June 3rd - First day on a club water!

Posted by Darren T, Jun 2 2008, 06:32 PM

Well its coming up for 19:30 on Monday 2nd June and I am getting ready for a trip out tomorrow. It'll be my first one as a member of the Crawley Angling Society and so i am going to head over to New Pond which is at the end of the M23. At around 4 acres with 30 swims I am hoping for a nice quiet day. With Roach, Rudd, Tench, Perch, Mirror/Common/Crucian Carp, Bream and Gudgeon swimming around i am also hoping to have plenty to talk about when i come home!

I'll be heading for Jack Frost Tackle first to see if i can pick up any tips as well as some maggots and lord knows what else. I'll already be armed with a load of corn and probably some bread so hopefully i can mix it up enough to keep them interested. One problem i have to overcome is the rulebook stating "umbrellas only whilst night fishing" which at first glance i took to mean you cant use an umbrella during the day but on second thought it could well be that you can only use an umbrella in the evenings instead of bivvies and the like. I am hoping to get through to the secretary tonight to clarify that slightly odd point.

Well after a quick call to the mobile number given i got through to the Secretary's wife who was very nice and helpful in explaining exactly what the umbrella issue is all about. As i suspected you can use an umbrella during the day and in the evenings you can ONLY use an umbrella. apparently they had people night fishing there and staying for 4+ nights fully tented up who would then leave days worth of rubbish there.

With that cleared up I have the TomTom set to take me to Jack Frost and then onto the lake and I'll be going equipped with 6 cans of corn (4 pints) some bread and I'll also pick up 2 pints of maggots at the tackle store.

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Well i am home after another long day at the bankside. I left home at around 8:30, picked up my maggots and got to the water for about 10:00. after a few minutes utter confusion about how to unlock the gate i managed to get in and i was away. I parked up and then went to have a look around the lake to try and pick out a swim. What i wasn't expecting was such well maintained surroundings. There is a bark path around the lake which then leads to each peg which are also all bark and nice and large. The sizes vary but the peg i chose for the day was peg 24. The peg is probably 8ft square and directly to the left and right are overhanging trees. in front of them are lilly beds on the left and right with the section of water directly in front of the peg open water.

I picked the peg because i thought lily pads were bound to be home to some piscatorial life an i wasn't wrong. after plumbing up i set about getting some bait in, a mix of red maggot and corn. Unfortunately because of the overhanging trees an overhead cast was almost impossible, though i didn't reckon that until the second hook was buried 15ft up in a branch. once i worked out how best to get my bait out to the lily pads (about 20ft from the peg) i put a few casts in and decided that my chosen float was way too heavy for the job. The 4.5g loaded Puddle Chucker was i think hitting the bottom when it landed which i noted eventually and swapped to a much lighter and more sensitive 2AA+ drennan crystal insert.

Unfortunately the day turned out to teach me more lessons rather than give me some nice fish. If it was eating maggots it was 3 inches long and if it was eating corn it was 3ft long! Directly in front of my peg as well as off to the left were three large carp stirring up the silt. With a match rod, 6lb main line and 3lb8oz hooklength there was no chance that one of these would be landed, more so with the trees roots as perfect cover.

Needless to say over the coarse of the day (about 7 hours) i think i hooked into a fish of that size on at least 3 occasions, all ending in a break off. The rest of the days catch were all small roach and perch for the most part aside from two nicer sized Perch that both took a couple of red maggots each within the space of 2 casts and about 3 minutes!

The Corn for the most part was being completly ignored and aside from the two nice Perch the maggots would only tempt absolute tiddlers. Frankly it was getting annoying as i was putting 4 maggots on a size 14 hook and the silly buggers were still trying to wrap their mouths around them. In a bid to get past the smaller fish i put a small shot near the hook to help it sink but apparently the small fish lived on the bottom as well as the top.

Hopefully my next trip will be a bit more eventful!

