Private Lake, East Sussex. February 22nd, 2009.

“The Private Lake on Sunday, are ya coming? eight thirty if you are .  No keepnets just a days fishing.”

With an invite like that from Bill G it would be rude to refuse, especially with the weather forecast predicting a nice mild 9°C. As with all good things though Sunday Morning revealed that Saturdays glorious weather had come to an end, but a smooth drive down stopping off in Bromley for a spot of breakfast on the way, saw me arrive at the fishery at 8·30am to find Vince waiting beside a locked gate, Bill soon arrived though with the padlock combination so we were soon parked up and decided on a walk round while we waited for the rest of the cast to arrive.

Usually when I’ve visited the Lake in the winter it’s been brim full and today was no exception, with a fair bit of water running down the outflow pipe on the dam wall. As we strolled round Al was the next to arrive and was soon dropping his gear into the 1st peg by the gate, a peg he’s been eager to have a go at for a while.
By the time we got back to the car park Dave, Colin and Tony had arrived.

Soon we had our gear together and set off for the session. Colin was traveling light only intending to have a crack on the river today and Tony also started with the bare minimum of gear hoping to sneak a Chub or two out of the river early on before settling down on the lake.

The surprise of the day was that Bill wasn’t going to fish!!!! deciding instead to spend the day wandering and chatting with the rest of us collecting titbit’s for his Blog, so he’d just brought a comfy chair with him and settled down with Al. Meanwhile Dave set up just just along from Al before the outlet on the dam wall.

Vince and I strolled a little further round to the far bank with Vince dropping in where he would have an easy chuck with his feeder rod to the island as well as a nice comfortable line where he could try out his new pole. I dropped into the next swim along (Bill had won his last club match from the peg), where I had about 13mtrs to the island which was ideal as today I planned to try out the Clever Claw and see how I got on using it.

Al was soon into fish, and even before most of us had set up he’d had four quick fish.

Tony had winkled a Chub of around 2½lbs out of his swim on the river to satisfy his quest, but by the time Bill arrived on the 1st of his strolls neither Vince or I had got off the mark. This soon changed however as Vince’s feeder tip whipped round and he was into a carp. Someone had remarked on the forum a couple of days previously that he’d never seen a photo of mine of Vince actually catching a fish, so I seized the opportunity to rectify that…..

….and soon Vince had a nice plump Common to show as his reward.

Bill was of the opinion that I wasn’t fishing close enough to the island, so another section was added and after potting in some more feed and adjusting the rig, I of course didn’t see the 1st bite as I chatted to Bill. I was briefly connected, but it shed the hook. However next put in I was more alert and connected with the bite properly this time, soon putting the net under a nice plump Mirror of around 5-6lbs. I have to say that the fish that the owner has stocked are some of the plumpest Carp I’ve come across, being deceptively heavy for their size and in lovely condition.

Tony came strolling round just after with his pole gear to fish the back of the island as he wanted to try out fishing long with his new Maver 401. Vince meanwhile had rested the feeder rod looking to christen his new pole, a Maver 101. I had managed another Carp, a Mirror of around 10lbs before taking a stroll to retrieve a couple of KitKat’s that I’d left in the car.

Dave had had a couple of Carp and a few Roach, and Al was now getting Roach, though as we chatted he was into another Carp and I got the definite impression that his peg would only get stronger as the day went on.

Vince meanwhile had been unable to resist the temptation of popping over the fence with his feeder rod and had succeeded in bagging a couple of Chub around the 2-2½lb mark from the river, before returning and resuming the task of trying to christen his pole.

I settled back to fishing across and I have to say that the Clever Claw made it an easy task, allowing me to rest the pole across my leg while the Clever Claw took all the strain……………..

Indeed I soon managed to extract another couple of Carp with Vince doing the honours with the camera for me on the second one………..

……… another nice one that may have nudged 10lbs given how plump it was.

Strolling round I found Tony, well settled in and trying to build his swim, but getting pestered by what he felt must be Roach trying to rob his bait.

Returning back to my swim a bit of a breeze had got up making presentation difficult and it was to cost me a couple of rigs in the island bushes before I decided to back off a bit and re feed a couple of feet short of the island. All along I’d been feeding to a tree in my left hand margin, but despite regular looks there hadn’t had a bite from it. Tony had finally managed a carp around the 7lb mark and had come round to show me as he was surprised just how heavy it was when he weighed it, proving once more just how solid the fish are.

Vince finally managed to christen his pole with a couple of 5lb’ers while I added another to my tally from my new line.

Vince started to pack away around 2·30pm but managed one final Carp on his feeder rod before he said his farewells and departed. I had one final Carp just before 3pm, but with the breeze ever present I felt the temperature was dropping and I decided to call it a day as well. As I packed away my kit Colin reappeared having spent the day roving the river and reported having a thoroughly enjoyable day despite only having three chub.

As I wandered back Dave reported having had a few more Carp, while Al had firmly taken the honours on the day with a succession of Carp from his peg.
All in all a pleasant session with a few fish to keep things interesting, next Saturday it’s a knock up at The Oast at Buxted, so until then………… That’s All Folks.