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!
Willows Lake - Thatcham
1900 - 0500
Warm overcast night - lovely night to be out!
4 Carp; 6lb 5oz, 6lb 14oz, 7lb 12oz, 13lb 9oz. 5 Tench - best 2lb 7oz and all the others C2lb±2oz. 1 Crucian; 3lb 3oz. ½doz+ perch - all small.
Nice to see some tench in Willows - bin many years since I've had this many in a session. All fish fell to lift method tactics less than a rod length out - with simple maggots as bait - did also bring a feeder rod but it staye
7 - 8.45pm Cloudy. Almost no flow after lack of rain. A new stretch
I wasn't expecting much with so little flow, but pleasantly surprised. I ledgered maggot for the first hour, and then sweetcorn. Bite a chuck small skimmers and some roach bream hybrids up to about 5oz on maggot, and then 4 nice roach 6-8 oz on the corn.
I'll be back for a more serious session.
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1830 - 2230
Warm and breezy.
1 Tench - c1lb, 1 perch.
Frustrating evening - as I was getting loads of bites which I couldn't hit - quite unusual for here - as was seeing other anglers on the water! Still another 2½lb of blackberries picked!
Dobsons Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 0500
Cool clear night. Temp down to 5ºC when I packed up!
4 Carp: 9lb 12oz, 8lb 2oz, 7lb 15oz, 6lb 9oz. 1 Bream 5lb 12oz. 1 roach.
Brrrr - a slow but steady night looking out for Perseids as much as fishing! Surprised how cool it was at dawn - compounded by a very heavy dew!
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2245
Warm (as ever) - still 22ºC when I left.
2 Bream: 4lb 14oz, 4lb 10oz.
3rd Monday evening on the trot here and as before the fishing was preceded by 30 mins of blackberry picking and as a result we now have a dozen or so jars of bramble jelly - which should see us through to next spring! Back to the fishing - both fish caught in the first hour with the sun still on the water - which augured well for the twilight ho
River Kennet - Brimpton
0530 - 1130
Hot and sultry. AT 19ºC when I left home at 0445! River still seeing the benefits of a wet spring.
6 Chub: 4lb 3oz, 4lb 0oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 10oz, 3lb 9oz, 3lb 2oz. 10 Dace - 4 over 8oz - best 10oz. 10 Brownies - mostly small - with 3 over lb.
Lovely morning'c chubbing - the more so as I spent most of it up to my thighs in cool Kennet water. Nice stamp of fish which came from 3 separate swims.As ever, these days th
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2230
Bright and breezy.
1 Tench - unweighed but around a pound.
Hopeful that the recent rain might have pepped things up a bit - though the opposite looked likely as the water appeared quite lifeless. Thankful for a solitary bite - which I missed - but the tench belied its size by nearly pulling my rod in!
River Kennet - Marsh Benham
0830 - 1430
Warm, bright and breezy with a couple of lumpy showers. River still higher than anticipated and carrying quite a bit of colour.
2 Pike; both 3lbers, 7 Chublets, 1½doz Roach. 1 Doz Dace, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak and a Trout.
First trip of the season to 'my' syndicate stretch of river - both pike on ledgered meat from the weirpool - had me thinking I hooked small barbel both times!
Alders Lake
1830 - 2230
Hot and sultry - a shirtsleeves and DEET evening!
2 bream both a couple of ounces either side of 2lb, 1 Tench circa 1lb and a roach.
First soirée here of the summer. All fish came in a 45 period from 2100 as it started to get dark.
Willows Lake - Thatcham
2000 - 0500
Warm (min 16ºC), overcast and drizzly most of the night especially early on.
8 Carp; biggest 18lb 5oz - all the rest between 5¾lb - 9¼lb. 1 Tench - circa 1lb and a skimmer.
A night of 2 halves - started float fishing the margins targetting the lake's rare but large crucians - and sure enough had crucians rolling in my swim repeatedly as it got dark - so hopes were high! Alas the carp kept getting to the bait first and when I didn't connect wit
Northcroft Stream - Newbury
0430 - 0815
Warm with cloudless skies. River looked in surprisingly good nick - still reasonable flow.
