K&A Canal - Thatcham
0715 - 0845
Bright and breezy - after heavy overnight rain (¾in fell yesterday). AT 46ºF. WT 48.5ºF
7 Perch (5 over lb - 3lb 3oz, 2lb 5oz, 1lb13oz, 1½lb, 1¼lb) 1 chublet
Short session - as only had about 45 mins of 'good light' - good for perch that is - bites dried up when it got too bright. Water carrying a tinge of colour which would have helped too. All fish on lobs.
River Lambourn - Shaw
0915 - 1215
Cold and overcast - 5ºC. River moderate height and gin clear
16 Grayling (2 pounders - best 1lb 6oz), 4 Brownies - biggest 1½lb.
Trotted maggot. Usual 'catch a couple and move on' tactics. Fished a dozen swims and had a fish from all of them...
K&A Canal @ Enbourne/Speen Moors
0700 - 1130
Bright and breezy - clouding over. WT 48ºF. low and gin clear.
1 chub (1½lb), 1 perch (scraper lber), a dozen dace, ½doz each of chublets, roach, gudgeon and small perch, 1 B. Trout.
1st hour on the canal then switched to the river. Stiff downstream breeze made bait presentation a nightmare - managed 3 perch before moving. Fished mainly on PD - some lovely dace showing had 5 around the 8oz mark - a couple of roach of similar size.
River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
1830 - 2330
Clear and still. AT 54ºF --->45ºF, WT 52ºF. River low - another couple of inches down on 3 weeks ago and carrying quite a bit of debris - mainly ranunculus.
2 Barbel (8¼lb , 4lb)
River needs some rain!!! Both fish in the 1st couple of hours (again!) then the signals moved in (never a good sign). Floating debris quite annoying. Lovely clear night - good for firework spotting - also saw a few meteors (Taurids?).
River Kennet - Woolhampton
1830 - 2330
Still and overcast. AT & WT both 50ºF. River down 6-9 inches on last visit here (18 Sep) minimal leaf litter in river (expect that to change this weekend!)
2 Bream (2-3lb), 1 Chub 4lb 7oz
All fish caught before 2100 (could have had an early night!). Chub was very long, had a huge head and mouth and was VERY lank and out of condition. Tail and anal fins frayed and bloodied - looked like it had just finished spawning! Reckon it ought to ha
River Kennet - Newbury
0730 - 1230
Cold and frosty. River clear with some leaf litter. WT - 47ºF (That's down 8ºF since Monday).
5 Chub (2-3lb, biggest 3lb 11oz), 3 barbel (all 2-3lb) 4 doz Dace, Gudgeon, Roach (mainly Dace).
A morning trotting maggot or worm - very surprised to get the barbel considering the drop in WT. All chub and barbel caught after 1030 having spent 3 hours dribbling in maggot (and catching nowt but dace). Small but great fun on float rod and CP. All barbel
River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
1900 - 2315
Mild and breezy, air temp rose 1ºC to 14ºC. WT 13ºC. River down 3-4 inches on a fortnight ago - considerably less weed coming down too, dark when I arrived so couldn't gauge clarity.
10 - yes 10 barbel. 10.05 (thats 3 doubles in 3 trips!), 8.10, 8.02, 7.08, 5.07, 5.00, 4.14, 3 unweighed around the 4lb mark.
Another stonking evening on the Kennet!
Fished my ' new' swim last night (hereinafter called 'Doubles' or 'Broken Rod' - see below).
Summer Pit - Yateley
1915 - 2315
Mild, still evening, quite balmy under the trees. 17ºC ->16ºC. WT 14ºC
1 tench 3¼lb
Last throw of the dice to try and get a late season Crucian. Water was pretty lifeless though and was pretty surprised to get a fish 1st cast. Not surprised that this was my only bite of the evening! Fished meat (which caught the tench), bread and pellet.
River Itchen, Gaters Mill
0800 - 1900
Overcast, mild and becalmed - shirtsleeves all day. (Perfick!). River 'full', gin clear with LOTS of debris - mainly ranunculus coming down.
74 Grayling ( 26 over a lb of which 17 over 1½lb and 5 over 2lbs - best 2lb 9oz). 10 Brownies (best also 2lb 9oz), 1 chub 3lb 10oz.
River Itchen back to its best - most of the fish were in the faster, streamier water. Paul managed 71 grayling (we both do returns for the EA's national grayling survey) and
0700 - 0900 K&A Canal - Widmead
4 perch( 1lb 11oz, 1lb 9oz, 2<1lb)
0930 - 1230 Warwicks Water
1 bream (1½lb), 2 doz roach & perch.
