Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
0700 - 1100
Cool, bright and sunny.
5 Perch - all around 6-10oz.
The CRT really are a bunch of ****s! I rocked up at first light and made my way to a spot I knew held good perch - a nice bush and fallen branch on the far bank which produced 1lb+ perch (and some nice chub) for me last season - but which also produced a 3lb stripey last year (I've seen the pics!). This feature is on the widest part of the canal on the outside of a slight bend
River Kennet - Brimpton
1730 - 2230
Cool, clear evening, lovely for spotting the conjunction of the moon and Mars but not great for sitting on the riverbank with insufficient clothing! River at normal autumn levels.
4 Roach & 2 Dace.
Another fruitless attempt at a Kennet barbel without the hoped for trotted chub as hors d'oeuvres! No crayfish activity at all (there's been extensive trapping here recently) but an otter came through my swim just as it got dark - and returned do
Lower Itchen Fishery
0830 - 1830
Warm (still 19ºC when I got home at 2030!), overcast and very windy - rainy for the first hour or so. River very low and weedy with lots of leaf litter and detached weed coming down.
50+ Grayling - nearly every fish in the 12oz-1lb class with a lot just over 1lb too. Nothing substantially bigger - alas - best went 1lb 7oz. 2 Chub; 3lb 5oz & 2lb 14oz. 1 Roach (13oz) & 10 brownies to 2½lb.
A very blowy day in Hampshire - upstream wind, so by
River Kennet - Speen Moors
0645 - 1300
Bright after a chilly start - river quite low despite yesterday's rain.
2 Chub; 3lb 6oz & a chublet, 3 Roach, 1 Gudgeon & 3 brownies - all pounders.
Not so much a fishing session as a hike with full pack. Walked pretty much the entire fishery - covered 9.7km in the process which is over 6 miles in old money! And there's been a few changes since last I was here - the top of the fishery has been scalped - a whole wood as been felled an
River Kennet - Brimpton
1800 - 2200
Cool and clear with a very heavy dew/mist making it feel cooler still by the end of the evening.
1 Chub; 2lb 13oz, 1 dace and a brownie.
Quick trotting session - primarily to try and get a chub - so that box got ticked though I was hoping for something a little bigger. Then it was 3 hours or so looking at static isotopes. No crayfish activity at all - which was a bonus - the traps have clearly made a difference here. Saw an otter twice - it cam
8am to 3.30pm
4 zander up to a pound vertical jigging, plus some perch also to about a pound - thanks entirely to Kappa's experience and coaching. The first time I have tried this style of fishing. A great day!
Kennet & Avon Canal - Avington
0645 - 1200
Frosty start with bright sunshine. AT -1ºC when I arrived, 14ºC when I packed up.
2 Chub; both just shy of 1½lb, 7 Skimmers; one of 2lb+ the rest a few ounces either side of 1lb, a doz small roach, 4 micro perch and 3 gudgeon.
First autumn perching trip - but I guess a first proper frost and bright sunshine do not perfect perch conditions make. Even so persisted with lobs for the first 3 hours but every time the float went under it r
River Kennet - Hambridge
0900 - 1200
Bright and sunny after a frosty start, had to scrape ice off the car which was a shock to the system after a week away in Lanzarote! River up a touch and with a bit of colour.
6 Chub; Best 2, 4lb 15oz & 3lb 14oz all the others between 1¼lb - 2lb 6oz. 10 Dace - with 4 in the 8-10oz bracket, 2 Roach, 3 Brownies - all over 1lb - biggest nearer 2.
Cracking little trotting session was hoping for a chub or 2 so to get half a dozen was great. Was
River Kennet - Thatcham
0900 - 1200
Bright and sunny - quite warm.
1 Chub 2lb 3oz, 2 Dace, 1 Roach & 5 Brownies (2 circa 1lb)
Off to Lanzarote tomorrow and didn't want to leave maggots in the bait fridge whilst I was away (not that I need an excuse!)
River Kennet - Bulls Lock
1800 - 2300
Warmish and overcast.
3 Dace and a chublet.
Another fruitless barbel session on a rarely fished stretch of river. As per usual started off trotting for not a lot - and once ledgering the only rattles came from the crayfish of which there were A LOT!
River Kennet - Brimpton
0615 - 1300
Overcast and quite breezy at times - drizzly rain for first hour. River not as low as I expected.
2 Chub: 5lb 6oz, 4lb 13oz. 7 Dace, 1 Roach, ½doz+ brownies - most quite small with one circa 1lb.
Took a ledgering rod As I wanted to have a daytime try for a barbel - however they were removing willows just upstream and an absurd amount of branches and crap coming downstream made it impossible. So back to usual trotting tactics for a lovely brace
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2230
Warm and quite breezy.
2 Tench; 2lb 6oz and a pounder. 4 Perch.
Yet another new swim - feel I've given this lake a proper go now and whilst not blanked hasn't been as productive as last summer - when I caught mainly bream and hardly any tench - complete opposite to this summer!
