natty

After fishing lakes for almost all of my angling, I would like to give river fishing a go. Especially river chub fishing. I live in Brighton and would happily drive up to 45 mins (the closer the better though). Can anyone recommended any rivers or streams within that distance of Brighton that would be suitable for some river chub fishing. I am not too bothered about the size of the fish and would prefer somewhere easy to start off with as I have very little river fishing experience. Day tickets or free stretches would be better, but I would possibly join a club. Any suggestions would be great.

Yesterday I went to More House Farm Fishery in Sussex for a day session on their specimen lake. I decided to fish a swim which I hadn't fished before and chose to fish with 2 rods for carp and 1 rod for sturgeon. The sturgeon rod was fished with a chunk of pepperami and was fished over a small bed of Carp Vader Schnitzel Wurst pellets and grated luncheon meat. On the carp rods I tried several different methods and baits throughout the day. Within 10 minutes of casting out I was getting twitches on the sturgeon rod and 5 minutes later I had a slow and steady take. My strike was met with powerful resistance and an angry sturgeon powered off down the lake. I feared the worse when it was approaching a snaggy bush, but I managed to turn it just in time and a large sturgeon tail flapped ferociously on the surface. Soon after I had it in the margins and I was delighted when it went into the landing net on the first attempt. It weighed 13lb 10oz - which meant it was a new PB sturgeon! Here it is: No more action came my way until about 20 minutes before I packed up. I had a slow take on the right hand carp rod and after I struck a very heavy weight on the other end of my line was plodding around in front of me. It felt like one of the lake's larger carp, but unfortunately it suddenly woke up and swam straight through my other two lines and as I was trying to sort out the chaos of the appalling tangle the hook pulled. Gutted. I packed up straight away after that. There was four other anglers fishing the lake and no other fish came out while I was there, so overall I was happy with catching a new PB sturgeon and hooking a decent carp, but I was also gutted having lost the big carp. Oh well, that's fishing and there's always next time...

Last week I went for a day session to More House Farm Fisheries and decided to fish the specimen lake. I set up in a nice looking swim in the deeper area of the lake and decided to fish all 3 rods legered. I chose to fish two rods after carp and one rod after the sturgeon which also live in the lake. I fished the sturgeon rod on a margin spot where the baliff recommend for sturgeon, while one carp rod was cast to an island and the other was fished in open water. Bait wise, for the carp I fished with 12mm Carp Vader jelly pellets on the hair, while on the sturgeon rod I fished a large chunk of luncheon meat over a few handfuls of meaty pellets (Carp Vader Schnitzel Wurst feed pellets). It took an hour and a half before I had my first bite, which was on the carp rod fished to the island. My strike was met with carpy resistance but unfortunately after a minute or so the hook pulled. It didn't feel massive, but I reckon it was at least double figures. Another couple of bite-less hours passed, before I had my first bite on the sturgeon rod. It was a slow steady take and as soon as I lifted up my rod it bent right over and line was being effortlessly stripped off the clutch. After a good fight I eventually slid the net under the sturgeon. My current PB sturgeon was 10lb 2oz and this looked at least the same size, maybe a little bigger. I was delighted to see the scales read out 11lb 12oz - a new PB! Here it is: 20 minutes later the sturgeon rod was away again, this one put up an even better fight and it was several long minutes before the sturgeon was finally in the net. This one looked even bigger than the first and the scales confirmed I had broken my sturgeon PB again - this one was 13lb 1oz. Here it is: Shortly afterwards I had a twitchy take on my carp rod fished in open water and I quickly landed a pretty fully scaled mirror of around 2lb, I unhooked it in the margin and got the rod back out on the same spot. It wasn't too long before I had another twitchy bite and another small carp was the culprit, this time a little common. I packed up at 4pm and unfortunately no more action had came my way. Overall I had enjoyed a fun few hours fishing and although the carp fishing was slow, having my third rod after sturgeon paid off and I was delighted with breaking my sturgeon PB twice.

