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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

2.7.22 - Dobsons

Right, a fresh approach was required after such a slack June. Those fish have been laughing at me. A new tactic at my favourite Dobson's swim. Rather than the float one rod length out, I put on a cage fighter, I mean feeder, and clipped up my line, despite my concern that anything decent could swim away to destruction. I stuffed the feeder with corn and a plug of groundbait and aimed it into the distance where I'd seen feeding bubbles in recent weeks. Here, in line with various You Tube vid
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

1.7.22 - Harris Lake, Marsh Farm, Surrey

It was an honour to be invited to compete for the 7th Paul Goldbourn Memorial Trophy with the revered Chris Plumb and a good number of other anglers, waifs and strays. Not knowing what to expect, my kindly chauffeur, MB, warned me on the way down that the lake can be a little 'moody' which was later reiterated by CP who told me that not much tends to happen in the afternoon. And so it proved. The competition for biggest Crucian was fairly won by a 2lb 12 fish (see CP's post as below), but I
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

28.06.22 - Willows

A last chance to make amends for the month. My nerdy spreadsheet shows that June 2021 brough a total weight of 221lbs 7oz, while this crummy month has limped to 118lb 2oz with just this session to go. Regular readers will know that I've being finding it quite scratchy for weeks now, and tonight was no different. The wind which has accompanied so many of my recent trips was here again, blowing hard from the south causing a proper surf, ruling out my intended float fishing plan. So method fee
Chris Plumb's Blog

1 July (7th IAC Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy fish-in)

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford 0600 - 0000 5 Tench; biggest 5lb 4oz the others 3-4lb. 7 Crucians; 5 over 1lb with a couple over 2 - best 2lb 4oz. A dozen+ rudd - most tiny with one of around 4-6 oz. Annual IAC get together in memory of Paul - a chance to catch up, raise some money for Duchess of Kent Hospice and this year, put a face to a name - Stephen Jackson  who has been on the IAC list forever ventured down from Carlisle for his first IAC fish-in.  A slow day angling
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

21-25.6.22 - Willows, Marsh Benham, Dobsons

Three very different sessions. Tuesday evening, I spent longest evening in the heat of Willows, float fishing where in recent visits I'd seen good feeding bubbles a rod-length out, but had been too windy to float fish. It's always fab to watch that quarter-of-an-inch tip of orange, but admittedly it would have been even better if I'd had a few more bites. Shallowed up for 3 small roach in as many minutes which broke the blank, but wasn't what I was after, so I switched to the trusted method
Chris Plumb's Blog

23 June

Harris Lake - Milford 1500 - 0030 Warm, overcast and muggy - though the promised thunderstorms never materialised - thankfully. 26ºC and still 15ºC when I packed up - though felt cooler in the breeze that had picked up in the evening which did at least keep the dew and mozzies away. 12 Tench: 8 over 4lb including 2 over 5 - biggest 5lb 14oz. 6 Crucians; all 2lbers best 2 - 2lb 13oz & 2lb 10oz - the others between 2-02 & 2-06. 2 perch and 6 micro rudd. Back over to Mil
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

22 June

River Kennet - Brimpton 0430 - 0900 Bright sunny morning - lovely to be out before the heat of the day set in - shared my morning with the local wildlife - deer, heron and kingfishers. River low and clear 7 Chub: best (by a very long way!) 5lb 11oz (!!!) with a couple of around a lb and all the rest 6-8oz  - nice to see some juvenile fish. 7 Dace, 2 Roach (all fairly small). 4 Brownies - 3 over a lb one of which was nearer 2lb. Well I wasn't expecting that - especially after
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

