3.30-5.30pm WT and AT 4degC
Went to a chub swim on flowing canal to try out breadmash. Aaagh, sticky glutinous oranges! Threw them into the flow but l had little idea where they were coming to rest. Breadmash and I don't get on, next time I will try feeder with breadcrumb from the fishing shop. Magic bread on the hook was fine, but no bites in an hour.
Switched to maggot feeder. Immediate bite from something that felt very solid indeed, but it straightened the size 18 hook out. Hmm, su
Rivers Lambourn & Kennet, Newbury, Sunday 31st January 2010
Over the past couple of months I’ve been feeling a bit guilty. Since joining NAA I’ve mostly fished their waters whilst falling back on the Lambourn when Kennet conditions were tricky. Today was a similar story only this time I went to a TAA stretch of the Kennet to try a familiar trotting swim.
The snow melt would have been flushed through by now and I was hoping that the relatively light recent rainfall (apart from one n
River Lambourn - Newbury
0830 - 1130
Cold, bright & sunny. -2.0º -> 2.0ºC
13 Grayling; 8 over 1lb (!) best 3, 1lb 12oz, 1lb 11oz, 1lb 8oz.
Cracking little session after a slow start. Had planned to go perching on the canal but bottled it when I saw how 'sub-optimal' conditions were. Blanked in first 3 swims I fished - and didn't get more than 2 from any swim. Works look nearly finished - looking good! Biggest grayling from the Lambourn this season.
3pm to 5pm. Quite cold, AT 3degC. Decided to try and get another pound plus grayling from the Lambourn, concentrating on the swim where I caught one last week. Not to be: 4 grayling and 3 brownies, but none more than about 12oz.
Tried wading at one point, but discovered the 'gravel' was really silt, and I needed chest waders to give confidence.
Used a fixed spool reel for no very good reason. My best 2 fish have come on the two occasions when I used a 'pin'. A centrepin only seems to g
Middle Kennet Estate
0800 - 1645
Drizzle/rain ALL day! Mild 7-8ºC. River at normal winter levels - carrying some colour - more than is usual for here.
3 Chub; 5lb 7oz, 3lb 14oz, a chublet, 1 Perch 1lb 10oz, 1 Bream; 4lb 4oz, 1 Pike; 14lb 2oz, 2 doz Dace - biggest 2 - 12oz & 11oz, ½ doz Brownies - biggest 2lb.
Belated birthday trip - loads of cracking dace - hardly a fish under 6oz and loads around the 8-10oz mark. 2 smallest chub and the bream
The key question was where to go after the recent melting of the snow. I felt the Lambourn might have got rid of the salt etc by now, but another possibility was that there were static stretches of the canal where very little of the snow melt would have even got into the water, and with the very rapid rise in temperatures I thought Mrs Perch might be waiting for her dinner. Decided to play safe with the Lambourn.
Fished 2.30 - 4.45pm. Water temp amazingly 8degC. For the first 90 mins fished
Rivers Lambourn & Kennet, Newbury, Sunday 17th January 2010
Well what a brilliant day, not for the fish caught but for the whole fishing experience.
I started at the Lambourn Shaw stretch at about 10:00am, the river was still a bit high but a lot less coloured than yesterday underpinning the reliable nature of this venue. A Grayling was tempted first cast. I say first cast but it was actually just a dob in the water while I lit a ciggie, thereafter not much happened but the sun was
River Kennet, Newbury
1115 - 1245
Still bright and sunny. River pushing through and quite coloured. WT 43ºC
1 Gudgeon!
Tried worming for an hour or so - without a bite - switched to maggots for the last ¼hr to save a blank!!!
River Lambourn, Shaw.
0800 - 1045
Bright and sunny 2ºC - 8ºC. River 'full' with a merest tinge of colour.
7 Grayling - biggest 1lb 11oz, rest all sub 12oz. 1 Brown trout.
Last minute change of plan - as I forgot to check the match booking sheet until I got into Newbury - so decided on Shaw (before it got too busy!) first followed by a quick jaunt to the Kennet. Biggie first fish of the morning - best grayling from the Lambourn this season.
River Lambourn, Newbury, Saturday 16th January 2010
A short morning session planned with Steve (JV44), we weren’t going to be there for too long so the weather forecast wasn’t important, had we actually looked we may not have gone. I wonder how Mike (Arbocop) did on the Kennet.
I’ve never seen the Lambourn looking like this before, about four inches up and a colour which would be just short of perfect for other rivers. It was cold and windy so we only lasted a couple of hours but didn’
Rivers Kennet & Lambourn, Newbury, Friday 15th January
A different NAA Kennet stretch today, one that I’ve only visited on a guest ticket at a time when the weather was just as bad. The river was running quite fast and being coloured (brown) by excavation works being carried out upstream on another river. This is one venue where wading would be extremely beneficial but as I’ve never seen the river bed let alone trodden on it I decided not to try. I had a couple of casts into the brown w
3.30- 4.30pm
Thick snow. Decided to take a trip to the Lambourn, armed with sweetcorn and cryogenically frozen maggots. Maybe they weren't quite frozen in my garage, but their still state for some reason made me think of those who git themselves frozen in the hope of waking up feeling better in 2,000 years time!