I recently went for a 2 week family holiday to Sardinia, Italy. I brought along a match rod, a reel with 4lb line and some floats and small hooks. I went fishing down at the local beach off some rocks from 6am to 8am about 5 times during the holiday and using bread as a hookbait I caught loads of fish, but unfortunately they were all small. This was the most common species: I also caught 3 of these, they put up a great fight: ----------------------------------- Last week I went fishing for a few hours with my 12 year old half brother. We started off fishing two rods on the bottom, but after an hour we both only fished with one rod because the action was so mad and we had 3 fish on at once a couple of times. Throughout the day we both caught steadily even on only one rod each. I ended up with 14 carp and my brother had a couple less. Unfortunately none of the carp we caught were that big, but it was still fun on light tackle. Here was one of my slightly larger ones: Here are a couple of the carp my brother carp: ----------------------------------- Yesterday I went to More House Farm Fisheries for my first session at the fishery and decided on the carp lake. After getting lost, I finally arrived at the fishery a little later than I had hoped. I set up in the shallow end of the lake. I fished with 3 rods legered, two rods were fished with 12mm Carp Vader Schnitzel Wurst jelly pellets hair rigged, the other rod was fished with either luncheon meat or plastic corn. I cast all 3 rods out in to good looking areas, but unfortunately the first 2 hours went by without a single bleep. Then I heard a carp splosh tight to the far bank on the left hand side of my swim, I quickly reeled in a rod and cast it back out to where the carp had shown. 10 minutes later I had a slow but steady take on the recently recast rod and hooked a powerful fish, after a long fight I was convinced I was playing a 20lber, but was pleasantly surprised to see a nice ghost carp roll into the net. My old PB ghost carp was 13lb 5oz, and the fish looked quite a bit bigger, so I knew it was going to be a new PB ghostie, on the scales it went 17lb 2oz. Here are a couple of photos: As I was rebaiting the rod I had just caught the ghostie on, I had a screaming take on my middle rod fished towards an overhanging tree, my strike was met with powerful resistance and the fish felt decent, unfortunately seconds later the hooked pulled and I was left gutted. Another two and a half biteless hours passed before I had a my next bite this time on the luncheon meat rod unfortunately this fish came adrift too after only a couple of seconds. 20 minutes later I had a screaming bite on my left hand rod, this fish fought differently instead of tearing off all over the place it was just plodded about, a couple of minutes a decent mirror carp was safely in the net. My PB mirror carp is only 18lb 8oz and this carp looked close to that weight, on the scales it was 5oz less than my PB mirror at a weight of 18lb 3oz. Here it is: An hour later I added this 12lb 6oz mirror to my total: And shortly before packing up I had one final bite which turned out to be this 15lb 1oz mirror: Overall I was delighted with my total of four carp and two lost ones, especially considering the lake had fished hard that day with only a couple of other carp coming out to all the other anglers on the lake.

I have just got back from a 5 day session at Hawkhurst Fishery in Kent, this is how I got on: I arrived on sunday evening at around 7pm and set up in a nice looking swim: I fished with two rods: one for catfish with either halibut pellets, mackerel chunks, squid pieces or luncheon meat, the other for carp with either Carp Vader jelly hooker pellets or boilies. Once it started to get dark, I realised that I had left all of my lights/torches and night fishing equipment in the garage. So I was only going to be able to fish up to around 10pm and wouldn't be able to start fishing to around 4am, the only positive was that atleast I would get a few hours sleep every night! The first half of the 5 days fishing was hard, I caught plenty of carp but none of the big uns came my way, I had loads of singles and a few low doubles. Here is one of the low doubles caught just after casting out at 4am: I also had 2 kittens over the first couple of days, here's one of them!: On the 3rd day I managed to catch several more carp with the biggest being this mirror of around mid doubles: I also had 2 slightly bigger cats of between 5lb and 7lb, here's one of them: Later on that day I also lost a big cat on my carp rod - it snapped my 12lb mainline. Day four (thursday) was slow, apart from a couple of small commons at around 11am. At around 6pm, I had a screaming take on my cat rod, my strike was met with something that felt very heavy, after a few seconds it woke up and went on several long runs, I eventually got it into my margins and a big catfish tail slapped on the surface, it looked massive and I was relieved when it was in the net. My PB catfish before the trip was 13lb 6oz and this cat looked about double that size! On the scales I was delighted to see them read out 27lb 10oz. Here it is: Two hours later that evening I had another screaming take on my cat rod. The sheer power of this catfish was incredible, it was like being hooked too a train, it was stripping line off the reel like there was no tomorrow and made the 27lber feel like a baby! Just as I thought I may have a chance of landing it, the hook pulled. I didn't see it at all, but I would say it was over 40lb, quite possibly a lot larger (the cats go over 80lb in the lake and a 60lber came out of my swim five weeks ago). Friday was my final day, I only had one bite all day, but it turned out to be something special. I had a slow take on my cat rod in the morning and when I struck the fish just kept going, it fought harder than the 27lber but still not in the same league as the biggie I lost the evening before. After 15 minutes I eventually had the catfish in the net, it looked even bigger than the 27lber and very close to the special 30lb mark. The scales just crept past the 30lb mark and settled on 30lb 12oz - another new PB and my first 30lb+ fish! Here it is (im not smiling due to it being very heavy and awkward to hold!): Overall, the fishing was certainly challenging and even though I landed 24 carp over the five days, unfortunately nothing above mid doubles came along. However, catching six catfish, including the two big uns of 27lb 10oz and 30lb 12oz made it a very special and memorable trip.