20 June

Johnson's Lake - Milford 1430 - 2315 Bright and sunny with a cooling NEly breeze which did a great job of keeping the mozzies at bay! AT 20º -> 10ºC. 5 Crucians - in order of capture: 3lb 7oz, 3lb 9oz, 3lb 8oz, 3lb 1oz, 4lb 2oz (NEW PB!) 😁 8 Tench - biggest around 2½lb the rest less than half that! 1 Roach (1lb) (!), 4 Rudd - all between 6-10oz and a micro perch! WOW! Annual pilgrimage here pays off spectacularly - my first ever 4lb crucian and the first time I've ever had
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

17 & 18.6.22 - Willows

At last, at last, the new season is here with rivers and canals coming into play, so where do I end up on Friday? Back on the lakes. I decided that the recent good weather would have the canals busy with too many of those boats, angry swans and ghastly paddle-boarders for my blood pressure to endure. The river sections I favour also seem weedy of bank and water on recent scouting mission, and with temperatures forecast of thirty degrees I plumped for the lakes where I would not suffer the physic
Chris Plumb's Blog

17 June

River Kennet - Hambridge 0430 - 0830 Warm and sultry - already 23ºC when I packed up - had planned to move to another venue after starting here but the heat decided me otherwise. River low and clear. 2 Chub: 2lb 12oz & 2lb 3oz. 20 Dace; all small. 10 Roach: ditto. 1 Bream - a large-ish skimmer which had me more than a little excited for a minute as thought I was bringing in a rather nice roach! 2 Gudgeon (hooray!) 2 Brownies - a 'pounder' and a parr. I did a recce here a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

16 June 2022

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0415 - 1145 Hot, sunny and sultry. 26ºC when I packed up but thankful for the fleece I put in my tackle bag at the last minute, when I arrived at first light! River low and clear. 2 Bream; 4lb 7oz, 4lb 4oz. 6 Chub; a couple of 2lbers with the rest all between ½-1lb. 3 Doz Dace & Roach (roughly 2 dace for every roach) nothing very big though a couple of the dace were half decent. 3 Bleak. 2 Brownies - both over 3lb with spectacular markings. Glo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

14.6.22 - Willows

Right, a big full moon, so a chance to test the theory about how this might affect fish behaviour. With hot sun and a brisk west breeze, 3pm til 8pm proved pretty hopeless with just one tench, albeit a pretty one of over a pound. With the heat of the day waning, 8pm til 9pm was frustrating. My swim by the lilies produced cloud after cloud of pin-prick feeding bubbles and had some large tench rolling within feet of my float,  but fishing corn on a size 14, I missed bite after bite. Even
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

7 - 11.6.22 - Willows & Dobsons

I've combined three sessions, none of which really deserved a post in their own right. Everyone I've spoken to bankside say they've found catches sketchy of late. Well, I suppose the weather has been Spring-like (albeit we are a week from midsummer day), and let's face it, we've all had spawning on the mind. Maybe its a good argument for adhering to the traditional close season. On the other hand, it's been lovely to ditch the gloves and thermals and absorb the sun like the grass snake that swam
The Flying Tench's Blog

Boddington Reservoir 1.6.22

I've done a couple of entries on this and they've been lost, so will keep it very brief. I spent an afternoon at Bod Res trying for the roach. Midwater. Plenty of bites on maggot and also 6mm pellet, but I kept bumping them and only landed about 10 fish. The problem may have been that the rod, a trotting rod, wasn't soft enough. I've got another rod more like a match rod, and will try again with that.
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

21.5, 2 & 3.6. Dobsons. Meh.