Picture was taken on my phone

May 28th-29th - Solo time

Posted by Darren T, May 28 2008, 08:13 AM

Well its just gone 09:00 on Wednesday 28th and i have returned home from my last shift at work for nearly 4 weeks. I have been awake since 17:00 yesterday so I'm just pottering about now trying to stay awake to get through the tough part of the morning. I have decided that tomorrow I'll head out to Beaver Farm Fisheries for the day while i wait for my Crawley Angling Society membership to go through. With a mixed set of lakes I'm bound to hook into something!

The current forecast is for Sunny Intervals with temps hitting 17 degrees with a little wind to boot. how thats going to affect the fishing i don't know but i have my jacket and my boots and the brolly so hopefully come rain or shine I'll at least by dry-ish.

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Its now 18:40 on Wednesday and I've had a wee nap. The forecast for tomorrow has slipped to Light Showers but with temperatures hitting 22 degrees. I have also phoned the Fishery for any further information about the place. After looking at the site i thought that its Eden Pond would be a nice lake to try. Mainly stocked with tench, (some to over 11lb) it also holds Carp to 15lb Rudd Crucian and Roach. The guy I spoke to also mentioned that bream were being pulled out today. Good news is that the pond reacts well to Corn and Maggot which is as i had hoped!

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Well its 16:00 on Thursday 29th and i have returned from my day out. I was wide awake at 05:30 this morning so i got to Beaver Farm for around 07:10. Eden pond is only a small little lake but with no designated swims anywhere you just dump your gear wherever you like. I chose the far bank as you approach the lake. This bank had the sun on it early in the morning so my thinking was that sun = warm water = feeding fish. I had a reed island directly in front of me with some lilies to the left to fish to.

Because the tackle shop on site doesn't open until about 10:00 i had only the sweetcorn that i de-tinned earlier as bait. An annoyance certainly but i managed to make the most of it last about 5 hours which wasn't bad for just 2 pints! For the most part i was only fishing about 4 or 5 ft from the end of my rod tip so i picked a nice small insert waggler and set about plumbing up. All the while with midges all over me!

Eventually i started and the fishing stayed pretty constant for most of the morning with the majority of fish being Roach and Skimmer Bream. I did also have a really nice little Carp of maybe a pound. Already he had a belly on him! By 8:30 the midges had all gone away and i was greeted to a host of Dragonflies cruising around the pond. Add that to a pair of Geese and their Goslings and the constant trickle of water and i was about as relaxed as you can get.

The site says the lake is mostly stocked with Tench but sadly none were hungry today as i would have loved one to come out. Needless to say it was not to be and by 1:30 i was completely out of Corn, having made the last grain last the better part of 40 mins with no loose feed. Still got 2 fish though!

Another fine day out with some more lessons learnt. I am now much more comfortable with my landing net than last time out. Before i must have looked like the biggest klutz on the lake! Also i am getting better with my plumbing up. I thought i had it right until i decided to check after about an hour and found i was about 14 inches over depth instead of the 3 i had been planning on!

Also my Crawley Angling Society book just arrived so i have a host of pre paid water to fish over my holiday. I'll certainly be sorting out more bait though as just fishing with Corn for 6 hours does take its toll even if it did stop the REALLY small stuff.

Until next time

Plans for the coming weeks

Posted by Darren T, May 15 2008, 03:16 AM

After having a bit of a hunt around i have picked out some of the Day Ticket waters that i will be visiting in the coming weeks. While i have managed to get a nice stretch of time off work (May 28th - June 22nd) i want to try and get out at least once a week and hopefully twice to try out some of the different venues in the area.

My choices so far are:

Beaver Farm - £8 - 41 minute drive 07:00 - 19:00
Bury Hill - £11.50 - 50 minute drive 07:30 - Sunset
Frant Lakes - £8 - 60 minute drive 07:00 - 19:00
Elphicks - £9 - 61 minute drive 07:00 - 19:00
Willinghurst - £11 - 72 minute drive unknown times
Monk Lakes - £10 - 73 minute drive unknown times

Obviously i'll have to sort out some kind of membership somewhere in the long run as i cant afford £40 a month (assuming i could go once a week) on day tickets not including bait and so on. But considering this is going to be my holiday for this year i can allow it for the month that i am off!