That tench is a stunning fish, very well done

Well done on your first carp, hopefully many more will follow

A fantastic read Janet and some excellent photos too It sounds like you had a great time and well done on the fish you caught too

Thank you Janet for you really nice comments - very much appreciated Thanks as well Tigger

Last week was my half term - so no school! I managed to fit in three fishing sessions over my half term. This is how I got on: Session One: For my first session, I went to a local match lake (Passies Match Lake) with my 11 year half brother. We fished with one rod each on the bottom, our rigs were simple knotless knot hair rigs to a size 12 barbless hook with a 1oz free running lead, for hookbait we used 6mm Carp Vader Halibut Crab jelly pellets and fished over a handful of Carp Vader 2mm Halibut Crab loose feed pellets in the margins. My set up for the day. One rod legered in the margins. Throughout the day we both caught steadily, unfortunately all of them were small, but we still enjoyed a fun days fishing. I ended up with a total of 14 carp and 2 bream. My brother ended up with 9 carp and a bream. A couple of small carp I caught, although tiny, they were fun on light tackle. My brother’s biggest carp of the day. A pretty common carp for my bro, with a massive tail. My brother’s only bream of the day. Session Two: I fancied a go after some larger carp after my session with my brother on Passies Match Lake. So I decided to go to Borde Hill fishery in Haywards Heath for a day. I set up in a nice looking swim, that I had done well in this time last year. I was told by the regulars that the carp were spawning, so the carp fishing was harder than usual. I decided to have one rod legering on the bottom with a Carp Vader Schnitzel Wurst jelly pellet with a PVA bag of Carp Vader feed pellets in a variety of flavours and sizes. This was cast about 30 yards out in open water. I set up the other rod with a controller float and fished bread crust on the surface. During the first couple of hours, 3 carp (between 3lb and 5lb) came to my leger rod and I also managed to catch 2 carp off the surface. All 5 carp were between 3lb and 7lb. A couple of the carp. Around mid day the action stopped and I struggled to get any bites either on the bottom or off the top. So I decided to grab my surface rod and the landing net and go and try and stalk some carp. I spotted 3 carp sunbathing around the corner from where I had been fishing. They all looked between 7lb and 10lb. I hid behind some reeds and flicked in a few dog biscuits, after 10 minutes of careful feeding, the carp started to take the dog biscuits with confidence. I carefully cast my bread crust past the carp and slowly reeled it back into position. Seconds later a nice dark looking common carp came up and slurped down my hookbait. The common put up a great fight. Yes! Finally in the net! The lovely looking dark common. I managed to stalk another pretty mirror carp in the margins shortly afterwards. Long, lean fighting machine! I then returned to my swim and cast my leger out and tried to get the carp feeding on the surface in front of me. The carp seemed to be very wary on the surface, but I managed to catch another 3 carp off the top during the remainder of my session and also managed another 2 carp on my leger rod. A nice common to finish off the day. I was pleased with my final catch of 12 carp, especially considering the carp were spawning and were not feeding as well as usual. Session Three: For the final of my three sessions, I decided to go for a 5 hour session down at Hydneye Lake on Sunday. Originally I wasn't planning on fishing at all on Sunday, but because it was such a nice day and I had a few hours spare, I decided I may as well get a few hours fishing in. I arrived at the lake around 4pm and I went and talked to a few regulars, a few were struggling, but a couple were having a good day bagging up on skimmers and the odd tench and larger bream. A man fishing the far end had spotted 2 carp cruising through his swim early in the morning, which was encouraging as there are not that many carp in the lake. I set up both rods were leger rigs. As hookbaits I had corn on one rod and a Carp Vader 6mm Breamax jelly pellet hair rigged on the other rod. Both were fished with PVA bags of Carp Vader Breamax feed pellets and some corn. I had no action at all for the first two and a half hours, not even a line bite. The bloke in the swim next to me had also struggled with only one bream to show for his efforts, he packed up and left rather disappointed at how slow the fishing had been where he was fishing. Around half past six, I had my first bite on corn, I struck and hooked what felt like a nice bream, but unfortunately it came off after a few seconds. As I was rebaiting that rod, the other rod with a Breamax pellet screamed off and I was delighted when I realised I had hooked a tench, after a spirited fight, I slid a nice tench into the waiting landing net. A lovely tinca. Over the next hour and a half I managed to land 6 bream between 2lb and 3lb, 4 coming to the corn rod and 2 coming to the Breamax pellet rod. The average size of the bream. I had just packed up my unhooking mat and was about to reel in, when I had my final bite of the day, a tench had taken a liking to my Breamax pellet. It came straight into the margins and then woke up and tried it's hardest to get into a bed of reeds, luckily I managed to steer him away from the reeds and into the net. A nice way to end the day. My red eyes match the tench’s! Overall, it had been a nice few hours fishing and I was pleased with my final catch of 6 bream and 2 tench, all coming in the last two and a half hours of fishing. To conclude, I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 of my sessions and caught some nice fish, unfortunately nothing that large came along, but overall it was enjoyable fishing in splendid weather.

