2018 9 April 16th, Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today, I was going to pay another visit to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields, near Edenbridge in Kent. After the good session I had last time there I was filled with a good feeling of optimism.

It was just after 8am when I arrived at the fishery. There was one or two cars in the car park so that meant I was going to get an almost free choice of swims.

I unloaded the car and set off on the trek up the lake to the top swim. I like this swim as it is the shortest distance from the bank to the island.

I intended to fish the float line about 3/4 of the way across to the island and the leger rod about as close as I could get to the corner of the island.

I was ready to make my first casts at 9:30.

I started on double maggot and this proved a wise decision as the swim got off to a flyer. Fourteen fish comprising 2 Ide, 1 Crucian Carp, 1 Gudgeon and ten Roach made the virtual net. Not to be left out the feeder swim chipped in with a nice Tench.

As I felt I was on a roll I decided to switch to corn for the next hour. Alas, not much of a success. Only one of the lakes' Bream made it to the net. The feeder rod gave up an Ide and my first Barbel of the year.

I don't know why but I decided to stay on the corn for another hour. What a difference. 3 Ide, a Bream, 3 Crucian Carp and 2 Roach made the net. My total for day was now 27.

The next hour was the best of the session not because of the Ide, Roach and Bream that I caught but for the Crucian Carp which weighed in at 2lb 3oz, a personal best!

The next hour reverted to the day's  norm, one each of Roach, Crucian Carp and Rudd and a couple of Ide from the float swim. The feeder rod supplied a Tench and a small Carp. Total for the day now stood at 39.

By now it was 15:40 and the net's total stood at 43, having just added a Roach, Crucian Carp, an Ide and a Barbel to it.

An hour and twenty minutes later the net was bulging with 58 fish! Three Tench were from the feeder rod. The rest, consisting of, a Tench, 2 Crucians, an Ide, a Bream, 2 Roach and five Rudd were from the float swim. The corn was working well today.

I'd been feeding the margin to the right of me all day with one or two pieces of corn. At 17:00 I reeled in the feeder rod and shortened up the depth of the float rig and had a look down the side. Over the next half hour or so I caught 2 Ide, a Tench, a Crucian and a carp of about 5.5 pounds.

I decided after the catching the carp to call it a day. The net was bulging with 63 fish, one of which was a personal best, so I went home a happy man.

2018 8 April 12th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was going to be another one of my visit's to the club's carp lake at Chittenden near Edenbridge in Kent.

I arrived at the fishery about 7:45 to find the car park empty. As is the norm I loaded up the trolley and headed down the lake to my favourite swim.

As it was still spring, some would say still winter, my attack on the float line would be predominately maggots today. It would be small 10mm boillies on the feeder rod as usual.

As I was setting up I generously fed both swims with maggots, hemp and boillies and pellets respectively.

I was ready to make my casts at 8:45.

The lake's bream were quick to latch onto the maggots with five of them making the virtual net by 9:45.

For the next hour I decided to have a dabble on the corn. This was a complete failure as by 11:10 I'd caught precisely nothing.

In the last hour of the morning session the fish suddenly went mad for the cord. Seven bream and a carp of around 3lb made the virtual net.

Another hour passed with no action on either rod. The feeder hadn't moved all morning which was unusual.

By the time the clock had ticked over to 14:30, the float line had gone mad. I caught another bream, lost and caught two carp. The first was 8lb 12 and second a tad bigger at 8lb 15.

By the time I packed up at 17:45 my total for the day was 21 as I managed to add a further 7 fish to the net. Some were carp however they were not as big as the ones above.

2018 7 April 9th, Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today I decided to pay another visit to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields near Edenbridge in Kent.

As I parked the car in the empty car park I made up my mind to give peg 13 another bash as I'd been fairly successful last time there.

I loaded up the trolley and headed off up the lake, around the top and down to peg 13. A fair old trek.

It was the usual two rod attack today, one float rod and a feeder rod. The float line would be straight ahead of me about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way across. The feeder line would be just passed the lily pads on my left.

As I was setting up I fed the float line swim with maggots and hemp, hoping that the fish would gain some confidence before I started fishing.

I did the same with the feeder line except that it was pellets and small boillies that I fed.

I was set up and ready to make my first casts at 9:10. I then settled back into my chair to wait hopefully for the action to begin.

