swim. By 15:20 I’d added 8 barbel, 3 roach, 3 rudd and 3 more bream to the overall total. The feeder rod was going through another of its quiet periods.

As the afternoon started to make way to the evening I switched hook bait from corn to meat. This decision was rewarded by a further 3 barbel, a tench and a 5lb common carp. Two of the barbel came in at around the 2lb mark. The feeder rod also chipped in with a solitary tench.

 At 16:00 the heavens opened and the rain arrived. It was so heavy that I had to bring the rods in and just sit it out. Luckily for me it only lasted for half an hour or so.

The final part of the session followed the same pattern. Five barbell, one of 2lb, a tench and 3 bream one of which was about 1.5lb. The final two fish of the day came on the feeder rod and they were again tench.

The session came to end when I went shallow and had a look close to the bank with a piece of meat. The float shot under straight away and into the lillies the fish went. I exerted as much pressure as I could before the line broke and the float ended up in a tree.

The main reason I packed up when I did though was because I had to get home to watch the England game.

In conclusion I think I had a fantastic day. Eighty nine fish in one day is a very good total for me. I can’t wait to get back there.

2012 13 June ?? Christmas Mill, Edenbridge, Kent

This season I'd made a conscious decision to fish EBAS's other waters rather than stay on the safe Nursery Fields and Chittenden paths.

Taking that in mind I decided to have a go at the club's Christmas Mill pond.

The lake isn't accessible until 7am so there was no need to leave home at the crack of dawn. The previous evening I'd used GOOGLE MAPS to show me where it was and so when I left at 6:30 I was confident I knew where I was going.

I found the lane easy enough and made my way down until I reached the small car park. I unloaded the car but before I made my way to the lake I thought I would walk through the woods till I found the swims (there are only 5). I followed the path into the woods and after about 50 yards I saw the lake. The woods were quite thick and went right to the waters edge making fishing impossible. I carried on following the path and finally made it to a small cutting containing a park bench. On the bench it said 'Botany Bay'. It was as good a place to start as any so I went back to the car for my gear.

The swim looked very fishy, about two rod lengths out there was a set of lily pads. Strangely they weren't very thick. I decided to fish right in front of them. I left the feeder rod in its case today as I wanted to learn the water first.

I mixed up a bowl of ground bait and left it to settle while I set up the float rod. The weather was warm and still so I decided to use a 2bb waggler. I had no idea what if anything I would encounter so went for a size 18 hook with the idea of starting with single maggot.

I made my first cast at 8:00am. The first hour was quite slow. I didn't panic though as I believed that the feed would draw any fish in. I was right, after 30 minutes the float moved to the side but I couldn't hook the fish. This happened several more times before I finally landed one. It turned out to be a roach of about an ounce. By 9:00am I'd added another.

Every hour I fed the swim with another ball of ground bait and some loose maggots. After the first hour I dotted the float down a bit lower. This worked as I managed to catch another 13 roach in the next hour.

None of the roach were of any great size so I made a conscious decision to start loose feeding larger baits with the intention of trying it on the hook later on in the day.

So now I was fishing with single maggot on the hook and feeding with corn every cast I landed a fish. By 11am I had caught another 8 roach and a solitary perch.

Leading up to lunchtime I kept doing the same thing as regards feed. I wanted to wait for the better fish to arrive so I resisted the urge to go on the corn too early. Another 12 roach were added to the net in this time.

The next hour followed the same pattern as the previous one, the only difference being that I only caught a further 10 roach.

After lunch I gave the corn a try, apart from the occasional knock from a small fish the going was slow. I was rewarded with a roach which was bigger than what I had been getting.

Around 2pm I experimented with a small cube of meat. After a few minutes the float dipped and I struck. Immediately I felt some non roach resistance and then the fish started to slowly move away. I was just getting prepared for a fight when the hook was spat and the fish was gone. I assume it was a bream by the way it reacted.

Of the next 10 roach caught five of them came on corn and five on maggot. I went back on maggot after I lost another fish which bolted into the lilies. This one spat the hook as well. This one was either a carp or a tench certainly not a bream.

As the afternoon began to break into early evening my plan seemed to be coming together as I lost 3 more good fish. One broken hook length and two more that spat the hook. One of them was a bream as it reacted in the same way as the first.

By the time I packed up at 18:45 I'd added another 14 roach to the total making a grand total of 82. All bar one were roach.
In conclusion I really enjoyed the day. It was back to real fishing. Turning up at the bankside not really knowing what to expect is what it is all about. The setting was fabulous. There is no doubt that I will be back in the near future.