Calm, high cloud, dry. 8º -> 16º. WT 14ºC
This was meant to be a perching session but the crayfish on the canal were a nightmare. If the perch didn't take the lobworm on the drop the signals were on the bait within a minute (I timed!!). Switched to Warwicks hoping for a late crucian but none were showing. Fished meat and pellet wi
River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
1830 - 2200
Overcast, drizzle 'in the wind' temp a constant 13ºC
7 barbel 11lb 6oz, 7lb 3oz, 6lb 10oz, 6lb 4oz, 6lb 3oz, 5lb 13oz, 4½lb
An eventful evening at the swim I 'discovered' on Saturday. River carrying more colour than at the weekend. Couldn't even fish for the first hour due to swans feeding just upstream sending down a constant barrage of floating ranunculus. Once I started fishing bites came thick and fast. Only downside is that while fighti
River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
0700 - 1200 Heavy drizzle for first couple of hours then dry and murky. 13º -> 15º
1 Barbel 10lb 2oz, 11 trout (3 X 1lb+), 10 dace.
This was meant to be just a trotting session but it was so wet on arrival, I set the brolly up and lowered a ledgered pellet under the near bank. Things got off to an auspicious start (NOT) with a cormorant surfacing in my swim followed by it's mate. Then a family of swans thought it would be a good place to have a ruck - th
River Kennet - Newbury
1900 - 2330
Cool and breezy - clear then high cloud and bright moon. 15ºC --->11ºC (but felt cooler!)
1 barbel 5lb 15oz
Mission accomplished! This session was about getting my mate Simon his first ever barbel - a feat he achieved impressively with an 8lb 10oz fish - my 'banker swim' came up trumps again! Simon also had a small >2lb chub, whilst I just about saved my blank though I had loads of sharp taps and knocks all
Alders Lake
0830 - 1100
Foggy start then bright.
3 tench, 3 crucians, 1 bream (all<1lb) 40+ roach and perch.
Fancied a couple of hours just seeing the float go under at regular intervals and not know what would show up next - though the answer to that was mainly roach!!! 1st trip here since it was re-stocked following the the fish kill of 2005. Will probably leave it 2-3 season for the fish to get a bit bigger before I return! One curious aspect of today was that I could only
River Kennet, Woolhampton
1815 - 2315
Cool and clear at first - then clouding over.
1 barbel 9lb 5oz, 2 chub (2lb, <1lb), 1 roach, 1 doz bleak,
Started with float fished maggot - in order to get my bleak point for the species race. Roach (quite a decent size) on maggot too. Then ledgered with two rods for a change - pellet on one, boilie on the other. A chub to each bait followed rather appropriately at 9.15pm by the barbel - my 1st from this ve
River Kennet - Newbury
0630 - 1230
Bright and sunny 7.5ºC -> 19ºC
3 Chub (4lb 2oz, 3lb 10oz, 2lb 13oz) 2 Perch (2lb 2oz, >1lb) 1 Barbel (2lb), 2 Trout (both 1lb+ - probably same fish!) 60+ Dace, Roach & Gudgeon (mainly dace).
A morning trotting red maggot for a nice mixed bag. Big perch 1st cast and all the chub came in the 1st 1½hrs otherwise caught steadily throughout the morning despite the bright conditions. River still 'full' though
River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
1845 - 2315
Clear and breezey. 18ºC----->9ºC. No moon - really dark night!
3 Barbel; 5lb 0oz, 2 sub 4lbers.
River down 3 inches on last visit, still carrying some debris - mainly ranunculus - which frustratingly kept catching the line. 2 smaller fish around 2100, 5lber last cast.
Horseshoe Lake, Yateley
1930 - 0630
Clear night - misty morning, Temp 22ºC ar dusk---->12ºC at Dawn
1 bream 4¼lb
Well that was a good nights sleep!!! Had only bite (and fish) within 1½hrs of arriving (on ledgered pellet) and hardly another touch all night. No further bites on pellet. Float fished meat, black pudding, broken up Meteor boilies in the margins. A few half-hearted bites on BP and the boilies but nothing hittable.
Summer Pit , Yateley
1900 - 0000
Cool, clear and still. Temp dropped from 18ºC - 8ºC
3 Tench - (6lb 11oz, 4lb 14oz, 3lb 3oz) 4 Crucians (2lb 10oz, 2lb 4oz, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 14oz)
All fish caught after dark - 1st bite around 2045. Unusually, most fish to float fished meat (lift method as per usual!). 4.14 Tench and the 2.10 Crucian falling to bread. Biggest tench of the season and my biggest ever from this venue - had gorgeous, almost vermilion, colour
Knotts Lake
1900 - 0800
Warm and overcast - some breeze - no dew.
2 Tench (6lb 4oz, 5lb 7oz), 9 rudd, 2 doz perch - biggest 1½lb
A VERY quiet night rescued by two nice tench either side of midnight. Biggest on pellet out by the island, 5lber on float fished meat in the near margins. Rudd and perch on maggot - some quite nice sized ones too. Lost a substantial perch (+2lber) at the net when the hook pulled - it lay motionless on the surface for second - just out of net range - bug
