Jump to content

Blogs

The Flying Tench's Blog

Mixed bag 24.2.14

4-6pm I went to the same swim as the last 2 weeks,where I reckoned a lot of fish would be concentrated to get out of the fast flow, but after getting a pb dace last time I decided to leave the perch and see what other silver fish might be around.   My first approach was with bread over specialist roach ground bait. Immediately I was getting little touches, but they were hard to hook. Then I caught a nice roach of about half a pound, but after that it was very slow so I decided to try maggot o
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

0
tomhaggett's Blog

A couple more productive trips

19th Feb - Shh.   Following last weeks success I had been back down to the little lake to bait the spots. They're only getting 50 or so baits at a time but it seems to be doing the job... keeping the fish regularly visiting the areas and expecting to find food there. I think this is being accentuated by there being no other anglers fishing at this time of the year and thus no other bait going in. It's quite a bit of effort what with taking a detour on my already 40 mile commute to or from w
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

1
Chris Plumb's Blog

22 February

River Kennet - Thatcham   0645 - 1030   Bright and sunny - a lovely spring morning. River still very high though running clear and a couple of inches down on Sunday.   3 Chub; 5lb 14oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 6oz. 3 Perch; 3lb 1oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 3oz.   Stonking session in the swim I fished on Sunday - though this time there was a bit more flow as the flood water is starting to run off. In truth I hadn't planned to fish here but Paul paid a visit during the week and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1
The Flying Tench's Blog

Perch and Dace 17.2.14

3.30-5.30pm   Went to same swim as last week, where I was fairly confident there'd be some perch even if they weren't massive. Plan A was to try drop-shotting with a sparkly gold 'worm'. They weren't interested. But there was a submerged step about 2' under water, so I was able to get a very clear view there of how my lure was performing. Fine on the up stroke, but the down was hopeless - it didn't look like anything other than a piece of old plastic slowly dropping through the water. I put o
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

3
Chris Plumb's Blog

16 February

River Kennet - Thatcham   1030 - 1430   Bright and sunny. 8ºC. River VERY high - but surprisingly clear.   2 Chub; 4lb 13oz, 2lb 7oz.   New winter chub banker swim turns up trumps again! Wasn't sure what I'd find - or even if I'd be able to get to the swim - but after paddling through the field - found a surprising slack piece of water. Smaller chub first cast on a lob worm, 4lber 90mins later on trotted maggot. Lovely afternoon to be by the river.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5
tomhaggett's Blog

First time carping since November (I think)

So there I was at work the other day, thinking as I often do about where and when I was next going to fish and it popped into my mind that I still had a new pair of carp rods that I'd bought in December to christen. It just so happened that I finished a bit early that day, so after a little detour I was en route to check out the little lake that I had been stalking in the summer. To be honest with the state of the rivers I highly doubted that I'd be able to get near it but apart from a heavily
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0
The Flying Tench's Blog

Wily perch 10.2.14

4.15-5.20pm. Bright clear sky much of the time. I was shopping in Newbury last week and looked at a spot where 2 streams join. Most of the area was too fast for sane fish to hang out, leaving a small quiet triangle of water where in theory all the fish would be. So I decided to give it a try, fishing lobs from a float and feeding maggots.   I was immediately into a small perch, and then a few more (about 6oz), but they were tricky customers, unlike my normal experience of the sergeant. These
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

2
tomhaggett's Blog

A wet month.

