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Rusty's Blog

A blog by Rusty in General

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Entries in this blog

Got there in the end!

River Kennet, Newbury, Saturday 9th February 2013   One of three accounts of the trip   A long awaited visit to this Middle Kennet estate water. Most of the ‘official’ days have been cancelled due to high water levels and I was beginning to wonder whether this season was going to be a total blank as far as this venue is concerned. Paul Goulbourn and Chris Plumb came to the rescue with an invitation via another route (thank you gentlemen), we just had to pray for a relatively dry week. Any ot
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Couldn't have blanked at a nicer place

River Kennet, Aldermaston Mill, Tuesday 8th March 2016   The clue’s in the title, a blank of biblical proportions with not a single bite coming to the four anglers on the river. The background to this trip was curiosity, I’d read about Aldermaston Mill on the web and seen a few YouTube videos but most of the information I had was quite old. I knew the venue used to be very good for barbel & chub with queues at the gates before opening time being the norm (as was the mad dash to grab a prim
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Left it a bit late

Kennet & Avon Canal, Thatcham, Wednesday 6th March 2013   A short bonus trip courtesy of my boss and the need to use up annual leave before the end of March.   I’m still trying to work out this stretch of the canal. Early January I had a couple of great back to back sessions which produced six perch at an average weight of just under 3lbs. That success was followed by a blank and then a couple of weeks later Chris Plumb caught a monstrous ‘four’ with a 2-15 cameo from me, our only perch
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At least I've seen a 'four'

River Kennet and K&A Canal, Newbury, Saturday 16th February 2013   Quite a contrast to last week’s weather, not exactly balmy but no sleet, no rain and air temps threatening double figures…bliss. The venue(s) were to be different as well, not quite as secluded and maybe less exclusive than last week’s but in terms of fish potential the club stretches I was heading for were just as good, perhaps with the exception of dace and roach.   The initial plan was to meet up with Steve on the Lamb
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I thought my plan was infallible

River Kennet and K&A Canal, Newbury, Saturday 2nd March 2013   You’d be forgiven for think that some of these blogs are getting a bit ‘samey’. You’d be right too, one of reasons is that the two venues I’m fishing are quite close together and spending a couple of hours trotting the river before targeting perch prevents me from arriving at the canal too early. Another reason is that the river venue is producing some very nice grayling and dace, I haven’t got the scales or camera out for them
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First time livebaiting

River Thames, Saturday 4th July 2015   This a was an experimental day, another trip to the ‘Drive In’ fishery to try out Kappa’s CD rig or at least my interpretation of it given what I had to hand (see here http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/7445162-perch-livebaiting-rig/).   The paternoster link to the weight sets the presentation depth so I though two feet off bottom in ten feet of water would be a good starting point, no real logic to this just a gut feeling that the nume
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Back in business

River Kennet, August Bank Holiday Weekend   Friday 26th August 2011   Well I’m mobile again, on doctor’s orders I can drive provided I wear a patch over my left eye, it was very strange at first but I am getting used to it. Great care is needed on roundabouts with filter lanes, I can’t turn my head far enough to look behind me with my right eye (try it) so I rely on my mirrors and having a good look at the other traffic before I enter the roundabout. Anyway all this means I can get to the
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Not quite what I expected

River Kennet, Barton Court, Monday 15th November 2010   I feel cheated, for the first time ever I’ve failed to catch a trout at this venue. Towards the end of the day I was trotting weirpools in a desperate attempt to justify my view that they’re a nuisance and easy to catch on anything but a fly, all to no avail. Trout blanking at Barton Court is unforgivable and I hang my head in shame.   The freezing foggy day which greeted me matched the forecast that had suddenly changed from a warm s
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Stillwater piking

Knotts, Wednesday 21st December 2011   Hoorah!! Today is the shortest day and we can now look forward to increasingly light evenings….ok by about 30 seconds a day to begin with but it’s a start…Summer is here!   To celebrate the coming of light we went piking on a stillwater that sees little predator pressure and one that we’ve never seen a pike caught from. Our combined experience of this lake is three visits by me tenching earlier in the year. We had, however, received helpful guidance o
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This was more like it

River Kennet, Speen Moors, Monday 18th June 2012   Well after the abject failure of the barbel hunt on Saturday it was nice to get back to a bit of general coarse fishing at a venue which has provided just that in the past. It was also nice to view the alarm clock somewhat later than 03:41 as I awoke and realised that I didn’t have to go to work on a Monday morning, what a great feeling that is.   So off to Didcot to buy bait…not quite. The traffic was unusually heavy and I soon discovered
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Predator Surprise

River Kennet, Newbury, Saturday 1st September 2012   What a strange day out this was, keen to get back into my normal fishing routine I decided to plan ahead and save Saturday for a session wading & trotting. The mild and overcast morning was perfect perch weather so as I tucked into a Sainsbury’s big breakfast I mulled over the options and decided to try for chub and/or barbel. The K&A canal would’ve been the best bet for perch but I didn’t really fancy competing with boats, cyclist
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Still barbelless

River Kennet, Thatcham, Tuesday/Wednesday 19th & 20th June 2012   A combined blog entry for these two trips because the days were remarkably similar, same weather, same swim, same method, same end result!   This is a Thatcham Angling Association venue and it’s the main the reason I joined up. It really is the club’s jewel in the crown and the relationship with the landowner and residents is managed very carefully in order to retain the fishing rights. There are strict rules governing i
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A chance to try some new kit