The only one i really know enough about at the moment is the Dorking and District AS which controls a stretch of the River Mole as well as three small lakes. Since i have only just started fishing i dont know how successful i would be on a river!

I do need to pick up another landing net as i only have a 18" one and at least one of these day tickets demands at least a 24".

May 12th - My second foray

Posted by Darren T, May 13 2008, 11:27 AM

Its currently 09:00 and i am finishing my preparations for the day. After reading the DAS rules i discovered that tins are not allowed on the bank so i emptited my Tescos Value Corn into a bait box. Nearly 2 pints of sweetcorn for 30p cant be bad!

The TomTom is prepped with all of my destinations and i have printed off my rod licence for today. I also still need to put my eyes in (contacts) so that i can wear my sunnies in the lovely weather we are having in the South East.

One thing i have still yet to work out is placement on luggage on my body to get it to the lake. With just under a mile trek from the car park to the water i have my rod bag, carryall and chair to carry as well as my camera bag. Fortunate for me that i bought a very light chair i suppose!

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Well its the day after now and i can once again report that i had a great day out. We arrived at the lake for around 11:30 after picking up some maggots (a fiver for two pints of red). The trek from the car was hard work and i know next time to really only take what i need. I had left my boots and jacket in the bag when i needed neither!

After setting up i spent the better part of 40 minutes trying to get my float to cock properly in the water. No matter what i did i couldnt get the thing to sit properly. I even tried attaching a plummet and it still sat in the same position! Eventually my uncle called over to see if i had caught anything yet andwith my reply of "i aint got that far yet!" came over to give me a hand, just as the bailiff was coming around.

Eventually i was off with some bait into the margins to my right (i was under a massive tree that was providing the only shade on the lake) just on the edge of the sun/shade join. A few nice roach had a nibble on my double maggot early on and after about 90 minutes of actual fishing i hooked into something a little bigger. This was the first time out with my own gear remember and with my clutch set to allow line to be taken if needed line was indeed taken. After a few minutes exertion on my right arm my uncle slipped the landing net under the largest fish caught of the day. Caught on double red maggot on a size 18 hook fished about 4 inches over depth off to my right.



A lovely fish aside from a slightly deformed mouth. Again my uncle unhooked while i took pictures.

A little while later i hooked into something that felt very similar and again after several minutes a bream popped to the surface in front of us. Needless to say it was hooked in the tail which is why it fought so much more than normal. Estimated at around 2lb it was put back with no fuss or photo (foul hooking doesnt count as a real catch!).

Throughout the rest of the afternoon i continuted to get lots of nibbles and nice sized roach and quite a few skimmer bream (i believe). I also hooked into a couple that did their best to straighten my hook out and so sadly i never did find out what they were!

We packet up at around 18:30 and toddled off to our car. Another great day out in the great weather on a beautiful peaceful lake.

Day Ticket £6
Bait £5.30 (two pints of maggots and 2 tins of corn)
Rod Licence £3.50

Fifteen quid for 7 hours entertainment and peace. Youd pay that for 4 hours of films in the dark!

May 12th Prep

Posted by Darren T, May 7 2008, 04:23 PM

Well i have spoken to my uncle and we are going to head for the same lake as last time, Castlefield Lake in Dorking. Apparently it is fishing well at the moment and with the good weather we are having in the south at the moment it can only get better i hope! Since we are going on the Monday hopefully it'll be quiet as well which will be great for me.

He has told me that the best baits for the lake are the simple ones, maggots, bread flake, corn and meats. We can get maggots at the tackle shop down the road so in preperation i am going to pick up a tin of corn, a peperami and a small packet of pinapple from tescos. We shall see what fancies a nibble on the day!