Willows Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 0600
Cool clear night down to 7ºC at dawn and very misty and damp with dew.
9 Tench: All over a pound with 3 fish over 2lb. 7 Carp biggest 2, 12lb 2oz & 8lb 15oz all the others between 3½ - 6½lb. 1 Crucian 2lb 2oz. 4 perch.
A return to the swim of a fortnight ago hoping for - and getting - a similar return for what will probably be my last overnighter of the summer. As before, started off float fishing maggot but the micro perch were in residen
6.45 - 8.15pm
I've caught very few bream above 3lb with a pb under 6lb, so it wouldn't take anything too gigantic to please. Fished two rods with 8mm pellet. Very pleased to get 3 bream, 2 skimmers approx 1.5 and 2lb, and one nice fish (to me, at any rate) of 5lb 7 oz.
All bites in the last half hour. That's the trouble at this lake, you are not allowed to fish beyond dusk. But I was encouraged and will be back.
River Kennet - Newbury
1800 - 2245
Warm and overcast evening though clouds cleared and temps started to plummet in the last half an hour.
7 very chunky dace - all 6-8oz. 1 Roach, 2 brownies to 1½lb.
First serious attempt of the season for a barbel - but of course I started out with a trotting rod for the first hour or so. Once I switched to the ledgering the only indications were from bats and crayfish - LOTS of crayfish - A pattern I'll see a lot of in the next couple of months!
River Kennet - Marsh Benham
0600 - 1300
Cool (6ºC when I arrived) and sunny - with a nippy northerly breeze. River lower than my last visit 4 weeks ago.
1½doz+ Chub, Biggest 3lb 5oz, the rest all chublets. 1 Pike; 3lb 10oz, 2doz+ Roach, 5 Dace (2 of around 8oz), 1 Perch, 1 Bleak, 1 Gudgeon.
Ledgered meat for the first couple of hours or so - 45 minutes each in 3 different swims - but the only pull resulted in a meat munching pike again - possibly the same one that I had here las
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2300
Warm and overcast.
3 Tench - all between 1-2lb.
Another Monday evening and another new swim (bin working my way around the lake this season trying a different swims each trip.) Bites at a bit of a premium - much as expected - but at least when they cam they produced and end result - unlike last week!
Willows Lake - Thatcham
1900 - 0500
Warm overcast night - lovely night to be out!
4 Carp; 6lb 5oz, 6lb 14oz, 7lb 12oz, 13lb 9oz. 5 Tench - best 2lb 7oz and all the others C2lb±2oz. 1 Crucian; 3lb 3oz. ½doz+ perch - all small.
Nice to see some tench in Willows - bin many years since I've had this many in a session. All fish fell to lift method tactics less than a rod length out - with simple maggots as bait - did also bring a feeder rod but it stayed in the quiver all night. Snaff
7 - 8.45pm Cloudy. Almost no flow after lack of rain. A new stretch
I wasn't expecting much with so little flow, but pleasantly surprised. I ledgered maggot for the first hour, and then sweetcorn. Bite a chuck small skimmers and some roach bream hybrids up to about 5oz on maggot, and then 4 nice roach 6-8 oz on the corn.
I'll be back for a more serious session.
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1830 - 2230
Warm and breezy.
1 Tench - c1lb, 1 perch.
Frustrating evening - as I was getting loads of bites which I couldn't hit - quite unusual for here - as was seeing other anglers on the water! Still another 2½lb of blackberries picked!
Dobsons Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 0500
Cool clear night. Temp down to 5ºC when I packed up!
4 Carp: 9lb 12oz, 8lb 2oz, 7lb 15oz, 6lb 9oz. 1 Bream 5lb 12oz. 1 roach.
Brrrr - a slow but steady night looking out for Perseids as much as fishing! Surprised how cool it was at dawn - compounded by a very heavy dew!
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2245
Warm (as ever) - still 22ºC when I left.
2 Bream: 4lb 14oz, 4lb 10oz.
3rd Monday evening on the trot here and as before the fishing was preceded by 30 mins of blackberry picking and as a result we now have a dozen or so jars of bramble jelly - which should see us through to next spring! Back to the fishing - both fish caught in the first hour with the sun still on the water - which augured well for the twilight hours - but I didn't get another b
River Kennet - Brimpton
0530 - 1130
Hot and sultry. AT 19ºC when I left home at 0445! River still seeing the benefits of a wet spring.
6 Chub: 4lb 3oz, 4lb 0oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 10oz, 3lb 9oz, 3lb 2oz. 10 Dace - 4 over 8oz - best 10oz. 10 Brownies - mostly small - with 3 over lb.
Lovely morning'c chubbing - the more so as I spent most of it up to my thighs in cool Kennet water. Nice stamp of fish which came from 3 separate swims.As ever, these days the trout were a bit of a pain -