Delayed, typically, so time very limited, though not too worried in this cold. The aim I guess was to catch anything at all, but particularly to try out the advice Chris P gave t
What a slob I am! Day off - FISHING DAY - But I lie in bed vaguely aware of mist and ice outside, and decide that it really isn't worth it, so get up even later than usual. Then I stagger downstairs and discover that all my concerns about fishing in sub-zero temps are answered on AN, and realise that I MUST BE OUT!
What to do? A trip will have to be very short to fit it in, and I'm still not too confident of catching. So, just as a chess player may have to satisfy himself with achieving min
River Kennet - Newbury
0830 - 1130
Cold and bright. AT -2ºC -> 3ºC. WT 40ºF. Some colour and near normal levels.
7 Chub: 4lb 2oz, 3lb 15oz, 3lb 9oz, 3lb 6oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 3oz.
An excellent morning on a frosty Kennet - or rather IN a frosty Kennet as I was wading for the whole session (warmer than on the bank!). All fish on trotted double red maggot (on a size 14).
1st fish of the decade - below. (3-09)
River Kennet, Newbury, Saturday 2 January 2010
Today has been one of the most demoralising sessions I can remember. Not just because I blanked but because everything that could go wrong did.
Firstly my plan was to switch stretches of the Kennet. I haven’t fished any TAA waters since joining NAA and so I was going to rectify that on a nice bit of shallow river where I’ve had good days before. Maggots bought I changed the plan (heaven knows why) and headed off to an NAA stretch. On tryin
River Lambourn, Newbury, Thursday 31 December 2009
What with being off work this past week I’d actually forgotten that yesterday was New Year’s Eve so it was with some guilt that I set off for a few hours trotting. My heart wasn’t really in it so I didn’t bother to buy any maggots, just grabbed a can of sweetcorn and off I went.
Had the venue to myself and was able to roam searching out the Grayling. A couple of small ones obliged and a brownie of about ½ pound also found the corn hard
Temperature 2 degC. Where should I go? The prime aim was to find a stretch of river where the fish wouldn't be put off by salt from the recent melting snow. I thought it should have washed through from the Lambourn OK, but being a bank holiday I feared that other anglers would have had the same idea, so went to a similar sized stream where I caught a few roach last year. A passing dog-walker last year had assured me that this stream was full of the most enormous fish including roach to 1.5lbs, b
River Lambourn - Newbury
1245-1345 & 1400 - 1545
Still Cold!
7 Grayling; (best 3 - 1lb 6oz, 1lb 2oz, 15oz), 3 Roach.
7 (!!) other anglers on Shaw when we arrived so after a grayling or two each, Paul and I moved to somewhere less crowded - with worthwhile results - especially for Paul who ended up with 11 grayling - 5 of which were better than 1lb - bested by a fish of 1lb 8oz. He also had time to winkle out a 12oz roach.
River Kennet - Speen Moors
0800 - 1200
Chuffing cold and clear. AT -4ºC when we arrived - and the line was still freezing in the rod rings at 12noon when we packed up. WT a slightly more encouraging 41ºF.
1 Chub; 1¾lb, 1 gudgeon, 1 trout parr.
A day on the river(s) with Paul - had to keep moving to stay warm!!! Paul also managed 3 fish - a chub (smaller than mine) a roach and a dace. Packed up at lunchtime as we decided we'd taget a species that's not fussed by a bit of frost!
River Lambourn, Newbury, Monday 28 December 2009
A bonus trip out on account of brownie points gained (so far) over the Christmas period. Arrived about 10:00am so as to avoid rod rings icing, they still did though until about 10:30am when the sun got its act together.
Sweetcorn was the bait again but this time it was an altogether more successful session. This bait has at last proved to me that Grayling are fond of it, less pleasing is that Trout like it too but right now it’s a case o
Defeated by a snow shower! Would have been OK at the river, but my house is at the bottom of a hill etc etc. But I am still going to bore you with my blog FOR ONE REASON. I am one of 3 weekly blogs on this site, and they all come from Newbury and surrounding area! Well - need I say more? This is my main evidence that Newbury is the ANGLING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. Let's face it, the score says it all: NEWBURY 3, Rest of the World NIL! Hah! That's what I think of all the other places. Hah! It's tr
River Lambourn, Newbury, Sunday 20 December 2009
Over confidence has a habit of slapping you in the face and today it did just that. I could only spare a few hours out on what was probably going to be my last trip this year, I wanted to catch something and the Lambourn Grayling have been kind to me in the past.
Generally I’ll trot red maggot but today I chose to try the killer bait (according to everybody else) sweetcorn. The EA are working on my favoured Swan stretch so off I went to
River Lambourn - Shaw
1130 - 1400
Cold, and sunny. -2ºC -> 1ºC. River at normal levels - crystal clear as ever!
13 Grayling: best 2, 1lb 7oz & 1lb 1oz. 1 brown trout parr.
Lovely afternoon in the cold! Fish were quite spooky - never caught more than 2 from any one spot. Experiment with pomergranate seeds a failure - skins are too thin for a good hook hold!
