K&A Canal - Enborne
0730 - 1230
Dull, mild and calm. Ideal weather for perch. Canal however was very coloured up which was less than ideal.
1 Perch - small - barely longer than the lob it gorged on! 2 Roach.
Bit of an epic fail. Had high hopes for today - milder weather and reports of big stripeys had me setting off full of expectation. Hadn't planned on the canal being so coloured however - and somewhat strangely above Guyers Lock it was clear - enough to see the bottom.
River Kennet Carrier & Weirpool - Marsh Benham
0900 - 1400
Cool 6ºC, overcast and still - a lovely benign autumn's day! River 'full' with little colour more like late winter levels than late autumn - augurs well for the rest of the season!
6 Chub 5 over 2½lb - best 3lb 8oz. 20 Roach - all a 'nice size' best 13oz with many not far shy of that. 7 Dace. 3 Brownies all 2lb+ and 2 Rainbows - both around 3lb (could have been the same fish!)
Very pleasant morning's trotting - gr
River Lambourn - Newbury
0745 - 1130
Bright and sunny - river quite full after recent rains - but gin clear as always!
21 Grayling - nearly all over 8oz with quite a few over 12oz biggest 2 weighed in at 1lb 13oz & 1lb 9oz. A doz Brownies - most quite small with a couple of pounders.
Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - chasing the maggots downstream! Session was bookended by the two biggest fish - biggest of the morning was on my second trot through and finished of
Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
0645 - 1230
Mild, overcast with light drizzle for the first couple of hours.
5 Perch; a couple of pounders but not by much - best 1lb 4oz. 1 Chub circa 12oz, 3 Roach - one of 12oz - on a whole lob and 2 smalluns, 4 Bleak.
Had the day off to fish the Frome on the first day of the season (it's open for 4 months from 1st Nov) but rain in Dorset this week put paid to that idea - so it was back to my autumn stripey
River Lambourn - Shaw
1000 - 1230
Bright and sunny.
11 Grayling; 5 in the 12-16oz bracket. 7 Brownies.
Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - most fish from the church stretch.
Northcroft Stream - Newbury
0645 - 0945
Cool, bright and sunny. River up a touch and with a hint of colour.
1 Chub; 1¾lb, 11 Roach - best 14oz. 9 Dace, 1 Perch & a Gudgeon.
Trotted maggot. Most fish from the weirpool.
River Kennet - Brimpton
0800 - 1115
Bright and sunny. river up a couple of inches and carrying a bit of colour - looked perfect!
5 Chub: 5lb 11oz, 4lb 14oz, 3lb 5oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 0oz. 3 brownies - 2 over 1lb...
Cracking morning's trotting - all the chub from the same swim - took it nice and slow - fed well before my first cast then rested & fed between each fish - certainly paid off as I don't usually get more than a couple at any one time....
Lower Itchen Fishery
0800 - 1800
Rain, rain and more rain - yes pretty much non-stop all day - though thankfully not particularly heavy apart from a few brief 'pulses'! River carrying a tinge of colour but otherwise looked in fine fettle!
3 Doz Grayling with half of these 1lb+. Best, 1lb 15oz with another half dozen in the 1lb10oz - 1lb12oz class. 3 Chub; 3lb 11oz and a brace of 2lbers. 9 Brownies - all between 2½-3½lb. 3 Salmon; 2 parr and a grilse of 5lb - o
This was a special fishing holiday near Pontivy in Brittany to fish the River Blavet and the Nantes-Brest Canal which it flows in and out of. I had heard from blogs on-line, and also a reliable report on Anglers Net, that the roach (to 1lb 8 oz) and bream (to 6lbs) fishing here was prolific, with nets of around 50lbs regularly available in a session. Also the locals mainly fish for predators, to be taken away and eaten, so I assumed the roach and bream wouldn't be too 'hook shy.'
Alas, that
Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
0700 - 1430
Mild, overcast and becalmed - perfect perching weather - pity no one told the perch!
5 Chub to 2lb 2oz. 1 Perch - small, 8 Roach - with a couple needing the net - both just shy of 12oz. 4 Gudgeon & 2 Bleak.
Another frustrating day on the canal - this time I had incessant boat traffic to contend with - had hoped to get at least a couple of hours peace but the first boat came through at 0710 when
Kennet & Avon Canal - Avington
0700 - 1400
Mild and VERY gusty with drizzle for the first couple of hours or so (lovely - not!)
1 doz+ perch - most around to 10-12oz mark but couldn't find anything bigger (which what I was after primarily). 2 doz+ roach nothing big), 1 Gudgeon (1st of the season), 1 Dace, 1 Chublet and a Skimmer.
'Orrible session! Wind was a nightmare for casting and presentation (and nearly knocked me off my feet twice). Fishe
River Kennet - Newbury
0930 - 1400
Overcast, breezy with some light drizzle at times. River up a couple of inches and quite coloured after yesterday's inch of rain.
