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Chris Plumb's Blog

20 December

River Kennet - Thatcham   (A) 0730 - 0930 (B ) 1000 - 1200   Cool and breezy. Overcast for first couple of hours then sunny. River quite pacey with a little colour.   2 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 2lb 9oz, 2 brownies (all from B ). 1 Grayling (!) from A.   Last winter (A) proved to be a reliable swim for chub and perch - and throughout the summer and autumn has also produced nice dace. However the fish have done a disappearing act this winter (Paul and Rusty
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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Chris Plumb's Blog

13 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0915 - 1215   Bright, crisp and cold. -2º->3ºC. A lovely winter's morning. River low and clear (as always!)   20 Grayling; 3 over 1lb - best 2; 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz. 2 Dace. 4 trout parr.   A great way to kill time while my car was having its MOT! Had arranged to meet up with Paul (who provided a lift back to the garage) and we leap frogged our way down the fishery - for near identical returns. Think Paul ended up with 21 g
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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tomhaggett's Blog

Crashing back to reality

8th December - Berkshire Stillwater   As I mentioned in the last installment, the rest of my bait had been spread around the productive area ready for a return as soon as possible. After managing to wangle the day off I planned my return, obviously full of expectation. They'd had a free meal and a few days to get themselves comfortable.   I'd already arranged to meet a mate on the canal for the afternoon so only had a few hours to play with.   For some reason I thought I'd be clever an
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

Totally unexpected.

5th December - Berkshire Stillwater   So, when I got in the car this morning the temperature gauge read 0.5 degrees... hardly conducive to catching carp but that was what I planned to try my hand at, for a few hours anyway. The plan really, was to lob out a couple of rods while I waited for the light to drop so I could go perching late afternoon - dusk. Never did I actually expect to get a bite on the lake, it was just a better place to waste the day than home.   I arrived just after the d
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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Chris Plumb's Blog

7 December

Middle Kennet Estate - Newbury   0815 - 1600   Cool, bright and breezy, with showers for first couple of hours. River quite low.   10 Chub; All over 2½lb, with the majority in the 3lb+ class. Best 2, 4lb 1oz & 4lb 4oz. 7 Roach, 2 Dace. Around 10 brownies to 3lb & half a dozen rainbows to 4lb.   A fine days chubbing in the company of Paul & Chris (Rusty). Rusty was travelling up from Devon and we didn't expect to see him til mid morning so of co
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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tomhaggett's Blog

Another one :o. (Up to date, you'll be glad to hear)

24th October - Berkshire Stillwater   So, after last weeks result I was naturally keen to get back down there and see if I could winkle out another one or two before the cold weather really kicked in. The prebaiting seemed to work last time so I made the effort again but decided on a different area this time, the one that I mentioned had seen the only bit of activity over last time.   The plan was to fish it from a swim that commands a lot of water... that way I could fish one rod out betwe
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

Favourite one of the year and another original to boot.

17th October - Berkshire Stillwater   As you can see I really struggled to get out after that productive day session. A holiday with the new girlfriend and a hectic work routine put paid to any time on the bank for a couple of months though I tried to keep in touch as much as possible through a couple of mates that were still fishing every now and then.   I think now is a good time to mention that the lake has been very different this year, mostly due to the lack of people fishing it compar
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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PaulG's Blog

The plan – A chub from the Blackwater - 2nd December

Only a short afternoon visit, and a bit shorter than planned as I spent far too long waffling with the owner of the local tackle shop where I buy my maggots! That said, he did recommend a swim on the river Blackwater where I might get a chub or two.     He didn’t mention that it was also full of gudgeon! So after ten minutes trotting maggots, and ten bites, and ten gudgeon…..I moved to another swim!   The move paid off, second trot through my 6 x No.4 stick float dipped, and I had my firs
Paulg

Paulg

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tomhaggett's Blog

Cracking day session.

15th August - Berkshire Stillwater   I only had time for a day session this week, on the quiet water this time. I'd made sure to pop down a couple of days beforehand to have a look around put a bit of bait in. I found a few fish in a snag that I have fished quite a lot in the past, albeit in a slightly different part of the snag than usual. A kilo or two of bait was spread around the feature, making sure to concentrate the majority on both the spot I normally fish and the one closest to whe
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

A costly loss

11th August - Berkshire Stillwater   As usual this was an after work jaunt to the target water. The conditions were due to be spot on again so I made the effort to get the next day off work and trotted down the path full of enthusiasm. The winds were due to be blowing in strong and south westerly, similar to during the session I fished earlier in the year. Two mates had beaten me too it unfortunately and were set up at the windward end of the lake but reported that not a lot had happened.
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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Chris Plumb's Blog

29 November

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0715 - 1045   Mild (9/10ºC) with broken cloud - to bright sunshine at end. A lovely benign autumnal morning. Canal very clear (no boat traffic for a month due to maintenance work upstream) WT a 'balmy' 50ºF.   6 Perch; 2lb 15oz, 1lb 14oz, 1lb10oz & 3 tiddlers.   A session that got off to a very slow start with only 2 tiny perch to show for the first hour. A move 100m or so upstream brought instant rewards - and the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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tomhaggett's Blog

Running around like a headless chicken

As the title suggests, the next couple of sessions were more of a cardio session than a relaxing fishing session. Effort = reward however... unless you're me... then it generally equals a chance that I'll find a way to mess up .   25th July - Berkshire Stillwater   Yet another rushed after work overnighter. The fish have seemed to become rather nomadic recently and I had to settle down for the night without seeing much to go on. Nothing happened during the hours of darkness and once a cou
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

Back to the target water.

