River Frome - Wool
0730 - 1330
Overcast with a cool easterly breeze - brightening up as I packed up. River low with (dropped over 40cm since last weekend) 67cm on the East Stoke River Gauge.
7 Grayling; 3 over 1lb went 2lb 5oz, 2lb 1oz, 1lb 8oz. 1 Bream 7lb 14oz (!), 1 Roach 8oz, 6 Brownies - all quite small.
I ummed and ahhhed about renewing my DDAS card this winter - the last 2 seasons have been very scratchy and its a long way to travel to catch
I've always wanted to fish the middle Stour since someone told me it was a place where you could reasonably rely on a good bag of roach with a good chance of a fish over 1lb. I was able to combine it with visiting a family member. Would the fishing come up to expectation?
15 Nov 1.30-4.30pm. The fishing shop steered me in the direction of a 'mill pond', weir pool really. But this immediately raised a question. Where on earth in a weir pool do you find roach? Such experience as I have of weir
Northcroft Stream
0730 - 0915
River Lambourn - Shaw
0930 - 1145
Bright and sunny after early morning rain (just stopping as I started to fish) Rivers (especially the Lambourn) surprisingly unaffected by recent rains (unlike the Dorset Frome which was Plan A for today!
Northcroft: 2 Chub, 3lb 8oz & 2lb 11oz. 4 Dace and 3 Roach.
Shaw: 11 Grayling to 1lb 3oz & 2 small brownies.
Both chub from weir pool at Northcroft - pretty much my only bites from there. Shaw was
River Lambourn - Newbury
0700 - 0930
Bright and sunny - milder than recently (no frost). River very low.
21 Grayling; Nearly all fish in the 10-14oz bracket - with quite a few just over 1lb too. Biggest 1lb 5oz. 2 Brownies.
Catcha couple and move on downstream tactics - though in the low water it was often sight fishing - watching the fish take the bait - and trying to get the biggest in each shoal!
River Kennet - Newbury
0930 - 1345
Bright and cold start, clouding over. AT no higher than 5ºC all day. River at normal autumn levels (actually slightly up on some previous autumns) and carrying a LOT of leaf litter.
4 Chub: 3lb 4oz, 3lb 1oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 10oz. 5 Grayling; Best 1lb 3oz. 13 Dace (quite a few in the 6-8oz bracket), 5 Roach and 5 small brownies.
A morning's trotting in the cold - this venue is starting to return to it's old productiv
River Kennet - Padworth
1800 - 2200
Cool and clear (down to 5ºC when I packed up - but came better prepared this time!)
Blanked
Not enough daylight for a blank saving trotting session so it was straight out with the ledgering rods for 4 hours at staring at static isotopes. Again no crayfish activity and YET AGAIN saw an otter come through just after setting up. Also had a barn owl swoop between the trees not far above my head!
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
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
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
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
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 h
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 trot
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!