River Kennet, Thatcham, Friday 10th September 2010   I’d been mulling over the idea of an evening session all week. I don’t generally fish evenings because there always seems to be stuff to do in the house after work, dinner, chores etc. Today was different though, I was working from home and my evening was free so it was an ideal opportunity to try out a couple of recent acquisitions, a new reel and some Power Pro braid.   The venue was carefully selected, I’d be wading mid river and trot
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Post Christmas perching (postscript)

River Thames, Goring, Thursday 29th December 2011   Just a quickie this one. I popped back to yesterday’s venue (now known to locals as Steve ‘n' Alex’s place) trying the ‘peak time’ trick, i.e. turn up just as the predators were about to feed and then go home an hour later with a fistful of 4lb perch photos. That didn’t happen I’m afraid, the tackle shop had no lobworms and I was down to my last ten rounds of ammo so I had to be conservative with them. As dusk approached I thought a bunch of
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I found them!

River Kennet, Newbury, Monday 30th August 2010   The plan today was to fish some of the stretches of this huge venue that I haven’t tried before. As always there was expectation on my part but it was moderated by the fact that most swims would be new to me and I’d have to employ my decidedly wobbly watercraft skills. Still if you don’t put in the legwork any number of hot spots may go begging so with that thought in mind I packed as light as I could (no chesties) and set off fairly early arri
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Cheerio 2011

You can guess where, Saturday 31st December 2011   The last session of this year and I look back on 2011 with mixed feelings. From a personal point of view the year could’ve been better but from an angling viewpoint it’s been fantastic.   Tenching started in April, fishing during the close season isn’t something that I normally do but I wanted to try bait and tactics in preparation for the Wingham trip. I had some success too with Tincas weighing 4lb 8oz and 5lb 7oz, monster fish for me;
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Fortune Favours the Stubborn

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
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Back to work tomorrow, but I don't care

River Kennet, Newbury, Tuesday 16th November 2010   Again the day started foggy so I was in no rush to get anywhere and there was plenty of time for a couple of bacon butties before lift off. Wherever I fish on the NAA or TAA tickets my journey starts on the same road so I can afford to be undecided about the venue until I get to Newbury. I suppose that’s a ‘benefit’ of my favoured method, I can fish for chub, barbel, dace or grayling and the only thing that changes is the hooklength and hoo
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Haven't Blanked this Season

River Kennet, Thatcham, Thursday 17th June 2010   Second day out today but with a later start. I don’t think I can cope with two consecutive dawn raids, particularly when dawn occurs so early at this time of year. So today it was brownie point earning first thing and off to the river mid morning, the venue being one of my favourite trotting swims and the only place where I’ve caught Barbel (only three and tiddlers at that).     Armed with plenty of bait this time the plan was to sit it
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A day paddling

River Kennet, Newbury, Saturday 18th September 2010   Today would be a new experience, a short stretch of the Kennet which I’ve previously only fished from the club bank. The number of these dry land swims is limited, getting in the water opens up more opportunities but I’ve only ever fished there during a strong Winter flow when wading wasn’t that appealing. On one of those occasions JV44 suggested that I came back in Summer to familiarise myself with river bed conditions, that way if the wa
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Post Christmas perching

K&A Canal, Monday 26th December 2011   This was just a short morning session along the canal with a pot of lobs and ½ a pint of maggots. My attempt at an ambitious Christmas dinner hadn’t gone well the previous day and whilst I was keen to fish I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time in the kitchen to figure out why my orange sauce didn’t taste of oranges despite being loaded with Cointreau.   In terms of the fishing there’s not much to report. It’s a long stretch and condition
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The Quest Continues

River Kennet, Newbury, Monday 30th November 2009   This venue continues to deny me a chub and today it almost denied me any fish (again).   I couldn’t make an early start today and arrived at the venue at about 10:00am. Too late for perch really (and I was after chub) but it was overcast and so I thought it was worth a try before the chub search. A big lob was dangled into a close swim that had produced last time out, this time though a couple of missed bites and that was it. An hour later
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My new posh waders

River Kennet, Newbury, Thursday 8th March 2012   A day on the CSAS exchange section of the Kennet, the first time I’ve fished it since tree clearance works and an ideal venue to try out a new pair of waders.   I’ve pushed the boat out and bought a pair of Simms breathable stockingfoot waders and boots. Up until now I’ve been a neoprene chestie fan, they’re cheap and warm in winter so I’ve forgiven their usual limitations of universal sizing and crap wellies being fitted. Neither of the two
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More Frustration

River Kennet, Newbury, Thursday 17th December 2009   Today I was able to make an early start and so armed with lobs and maggots I arrived well before dawn (and questioned the wisdom of not having a head torch). The plan was to fish for Perch where I’d previously caught and when light levels increased I’d head off and search for Chub. Of course if the Perch continued to feed as it got lighter I’d continue to fish for them. Sadly this wasn’t the case, in fact they didn’t even start feeding wher
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At Least I Stayed Dry

River Test, Timsbury, Sunday 29th November 2009   The annual Anglersnet visit to Timsbury stayed true to form, it rained frequently and heavily at times. My plan of stuffing everything into pockets and carrying only a rod & net worked a treat, my kit and bait remained dry throughout the day. It's surprising how little you really need to take with you for a days fishing.   The main river was well up and a sort of watery coffee colour, not good. The fast carrier looked perfect and the sl
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