3rd July - Berkshire Stillwater   Yet another after work session that leaves me rushing around to find some fish and get everything sorted before darkness. This particular session I'd walked almost the whole way around when a really good fish crashed out close to the island in quite an unpopular peg. That was all I had to go on so I set about getting a rod on the money which only took a couple of casts before I was happy. Then the now almost guaranteed drama started.. I couldn't reach the
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

I promise I'll stop when everything is up to date...

The next date in my photobucket account seems to be this, though I think I'd sneaked a quick overnighter in on the target water and drawn a blank. I had managed a take at first light that session but unfortunately it shed the hook very early on in the battle. You win some you loose some.   22nd June - Vale Farm   With the warm weather well and truly upon us a mate and I had decided to start venturing over to Vale Farm for a few hours fly fishing after work. It is great fun, if a little ti
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

Please let that swim be free...

11th May - Berkshire Stillwater   Looking back through my pictures I can't believe how much fishing I was getting in over late Spring. Unfortunately the lakes remained mostly closed for that whole period so it was difficult to really make most of the best season of the year.     I remember this session well. The lake was still 3/4 closed with only the same 7 swims open for angling. I had pulled out all the stops to be there this day as the conditions were due to be bang on... big westerl
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

A few more to go before I'm up to date.

3rd May - Berkshire Stillwater   After catching that lovely 26lber, a fish I now realise was one of the known ones called Starburst, I was due to go for a night out with my mates. Naturally that all ended in the debauch it always does and of course I was hanging out of my *** the next day. Only one thing for it then... The gear was still in the motor so I nipped over to Berkshire with the idea of flicking a couple of rods out in the easier lake next door to the one I normally target before
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

Please sir, can I have some more.

So leading on from that guest session I had the carp bug back, good and proper. It had been a good start to the season and I obviously wanted to try and continue that run for as long as possible.   21st April - Berkshire Water   Another day session, this time on the quietest of the "specimen" waters after a baiting up recce a couple of nights previous. I got down nice and early for once, just after first light and amazingly got the rods onto the prebaited spots with only one cast each. Th
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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tomhaggett's Blog

Getting back up to date.

So it's been a ridiculously long time since I last posted in here so, as I've got some more time on my hands with the shorter days, I thought I'd recount a few of the trips I've had between then and now.   April 14th - Berkshire Club Water   So I'll kick it off with a nice day trip I had as a guest to the "other" club in the Berkshire area. A mate of mine was just getting into the fishing on this particular lake and following a visit for a brew and a chat while he was fishing the night bef
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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Chris Plumb's Blog

22 November

River Frome - Wool   0800 - 1630   Very mild (14ºC), overcast and quite breezy with the very occasional drizzly flurry. NOT at all what was forecast - which was pretty much rain all day! River quite pacey (0.97m at East Stoke river gauge) and carrying a bit more colour than I'd have liked.   14 Grayling; 8 over 1lb (6over 1½lb). Best 3; 1lb14oz, 2lb0oz, 2lb1oz. 2 Dace; best 10oz. 1 Roach; 9oz. 9 Brownies to 2¼lb. 3 Salmon parr.   A trip that we nearly abor
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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The Flying Tench's Blog

River Ock 17.11.14

2.30-4.15pm First time on this little river. It was flowing though quite fast and coloured, so I wasn't expecting too much. I started trotting bread hoping for roach, and thinking that a big bright bait might be visible in the coloured water, but went 30 mins without a bite. Switched to 2 red maggots and immediately had 2 dace, one of 7oz - an equal personal best. Altogether had 1 small roach, about 7 reasonable dace and a chub of just under 3lb. A pleasing first recce on this little river!
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Chris Plumb's Blog

14 November

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0830 - 1630   Bright and sunny after biblical amounts of rain in the 1st hour (and the preceding hours of darkness). River though was clear and still quite low!   8 Chub; All over 2lb with half over 3lb. Best 4lb 4oz. 4 Dace; All gooduns - biggest a shade over 12oz! A doz+ brownies to 3½lb and a rainbow.   A day that was booked off work with the intention of heading down to Dorset in search of a monster grayling. A plan th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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Chris Plumb's Blog

9 November

Middle Kennet Estate   0730 - 1645   Bright and sunny - a lovely, benign autumn day - glad we didn't go yesterday! River still low and clear despite yesterday's monsoon!   12 Chub; Most around the 2½lb stamp - biggest 3lb 11oz. 60 Roach & Dace (2/3 roach,1/3 Dace). 8 Perch; a 1lb fish and 7 smalluns. A gudgeon, 2 Brownies to 3lb and a 3lb+ Rainbow.   First 'estate' trip of the winter and it didn't disappoint - there were fish everywhere - though we fai
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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Chris Plumb's Blog

1 November

River Kennet - Thatcham   0700 - 1200   Sunny morning after a rainy start - rain stopped almost as soon as I started fishing.   2 Perch; 3lb 10oz & 1lb 2oz. 19 Dace (5 of which were in the 8-10oz class - very nice). 3 Roach.   Fished trotted corn for the first 45 mins in the hope of snaffling one of the big chub that are usually in residence - but didn't get a touch. Was rueing that decision by 0830 with the swim now in full sunlight thinking I'd waste
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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