A week ago, I went to a lake I have recently joined for my first session on the lake (Hydneye Lake). I arrived at the lake just before 9am and set up in a nice looking swim. I fished with two legers, I tried a variety of different hookbaits on the rods (chick peas, corn, 6mm Carp Vader Halibut Crab pellets, 6mm Carp Vader Breamax pellets, luncheon meat and bread flake). I fished them with a PVA bag of mixed Carp Vader pellets, corn and crushed chick peas. This was my swim: The first couple of hours went by with only a drop back bite on the rod with corn. I unfortunately missed the bite. I then had a decent bite, unfortunately I failed to hook this too. I didn't get anymore action for ages after this despite trying every bait I had and as many different spots as I could. Just after 6pm, I had a screaming take, I was delighted when i felt tenchy resistance on the end of my line, it put up a good fight for its size and I was relieved when i slid the net under it. Here it is: As I was rebaiting the rod I had just had the tench on, my other rod screamed off, this one fought even harder and when I first hooked it for a couple of seconds i thought i may have hooked one of the lake's rarely caught carp. The fish turned out to be a tench and was slightly larger than the first one. Here it is: I couldn't believe it, I didn't catch any fish for around 9 hours, then two come along in 5 minutes. Soemeone else caught a couple in the next swim along and it looked like the tench had suddenly gone on a feeding spell. So I decided to stay on for another hour or so. I stayed on to 7:30pm, but unfortunately no more bites were forthcoming, I finished with just the two tench, but I was happy with catching a couple, when the lake was fishing were hard and not many tench were coming out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Originally I had planned on going for a carp session yesterday, but I changed my decision last minute and decided to have another go for some tench on the lake I have recently joined (Hydneye Lake). I set up in the same swim I fished last time and set up two legers. Hookbaits were either: Luncheon meat, Sweet corn, Chickpea or Carp Vader Breamax 6mm pellets. During the first hour or so I had a few line bites and a couple of twitchy bites, unfortunately I failed to hook anything on both of the twitchy bites, I reckoned they were probably bream. 20 minutes later, I had another twitchy bite this time on a 6mm Carp Vader Breamax pellet. I was pleased to hook this one and it turned out to be a nice little bream: I caught another bream 15 minutes later and shortly afterwards I landed my first tench of the session: Over the next few hours, I landed another 2 bream and I unfortunately lost a couple of tench - both of which felt alright sizes, thankfully I managed to land my next tench, this little beauty: In the final hour, I lost another tench, this one put up a really good fight and I was totally gutted when it came off, it was certainly the largest one I had hooked so far. However, I did manage to land another bream and another tench. Here’s the tench (unfortunately he had a split dorsal fin and someone else‘s rig in it‘s mouth, I safely removed the rig and then put on a bit of Nash Medi-Carp on the area the other rig had been in): Overall, I ended the day with 3 tench and 4 bream, which I was fairly pleased with, especially considering the slow start. I was quite gutted to lose 3 tench though - the last tench I lost was certainly the biggest one I have hooked so far on both of my sessions on the lake.