Fortunatly i have just about everything i need now save an umbrella but with the nice weather i might just get away with a cap and some sun cream!

April 17th - Shopping!

Posted by Darren T, Apr 17 2008, 05:42 PM

After a hectic weekend in Devon and then work on Tuesday and having the family round on Wednesday (my birthday) its been nice to have an actual day off to chill and do what i want. And what i wanted was to go shopping!

Gerrys of Wimbledon is a large tackle store some 25 minutes drive from me and i thought it only fair to have a poke around to see what they could offer. I had a list of tihngs i definatly wanted to pick up on the trip, the primary one being a chair to sit on (a Korum Deluxe Accessory chair) as well as some bait boxes with no air holes and probably some boots to save me slipping all over the banks.

After paying for my hours parking (£1.20) at the pay and display down the road i headed in and started to scope out the joint. It was a veritable treasure cove in there with, i thought, a good range of products aided by its vast size. Exactly 59 minutes after buying my parking ticket i got back to my car. £125 lighter and one JRC Specialist X-Lite chair, one pair of size 11 Eiger waterproof boots, a nice selection of floats, scissors, two more bait boxes, small scales and another set of hooks heavier. I picked up the same sizes but tied to slightly heavier line. eg. size 16 on about 3lb 8 instead of 2lb 10.

I was tempted to wait on the chair and get the korum deluxe as i had planned, but after sitting on the X-Lite and lifting it up i realised that it was perfect for the job. Very light compared to most others and on sale at £35.99 compared to the 75-85 i was expecting to pay for the korum.

Also while i was in there i tried on some jackets. After being given some vouchers for Glasgow Angling Centre for xmas i spotted that the site had the Wychwood Extremis Fleece Lined Jacket reduced from £80 down to £30 but only available to order in M XL and XXL. thinking M would be a little small i held back and tried one on in Gerrys. it fitted perfectly and was still at the RRP of £80. Needless to say i popped home to get my jacket elsewhere in the vain hope that i do manage to get it for £50 less than the RRP. My order has gone through over the phone and the lady said i should have it in 10 days so fingers crossed!

So with my next date booked with my uncle for May 12th i am really looking forward to testing out all my gear. I think once i have completed that day i'll be a little more confident in my ability and can start heading out on my own or with my cousins or mates on a regular basis.

I have questions i'd like to find my own answers to, like will i catch on small chunks of pinapple? how effective will a hair rigged malteser be?

Its all still to come and i cant wait to get stuck in. I also have 26 days off work from May 28th so guess what i'll be doing a bit of!

3rd April - My gear arrives

Posted by Darren T, Apr 3 2008, 09:52 PM

Well today postie delivered the goodies from Tackleuk.co.uk and just the other day i went to my local angling emporium (Anglers Base in Beckenham) to get some more terminal tackle.

From Anglers base i picked up the following which came to £51.xx and the gent serving me just took it down to £50 which certainly made me wnt to venture back in the future!

• some pre weighted crystal wagglers (insert and standard)
• two bank sticks
• catapult
• disgorger
• reel pouch
• a few bait tubs
• a spool of Maxima Chameleon 2.5lb line
• some hooks to nylon in sizes 20,16,14
• a pack of size 18 hooks
• a hook tyer

from Tackleuk.co.uk i ordered some more of the bigger bits that i knew i wanted and could save a pretty penny on.

• Okuma Aveon 30 Match reel (down to 49.99 from its RRP of 79.99!)
• 2 spools of Sensor in 4lb and 6lb
• Team Daiwa rod bag
• Preston Innovations 18" super soft landing net
• Preston Innovations 3m match handle
• a compartmental tackle box
• shot
• korum line snips
• rod rests
• wynchwood economy unhooking mat

Its all unbagged and un boxed and packed away in the appropriate bags now. There is still loads of room in the carryall i got so i have room for fleeces and food and stuff so the only thing still missing really is a chair of some kind. I have been looking at the Korum Deluxe accessory chair which is supposed to be excellent and can also have a wheel attachent fitted to act as a trolly to make the long walks seem shorter! that one will have to wait until after my birthday to see what i have available though!

i have found that the Daiwa rod bag at £18 a real bargain. It takes my banksticks, landing handle and rod tube with acres of room to spare for any future purchases. Also the Preston "Essentials" carryall has acres of room and is a nice solid build for around £18 again.It's luggage on a budget but it holds more than i need and is well built so its perfect!

