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3 August (Part 2)

River Kennet - Brimpton 1415 - 1615 Mainly overcast and quite breezy. AT 20ºC. River up a good couple of inches and carrying a bit of colour. The Colthrop sluices are obviously open more than the Crookham ones' as there was a lot more flow here than a couple of miles upstream - before The Aldershot joins the river. 3 Chub: 4lb 6oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 3oz. 5 Brownies, a 'pounder', the rest between 6-10oz with one a repeat capture! All chub from my banker swim which I fished twice -
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Chris Plumb's Blog

3 August (Part 1)

River Kennet - Thatcham 1130 - 1330 Bright and breezy. AT 20ºC. River at normal levels and with a bit of colour. 3 Chub; all small. 7 Dace & 4 Roach: ditto. 1 Brownie 1½lb First part of a chub hunting afternoon - and whilst it's always a good sign to see some juvenile fish in the river - I was hoping for something a little bigger!
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31 July

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 2300 Overcast and very breezy all evening after rain all afternoon - clearing to reveal a very bright full moon for last hour. AT 17ºC - 14ºC. 5 Tench: 6lb 0oz, 5lb 9oz, 5lb 5oz, 4lb 14oz, 4lb 6oz. 1 Carp 9lb 4oz. 1 Perch; small. Very lively evening - with bites from the off - started with maggot while my prawns defrosted but that only took a few minutes and there after it was chopped prawn - float fished lift method, all evening. Gotta love the
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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

31.7.23 - Treoes Lake

Well. Nothing happened in the first hour of the morning apart from a few sharp showers which kept all other anglers away until 11. Again it was too blustery for the pole so I took at two-method feeder approach, one to my left adjacent to lilies, the other to the edge of the central island. As has happened in recent trips to two locations, a switch of bait lit the touch paper. Between 8am and 11:30 it got so manic that at one point I swapped to just one rod as I couldn't keep up with all of
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

29.7.23 - Treoes Lake

A morning as the only angler of the lake - perfect for a misanthrope like me. Even the rain kept away for a change, though a swirling breeze stopped me using the pole as I'd planned. So it was down to underarming the method feeder towards a patch of lilies some 15 yards away.  After the other nights success on small tuti frutti boilies, I eagerly pushed some on and waited for the action. Nothing for an hour except a splendid fly-past by the resident kingfisher. I swapped to an orange w
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

28.7.23 - Half Round Ponds

A morning in wonderful isolation at these usually well attended lakes. Maybe the lack of swims in the 'carp' pond due to an excess of milfoil weed kept all but the die-hards away. I attacked my favoured 'silvers' pond with the pole next to a vast mound of recently raked out weed. This left the shallow water crystal clear, reminiscent of the old aquarium house at London Zoo as I watched shoals of small rudd pass by and experimented with the effect of groundbait and loose feed on them. To keep the
Chris Plumb's Blog

28 July

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0730 - 1330 Warm(ish) and overcast and quite muggy. AT 18ºC - 21ºC. River down a bit - more than I expected after another wet week.... 2 Bream: 3lb 3oz & 2lb 10oz. 3 Chub; 2 around ¾lb and another even smaller. 40+ Dace & Roach (in roughly equal nos - slightly more dace) - only one fish to trouble the net - a super dace of 10oz. 2 Bleak. A rare failure at finding decent chub - though a couple of hard fighting river bream were more than adeq
Chris Plumb

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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

25.7.23 - Treoes Lake

My first evening trip for many weeks now that the move to Wales has settled down as much as the weather. It was truly ghastly, pelting rain and winds last weekend which even put me off fishing. No problems this evening with sunny skies and light breeze. Plenty of lilies and weed beds around and chose a spot with a clear cast to the island to my right, and a nice looking 'hole' surrounded by weed one rod length out to my left. Soon after I arrived I saw the tail of a feeding carp about
Chris Plumb's Blog

24 July

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 2300 Cool, overcast and drizzly with a more substantial shower as it got dark. AT 14ºC - 12ºC. 2 Tench: 5lb 11oz & 4lb 4oz. 3 perch - all small. As expected, bites at a bit of a premium with conditions more akin to mid autumn than mid July. Pretty pleased then, to come away with 2 nice tincas and have an evening when I was NOT getting bothered by cyprinus carpio. And, as last week on Alders, 8pm appeared to be the 'witching hour' with the bi
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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

17.7.23 (part 2) - Aberavon Beach

One of the many benefits of my move to Wales was the chance to go sea fishing for the first time. never done it before, and I even get seasick watching the Onedin Line. I know little of tides beyond a childhood knowledge of their affect on my sandcastles but my new neighbour, Glyn, having dug his old tackle out his loft, took me saying two hours before high tide and an hour after was best. I bought the sand eels while Glyn kindly lent me a rod with missing rings, and a left-handed reel with
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

17.7.23 (part 1) - Treoes lake - Bridgend

A morning trip to this pretty lake, figure-of-eight shaped around two islands. Chose a good looking patch of lilies to put a pole out to, while a method feeder would sit to my left out by the island edge. After 30 minutes I couldn't believe I was fishless. The feeder rod was pulled out of its rests (note to self: use the bait runner here) with such force that the hook link immediately snapped. Then I watched sometime rise and take the corn on the pole float the moment it hit the water. The
The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

8, 15.7.23 - Half Round ponds - Bridgend

These small back-to-back semi-circular lakes are ex-industrial and have been brought to superb condition by a small band of volunteers of Brynmill & District AC. One has the advantage of being beside a tall escarpment meaning it is somewhat protected from the proper Welsh rain which battered me on both trips. It was truly wet. But the water in front of this shelter since I first came a few weeks ago is full of milfoil. This pond weed is rather pretty to look at, and i imagine loved by t
Chris Plumb's Blog