Today I had a day session after carp at Borde Hill fishery in Haywards Heath (Sussex). I arrived at the lake around 10am and set up in a swim that had a nice reedy margin on the right hand side and plenty of open water out in front. I set up one rod with a leger, as a hookbait I used a 6mm Carp Vader hair-rigged Halibut Crab jelly pellet, this was fished with a PVA bag of mixed Carp Vader feed pellets. My other rod had a simple controller float set up, with a size 10 hook and a piece of bread crust as a hookbait. I gently lowered my leger along the reed lined margin and cast out my surface set up towards the middle of the lake. No action was forthcoming for the first half hour. Finally a few carp had started to show a bit of interest on the surface and were now cautiously taking a few dog biscuits. I managed to get my bread crust in front of a feeding carp and it took the bait straight away, my light rod was bent double as a powerful carp surged towards the far side of the lake. After a few minutes I had managed to get the carp under the rod tip and shortly afterwards it was in the net. It turned out to be this lovely 9lb 3oz common: Over the next few hours I managed to land several small carp on my leger and I also managed to tempt a few more carp off the surface. Unfortunately all of the carp were rather small, but atleast I was catching. A reasonable sized common carp was slowly cruising around the margins and sucking in dog biscuits that had drifted onto the edge of the reeds. I quickly took off the controller float and freelined a small piece of bread crust. I gently lowered the hookbait inches from the carp's mouth and with a loud slurp my hookbait was taken. This nice common carp was the result: I managed to catch a few more small carp late on and finished the day with a total of 14 carp, three people fishing opposite me only managed one carp between them, so I was certainly happy with 14!

Yesterday, I took my 11 year old half brother fishing at Passies Match Lake. We arrived at the lake at around 11am and I set both of us up with a simple leger rig with a size 12 barbless hook. For bait we both used hair-rigged 6mm Schnitzel Wurst Carp Vader jelly pellets. We also used a PVA bag of Carp Vader Schnitzel Wurst feed pellets on every cast. It didn’t take long before we both had our first bites and we both steadily caught small carp for a couple of hours on our leger rods. Here are a couple of my brother’s carp: With the majority of the carp coming on our leger rods being small (under 4lb), I decided to go and bait up a few margin spots around the lake, so I could go stalking later and try and single out a bigger carp. I baited half a dozen nice looking reedy margin spots with some new Carp Vader 2mm Arctic Blue feed pellets and a sprinkling of corn. I returned to my swim and set up a simple float rig. I crept round to the first margin spot, but there was no signs of carp, however when I peered into the next margin spot I was greeted with the sight of a reasonable sized carp’s tail wafting just below the surface as it was feeding on my free offerings. I carefully lowered my Schnitzel Wurst jelly pellet about 8 inches in front of it. The carp took the bait on the drop and I struggled to control a powerful carp on light tackle, after a decent fight, I eventually managed to slide the carp into the waiting landing net. Here is the 8lb 10oz mirror: In the meantime, my brother had landed another couple of small carp. Here they are: I continued stalking for another couple of hours and managed to land several more carp, including a couple of larger ones: My brother also managed a few more carp on his leger rod, including his largest of the day at 6lb 3oz on his final cast: In the end we both finished off with 12 fish each and really enjoyed a great days fishing.

I had a day session at Passies Ponds today, I arrived at the fishery at about quarter past ten in the morning and quickly set up a couple of legers which were both cast in open water. Both rods were fished with hair-rigged 6mm pellet hookbaits, I had a Carp Vader Polar Ice hooker pellet on one and a Carp Vader Schnitzel Wurst jelly pellet on the other, they were both fished with small PVA bags of various sized and flavoured Carp Vader feed pellets. I was still setting up my umbrella, when I had my first bite of the day, the fish didn't put up much of a fight and I soon slid the net under a pretty looking fish. On the unhooking mat, I first thought it was just an F1 or maybe a brown goldfish, but then I showed it to my dad and he said it looked like a crucian carp, I am still unsure of what species it actually is (probably either a crucian, brown goldfish or an F1)? Here it is (sorry for the strange facial expression!): I recast the rod back to the same spot on 5 minutes later I had a twitchy bite on the same rod, like the first fish it didn't put up much resistance and a few seconds later a nice bream was in my landing net. Here it is: As I was returning the bream, my other rod screamed off and after a decent fight, i had a mirror carp of around 4lb on the unhooking mat. the action continued fast and furious for another couple of hours, and over this time I managed to land another 5 carp and 2 bream. The bream averaged around 2lb and the carp were all small with the majority between 1lb 8oz and 3lb 8oz. Here's one of the prettiest carp: the action then slowed down on the legers in open water, so I changed one of the rods over to a float and float fished for a while by some reeds. It took 20 minutes before my float finally slid away, the fight was strange - the fish didn't feel powerful enough for a carp, but didn't feel like a bream either, I was pleasantly surprised when a chub popped up in the margins. Here it is: 15 minutes later after returning the chub, a powerful carp made off with my Schnitzel Wurst pellet, but unfortunately it came adrift after a few seconds later. I checked the hook and it seemed fine, so i recast it to the same spot, shortly afterwards I had another fast take on the same rod and another powerful carp was the culprit, unfortunately like the one before, this one came off after 30 seconds or so, like before the hook seemed fine, but after two losses on the same hook in under10 minutes I decided to change the rig anyway... No more action was forthcoming on the leger rod for the next hour, but luckily the fish by the reeds on the float rod were more willing to feed and I landed another 3 carp (2lb 8oz, 3lb and 3lb 8oz) and another bream in fairly quick succession. I noticed a few pinhead bubbles about four feet further along the reed bed than I was fishing and decided to cast my float on top of the bubbles, a few seconds later the float raised in the water, lay flat and slid away and my strike was met with a powerful fish, I was expecting it to be a 3lb or 4lb carp, but I was chuffed to see I had hooked a nice looking tench. Here it is: The tench was my final fish of the day and although nothing large came along, I was really pleased with my total catch of 16 fish (9 carp, 4 bream, a chub, a tench and the crucian/brown goldfish/F1!), especially considering I had only managed a total of 6 bream between my last two trips to Passies.

