2020 1 May 20th Nursery Fields, Edenbridge, Kent

Thanks to the virus, today, was going to be my first fishing trip of the season. Traditionally, my first outing is designed to get rid of the cobwebs, therefore I decided to go to the club’s mixed fishery at Nursery Fields near Edenbridge.

As this was only the third day since the water opened, I decided that an early start would be the wise thing to do. The alarm went off at 4:20. Just before 5am the car was loaded, and I was on my way to Edenbridge.

When I arrived around 5:40 there were 5 cars already in the car park. My plan for the day seemed to be working.

With the trolly packed, I headed off to the top of the lake which is the home of my favourite swim. There was a slight mist coming off the water. I passed 4 or 5 carp anglers before I arrived at my vacant swim of choice.

Set up today was 1 rod, my 12’ match rod, 4lb main line, and similar sized hook lengths. I intended to start the session on a size 18 hook.

For bait I had brought, sweetcorn, meat, and an assortment of pellets.

First task was to mix the ground bait so that it could sit for a bit while I set up. Halfway through setting up I fed the swim with three or four balls.

I was ready to make my first cast at 6:47. My starting bait was sweetcorn.

If the swim behaved as normal, I was expecting the first action to be with the lake’s small roach. Today, it was not the case, the float disappeared and as soon as I struck the rod bent round and the fish was off to the right. My luck was out as a few seconds later the line slackened, and it was gone. The hook had come out.

I recast and ten minutes or so later the float dived under again. This was not a small roach. The fish shot down the lake, unfortunately across the next angler’s two lines. As I began to turn it the hook length broke and the carp escaped. Strangely, I felt good as I took this to be an omen for the rest of the day.

I went round to the other angler and apologised for running over his lines. Thankfully, he was fine about it.

The swim then went quiet. There were no tell-tale signs of any fish, large or small, which I found strange. Around 9:30, I did manage to catch my first fish of the season, a 4 oz roach.

An hour later a bream had been added to the virtual net. I began to suspect that the extremely hot weather was affecting the feeding habits of the fish.

I had to change my tactics on the grounds that I had nothing to lose. So, it was out with the corn and in with the meat. Almost straight away the float disappeared, and I was into a nice fish. This turned out to be a tench of 2lb 15oz.

The hour from 11:49 to 12:49 proved to be my most productive of the day. I had been feeding the margin swim to my left for most of the morning. I decided to have a quick look to see if anything was there. I was in luck, there was at least, 1 tench, and an ide. The main swim produced 2 ide, all caught on meat.

By 13:50, the virtual net had increased by two more tench, one of them tipping the scales at 2lb 14oz. The afternoon was now extremely hot, and I began to think that if the fish were truly going to come on the feed it would now be in the late afternoon.

The next hour only produced one ide and the sun was really doing me in! How I wished I had remembered the sunscreen!

Due to the light on the water, I changed my float, which had a sensitive tip, to one that had a thicker tip so that I could see it a lot better. This change seemed to work as another ide and bream made the virtual net in the next hour.

Just before 5pm, I caught my last one, another ide with a liking for meat. 

I tried the margin swim again, but with no success, until 18:20 when I decided to call it a day. 

In conclusion, it was my first trip of the year and I had caught 13 fish. None of them were tiddlers but then none were giants either. I had been out in the fresh air, as evidenced by my current impression of a lobster. I had enjoyed myself and that is all that matters at the end of the day.

2018 17 June 13th, Coulden's Farm, Edenbridge

Today I decided to switch from EBAS waters to somewhere I hadn't been before. I chose Coulden's Farm on the outskirts of Edenbridge.

I had never been to the venue and wasn't all that sure where it was, so I decided to use the car's satnav. The fishery was found very easily and that's when it started to go wrong!

I had checked the opening time on the website and had arrived about 5 minutes after the published time. The gates were locked and there wasn't another soul in sight!

Luckily for me there was a phone number on the notice board. I gave it a ring and the owner told me the combination so that I could let myself in.

Obviously as the first one in I had the opportunity to walk around the pond to determine the most fishy looking swims. I decided to fish against the only set of lily pads in the pond.

All was going well until I plumbed the depth. The pond was very shallow and so I would have to fish at the top of lily pads not down the side as I intended. The depth was 2 foot.

It was just the one rod today as two on an unknown water might have proved too difficult. I was set up and ready to make my first cast at 7:10.

for bait and terminal tackle I had a waggler set up to a size 16 hook on 4lb hook length which was big enough to take a grain of corn.

