Andy Spreadbury's Fishing Blog

Tuesday, 24th.April, Bough Beech The Dam, (First Steps) 16.15 Finally set up (and here at last) after an horrendous morning. I originally intended to set off straight after the kids had all gone to school at about 9.15, but just as Christine and I were having breakfast came the news of total and utter pandemonium on the local roads. Not only were there serious accidents on one of the major roads out of Sittingbourne - but three! A bad two car pile-up on the A249 (my main route to the reservoir) had caused the police to shut the dual carriageway in both directions causing all the traffic to use the only other way through - via the tiny roads and villages. Unable to to cope with such a huge volume of traffic, every road around the town was gridlocked; nothing could move in or out. I had no other option than to wait until things sorted themselves out so consequently didn’t make it here until much later. It is extremely sobering to contemplate that while I was chuntering an...

Wednesday, 11th.April Bough Beech, Three Trees 13.45 So I am set up for my first session of The Challenge at the reservoir.The only sounds I can hear is the rat-a-tat-tat of a distant woodpecker, songbirds singing, and the occasional plop of feeders entering the water down the bank to my left. Bream anglers are plying their trade, practicing for the many prestigious matches held here. This is a positive sign. All along I have been worried about the insignificance of my baits and baiting in the vastness of the reservoir’s 300 acres and have always thought a concentration of food was more likely to encourage all fish to feed, as not. I also met another syndicate member on my way in this morning - Arthur. A most genial character who didn’t mind sharing his plans which involved pre-baiting the very spot I was fishing. He has been trickling in bait for the past couple of weeks and intends to keep this up in the hope carp may visit the area regularly. This is right along the lines...

Thursday, 29th.March Great excitement during the week as my ticket for Bough Beech arrived; I decided I have to get over there and have a good look before my first session. With the camera and plumbing rod in the car, I left home in the sunshine full of expectation! By the time I got to the reservoir however it had started to rain and the place looked a very dark, dour, forbidding place. No fishery looks its best in such conditions and my mood reflected this rather depressive aspect. I was determined to have a plumb though and found eight feet at eight wraps, straight off the Dam Wall, the water’s edge being only a metre from the foot of the wall. This of course will fall during the following months and in my head I put in place plans for fishing it. In a southerly wind it would be nice and sheltered and this fact immediately began to change the way I thought about my approach to the place… Even though I had yet to wet a line in Bough Beech, how to fish it had occupied my ...

Friday, 16th.March The Ultimate Challenge One of the exciting things about this time of year is the renewal or acquisition of new club or syndicate tickets. In one particular case, I have been waiting for the past three years to be offered a place - Kingfisher Angling and Preservation Society at Snodland (KAPS for short). So popular is KAPS and the waiting list so long, and the drop-out rate so low, many years can pass before a place comes up. Recently, I reached a bit of a crisis with my carp-fishing. For more years than I care to remember I have scoured the South East of England in an endless search for my ‘ideal’ carp water - a ‘Spiritual Home’ if you will, where I can go and fish and immerse myself in total carpiness and this quote says it all as far as I’m concerned - “Carp-Fishing is who I am. It’s not what I do”. This search has taken me as far north as Linear Fisheries near Oxford and as far south as Swanborough near Lewes near the south coast. Although I ha...

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...

It's been a while since I last posted anything for the simple reason that my fishing has been pants! Since I don't believe in posting stuff unless there is something interesting to say, I have left it until now before adding anything. Although this post is dated 1st.March, the following relates to sessions several weeks ago... [Note - I've decided to record these Blogs a little differently to that previously. The text you see here are direct transcripts from my Field Log, notes made at the waterside, at the time of fishing. I feel that not only are they more relevant but more accurate in recording my mindset at the actual time of fishing. Well that's what I think anyway!] Notes shown in italics are my afterthoughts made subsequent to events. Wednesday, 10th.January The Willows, Langley’s Speci The Willows is a relatively new 'commercial' water that is very close to my home and contains a good stock of carp, four (at least) of which are...

The Secret Lake 12.00 At last I am installed on the Meadow Bank in (I think) Peg 9. Well, it’s the one past ‘The Point’ swim. Saw a fish show right smack in front at about fifty yards, so clipped at 13 wraps. Leading showed only light-ish weed so well confident with my solid bags. Another fish showed down to the right, proving once again there are resident fish here. 12.30 Another fish showed to the right. 13.00 Weather overcast but very mild - small airborne flies on the wing. Wind from the SW. More fish out to the right. They seem to be right in front of the last ladder on the opposite side of the lake. At some point these fish must move down the lake and over my spodded area. 13.30 No line bites - I’m assuming there are no fish in the area. Line bites on this lake seem a pre-cursor to a take. 14.30 It’s gone quiet now - haven’t seen a fish for an hour. Wind increased in strength slightly. Fishing Peg 5 would have been very tough inde...