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Chris Plumb's Blog

17 January

River Kennet - Newbury (Whitehouse stretch) 0900 - 1200 Cold, calm & cloudy. AT -2º - +1ºC. River very pacey and crystal clear. 2 chub: 4lb 1oz & 3lb 7oz. 1 Brownie: 2lb+. This is rapidly becoming my new favourite winter venue! Started in my '5lber swim' but couldn't get a bite which was repeated in my next 2 swims which produced the silvers on previous trips. So more in hope than expectation I went exploring further swims. The river is fairly featureless so I was loo
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

1 - 15.1.24 - Treoes & The Fendrod

January 23 was a time of short mid-winter trips to Marsh Benham to plunder its chub and a great many fat trout. This year in South Wales, we sadly have no such river within 30 miles radius (well, none that are not fly fishing only or seen devoid of fish) so it's lakes for me with their inherent poor behaviour in cold weather combined with my lack of ability. 1.1 - Treoes. Scaled down on the tackle and winkled out 4 bream, the biggest of 3lb 2. 5.1 - Treoes. Having spent the cold evenin
Chris Plumb's Blog

9 January

Middle Kennet (& carrier) - Marsh Benham. 0930 - 1430 Cold, cloudy to start clearing to bright winter sunshine. AT 1º-3ºC but feeling MUCH colder in a biting North-Easterly wind. River VERY high - clearly down a few inches on the last couple of days based on all the debris on the bank but still higher by far on my last trip here - gin clear however. 2 Chub: 3lb 2oz, 2lb 13oz. 7 Brownies 2-3½lb. Started on the south bank of the main river with trotted red corn - which met
Chris Plumb's Blog

4 January (Part 2)

River Kennet - Newbury (Whitehouse) 1330 - 1430 Started raining the second I cast out and got progressively heavier - blowing in my face so becoming deeply unpleasant!! AT 5ºC. River bank high, really pushing through and very coloured up. 1 Chub 5lb 10oz (!) Well, as I was parked around the corner for my Lambourn jaunt I thought I'd at least have a look at the slack that produced my SB chub last week. With more water and a LOT more colour it didn't look at all promising - but
Chris Plumb's Blog

4 January 2024 (Part 1)

River Lambourn - Newbury 0930 - 1300 Cool and bright to start - clouding over. AT 5ºC. River VERY high (1.78m on the Shaw river gauge) I donned thigh waders and needed them to get to most swims I fished!! 19 Grayling: 9 over lb - best two; 1lb 10oz & 1lb 8oz. 4 Trout - all small/parrs. I usually like to start the New Year with a chub but on a recce yesterday I deemed the Kennet unfishable (I was wrong - see part 2!) so opted for the Lambourn as a safer bet. All my usual h
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

2023 - My Year End Summary

The end of another year, the fourth after my 20 year+ hiatus from the sport that has totally recaptured me like a gudgeon to a pinkie. July 2023 brought a move from Berkshire to Wales and a completely different set of options. Beach fishing has come into the equation (something I really haven’t got to grips with yet) but my nearest coarse fishing river is an almost implausible 45 mins drive away - too far – and even that seems devoid of fish. So a largely disappointing year for me, in angling te
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

29.12.23 - Treoes

A last session of the year at my default lake.  A fun trip, though thank goodness for bream. After a slow start a shoal found me, and in groups of two or three I ended up wit eleven, ten of which came in between 1lb and 4lb 4. With a bonus carp of 6lb 6 and the rain keeping off me all day, I would have settled for this before hand.
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Treoes lake

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Chris Plumb's Blog

29 December (Part 2)

Kennet & Avon 'Flowing' canal - Thatcham 1345 - 1545 Bright and breezy. AT 8ºC. River very full with a tinge of colour. 14 Roach. 1 Dace. All small. Another rarely visited swim which can be very hit or miss - usually miss - but which I knew would be a large slack on a flooded river. Lots of silvers in residence but no signs of anything bigger.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