The first hour was a bit of a disappointment, as although I was getting bites, I couldn't connect with any of them.

By 9:40 I'd actually caught two rudd and lost a carp which, although disappointing, gave me hope.

For the next hour I alternated between corn and meat. The fish were still there as I caught another four however they were all rudd.

At 11am the owner came round and advised me to up the size of my hook as he felt a size 16 was too small to hook the fish. I changed to a 14 and by 12:40 I'd added another 4 to the net, 2 rudd and my first two small carp of the day.

Between 12:40 and 14:00 my total for the day rose from 10 to 21. The bad news was that the fish were all rudd. I couldn't seem to get the pond's other inhabitants.

Fifty minutes later and another five rudd had made the virtual net. I was beginning to get a bit frustrated.

Three more rudd came into the net over the next hour. It looked like that was it for the day unless the early evening brought a change.

Alas, that was a bit of pie in the sky as by the time I packed up the net had reached 34 fish with the inclusion of 4 more rudd and a solitary carp.

The owner had left about an hour before. Prior to leaving he'd left me instructions on how to lock up!

2018 16 June 6th, Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

Today, I decided to make a return visit to the club's mixed fishery at Nursery Fields on the outskirts of Edenbridge in Kent.

It was just before 7am when I arrived at what was, a fairly well populated car park. I wasn't too bothered as the lake is large enough to accommodate far more anglers than I've ever seen up there.

I unloaded car and made my way round the lake looking for a swim that best suited my style (hit and hope!).

It was going to be my usual two rod attack today and so it wasn't until 7:50, after I'd set up and fed both swims, that I was ready to make my first casts.

It was a great start to the session as the waggler rod produced a tench, a bream and a roach while the leger rod produced two hard fighting tench.

An hour passed and the virtual net now contained 10 fish. The original five were joined by 2 tench, a bream and two small roach.

By 11am the net bulged with 14 fish with the addition of a bream, two roach and a crucian carp weighing 2lb!

The hour before lunch, brought the session's first ide, another bream and two roach. Total for the day, just before I stopped for lunch, was 18, not bad at all.

The hour after lunch was pretty slow. Only an ide and yet another small roach made the net.

The following hour was just as slow as the waggler line only produced a solitary crucian. The leger line did chip in with another tench.

By mid-afternoon (15:00) the day's total had crept up to 26 with the addition of a gudgeon, two ide, a bream weighing 3lb 6oz and yet another small roach.

The roach took over the next hour with four of them making the net accompanied by 2 ide. The leger rod also made a contribution, another tench.

The last two hours were special for me in that I broke my bream pb twice in 20 minutes! The first came in at 6lb 2oz, the second at 6lb 3oz! They were joined in the net by the only tench caught on the waggler that day and the only ide caught on the leger line.

I packed up at 18:00 a very contented man. A personal best bream and a 2lb crucian in one session how could anyone not be.

2018 15 May 30th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

Today I decided to pay a visit to the club's carp lake at Chittenden on the outskirts of Edenbridge in Kent.

I arrived at the fishery around 7am to find a few anglers already present there. I unloaded the car and made my way down to the dam end of the lake.

I went back to my usual two rod attack policy today. One waggler line fished to my left and one small leger on the feeder rod fished to my right.

I was set up and ready to make my first casts by 8am. For bait, I started with meat on the waggler and 10mm strawberry boillies on the leger.

As the first hour drew to a close I was a happy little bunny. The net contained three good bream with a liking for meat and a seven pound carp with a taste for strawberries.

For the next hour I switched from meat to corn and was rewarded with three more bream. The leger line was quiet.

The next hour I switched back to meat. This proved to be a disastrous decision as I caught absolutely nothing.

I switched back to corn and caught nothing on that either. It was now noon and the net bulged with seven fish.

I switched back to meat and my luck changed as I pulled in a carp of around 8lb and another bream.

Corn was the order of the day for the next hour which did produce another bream but overall the fishing was still slow.

I decided to stay on corn for the next hour and was rewarded with two carp, one of 3lb and one of 8.5lb.

At 16:00 when I decided to pack up, the virtual net had increased with the addition of another bream. My total for the day was 14.

Not one of my better days but it's all part of the learning curve as they say.

2018 14 May 24th, Swallow Lake, Gabriels Farm, Edenbridge

Today, I decided to pay another visit to Gabriel's Farm on the outskirts of Edenbridge.

