jimwade

Dartford lake is a fairly shallow lake with an average depth of 8 ft rising to 3 feet on many off the bars. The bottom is black silty chod and dark gravel humps. Find the edges of the gravel and fish into the silt. However some of these areas of silt are a bit snaggy and can tangle your rigs. i have found that if you fish into the wind on this lake and your bait placement is just off of the bars you can generally score. in very warm weather fish can be seen in the A2 pads swim(which normally has the bailiff in it) another good swim is the home base snag swim(but only in the evenings) this is also a good holding spot.. during the day many of the fish hold into the margins around the island. the is also a superb spot under a tree that holds a lot of carp every morning right opposite the homebase swim. i could probably describe the tree but it would be easier for you to locate the two herons that live there as they fish under the tree a lot. i was curious one day while fishing, every morning about 5 am these herons would paddle up and down along the edge of the tree waiting for something to happen i only realised later that they were waiting for the carp to move on before creeping under it to find small fry after the carp had left. there is also a good bar that holds a lot of carp called goose point. its under water most of the time and also in the homebase bay. in serve drought it can be seen sticking out the water. it is about 8ft in diameter It sits about 2 ft under the water most times and is about 40 yards straight out in the 2nd swim in the homebase car park. the swim dose not look much and with an over hanging tree to your left makes bait placement awkward for three rods however the point is the place to be when its hot with very little wind or surface drift. I hope you have a good one cheers jim

you did well Dartford is not an easy water. did the wind change it was forecast to. if so that would be a good reason for the fish to move and your spot to dry up.

on arrival came up to see me. he was a right gent and remembered me from the last time. i paid for my ticket 20.00 for 3 rods and was informed that if i stayed for 48 hours then it would only be another 5.00 so that's 25.00 for 48 hours fishing. very reasonable. He even asked where i was fishing and then proceeded to point out a few hot spots in my swim. i cast the rods to these spots and settled in for the night. then the trouble started. i cast my rigs to the desired spots and set up my bobbins slack style which is a style of fishing i have been using a lot especially after the korda range of videos. my bobbins would not settle. they were bleeping a lot and then finally settling, then i would have more bleeping but not a take. i thought of everything as to what the problem could be. wind - NO, line bites - NO i was on the bottom totally slack i had a 3 second toner at 1am to then find the line empty? what was going on. i noticed that there is a lot of terrapins in Dartford some the size of dinner plates maybe it was them it was only when i had got home did the penny drop. i was having a brew in the garden and i was looking through a few old series of carp world and there before me was an article all about bite indication and the guy writing the article had suffered just like i did it was only when he locked up really tight even with the rod bent under tension did he solve his bouncing bobbins and he caught everything that touched his bait as the tension on the rod tip hooked the fish on the first take after the fish tried to use the lead to dislodge the rig. So It was the way i was fishing. Slack lines are great for a lot of situations but at Dartford the fish are to Wiley for that. they had been picking up the bait and when they were hooked they just sat there shaking there heads until the hook came out. this would explain the bouncing bobbins for most the night. next time i am going to fish with heavy leads locked tight and if the fish even as much as sniff it ill nail em. Yet again the lake was tidy well looked after no rubbish and all were very friendly i cant wait to get back again

im going back for a 24 hour stint should arrive by 7 pm there should be a good wind into the bay for the next 24 hours according to the bbc weather service and i feel lucky. will up date when i get back

no trouble at all, i didn't see a sole all night everybody was to busy trying to catch carp, the people fishing were all very professional there is 24 hour bailiff on site. the British carp championships were held here last week and i was sat in the home base swim, i didn't catch but i have in the past there's carp to mid thirties lots of doubles. its very clean no litter a well managed if not busy carp water in fact i enjoyed it so much i have put my name down on the waiting list for a season ticket and at 40 pounds for the year is outstanding value... its not any easy water though and you really need to find the fish, a good tip on this water is they really like to follow the wind and with a lot of lake to cover i would travel light and only set up once they have been found.

just got back from Dartford the fishery as come on leaps and bounds, all the swims are good with features abound. i believe there are some very big carp in here and it also has three large grass carp, good fishing if you can find the fish. cost 20 pound for three rods on the bank for 24 hours, good access and car park, there is also a good burger van in the car park serving hot food and drinks.

hi i have been there its ok i beat my pb by 10lb i fished the far end bay in the lillies i used odesseyxxx boilies its clean good washing facilities and good cafe there is also a bar my catch was 27lb light silver mirror there is also a good tackle shop on site.

there is a 250 acre stretch of water that surrounds city airport that you can fish on a membership basis, i live locally to this water. has anybody fished this water? is there any carp in it? the web site for the dock is www.rodma.co.uk.