December - this week, K&A Canal/pub   Since my last entry I've not been doing an awful amount of fishing to be honest. The late part of December and early January was spent either drunk or trying to master this blooming drop-shot malarkey. I've come to the conclusion that it's nothing more than a pain in the ass and is not worth wasting any more time on. I did catch a few small ones and more pike than I'd have liked but the only good fish I hooked came adrift early on in the fight... ju
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

2 February

River Kennet - Newbury (plus an hour or so blanking on the canal)   0730 - 1215   Bright and Sunny 5-7ºC. River high though not carrying a lot of colour.   4 Perch; 2lb 0oz, 1lb 6oz, 1lb 3oz, 12oz. 5 Dace, 3 Roach & 9 Gudgeon.   A morning spent 'sharing' a large Kennet flood slack with Paul. In truth we rather expected more action (Paul only managed ½doz dace and a gudgeon) and hoped a chub or two would have put in an appearance. Still I'm not complaining with 4 fat perch - all of th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

24 January

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Newbury   0800 - 1645   Drizzly. 7ºC. Little wind - though enough to blow my brolly into the river when my back was turned! River 'full' with quite a bit of colour - more than I expected - and more than is usual for here.   19 Chub: All over 1lb - though biggest 'only' 3lb 13oz and 'only' 8 over 2lb! Pike; 10lb 11oz. 3 Dozen Dace with many many fish in the 6-8oz class, 9 roach - all small and only 3 troot (2 brownies and a rainbow).  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3
Chris Plumb's Blog

19 January

River Kennet - Thatcham   1300 - 1530 plus a final hour fruitlessly wandering the canal in pursuit of perch.   Bright and sunny - 6-7ºC. River high but surprisingly clear - eminently fishable!   2 Chub; 5lb 12oz & 5lb 0oz.   A couple of hours + in what is fast becoming a banker chub swim followed by an unsuccessful perch session. In hindsight I probably should have stayed with the chub - this swim could throw up a real biggie! Both fish on trotted magg
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

11 January

River Lambourn - Newbury   0830 - 1245   Bright and sunny 7ºC. River high as you'd expect but clear.   22 Grayling. 4 over 1lb - best 1lb 5oz. 9 Brownies - biggest 2½lb.   As ever the default venue when the Kennet is in flood. Paul and I leapfrogged swims all morning and when we compared notes afterwards had had a near identical day - Paul had 21 ladies, also getting 4 over 1lb - his best 1lb 7oz - also had a bonus roach of around ½lb. Very pleasant morning....
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

4 January 2014

K&A Canal - Enborne   1415 - 1615   Rain! 5ºC. Canal the colour strong tea - and flowing unusually fast! WT 45ºF   3 Perch; 1lb11oz, 1¼lb and a sub pounder.   Paul and I had planned a morning trip - but given the forecast I'd switched to a post lunch session and Paul packed the whole idea in! Was still touch and go whether I went - but with the wind dropping right out I thought I'd at least go and have a look! And when I got there I nearly turned around and went straight home. Normal
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2
The Flying Tench's Blog

Weirpool fish - where are they? 1.1.14

I couldn't resist going out in the howly wowly wind to wet a line, even if it wasn't a very serious attempt to catch fish. Following getting my first 3 fish drop-shotting two days ago I went to a free weirpool to see if I could repeat the trick. I had already seen from the other side of the canal a few days ago that the EA had opened the weir gate wide and there was a mass of water rushing through, with almost no-where that a self respecting perch would want to go. Aha! My logic was this: with m
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

0
The Flying Tench's Blog

Drop-shotting 30.12.13

2.45 - 4.20pm   I had a couple of hours on the CSAS stretch of the Kennet 2 days ago. It was good to meet up with Viney, but we both blanked and I am sure part of the reason was water temperature of 6.5degC. In addition it was rather coloured, about 12" visibility.   Today I went to the private weirpool I visited a couple of weeks ago. Water temp was unchanged from 2 days ago, but the colour had dropped out just a little. My plan was to do some more jigging for perch, but a guy in the tackle
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

30 December

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Newbury   0830 - 1615   Wild morning - wet and windy. Rain stopped at 1130 to give a bright afternoon with the wind dropping. Mild, 10ºC.   7 Chub; 2 @ 5lb+ - best 5lb 4oz - the rest around 2½ - 2¾lb, one under 2lb. 9 Roach quite a few chunky ones up to 1lb. 1 Dace (8oz). 1 Gudgeon. 6 Brownies to 3lb. 8 Rainbows to 4lb 8oz   Another day's fishing, another storm - and at least today I had the River Keeper to thank for staying reaso
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