21 July

River Kennet - Hambridge 1330 - 1530 Warm(ish) and overcast. AT 19ºC. River down quite a bit on Monday - at least 3 inches... 1 Chub: 3lb 4oz, 6 Dace, 2 Roach (all quite small). 2 Brownies both 6-8ozs. Really surprised to see how much the river had changed since my trip here on Monday - the swim I wanted to target had a completely different 'feel' to it (and not in a good way!!). Managed to winkle out a solitary chub from it - but not the barbel I was hoping for!
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19 July

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 2300 Warm and overcast with a stiffish breeze for the most part - which kept the mozzies at bay. AT 21ºC - 18ºC 4 Tench; 3lb 11oz, 3lb 2oz, 3lb, 2lb 13oz (all 3 smaller ones feisty hard fighting males). 2 Bream; 4lb 11oz & 4lb 8oz. 2 Perch, 2 Roach (all small) Well that was an entertaining evening! All the action between 8pm and 10pm - no bites at all before or after. I started off (as I usually do) alternating between chopped prawn and maggo
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17 July (Part 3)

River Kennet - Padworth 1500 - 1630 Bright and breezy. Quite warm out the wind. AT 21ºC. River quite full for mid July. 1 Chub: small. 1 Roach, ditto. 2 Brownies both around 1½-2lb (definitely different fish - one had a growth on it) My day on the river was rounded off with a visit to a rarely visited venue - but one that has thrown up some nice roach from time to time - and that was sort of what I was after today. However and somewhat predictably, the only fish to put a seri
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17 July (Part 2)

River Kennet - Brimpton 1135 - 1415 Bright and breezy quite warm - 20ºC. River quite full with good flow - especially for July 1 Chub 2lb. 6 Trout - various sizes from 6oz - 1½lb. Oh, how I detest spotties - they were in every swim I tried (I lost nearly as many as I landed!) and even resting and returning to my favourite chub hot-spot just brought more of the blighters! Dropped into the weir-pool for a solitary fish without an adipose!
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17 July (Part 1)

River Kennet - Hambridge 0700 - 1100 Bright and breezy. Felt quite cool to start. AT 12ºC - 19ºC. River up an inch or so on last week - after a very wet weekend! 6 Chub: 4lb 5oz, 3lb 11oz, 3lb 7oz, 3lb 3oz, 2lb 10oz & a 'pounder'. 4 Dace, 2 Roach - all quite chunky. 3 Brownies a fish of around 1¼lb and a couple in the 6-8oz bracket. Quick return to last week's venue hopeful that I could pull off another float caught barbel - so concentrated my efforts on a swim where I've
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13 July

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0000 Warm (ish), overcast with drizzly rain to start - clearing and becoming quite cool. AT 21ºC -> 12ºC. 1 Carp 8lb 1oz, 1 Tench 3lb 8oz. A frustrating evening on the float. Lots of dithering, dips and rises and lots of striking at thin air for the first 3 hours! When I did eventually connect with something it was the right weight - but the wrong species! 8lb+ tench have been coming out of here this summer and I'd really like to get one as m
Chris Plumb

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11 July

River Kennet - Hambridge 1300 - 1600 Warm, overcast and breezy - with a couple of very light showers (much lighter than was forecast!). AT 23ºC.  River still with good flow for mid July though down an inch or two on 3 weeks ago.  3 Chub: 4lb 5oz, 2lb 3oz & a 'pounder'. 1 Barbel 2lb 2oz (hooray!), 2 Perch; 1¼lbs & a tiddler. 9 Dace, 4 Roach (nothing noteworthy), 1 Gudgeon, 3 Brownies two in the 12oz - 1lb class (possibly same fish!) and one half that. Normal service ha
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27 June

River Kennet - Thatcham 0930 - 1100 Bright and breezy and a lot cooler. AT 18ºC. River surprisingly low (given how full other stretches are...) 3 Brownies: 2½lbs, a pounder and one of around 8oz... Quick session to use up some maggot before I go to Devon on Friday. Surprised to find another angler in one of my banker swims - I rarely see another soul here - even less so on a week day! Could only winkle out spotties from my other 'bankers'...
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26 June

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 2300 Fresher than recent days and cooler. Quite breezy.AT 21º-15ºC. 1 Bream: 4lb 14oz. 1 Tench; 1½lb. 1 Rudd - a netter of around 8-10oz, 1 Roach - small. 5 Perch - handsized. Alders campaign gets off to a sluggish start - though it started promisingly with the nice rudd first cast. Dusk brought quivering lilies and raised expectations - fulfilled with the tench a little after 2200. The bream arrived an hour later just as I was packing up - resul
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8th Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford 0730 - 2315 Hot, sunny and sultry. AT around 25ºC all day and still 18ºC when I drove off at a little before midnight. 11 Tench: various sizes from quite small bars of soap up to 5lb - biggest 5lb 3oz. 2 Crucians 2lb 4oz & 1lb 2oz. 30 Rudd - most handsized - with a few a bit bigger, the one I deemed worthy of the scales went 14oz. A dozen roach - all small. Annual gathering of the Internet Angling Club - to remember our departed friend Pa
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The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker

16.6.23 - Dobsons & Marsh Benham

A start to the season in two parts. Firstly, I thought I'd spend several hours on the lakeside eager to catch a few tench before the sun rose and ruined everything. Needless to say the olive green beauts thought otherwise and bites were limited to 3 small roach and a pound-and-a-bit bream.  Made it late morning to the hot and sunny syndicate at Marsh Benham where I was happy to bump into CP of this parish who'd caught his quota and was now headed home to watch the test match. Rumour el
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