None for ages then 3 come at once!

 Over the 'closed season' with only a limited number of waters open for fishing I have not been able to do a great deal of time on the bank and whilst I have done a bit of beachcasting, float making and some work parties on Fordwich Lake; none of it has really been blog-worthy, until today...

I don't intend to use this blog to continuously promote brands but I must share that I have become a field tester for Big Carp Baits, who are a Hungarian bait company, very successful on the continent and are intending to launch in the uk after their products have been sufficiently tested. I feel privileged to have been selected to help them with this process and know that it will make a big impact on my angling.

Pump Lake, Littlebourne 
I arrived at Littlebourne Lakes just after 7pm on Friday and Birch Lake, where I had hoped to fish, was chocca-bloc so I made my way over to Pump Lake. This water has a boilie ban so I decided to test BCB's Frankfurter Sausage 'wickend' pellets and method mix which comes with an amino syrup and CSL liquer to add to the groundbait.

The business end - tipped off with a single grain of maize.

I was fishing by 8pm and had my first fish by 9pm - a mirror of 7lb 4oz. While light was good I cast to the overhanging trees on the far bank but after sunset I fished right beneath the rod tips. Looking at the decorations on said trees, it is a shame other anglers aren't so mindful.
The margins produced well for me with 3 other carp - the biggest being an 8lb 10oz mirror.
At first light I had a tench of just over 3lb and then 2 more soon after - the best was 3lb 12oz...

It seemed a little slow for this lake but I was overjoyed to be catching. However, by 8am having had virtually no sleep I decided to call it a day...

Stonar Lake, Sandwich

 After a few errands and a couple of hours kip on the sofa it was time to head back out. It is rare I get a whole weekend to fish so I had to make the most of it. I wanted to test boilies this time and hopefully get into some bigger fish so I headed over to Stonar Lake in Sandwich. Conditions here could not have been much different to Littlebourne! A very strong North-Easterly wind was racing across the lake turning it into a very choppy sea! I positioned myself on the south bank with the wind coming straight at me. I baited up a little bay to my left and the margin to my right, just over where it drops off deeper.
I cannot pretend to have been comfortable in this swim and I really don't like to be stuck under the shelter, I prefer to watch the water but the wind was so cold I decided to cut my losses and get some more shuteye after some grub!

I used mixed crushed boilies, maize and salt in solid PVA bags

Spicy 20mm with Frankfurter Popup 

As well as the spicy/ frankfurter snowman rig above, I also fished with Red plum and GLM boilies but it was the former combination that came up with the goods on this occasion. At midnight a small bream foul hooked itself, inconveniencing the pair of us. Undeterred, I cast back out, this time with a long PVA stringer of 20mm baits to avoid bream who were clearly mopping up my crushed offerings.
Just before 4am my alarm screamed off and ripped the rod off the pod (I think it's time to invest in some snag ears!). After a cracking fight I thought my luck was in but as it came to the net I was surprised to see a small common - built like a torpedo with a massive paddle!

7lb bang on

Again it went quiet. After lunch I reeled in and went to speak to some other anglers who had been down for a few days. A few fish had been had but spread out throughout the week so I packed up and went to my final stop of the weekend:

Fordwich Lake!

Fordwich, being an SSSI and RAMSAR site has to observe the traditional closed season. During this time I have taken part in a number of work parties which have earned me the privilege of a guaranteed swim on the first day of the season. As I now know where I am going to be fishing, I am able to bait the spot in anticipation of some unsuspecting carp on June 16th.
I can reach an island and 2 sets of lily pads positioned over a gravel bar within an underarm cast here - this, with carp topping every where, even today, is my idea of heaven! Roll on june 16th....

Fordwich Frustration!

Of all the waters I fish, Fordwich is the one that promises to fulfil my boyish fantasy of catching a true monster carp. Ever since watching 'A Passion for Angling' as a child I have been obsessed with this quest and to a certain degree have been successful in my pursuit. However, the waters I fished until joining Canterbury & District Angling Association 3 years ago just didn't hold fish equal to the size of those in my dreams.

The one problem is, Fordwich is a hard water for those that do not know its secrets and by those in the know, the secrets are well kept.

Thankfully, it is one of the most beautiful places to spend ones days and, especially as the sun rises and sets, I have whiled away many an hour trying to capture its beauty whilst capturing its carp eluded me.

In the autumn of my first season on Fordwich, the very thick weed that had bloomed in the silty areas between the gravel bars had started to die back. The wind was westerly and coming directly towards me. I had both rods set up with the infamous chod rig and had spread just a handful of boilies across the swim. Admittedly, I am not in the know about which baits catch well here but had ascertained that fishmeal based baits are the way to go and so that guided my selection. Within 30 minutes of my first cast the alarms were screaming. Could this be the monster I had been waiting for?!! It certainly fought like a spartan and managed to remain deep in the water so I could barely catch a glimpse until it was near my feet. I reached for the net and foolishly allowed the line to slacken momentarily and with a roll and a splash the fish was gone. My biggest confession and deepest regret is that this happened two more times before the session was out.

The 'infamous' chod rig

I have tried to replicate this scenario on many occasions, sadly to no avail. I was once mocked by a neighbouring angler for using the chod rig. He has since become a good friend but I must admit resenting his comments back then as this was the first time we met. It's too complicated, he said, everybody is using it and the fish are sussing it out. He encouraged me to simplify my approach, advice I heeded gladly and have done ever since. Besides; copying everyone else will only ever work for a time until the fish wise up. It is far better to do your own thing.

So since then I have been using variations of a simple hair rig, tipping the boilie off with some maize or fake corn to balance the bait and blend in with the loose feed or stick mix that I am hoping will keep fish rooting around in the area. Unfortunately, whilst this approach has paid off elsewhere, at Fordwich I have still caught nothing.

Well, that's not strictly true! I have had 2 bream in excess of 10lb, which equals the club record. I wish now I had taken decent photographs and had the captures witnessed. I guess at the time, whilst pursuing carp, I did not value these bream as perhaps I should or would have if I had set out to catch them intentionally.

Another species I have been fortunate with at Fordwich is pike. Although my PB of 13lb 4oz was taken in the River Stour and hasn't been bettered here, I have enjoyed catching numerous jacks in Fordwich this last winter on float-fished dead baits.

A jack pike of around 5lb.

Until the magic combination of factors align serendipitously in my favour once more, I will continue to keep faith in my approach and keep it consistent. Hopefully someday soon I can write the final chapter in this story and draw conclusions on successfully tackling this formidable water.