keston ponds

sorry if this is in the wrong place .
i live near to keston ponds near to biggin hill i was wondering if anyone has fished these if so any advice on best method and bait would be great .

cheers rob

I caught my first tench there, it was in 1968, I hope this helps. Oh, it was on bread by the way.

Used to have Leney stocked carp, fished there as a teenager a long time ago, great battles in the lillies, happy days. I think most of the carp 'migrated':wh but may have been restocked. Always had a reasonable head of tench though.

What do you want to catch?

Stu

stu_the_blank said:

Used to have Leney stocked carp, fished there as a teenager a long time ago, great battles in the lillies, happy days. I think most of the carp 'migrated':wh but may have been restocked. Always had a reasonable head of tench though.

What do you want to catch?

Stu

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i am open has i am new to fishing so anything really

rob

I've fished there with lures a handful of times and never caught anything. Not the most welcoming place to fish. Quite small and inhabited by regulars and locals. I didn't feel all that comfortable.

antlockyer said:

I've fished there with lures a handful of times and never caught anything. Not the most welcoming place to fish. Quite small and inhabited by regulars and locals. I didn't feel all that comfortable.

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thank you for the advice your not the first person to say that think i might give it a miss then.

Ive fished there for over 20 years. By day, Ive never had a problem, by night you get the odd drunk faffing around, but Ive not had any major problems.
Pike wise, its full of fish to around 15lb. But the are real stunners. Sardines seem to work best.
The top pond is good for tench, but youll have to wade out, clear a swim and bait it up a the same time. There is also some good tench in the bottom lake, but a tree fell last year in the prime tench spot.
Most of the big carp have been lost to the Europeans, although I saw a pic of a fish that looked like the top pond common recently, but it wasnt the best pic, so I wouldnt want to confirm that.
Ive had some cracking silvers. But you do get bugged by gudgeon.

Give it a go- youll be supprised!

Is it very weedy ? Ive heard rumours that its very weedy

Very. But there is planty of clear spots too.
Ive had a few pike out this year, up to 17.5lb and Im tolf they now go bigger.

Also the tree I was reffering to above has since been cleared

My local pond for many years. Like Ray I also caught my first Tench from there too…small world. Fred Wilton I understand did some of his early bait experiments at Keston and some mega stars of the Carp world fished it down the years so a real history water.

I actually went for a walk round it a few weeks ago…people still talk about 1 original being in there, not sure about that but there were some Orange fish swimming about now…never saw them 30 years ago ;-)

Interested to hear about being pestered by Gudgeon. Don’t think I ever caught one ! …Not denying they are there, I just never remember any. Lots of silver fish were in the margins so I am sure simple float and maggots will catch you a few. Lots of jacks as well…I even saw (in a 30min circuit of the lake) a coot get grabbed by something as it swam over some Lilly’s…just a for a few seconds it was clearly being held by one leg and dragged about then whatever it was let go.

Doubt I will but if I ever went back I think I would probably have a dabble for Eels. It has thrown up some big ones in the past & it would not surprise me if there was still a snake or two hiding somewhere.

It was also the only still water I knew that still enforced the old close season …Not sure if that’s still the case…I hope so....I well recall several “magical” june 16ths on there, getting up early to go before school. I remember in particular one year when the angling times did a spread on how to make a swing tip out of a plastic drinking straw and a paper clip which they described as a “deadly tactic for early season Tench”. I dutifully followed their instructions and made up the swing tip and taped it as suggested to the top of my match rod ready to open the season at Keston. Next morning there I was at first light sure I was about to bag up with Tench with this deadly new tactic. Trembling with anticipation I made my first cast of the season …..and watched my creation fly off the rod tip and soar into the middle of the lake. I suspect lakes up and down the country suffered a similar bombardment that 16th June thanks to Angling times !

Happy days.

I was at keston last week fishing for pike and saw a decent sized mirror carp surface 2 times and jump once. I’d say 30lbs at least
There are still good sized carp in the bottom pond (closest to the road)

It’s a shame that most urban ponds and small lakes are not deemed desirable places to fish any more. Much of my childhood fishing was spent fishing on ponds in and around Wandsworth and Tooting, plenty of tench and roach caught with just a loaf of bread.

I remember Tooting Beck and Clapham common ...ponds I fished as a kid..we never caught much but were always chomping at the bit for the next trip.