And begin it did. The float line on double maggot delivered 16 roach and rudd and the feeder rod gave up one of the lake's hard fighting tench. Great start.

I stayed on double maggot for the next hour and the result was 3 crucian carp, 1 ide and seven more roach and rudd. Twenty eight fish already, can't be bad.

As I'd been feeding corn on top of the maggots all morning I decided the time was right to switch to corn on the corn. As expected the fishing slowed however I stilled managed 1 crucian carp and four more roach and rudd.

It was the next hour that the corn really kicked in, 2 Gudgeon (!), 1 Bream and 12 more roach and rudd. The feeder rod chipped in with a crucian carp. The time was 13:45 and the total form the day stood at 49.

The next hour was a bit slower for the float line. It only produced four fish, 4 roach and rudd. The feeder chipped in though with a bream and a barbel.

By 16:01 the float line had gone mad for the corn and produced, 2 Bream, Ide and 5 Crucian Carp.

The end of my day came at 18:30. The feeder's last contribution was a Bream and a Tench. The float rod's was a Bream, an Ide, a Rudd and some more Crucian Carp. My total for the day was 72 very satisfactory.

2018 6 April 3rd Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

Today was going to be my first visit of the year to the club's carp water at Chittenden near Edenbridge in Kent.

It was about 8:10 when I arrived at the fishery. The car park was empty so I had a choice of swims. As this was my first visit of the year I decided to load up the trolley and head off down to the dam end of the lake where my favourite swim was.

As I got to the bank I saw that the water level was very high and that the water was extremely coloured. Having seen the same at Boulthurst Farm a few weeks back I feared the worst.

When I arrived at my swim I was taken aback by some of the alterations that had been done. Nearly all the bank side trees had been cut down including the overhanging one that I used to fish under. Also a lot of the vegetation behind me had been removed. On the plus side the new boarding around the swims was much better than the old slippery platforms.

It was the usual two rod attack today, the feeder and my Shimano float rod replacing my match rod as there are some big ones in here!

I was set up and ready to make my first casts at 9:10.

On the waggler rod I started with a size 18 hook with 2 maggots. I fed two or three maggots every subsequent cast to ensure a trickle of feed went into the swim. A the end of the first hour the only occupants of the virtual net were 3 skimmer bream.

Another hour passed with only two more bream making the net. I did see one or two carp jumping in the distance so that raised my spirits somewhat.

The next hour and the bream kept coming although this time they were joined by a solitary roach.

Between 12 and 1pm I decided to switch hook baits from maggot to corn. Nothing showed any interest at all.

I was back on the maggots for the next hour. Seemed to work as three roach and two bream made the net. The feeder rod was silent.

I tried corn again for the next hour but once more the landing net remained dry.

From 15:10 to 17:15 when I packed up the waggler rod produced just one more roach however the feeder rod's buzzer sounded for the only time of the day. The result was a carp of 3lb or so.

I finished the day on 14 fish, a bit disappointing but that's life.

2018 5 March 27th, Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today was my third visit of the year to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields, near Edenbridge in Kent.

It was pouring with rain as I made my way to the fishery as shown by the fact it took me an hour instead of the usual 35 minutes.

When I did arrive I went to the entrance gate and found it open. It wasn't the previous angler's fault but some yobs who'd broke in using bolt cutters to cut through the padlock.

The good news was that as I arrived the rain decided to depart.

There was one other car in the car park and I could see the angler on the far bank which meant that my intended swim for the day was vacant.

The usual Nursery Fields attack today, one waggler rod and a feeder rod with a small leger and 10mm boillie fished close to the island.

I was set up and ready to make my cast at 9:40 having fed both swims with a generous helping of free offerings.

As expected the first visitors to the dining table was a shoal of small roach. I managed to nab five of them in the first hour. A pleasant surprise in the first hour was the sound of the bite alarm going off. It turned out to be a bream of about 1.5lb.

An hour later the virtual net was almost full (!) with the following: 2 tench which were around 2lb, 1 Ide, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon and 2 more roach. The feeder rod had also chipped in with a couple of the good sized tench.

Over the lunchtime period the fishing slowed somewhat however this could have been down to my decision to swop baits from maggot to corn. Anyway another four fish came in, 2 roach and 2 of the lake's crucians. Total for the day now stood at 19.

I was still on the corn at 2pm. The weather could almost be called warm, I'd even taken my coat off. Another tench and Ide were in the net.