4 Chub; all between 10oz - 1½lb. 2 Perch; 1lb 6oz and a tiddler. 7 Dace. 4 Roach. 1 Bream c1½lb. 2 Grayling & a brownie.
Was meant to be up on the Trent today at an IAC fish-in - but Jaq and I abandoned our plans for the week (exploring the Lincolnshire Wolds) due to the inclement weather so had to make do with on
River Kennet & Carrier - Marsh Benham
0900 - 1430
Overcast and fairly warm (18ºC). River low and clear.
6 Chub: Biggest 3lb 15oz the rest all less than half that! 3 Doz Dace and Roach in roughly equal nos. A couple of really nice dace of 10 & 11oz and quite a few roach in the 6-8oz class with a couple bigger ones (best went 12oz). 3 Perch - best nearly 1lb, 1 Bleak.
Lovely day's trotting. Did try a couple of hours ledgering - with no return
Willows Lake - Thatcham
1900 - 0600
Warm night, quite breezy at times - temps no lower than 14ºC
4 Carp - biggest 8lb 11oz.
Slow, fruitless night after this lake's big, elusive crucians. Float fished, so when the float did go under there was some 'interesting action' on light-ish tackle - but not really what I came here for!
Bucklebury Ponds
1500 - 1730
Bright, warm and sunny.
A doz roach tp ¾lb. 5 Perch. 4 Skimmers.
No fishing this weekend - upto Birmingham to watch the athletics - so a snatched couple of hours at my nearest venue to home - most of the roach were a 'nice' size.
Warwicks Water
1800 - 2230
Warm evening - especially under the trees.
1 Tench; 2lb 7oz. 1 Roach - small. Circa 2 doz perch.
Quick return here after the success of a fortnight ago - perch were even more insatiable - but thankfully quitened down when it got dark. Still no crucians - but a nice plump tench will do nicely!
7 - 8.30pm
For the first time in the Thames I used bait-dropper. I cast out 10 bait-droppers full of 3mm pellets, and then fished feeder with 6mm halibut pellet about 5 rods out. At first it was bite-a-chuck, and very positive bites, too. Within 5 minutes I had a 12oz roach, which is actually my pb for the Thames. Then they got a bit cagey, and I missed a lot of bites. I wondered if the hair was too long and they were sucking the bait and not really having the hook in their mouth? Next time I m
River Kennet - Newbury
0900 - 1400
Bright and breezy - river up an inch or so after yesterday's heavy rain with its usual summer tinge of colour.
18 Chub: Most around 6-8oz, with 5 over a lb, biggest went 4lb 7oz with the others between 1¼ - 2¼lb., 2 doz+ Dace, 1 doz Roach, 2 Grayling, 2 Bleak and 3 Brownies.
Lovely morning's trotting - great to see so many silvers in the river - especially the young chub.
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2230
Cool clear evening - with a breeze falling off. AT down to 10ºC when I packed up - felt quite chilly!
1 Tench - 2lb 3oz. 14 Roach - all small.
Another blackberry picking and tench evening! Roach were a bit of a pain but once it got dark the bites from them subsided and just like last time my solitary tench came at around 2130. Shortly after was then connected to one of the lakes rogue carp which I played for several minutes and was just entertai
River Kennet - Widmead
0900 - 1200
Bright and breezy. River at 'normal' summer levels.
1 Chub: unweighed but needed the net! 1 Grayling 1lb 1oz. 2 Doz Dace & a bleak.
Swim I've not fished for 35 years! (last time was Sep 1985 - and I had stacks of dace then too!). Grayling was first cast which was unexpected thereafter it fish a chuck for the first 45 mins.
Warwicks Water
1830 - 2230
Warm and breezy evening (kept the dew and the mozzies away!
2 Tench; 3lb 2oz & 1lb 9oz. 8 Perch ( all small).
Annual trip to check on how this lovely little pond is progressing after being remodelled and restocked (with tench and crucians) a few years back. Surprised on 2 counts; firstly to find two other anglers on the water (one of whom had caught a pound+ roach) - and to get a tinca over 3lb - wasn't expecting anything that big. No sign of any cr
River Kennet - Brimpton.
0500 - 0930
Lovely summer's morning - sun rising therough the valley mist - temps a warm15º - rising to a muggy 21ºC when I packed up. River a little on the low side as is usual at this time of year.
2 Chub; 5lb 4oz & 1½lb. 11 Dace - with half a dozen over 8oz (!!) best went 10oz. 4 Brownies - all over 1lb - biggest 2lb 10oz.
Cracking morning's trotting - nice to find a pod of big dace - or rather 2 pods as the fish cam
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2230
Bright and breezy evening - temps down to 15ºC
1 Tench 1½lb, 2 roach.
Strange little session - lake seemed pretty lifeless and spent the first 3 hours or so looking at a stationary float - then had a 10 minute flurry of activity at around 2115 half a dozen bites and all 3 fish followed by another hour of nothing! Still, managed to pick nearly 3lb of blackberries which Mrs P has already converted into bramble jelly - yum!