Lake choice today was going to be Swallow as I fancied landing a haul of the lake's fighting small carp. Great fun on light tackle.

I arrived at the fishery bang on opening time at 7am.

I drove down the track to the car park nearest to Swallow lake. On arrival, as expected, I found it empty which meant that I had my choice of swims.

The lake is quite small with two or three islands in it. I decided to fish towards the biggest island where the channel was the largest.

As per the rules I was only going to use one rod today. I was, therefore, set up and ready to make my first cast at 8:10.

For bait I intended to use nothing except pellets. I had found this approach to be very successful in the past.

I was into the small carp straight away although the start was slower than previous visits. I would have expected about ten however I only got five.

Surprisingly the next hour was even slower. Only two carp made the virtual net. I could tell there were fish about so it was obviously me that was the problem.

To that end I decided to change the size of the pellet, I changed from 8mm to 6mm. The result was even worse as only one more carp made the net. Three hours down and only 8 carp caught, the day wasn't panning out as expected.

Usually the fishing slows a tad once the sun comes out however this day was different as the next hour six carp made the virtual net.

As it happens that flurry turned out to be a flash in the pan as the next hour only yielded one fish. What a day I was having.

This family kept me company all day.

From 13:00 until I packed up at 17:10 the fishing remained the same, slow and steady. The net was increased by 14 carp making the total for the day 29.

Perhaps the carp were eating these tadpoles rather than my pellets!

Ready for action shot!

Considering I normally catch around 100 fish a session from this lake I can only say that this was a very disappointing session.

2018 13 May 18th, Nursery Fields, Edenbridge

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

I arrived at the fishery around 7am. I quickly unloaded the car and set off up the lake. Today I intended to fish the swim right at the top.

There was no one around my intended swim and so I knew that I was in for a quiet day!

It was the usual two rod set up today. A waggler line fished straight in front of me and a small leger on a feeder rod fished as close to the island as possible.

I was ready to make my first casts about 8:05. The first hour for me is really just a settling in period. That is allowing the swim time to develop. I knew that initially the loose feed would attract the lake's small roach and so I wasn't disappointed that the first fish of the day, attracted to the corn, was indeed, a roach.

The second and last of the first hour was one of lake's hard fighting tench.

The next hour was an almost identical copy of the previous one except that the roach and tench was joined by a nice skimmer bream.

The action really slowed down during the next hour. I only managed to bag two small roach.

Between 11:00 and 12:00 things did not get any better. One roach and another tench made the the virtual net. I began to think that a change of bait was required.

I decided to make the switch to meat. Initially I used very small cubes with the intention of increasing the size as when it was successful.

I must say it wasn't a great success. I only managed to add a further 4 fish to the virtual net before I packed up at 18:00. They were, in order of appearance, a tench, a barbel, an ide and a roach.

So how did the feeder line fare I hear you ask. I managed to catch three fish, 2 more tench and a nice carp which came in at 9lb 10oz. The carp was caught in the first hour.

So that was it for a pretty disappointing session. Just the 15 fish making the net. Better luck next time I hope.

2018 12 May 11th Chittenden, Edenbridge, Kent

Today, I decided to pay another visit to the club's carp lake at Chittenden near Edenbridge in Kent.

I arrived at the lake around 7am. I quickly unloaded the car and made my way down the lake to my favourite swim at the dam end.

It was the usual attack tactics today, one float rod to my immediate left and one leger rod fished where the overhanging tree used to be on my right.

After feeding the swims and setting up, I was ready to make my first casts. The time was 8:10.

For bait on the float rod I started with two pieces of corn. I didn't have long to wait for the action to begin. When the float disappeared I knew it wasn't the expected bream straight away. The culprit was a carp of about 7lb. Good start.

I also captured the mandatory Bream during the first hour which made my total for the day, two!

I lost another carp in the second hour which, aside from that, was unproductive.

The third hour of the day was also very quiet although I did get a bite on the leger rod which I promptly lost.

Things were not going well, by 12:20 all I'd added to the virtual net was a small Bream.

I did have some company though.

That hour was followed by another hour where absolutely nothing happened! Not what I was expecting at all.

For the next hour I changed hook bait from corn to small cubes of meat and was rewarded with two of the lake's Bream. Total for the day was now a paltry five.

Another blank hour followed, I began to suspect that this wasn't going to be my day.

At 16:30 I caught my last fish of the day, yes you've guessed it, another Bream.

So that was it for what was a pretty poor day by my standards - never mind things can only get better.