Hmmm. OK, a week away between visits, but nothing to write home about in any, so you'll just have to make do, I'm afraid. 21st - 25 fish in total, biggest a 1lb perch, though a pretty good carp straightened my hook out. 2nd - 22 fish. Some nice roach among them, but nothing more than 12 ounces 3rd - 1 roach, 1 perch for 3 ounces in 7 hours I've fallen off a cliff. Thank goodness for Peter G, who accompanied me on the last trip and while he wasn't puling in bream after me and r
The Flying Tench's Blog

Grove Pond 23.5.22

3-5pm mainly cloudy My first fishing session for three months, not being allowed to drive following heart surgery. It was good to be out! I float-fished double maggot, more than half the time up in the water.  1 tench (approx 3 lbs), 2 small crucians (both up in the water), one rudd, 2 roach. Nothing earth-shattering, but an enjoyable session, and somehow my brain is better able to plan future trips having had the first session of the season.
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

20.5.22 - Dobsons

A treat for me to have a fishing day with the revered PeterJG. I arrived at 5:15am to find my partner already set up on the bank, rods out and primed for hot fishing action. However, being the gent that he is, Peter insisted on not catching anything while I set up, and for a good hour or more afterwards.Naturally,  I returned the compliment and we both remained biteless before I eventually broke the protocol with an 8oz bream. It was a strange day. Very enjoyable, but with the fish cagey and an
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

15.5.22 - Dobsons

With the wind dropped after yesterdays Westerlies, I headed for the east bank to where I hoped the fish had been blown.  I had a really enjoyable session on the hottest morning of the year and a real mixed bag. A 7lb 4 common and 4lb 8 bream were the only heavy weights, but most fun came on the float less than a rod length out. 2 more bream, 3 perch, and 19 roach, most between 5 and 12 ounces. In a spell when I had a roach shoal in front of me I struck into a bigger fish. Estimating it in f
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

10 & 13.5.22 - Alders and Dobsons

(a) Tuesday evening. Alders. Unpleasant westerly wind made float fishing tricky. Had a 5lb bream after 15 minutes and that was it. A couple of additional bites was more than my counterpart had all session on the bank opposite me, so I was happy to have caught a fish. Very Alders. (b) Friday. Dobsons. Even more unpleasant westerly wind made float fishing tricky. Had a mad half hour mid-morning - a bite on float had me into a good fish. One fight later I had my net ready when up to the surfac
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

6 05 22 - Alders/Willows

So, here was the plan. (a) Start at first light at Alders on float until the sun climbed high enough to send the fish into hiding in the clear water. At that point I'd (b) cross the grass to Willows where the opacity of the more turbid water may be keeping the fish less guarded. (a) went well. I had bite after bite, good ones too, and I missed lots many more than the 2lb Common and Bream of 3lb 12, 5lb 1 and 5lb 8 I had to show for it. As anticipated, the bites slowed, though there was time
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

2 & 3.5.22 - Willows & Dobsons

Coming downstairs on bank holiday morning anticipating a session of hoovering and spring cleaning, my wonderful Mrs suggested I go fishing for a few short hours instead. Before she'd even finished the sentence, I was running for the bait fridge. Chose Willows as best chance of a catch in the time available. Arrived at at 7am to find all the carp mouthing at the surface. Pellet waggled at them, but rather than stirring up an orgy of feeding, this seemed only to drive them to other areas of the la
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

30.4.22 - Alders & Willows - The rough, the smooth and the rough

A session of mixed emotions. Firstly, shock. I had the unanticipated delight of scraping the thick ice from the car windscreen at 5am. I'm sure our neighbours enjoyed this nearly as much as I did. Arrived at a heavily frosted Willows with the temp gauge showing it was exactly 16 degrees below the day's anticipated high of 16 degrees. Surprise next. Anticipating the cold would have kept the fish firmly under their duvets in the lakebed, I kept it down to single corn, size 14 hook, 5lb l
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

29.4.22 - Knotts - The Great Roach-Off

What a treat. Today I got to fish with PeterJG of this parish. I joined him on the bank ashamedly 30 minutes late for our agreed 5am start, with PJG doing the gentlemanly thing and not catching anything before my arrival. Sadly, this was to continue for both of us some hours, though  I did manage a tiny blank-avoiding roach. Finding it a struggle, I scaled down to a size 18 hook, only to be destroyed by the first lunge of the one decent fish of the day. PJG showed me his photo alb
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in knotts

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