By 15:35 three more fish with a liking for corn had made the net. Two roach and another crucian. Also the feeder rod's bite alarm had gone berserk and I was into a good one. It seemed like it took me forever to land but eventually I did. When I put it on the scales it registered as my first double of the season (11lb).

By the time I packed up at 17:45 four more fish had made the net. From the waggler came a Roach, Tench and a Bream. The final fish from the feeder rod was also a Tench.

Just before I packed I packed up I tried down the margin with a piece of corn. I'd been feeding it with one or two pieces all day. Five minutes in and the float disappeared. After a titanic struggle the fish won and cleared off. It was either a massive Tench or more likely another good carp. Unfortunately I never got to see it.

2018 4 March 22nd, Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today was my second visit of the season to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields near Edenbridge in Kent.

It had warmed up somewhat in the last couple of days after the latest (and hopefully last) cold snap of the winter so I was hopeful of a good day.

It was about 8:20 when I arrived at the fishery. The car park was packed, well seven cars and that counts as packed by my standards. As I was heading off to the far bank today so I wasn't too bothered about not getting a swim.

I unloaded the car and made my way to peg 13 on the back stretch.

Two rod attack, a leger placed on the far side of the lily pads and a waggler rod fished between half and three-quarters of the way across to the island.

Waggler swim - a dark and dreary day.

Feeder swim:

I fed the swim with maggots every few minutes while I was setting up which I thought would give the fish confidence to feed before I actually cast in.

It was 9:40 when I made my first casts. Now it was time to sit back and wait for the action to start.

It was only a few minutes before the float disappeared and I was into my first fish. It turned out to be one of the lake's skimmer bream. This was quickly followed by two nice sized Ide. This made my total for the first hour, three.

The next hour was a real bumper one for me, 1 bream, 2 roach and 2 more of the Ide. My total for the day was now 8.

Much the same for the next hour except that it was totally dominated by roach, four of them to be exact.

The next hour brought me a shoal of roach and rudd. Fifteen of them consisting of 10 roach and 5 rudd some of which were caught on corn. My total for the day had now risen to 27.

Just as quickly as they arrived they disappeared as evidenced by the fact that I only caught one roach in the next hour and three more Ide.

One of the Ide:

By 17:50 when I decided to pack up for the day, another seven fish had made the net, all of them Ide.
My total for the day and one that I was pleased with was 38.

The feeder rod, with the exception of a few line bites, never moved an inch all day.

2018 3 March 14th Boulthurst Farm, Holland, Surrey

Today I thought I would pay my first visit of the year to Holland A. S. small carp pond on Boulthurst farm near Oxted in Surrey.

It was about 8:15 when I arrived at the pond. As it was March 14th, the last day the pond was open I found it strange that the car park was empty.

There are only 4 swims on the pond so before deciding which swim I was going to fish I went down and had a look around. The first thing that struck me was that the water was very brown, not it's usual colour at all. I put this down to the amount of rain we'd had the previous few weeks. I wondered if it would affect the fishing.

I settled on the swim on the far right. It was just the one rod today so I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 8:40.

For today I decided that as the pond contained mainly carp to about 7lb I would try the following set up. My rod was a Shimano float rod designed for commercial carp fisheries, a reel with 6lb main line and a large waggler. For hook bait I was going to use 10mm boillies. I intended to fish a line about 3 rod lengths out.

I knew today was going to be a waiting game so I wasn't surprised when there was no immediate action. There was a lot of wind blowing across the pond so I had to change the float several times before I found one that I could easily see the tip of.

Thirty minutes after I'd settled down the float went under and I was into a fish. Unfortunately the hook came out of it's mouth and it was gone. Still it gave me confidence that my method was working.

It was back to the waiting game again. At 10:17 I got the bite I'd been waiting for. It didn't feel too big as it never really fought much however when I weighted it the scales read 8lb 2 oz! Success.

I continued to feed the swim with pellets and boillies throughout the day but by 15:00 in the afternoon there was no further action.

During the afternoon I spotted this fellow on the far bank.

I'd seen activity in the swim all day but assumed they were some of the pond's roach. For the last few hours I decided to switch to 2 pieces of corn as the bait.

I was right about the roach, by 16:30 when I packed up I'd caught 6 of them, all in the 3 to 4 ounce range.