I had a really nice surpise today, I picked up a copy of the Freshwater Informer magazine (the local free mag for all the anglers in the South East) and on the front cover it was me with my new PB carp! You can view the internet version of the magazine here: http://www.freshwaterinformer.com/

Thanks for the nice comments Here is a little video of me returning my new PB: Youtube Video ->

Usually at this time of year, I fish easy waters, highly stocked with mainly small carp. However, it is my 17th birthday tommorow and I wanted the chance of a decent carp shaped birthday present, even if it meant a good chance of a blank, so I decided to have a day session on a specimen lake (Falkenvil Fisheries Specimen Lake). As it was a special occasion, my dad kindly agreed to wake up with my at 3:30am, so we could catch the 5:30am train to Polegate. We managed to make the train with 3 minutes to spair and arrived in Polegate at 6am. The cycle ride took about half an hour and we finally arrived at the specimen lake at half past six. I fumbled around in the dark and managed to set up my two rods and both were soon cast out. The baliff came around about an hour later and informed me that you can fish 3 rods on the lake, I had only brang two as most of the other lakes near me all have strict 2 rod limits. I had only been there for about an hour and already felt handicapped! On one rod I had two Carp Vader Halibut Crab pellets hair rigged to a size 12 Korda Wide Gape B and on the other I fished a small chunk of Pepperami. Both rods were fished with a small PVA bag of Carp Vader 2mm and 4mm feed pellets in a variety of flavours mixed together, to this I added a few grains of corn and pepperami shavings to get more attraction near my hookbait. All remained quiet until at just gone half past nine, I recieved a twitchy take on the pepperami rod, I struck and my strike was met with weak resistance, but I was pleased to see a pretty little common in my landing net. Here it is: After no more action to either rods for a couple of hours I recast them both into open water. Twenty five minutes later a carp made off with my double 6mm pellet hookbait and straight away it felt like a decent fish and started stripping line off a tight clutch as it charged towards the far bank. I finally managed to pump it into the margins and I watched it chug up and down under the rod tip in the clear water for a few minutes, I was just praying my size 12 hook would stay in as it looked like a definite upper double and maybe a low twenty. I was relieved when it finally rolled into the net. On the bank it looked magnificent and when the digital scales read out 21lb 7oz I was ecstatic. Not only had it easily beaten my previous best common carp of 16lb 9oz, it was bigger than my previous overall carp best (18lb 8oz mirror) and to top it off it was my first 20! Now that is what I call a birthday present! Here it is: I had no further action, until I was packing up, which resulted in a little mirror carp of around 5lbs to a small chunk of pepperami. By 4pm everything was tied back up on the bikes and as we made the long journey home, I just reflected on what had been a truely magnificant day - I ended up with 3 winter carp, including my first ever 20! What a way to end 2008 and what a splendid birthday present.

I live in Brighton and am looking to join an angling club or two next year, instead of paying stupid day tickets rates for every session. I am particularly looking at HHDAS, can anyone recommend any good clubs in my area? Any info would be great

