2016 16 June 24th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today I was going to head back to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields. I was on a high after the last session at Chittendon when I caught 100 lb of fish.

I decided to have an afternoon and evening session rather than the more traditional all day one which tended, thanks to age and the heat, to end around 17:00. Today if all was going well I could last until 20:00.

And so it was about 12:50 when I pulled into a relatively empty car park on this quite warm summer afternoon.

I unloaded the car and quickly made my way round to the back of the lake to see what swims were available today.

After I selected my swim I set up my usual two rods. This usually takes about an hour from arrival time and so it was about 13:50 when I made my first casts. Initially I went with meat on the waggler rod and Tangerine Dream boillies on the feeder rod.

The first species to show up was tench, a couiple of them made the virtual net in the first hour.

The next hour was slow, just the one tench on meat. However, there was some action on the feeder rod. The problem was I lost it. I saw it was a carp but I suppose that's the way it goes sometimes.

At 16:16 the feeder rod went off again and I knew I was into another carp. Here was a chance to redeem myself! I knew it wasn't large and this was confirmed when it slid into the landing net. I estimated it to be about 3 lb.

Thirty minutes later I lost another carp on the feeder rod. How frustrating. I did manage another small tench on meat from the waggler swim though.

I had to wait until 17.39 before the action resumed. Again it was on the feeder rod and again it wasn't a monster but I did get it in. A whopping 2 lb of carp.

Five minutes later another meat loving tench made the net from underneath the waggler.

Just after releasing the tench the feeder rod went off again and I was into another carp. No monster this one either. I estimated it to be about 2 lb.

At 18:00 I decided to fish the waggler really close in. There was no interest at first, and then after 15 minutes or so the float shot under and I was into a barbel. Not a massive one but a barbel all the same.

My last fish of the session came at 19:00 and was another small barbel with a lucheon meat habit.

So that was it, not a bad session but not as good as I was expecting.

2016 15 June 10th Chittenden, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my first visit of the club's new season to it's carp fishery at Chittenden, just outside of Edenbridge.

I was up and out of the house quite early by my standards. This enabled me to arrive at the fishery around 6.25. I was one of the first there.

I loaded the trolley and headed off to the dam end of the lake where my favourite waggler swim was situated.

It was going to be a two rod attack today, a waggler close to the reeds and a small leger by the overhanging tree in the next swim up.

Waggler Swim

Feeder Swim

I was set up and ready to make my first casts by 7.25.

The feeder rod was the first to spring into action unfortunately I managed to lose it after a bit of a struggle. Perhaps I wasn't warmed up yet?

At 8.19 I caught my first carp of the day. It was tempted by a piece of corn on the waggler rod. I estimated it was about 5 lb. Lovely. I also managed a skimmer bream to make my total for the first hour two!

The next hour was a mirror image of the first, a small skimmer and a 5 lb 10 oz carp both on the corn. I had tried meat during the hour and had managed to lose another carp on it.

By 10:43 the swim had really come alive. First a carp of 3 lb 10 oz on meat. That was followed by a carp of 7 lb 3 oz on the feeder rod which had a tangerine dream boillie on it. The waggler rod then chipped in with the biggest fish of the day so far (8 lb 15 oz) on meat. I also managed to lose another one on the feeder rod. Two more bream also made the virtual net.

The next hour yielded three more carp, 2 on the waggler (6 lb 10 oz and 9 lb 12 oz) and a 4 lb 7 oz one on the feeder rod. This brought up the dozen for the day.

The two hour lunch period was quiet. All the action came on the wggler rod. A carp of 6 lb 7 oz on corn started the ball rolling and three bream on a mixture of meat and corn followed suit.

By mid afternoon the pace had slowed again. Just the one carp made the net. This one came in at 4 lb 13 oz and was caught on corn.

By 15:50 my day's total had risen to 18 with a carp of 6 lb 1 oz which fell to a nice cube of meat.

Half an hour later I'd bagged another carp on meat of 8 lb 5 oz. My total weight for the day was rising to a respectable height.

Fifteen minutes later, again on meat, another carp made the net. This was a  3 lb 7 oz specimen.

Three quarters of an hour later and I was in again. This one was 7 lb 14 oz and the bait was again meat.

Twenty minutes later and I was in again, Another 7 lb 2 oz specimen with a liking for meat. The day's weight tally was getting higher.

Forty Five minutes later (18.23) and I was in again, this time the carp weighed 4 lb 4 oz and again fell to a cube of luncheon meat.

My last fish of the day came in at 18:45 and was a tad smaller at 4 lb 1 oz.

So 24 fish caught in a day the majority of them carp. I couldn't complain about that. The bonus was that allowing for the bream I caught over 100 lb of fish! Only the second time I've ever done that.

2016 14 June 5th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today I intended to open the club's new season with a trip to the mixed fishery at Nursery Fields.

I was up and out of the house early enough to arrive at the fishery around 7:15.

Having unloaded the car and loaded the trolley I departed the car park and began to make my way round to the far side of the lake. The weather, for a change, was very sunny and warm. Confidence was high.

This was the waggler swim.

This was the feeder swim.

I had set up both rods and fed each swim by 8:15 which was when I made my first casts.

There was no immediate action. I had to wait until 10 am before the feeder rod went off and I was into, I was sure, one of the lake's carp. Alas today was not going to be my day as I eventually lost it in the nearby reeds.

My first fish actually was a roach caught at 13:30 on a small piece of meat. What a slow day. Not what I was expecting that is for sure.

I only had to wait another hour before the buzzer on the feeder rod went off, This time I managed to land the beast. When I weighed it I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a double, 10 lb 10 oz!

Twenty minutes later and I'd bagged a crucian on a piece of corn. I was on a roll!

An hour later and the corn had succeeded again, the victim this time was a nice bream.

At 16:23 the feeder rod's alarm went off again, unfortunately for me the carp, like it's brother earlier in the day, also got the better of me. I was choked.

At 16:00 hours I decided to fish close in with a piece of meat as bait and was rewarded 45 minutes later with a small barbel.

Unfortunately that was it for the day, five fish. Not the session I was hoping for.

2016 13 May 27th Swallow Lake, Gabriel's Farm, Edenbridge

Today was going to be my second visit of the season to this pond on the Gabriel's Farm complex just on the outskirts of Edenbridge in Kent.

I was out of the house and on the road in good time to ensure that I arrived at the fishery dead on opening time at 7 am.

I was all set up and ready to make my first cast at 7:50. The swim had been fed with a generous helping of groundbait and miscellaneous loose feed.

I started off on pellets as this was quite successful last time. After an hour I'd bagged four of the pond's small carp.

Another seven followed in the next hour making my total for the day eleven. A promising start to the session.

Seven more in the next hour and the total was now 18! Could I be on for one of those red letter sessions? Time would be the judge of that.

It was was now a few minutes before noon and the virtual net stood at 24. The pellets and method of loose feeding seemed to be keeping the fish interested.

Alas the next hour only yielded another two. It was a time for a change of tactics as perhaps the fish had wised up to the pellets.

The fish came back slightly after I changed to corn. Four of them to be exact. My total at 14:00 was thirty for the day. Not bad but less than I'd hoped for.

By 15:00 the corn had produced another four. Consistent if nothing else!

By the time I packed up at 16:30 I 'd swopped to meat and added a further nine carp to the net. This made my total for the day 43. Not too bad.

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.