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Thursday, 15th.February

Swanborough Fishery, Sussex

10.15

Bivvied-up in the crap-hole that is Swanborough. I have rarely seen such mud! Take a look at this!-

We have hit a sudden mild spell. Overnight, the temperature has shot up to 13.5° in the sun, the water temperature is still however 5.8° - considerably better than it was - very near the ‘magic’ 6° which I reckon is the getting near the bottom limit of where a carp is willing to accept a bait in the winter.

Swanborough is a small water of just over two acres, ideally suited to the ‘small water’ kit I am using - the Chub stalking rods and Daiwa SS2600 reels and fluorocarbon line.

I have put 5 spods of corn and pellets on a mark about half way across the peg and put both rods on it. One, a balanced pop-up on a 360 rig a la Tom Maker, the other, a balanced bait in a pva bag.

I am really confident in both these presentations and would quite happily fish The Secret Lake in Essex with them; if it wasn’t so wet this time of year I’d be over there now. Mind you, everywhere is wet this time of year so I guess I shouldn’t be complaining about the mud.

Badly need a fish of some kind to validate the baits, rigs, and new kit, [9ft. Chub Stalking rods which I have specially for small water fishing and Daiwa SS2600 reels] to prove it’s all capable of catching a carp.

12.00

Bailiff’s just been round to collect the money. Word is that the guy at the end of the lake has had five to over twenty pounds. The tactic is to fish a pva bag tight to the edge. This is what I have done on the rh rod which is now just off the reeds.

12.30

WT now registering 5.9°. Not exactly warming up but at least it’s not cooling down. Should I reel in the other rod (which is on the spot) and chuck it in the edge? The margin doesn’t look as ‘carpy’ so I think I’ll leave it where it is for now.

14.45

Got one! A 12lbs. common. At 2:00 pm to the solid bag fished off the end of the reeds. Needless to say, the pop-up has been reeled in and changed for a solid bag rig.

Time for a celebratory cup of tea in the new mug! My first fish from the new water!]

The rig however is not my normal wafting effort on a longshank hook, but a 360° rig fished on a short, supple boom. One line bite caused me to drop a bag I was making up in the mud. Grhhhh!!!!!

15.00

Just seen a fish move about five yards from the bank in front of the pitch; deffo a carp. So they do swim around the edge. They are margin-patrollers here.

If I came back, swim choice would be determined by being able to fish ‘down the edge’. I think before I go I’ll make a list of potentials.

15.40

Got another one! This time it's a thirteen pound common! This time, on the inside line of the two.

This time, a pink pop-up on the 360 rig did the trick.

Friday, 16th.February

07.30

Early start this morning as I want to be off the lake early.

Had an eighteen pounder last night after dark but got in a real pickle with it trying to take photographs. Flash just didn’t seem to work properly and neither did the hotshoe flash either.

[Managed to get a useable image by adjusting the exposure in Camera Raw.]

Line bite early on so I have made my final casts for the session. Lh rod fell too short (away from the reeds) but rh rod tight on and looks good for a bite.

[Nothing else happened so I took the bivvy down, packed away the gear and did a couple of circuits of the lake to suss out potential swims]. Time to make the long journey home.

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