Today, I had yet another short session at Passies Ponds in Sussex. Unfortunately the weather was absolutely appalling - very strong winds and torrential downpour. With a leaky bivvy and the main lake looking more like an ocean than a lake, I decided to fish on the match lake, which fortunately had a concrete shelter near the lake which I used as my bivvy for the day. While huddled in the concrete shelter I quickly set up a couple of legers and both were soon cast out with a small PVA bag of mixed Carp Vader feed pellets. Hook baits were a 6mm Carp Vader Polar Ice hooker pellet on one and a Carp Vader 6mm Halibut Crab jelly pellet on the other. My view from the concrete shelter: I had to wait 35 minutes before the first action of the day, which turned out to be a lovely little common carp of around 2lbs. This was shortly followed by another of a similar size 10 minutes later which took a liking to my Halibut Crab pellet. Here they both are: Over the next two and half hours, the action continued fairly steadily and I added another 4 carp to my total. I also missed 2 other bites, simply because of poor striking due to frozen hands! Here are the 4 carp: I stuck it out for another 2 hours and was accompanied by a lovely friendly robin. I managed another 3 carp and also missed another bite. The friendly robin: Two more of the carp: My favourite carp of the day - a mint conditioned mirror: Overall, I am glad to have braved the horrendous weather and was pleased with my total of 9 carp and 3 missed bites. It certainly beats watching crappy T.V. programmes all day!

Yesterday I went for a short session at Passies Ponds and arrived to find only two other anglers on the lake. They both said it had been very quiet and neither had had any action. I set up in a swim away from the main section of the lake, I chose this area because it is less pressured than the other areas and there were plenty of features to cast to. The view from my bivvy: I wasted no time in quickly setting up both rods and casting out a couple of small PVA bags of various flavoured Carp Vader pellets and I hair rigged a single 6mm Polar Ice pellet on one rod and a single 6mm Breamax pellet on the other rod. As I was setting up the rod rests, one of the rod tips started knocking up and down while laying on the floor, my strike was met with breamy resistance, unfortunately after a few seconds it came adrift. I had to wait another 35 minutes before I recieved a bite on the Breamax rod cast to a channel, it turned out to be a nice bream of a couple of pounds. As I was returning it, the other rod let out a few bleeps and a minute or so later I was returning another bream, this time slightly larger than the last one. The action continued at this sort of rate for the next 3 hours and I landed several more bream all betwen 1lb and 3lb. All though it was only bream coming along, it was still nice to have a bit of action on light tackle, while the 2 other carpers still hadn^t had a bleep with their 15lb line and strong rods. The average size of the bream: I had reeled in one of my rods when something swam off with my 6mm Polar Ice pellet, it put up more resistance than the bream and I was hopeful of a large roach or a nice chub, instead an out of season tench popped up. Although not what I was hoping for it was still a nice end to a very chilly tough days fishing. My final fish - a winter tench:

I have just been looking at the Preston PR36 hooks and am probably going to buy a couple of packs for my next session. Preston PR36 hooks (click me) They look perfect for hair rigging. Has anyone used them? Are they strong?

On Friday, I had yet another session at Passies Ponds on the Main lake. I arrived at the lake at approximately 9:45am and was pleased to find the whole lake empty apart from one other swim taken. I wasted no time in setting up and was cast out by 10am. Bait wise I opted to fish with a single legered hair rigged 6mm pellet - in either Carp Vader Halibut Crab or Polar Ice flavour. Like usual, before casting out I hooked on a PVA bag of Carp Vader pellets made up of a variety of flavours and sizes. Within half an hour, I had had a bite on each rod, unfortunately after a couple of seconds each fish came adrift - one felt like a reasonable sized carp, while the other was probably a bream. My disappointment was soon forgotten about as a carp screamed off with my Polar Ice pellet. After a lively scrap, I soon slid a pretty mirror carp into the net. Here it is: During the next two and a half hours, I landed another 6 bream and a couple of small commons. Here is one of the bream: The action then slowed down considerably, all I could do was sit, wait and pray! Eventually I received a twitchy bite on the Halibut Crab rod, as I was playing the fish (a bream), the other rod went off too - I quickly bundled the bream into the net and grabbed the other rod, shortly afterwards a small carp joined the bream in the same landing net. Here they are: I fished on for another hour or so and was rewarded with another 4 bream and a nice mirror carp of around 6lb. Quite a few of the bream had wounds on them, where they had been attacked by Passies' resident cormorant. I treated all of the wounds with Nash Medi-Carp, so hopefully they should heal soon. Here is me treating one of the bream: Overall, although nothing large came along, I still had a nice few hours fishing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Today, I had around 5 hours free time - so what better to do than go fishing!? I arrived at Passies Ponds and was set up on the main lake by 10am. With my limited time, I wasted no time in quickly casting out a couple of legers towards the island. Each rod was fished with a running rig coupled with a size 12 or 14 barbless hook and on the hair I used either single or double Carp Vader Jelly Pellets in either Polar Ice, Halibut Crab or Schnitzel Wurst flavours and they was fished with a small PVA bag of Carp Vader feed pellets in a variety of sizes and flavours. While the rods were still laying on the floor, as I was setting my bite alarms up, the left hand rod tore off. On picking the rod up I was expected strong resistance, but to my surprise the fish just swam straight towards me and into the net. It turned out to be this lovely little carp: As I returned it, I noticed the tip of my other rod nodding up and down, I quickly bent into the fish and I was soon returning a nice 2lb+ bream. The action continued fast and furious for the next couple of hours and I landed another 4 bream and 5 carp, unfortunately nothing large came along - the biggest being a 7lb common. Here’s me about to return a bream: I was just about to recast when I received a twitchy take on the right hand rod cast tight to the island. It fought different to the carp and bream I had landed so far - I was hoping it was going to be a good roach, but was pleasantly surprised to see a pretty little chub pop up. Here it is: Ten minutes later I hooked into a good carp, but unfortunately after a couple of minutes it came adrift. My disappointment was quickly forgotten about as shortly after I landed another two carp to 6lb and a another couple of 1lb 8oz bream. As the day progressed I noticed an interesting pattern, approximately two out of every three fish fell to the rod with the Halibut Crab pellet(s) - it was the first time I have given this flavour a proper go and I was certainly impressed. It was nearing the end of my session and I still hadn’t landed a decent carp (10lb+), when I received a slow and steady take again to the Halibut Crab pellet. Straight after I hooked it, it started ploughing up and down the island margin and I was pleased to eventually turn it away from the snaggy sanctuary of the sunken tree roots/branches. It was several minutes before it surfaced in front of me and I just hoped my little barbless hook was going to hold firm. I needn’t to have worried as a few seconds later it was safely enclosed in the folds of the landing net. It looked like a decent carp on the mat and I was delighted to see the scales read out 15lb 13oz. Here it is: During the last hour an hour of the session I landed another 2 bream and a 5lb 8oz mirror. Overall, even though I had limited time I still enjoyed a great session and ended up with a total of 9 carp, 10 bream and the chub.