Well thats it for this edition really, hopefully i'll add some pics of the toys soon.

March 17th - I get my first rod

Posted by Darren T, Mar 30 2008, 11:24 AM

Well my tackle collection has begun today with a win on Ebay. I picked up a 13ft Shimano Hyperloop AX. 13 lined rings, part cork handle, screw reel seat.

I managed to get it for £25 posted which included the carry bag it comes in as well as a rod tube. The deal on ebay was £30 but i had a £5 voucher which was very welcome. now i am waiting for my birthday to come around (April 13th) to put any money i get towards more tackle!

March 3rd - My first foray into the fun

Posted by Darren T, Mar 30 2008, 10:56 AM

Today was my first day out fishing in over 10 years. Since last time I went i was 11 it seems only fair that i consider myself starting from a clean slate! Fortunately for me my uncle Mike is a keen angler and offered to take me out.

I arrived at my uncles’ house at around 9 in the morning with my camera bag. I have no tackle so it was just the camera, a sandwich and a bottle of drink to get me through the day. Fortunately my uncle had everything set to go, rods, reels, two landing nets, unhooking mats, chairs. In the car it went and we set off for our destination, Castlefields Lake which is part of the Dorking and District Angling Societies "turf". My uncle is a member of the club but I needed my day ticket (having already got my rod licence for the day online) and so we headed for Fullers Tackle Shop on South St in Dorking to get my ticket. We were lucky enough to catch one of the better bailiffs who let us know which pegs had been doing well in the last few days. With my ticket in hand and the knowledge that pegs 15,16 & 17 had been fishing well we headed off to the lake. It was a little trek form the car park to the lake but it was worth it. The lake was devoid of other anglers and in lovely surroundings. Deer were running through the forestry behind us and the sun was out with hardly a cloud in sight.

While my uncle starting setting up i donned my Polaroid’s and tried to survey the scene, the water was quite murky with visibility ending at about 3-5 inches down. There was a slight ripple on some of the surface but a large portion wasn’t touched by the wind. Once finished i had a nice Daiwa road and reel loaded up with a pre weighted puddle chucker followed by about 4ft of line. Most of the lake is 4ft so it seemed a perfect place to start. After loading up a maggot onto the hook and chucking in a small roach was banked within 30 seconds by my uncle signifying that there were defiantly fish in the water!

While i sat myself down my uncle trotted off to set up his ledger rig on the next peg, he was putting out small cubes of luncheon meat into the centre of the lake while i decided to try and target the margins of my peg. Over the course of the day i sat intently watching my float, waiting for it to dip, thinking it had when it hadn't ad generally really enjoying myself. All in all i pulled out around 15 fish with several being 3 inch roach and perch, a few being slightly more robust 5-7 inch roach and then finally, the last fish of the day pulled my float under. After a bit more of a struggle compared to the rest of the days quarry and a more substantial bend in the top section of my rod i finally caught sight of my fish. In the blink of an eye my uncle slipped the landing net under it and we brought it ashore.



We didn’t get a weight and I was too excited to do anything but take pictures of it on the mat, but I was really pleased with my first Carp of around 8-9 inches caught on double maggot.

All day i had been trying single double and even triple maggot as well as single and double caster in an effort to keep the teeny tiny roach away from my bait. The casters had no luck all day and even triple maggot didn’t stop a few really small roach taking my bait.

All in all it was a great day for me, and I really enjoyed myself! Now i am looking at picking up some tackle of my own in preparation for the next trip out with my uncle.