27 December

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0800 - 1600   Bright and very windy especially on the meadows. River high and carrying quite a bit of colour - much more than is usual for here. Mild, around 10ºC all day.   18 Chub (!!): Only 1 under 2lb, most around 3lb with 6 fish over 4lb - biggest 5lb exactly (over 63lb of chub). 2 Grayling 2lb 5oz (!) & 1lb 3oz. 9 Brownies to 3lb+.   For some time now Paul and I have had 2 dates pencilled in over the Christmas pe
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

26 December

K&A Canal - Enborne   1400 - 1600   Cool (4ºC) and bright. WT a low(ish) 43ºF   1 Perch; 1lb 14oz. 1 Chub 1lb 11oz. 1 Tench (!!!) 3lb 3oz. 1 Roach (10oz!). 1 Gudgeon   The excuse was a recce to have a look at the river at Speen in preparation for tomorrow's trip - but I couldn't go to the river rodless! The canal though was always my intended option to drown a lob or two. Wasn't particularly optimistic on 2 counts - bright sunshine and a WT of 43ºF. Th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

22 December

River Kennet - Newbury   1000 - 1345   Cool, bright and breezy. River 'full' but not in flood condition - carrying a little colour but not as much as I expected!.   2 Chub; 1¾lb & 1½lb. 1 Pike 3lb 14oz. 18 Dace, 8 Roach. 3 Gudgeon.   Not so much a trotting session as a hold the float in a slack behind the tree session. Seems a lot of fish were shoaled up in a very small slack! In truth I hadn't intended to go today - Paul and I had acquired the required permissions for a session on t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3
tomhaggett's Blog

Back at it.

Late November - present. K&A Canal.   First entry for a while so I'll have to back track a little. After November's success I had a few more sessions after those carp, all bringing blanks or snotty bream, that typically hung themselves just as it was looking prime for a bite and getting a rig back out was difficult due to the light . I even had a couple of trips to day tickets with a mate, both renowned for being "runs waters" and drew blanks on those too. That was back in that spell
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0
The Flying Tench's Blog

Jigging for perch 16.12.13

2.30-4.30 Private weirpool   I'm lucky to be able to fish a private weirpool on the Kennet, and had a a tip-off from someone that had had bite-a-chuck success jigging for perch there. His approach was making half a turn of the reel handle at a time - a slower approach than the one I had (generally unsuccessfully) tried - so the purpose of the trip was to learn a bit more about jigging rather than to try and catch a monster.   First cast caught a small perch, which was certainly a confidence
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

4
Chris Plumb's Blog

13 December

River Frome - Wool   0800 - 1600   Cloudy, windy with bands of rain. At least it was very mild at 11ºC ALL day. River very low (63cm at East Stoke a foot down on when I came in November).   8 grayling - only one over 1lb (and not by much). 3 brownies to 1¼lb, 1 sea trout and 4 salmon parr.   Ahh - the perils of relying on the 5 day weather forecast for making your fishing plans! As late as Monday night every forecaster I looked at was predicting a benign
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Chris Plumb's Blog

7 December

River Kennet - Thatcham   0730 - 1030   Cool, calm & cloudy - a lovely benign winter's morn. WT 44ºC.   2 Chub; 3lb 5oz, 2lb 10oz.   A return to a swim that Paul fished last weekend - and as hoped it threw up a couple of chub! First ¼ hour was quietly lively! Started with float fished lobs and pretty much hooked a LARGE pike straight away. Never really got a good look at it but had it on for some time. The uneven contest was eventually decided in the pike's favour but not before the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We and our partners use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences, repeat visits and to show you personalised advertisements. By clicking “I Agree”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.

  I accept