29 December (Part 1)

River Kennet - Newbury (Whitehouse) 0900 - 1300 Bright and breezy with heavy showers. AT 8ºC. River very pacey with a tinge of colour. 1 Chub: 5lb 14oz. 9 Roach - all a 'nice' size - the one I deemed worthy of the scales went 14oz - with all the others around half that! 2 Dace - small. A quick return to my pre-Christmas venue. When I walked back to my car last week I spied a slack which simply screamed 'here be chub' and I wasn't wrong! First trot through the float buried at
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

21 December (Part 2)

River Kennet - Newbury ('Whitehouse' stretch) 1230 - 1430 Mild, overcast and windy. AT 12ºC. River full and clear. 8 Roach - all quite chunky - in the 6-10oz class. 1 Dace: a good-un - worthy of the scales at 13oz. Been yonks since I last fished here - but rumours of good silver fish catches (including big dace) had me investigating on a recent visit to B&Q and vowing to return with rod in hand. Had originally intended to fish down the length of the Lambourn again - but i
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

21 December (Part 1)

River Lambourn - Newbury 0900 - 1200  Mild, overcast and very windy due to Storm Pia - some swims had some jeopardy due to falling branches! AT 11º/12º. River very high and clear. 1.67m on the Shaw gauge. 8 Grayling: half over a lb - best 1lb 11oz. 3 Brownies - all small/parrs. Bit of a 'scratchy' morning with most of my more reliable swims hardly producing a bite. Think all the extra water has pushed the fish into some unlikely spots. Eventually found some fish and had 4 fro
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

18.12.23 - Aberavon Beach

With rain due this afternoon and the tides in the right direction, I headed for the local beach. A steady sou' westerly was driving quite a surf and being a newbie at this sea fishing lark, I don't yet know if the cold-water fish come as near to the shore as the summer bass do. Anyway, I cast as far as the wind and my poor technique would allow into the meaty waves. At least with the tide coming in, the bait (a two-hook flapper rog, one holding a sandeel, the other a bit of squid) would eff
Chris Plumb's Blog

18 December

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0845 - 1400 Mild and overcast - quite breezy. AT 10º-12ºC. River VERY high, up another 3 or 4 inches on last month and with a hint of colour. 4 Chub: 2lb 14oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 3oz, 1lb 10oz. 4 Roach, 3 Dace, 1 Perch (all small). 1 Brownie 4½lb Morning got off to a cracking start with all four chub caught in the first ½hour - then switched to a slack on the weir-pool that has been throwing up nice perch all autumn - but they weren't in residence - thou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

15 December (Part 2)

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 1400 - 1600 Cool, calm with some milky sunshine. AT 7ºC 10 Perch; most quite small - with one good-un @ 2lb 4oz. 1 Pike c2½lb Successful dusk session after a big stripey, in a canal basin that is something of a winter aquarium - for predators and prey - as evidenced by a couple of the club's seasoned match anglers who were also fishing it when I arrived. They kindly let me drop in above them - and I was quickly having problems with pike - I g
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

15 December (Part 1)

Middle Kennet (& Carrier), Marsh Benham 0900 -  1315 Cool, calm and cloudy - a lovely benign winter's day. AT 5º-7ºC. River very full and clear - though down a couple of inches on 10 days ago. 2 Chub: 3lb 5oz & 2lb 7oz. 3 Brownies; 2½-3½lb. I had a cunning plan for today - return to the south bank flood slack I found last week - pre-bait with copious amounts of red sweetcorn and empty the swim of big winter chub - or at least that was how it played out in my imaginati
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