After my great session two weeks ago at Passies Ponds, I decided to give it another go today. Once again, I arrived at the lake just before 10am, unfortunately the swim I was in last time was taken, but there was another good looking swim a couple of pegs further up, so I decided to set up there. I quickly set up two legers, both with a simple knotless knot rig to a size 12 barbless hook. On the hair I used either single or double 6mm Schnitzel Wurst Jelly Pellet or 6mm Polar Ice Pellets. Before casting out I also hooked on a small PVA bag of pellets (Carp Vader feed pellets in a variety of sizes in Natural, Polar Ice and Schnitzel Wurst flavours. The day started off with a some lovely October morning sunshine and the fish seemed to appreciate the nice weather too, within 50 minutes I had already landed 3 carp and 2 bream. The carp ranged from 2lb to 5lb and the bream averaged 1lb. Here is my first fish of the day: Here is the average size of the bream I caught: By 11am, the weather took a turn for the worse and it rained heavily non-stop for the next couple of hours, luckily the fish didn’t seem to mind the weather change and I continued to get bites steadily over the next couple of hours. I added a further 5 carp and 6 bream to my tally and I also had a lovely bonus tench. Here is my tench: Here are the average size carp I was catching: The rain eased up around 1:30pm and a couple of kids turned up and fished in the swim to my right, unfortunately narrowing down my casting options. The bites slowed down for the next two hours, but I still managed to catch three more carp - between 3lb and 7lb 8oz, as well as another couple of bream. At 3:30pm, one of the kids next to me landed a lovely 17lb common carp and just after they returned it, a larger carp made off with my Schnitzel Wurst pellet, I struggled to control it in with my light tackle and I had a couple of hairy moments while the unseen carp charged underneath a sunken tree, thankfully after several hard fought minutes, the carp reluctantly rolled in the waiting net. It looked like it would be a low double and I was pleased to see the scales read out 12lb 12oz. Here it is: I continued to catch fairly consistently for the rest of the day and added several more carp up to 8lbish and bream up to around 3lb up until 6pm. I eventually had virtually everything packed up by 6:15pm and I had just one rod laying on the floor and the landing net left to pack, when that remaining rod tore off, it felt like another decent carp and after 5 or so minutes a nice mirror was in the net - the scales, camera and unhooking mat were all packed away, so I unhooked it in the net in the margins and guesstimated it at around 10lb to 1llb before gently slipping it back. Overall, I finished with a total of 15 carp, 14 bream and the tench. Although from 11am onwards the weather was appalling, I thoroughly enjoyed another day of splendid fishing.

Well done - great catch