2 Chub - both circa 1lb (and possibly same one - caught nearly 3 hours apart!), 2 doz dace & 9 Roach.
Pre breakfast trotting session - hopeful for some ( bigger) chub which didn't show up.
3rd Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy - Harris Lake - Marsh Farm.
0800 - 0800
Hot, bright and breezy. Breeze never really died down even at night.
19 Tench - biggest 5lb 4oz with nearly all the rest in the 3½-4½lb class. 13 Crucians; 3 over 2lb (just!) - biggest 2lb 3oz. Around half the rest were 'Big 1's' (had 3 @ 1lb 15oz!). 3 Roach, 3 Rudd & 4 Perch.
IAC came out in force to do Pauls' memory proud! Record attendance at this meant £400 being raised for Sue Ryder. Despite chall
Jubilee Lake - Thatcham
1400 - 0500
Clear and breezy - night was cool and clear but not as cool as forecast (kept too busy to get cold!)
10 Carp; 23lb 10oz (!), 11lb 15oz, 10lb 11oz, 10lb 6oz, 10lb 4oz, 9lb 14oz, 9lb 5oz, 8lb 13oz, 8lb 6oz, 7lb 7oz, (Over 110lb of carp!). 2 Tench 3lb 11oz & 3lb.
Last year I made the mistake of fishing here in the school holidays - and got very irritated by the noise from other anglers. No such worries last nigh
River Kennet - Thatcham (2 venues)
0900 - 1400
Warm, muggy and overcast.
A dozen + dace, 2 perch (both around 10-12oz), 1 roach, 1 Gudgeon & 2 brownies - 12-16oz.
A visit here is now more by habit than expectation - long gone are the days when you could hope to winkle out a few barbel on the float - though I was still hopeful of chub. However just getting to a swim was a battle - head high nettles meant I just hacked my way into a couple of spo
Johnsons Lake - Milford
1200 - 2315 & 0300 - 0900
Warm and overcast and quite breezy. Quite the best night to be out - no need of warm clothing - or a shelter!
8 Crucians - best 4: 3lb 11oz, 3lb 8oz, 3lb 5oz, 3lb 4oz, 2X2lbers & 2X1lbers. 9 Tench; 3X5lbers to 5-15 and 6 of various sizes. 5 Rudd, 1lb 11oz & 1lb 8oz and 3 smalluns. 1 Roach.
Wait 27 years for a decent rudd and then 2 come along at once. 1-06 was my previous best rudd - fro
Warwicks Water
1000 - 1400
Overcast and breezy.
A dozen or so perch.
A quick recce to see how the clubs crucian project is coming along (and I'd heard of crucians and tench being caught!). Alas if the micro-perch didn't nail the bait the crayfish did - the lake bed is covered in the critters - I dropped a piece of meat at my feet to see the mayhem that ensued!!! Can't see how the fish get a look-in!
River Kennet
0400 - 0830 Thatcham
0915 - 1300 Newbury
Overcast start with some light drizzle - river very full for the time of year and quite coloured (boat traffic)
Thatcham - 1 chub 2¼lb, 6 dace, 1 roach, 1 Grayling and 4 Brownies to 2lb+
Newbury - 15+ dace, 2 grayling - both over 1lb!! & a couple more troot.
Wasn't going to continue this blog until somone unexpectedly asked if I was continuing and as I said yes I better put something up!!! Very pleasant start to the seas
Local lake 7 - 9.30pm
Aim was to catch some quality roach on float and sweetcorn, feeding hemp. At the first peg I couldn't get past an army of skimmers, so switched peg. Almost immediately I had a nice fish of 1lb 13oz that looked roachy, but I am sure wasn't. The scales weren't bright enough for a silver bream, so I concluded it was a roach bream hybrid. But to be sure I took out my camera that I had put in the bag a year ago when a similar fish identification issue came up, only to find the