13 December

River Lambourn - Shaw 0930 - 1330 Cool, overcast and drizzly. AT 6ºC. River full and clear. 1.68m on the Shaw river gauge. 6 Grayling - a couple of 'pounders' - biggest 1lb 6oz, 3 around 8-10oz and a tiddler. 12 Brownies - all small/parrs. I had planned to fish the Kennet today - but another 14mm of rain yesterday will have completely stuffed up even my most favoured flood swims. Somewhat of a scratchy morning - largely failing to avoid the small trout which were everywhere.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

8 & 11.12 - Treoes lake

Having abandoned any further 1hr 40 minute round trips to my 'local' river which seemingly holding no fish, and my very local Port Talbot Docks mysteriously having last week closed to all further fishing, it's my usual lake again. Friday. With the frosts a few days past now I was hoping the fish will have woken up hungry. Well, they sort of had. Got a handful of roach and bream, but in heavy rain did get a bonus 13lb 6 Common. Monday. A chilly but often sunny day. I chose to sit on the
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Treoes lake

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Chris Plumb's Blog

8 December

River Kennet - Hambridge 0945 - 1415 Cool with a bright start - clouding over (thankfully). AT 4º-10ºC.  River VERY high - highest I've seen it this winter - yet with surprisingly little colour considering it rained most of yesterday! 2 Chub: 3lb 10oz, 3lb 3oz. 2 Perch: 3lb 0oz , 2lb 7oz. 1 Roach (small), 1 Grayling (ditto). 1 Brownie - c2lb. Started off in my downstream flood swim - as it is more shady and had both chub from it (plus the red-fin, lady and brownie). Moved ups
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

6.12.23 - River Ely, St Fagans

My third trip to the Ely. It's my nearest coarse river and, with a stop at Bridgend to pick up maggots, took me about 50 minutes. That's too long, but I'm missing my chub fishing. We've had a clear and chilly last week that's warmed in the last couple of days with some rain and cloud giving a pleasant lift in temperature that I think makes it ripe for action.  It's a lovely looking river, much like the Kennet in places with glides and overhangs - very chubby looking. Having suffered two bla
Chris Plumb's Blog

5 December

Middle Kennet (& Carrier) - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1400 Cool, overcast with some light drizzle at times. AT 4º-5ºC. River very full with a little colour after yesterday's rain. 4 Chub: 4lb 13oz, 4lb 3oz, 3lb 11oz, 3lb 8oz. 1 Roach - small. 9 Brownies, 8 between 2lb-4½lb and a small-un. Fished the whole length of the carrier in the morning, think I pretty much ran a float through every swim for a solitary roach and the 9 Brownies (groan). Then walked down the canal bank to re
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

1 December

River Lambourn - Newbury 0845 - 1415 Cold and cloudy. AT -2º -> +1ºC. (Proper Grayling weather!). River very full and clear. 23 Grayling. 8 over a lb - best 4 went 1lb 14oz, 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz (X2 - different fish). 5 Brownies: all small/parrs. I do love cold days like this - wrapped up warm and staying mobile. Had the rare luxury of not seeing another angler so fished the length of the stretch twice with a break for lunch in between. Took corn but forgot it in the mo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Chris Plumb's Blog

28 November

River Kennet - Colthrop 0900 - 1300 Sunny spells - quite cold. AT 5ºC. River very high and gin clear! 1 Dace, 1 Roach (both small). 2 Gudgeon. 1 Brownie. Another venue I visit infrequently (last time was  three years ago), but whispers of large chub had me investigating first hand. Started out on the flowing canal in a failed attempt at emulating last week's big dace capture. All in all I struggled for bites all morning....
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

27.11.23 - Treoes Lake

With rain due and the prospect of hiding under a brolly, a lake seemed a better option than a river bank. A change of tactics though. With maggots left from Saturday, I thought I'd fish light, aiming to get the silvers going that might stimulate the pike into accepting a juicy half-mackerel dangled on a sleeper rod a few yards away near the rushes where I suspected predators might lie. Part A of the plan worked superbly, with 21 roach to 6oz (though most smaller) plus 21 bream (larger with
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Treoes lake

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