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PaulG's Blog

A blog by Paulg in General

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About this blog

Intermittent diary of a random angler

Entries in this blog

16th July – The plan – Always good to have a backup plan!

The original plan was to go and spend the whole day at a new venue, after the large bream that inhabit the lake. However, as happens quite a lot in our family life at the moment, cunning plans sometimes fall at the first hurdle!   So, plan A fails when the hospital ring to say they have a slot for me to come in and be measured up for a dose of radio-therapy. This is because my cancer has decided to start invading me a bit further, my bones this time. The thought of what Kim might do if I turne
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5th June - The plan – A new month, a new target…not really!

One thing I am trying to achieve by including stuff about my cancer is to raise awareness of the disease. Like many of you readers, I too get a bit fed up at times with the amount of advertising on tv and radio about cancer as I believe over-exposure of any topic can lead to indifference. But I also believe that me writing about my experiences is coming in from a more real angle, and therefore more notice might be taken. That said, I know my friends will tell me if I am becoming boring!   The
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22nd May - The plan – Another attempt to get a crucian

Having failed to catch a crucian carp during my previous visit of just under two weeks ago, I was sure this outing would be more successful. After all, Marsh Farm, Harris Lake, as per the web site, “famous for crucian carp”, and having caught nearly a hundred of them last season, my last outing must surely have just been a blip on my success rate.   To further increase the odds in my favour, I was here for the night, and the hours of darkness are usually guaranteed to bring a crucian or two on
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9th May - The plan – Contemplation and crucians

Signs to me that spring has properly arrived are seeing the first bluebells, the hearing of the first cuckoo, and the first outing after crucians. The bluebells hadn’t let the side down, stunning displays in the woods around Aldworth, Berkshire, well worth a visit, and don’t miss out The Bell in Aldworth itself, my favourite pub of all time!     The cuckoo listening had also been successful, so two out of three so far, signs were positive, now all I needed was a crucian.   The weather had
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The plan – A chub from the Emm Brook - 13th March

Whilst the summer months will find me fishing lakes mainly in pursuit of such as tench and crucian carp, the final three months of the river fishing season will see me more often than not on my most favourite of places to fish, small streams. It might be the upper sections and carriers of the Kennet, or some of the small brooks that I have access to, one very local to me, the Emm Brook. So local that I have the fortune to be able to fish it from the bottom of the garden if I’m feeling very lazy!
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The plan – A chub from the Blackwater - 2nd December

Only a short afternoon visit, and a bit shorter than planned as I spent far too long waffling with the owner of the local tackle shop where I buy my maggots! That said, he did recommend a swim on the river Blackwater where I might get a chub or two.     He didn’t mention that it was also full of gudgeon! So after ten minutes trotting maggots, and ten bites, and ten gudgeon…..I moved to another swim!   The move paid off, second trot through my 6 x No.4 stick float dipped, and I had my firs
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The plan – Last chance crucians – 21st/22nd August

As I write, yes, I know this outing was six weeks ago, the weather is changing, heavy rain, cooler temperatures, and it gets dark a lot earlier! This was my last solo night session of the year, and whilst I look forwards to the autumn and winter fishing, I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer obsession with crucian carp and tench this season.   This was my last but one visit to Harris Lake, (the last being with Chris Plumb, in early September) and I was lucky enough to find one of my favourite pe
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The plan – A big rudd this time? – 21st July

Alas poor Yorick….it was not meant to be, he didn’t catch any big rudd either   A lovely afternoon to be on the bank side, and this time as well as crucians, I also hoped to catch one of the big rudd which inhabit the lake. As the reader will more than likely know, rudd are very much surface feeders, and one of the best times to catch them is in the fading light of a summer evening. Yes I know a lot of rudd fall to legering tactics, but trying to hook one on a slow sinking maggot when they ar
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The plan – Yet another attempt at crucians – 15th July

If you have read my previous blog entries for this season, you will discern there is just a bit of an obsession developing for crucian carp and tench fishing. With the decent weather conditions, and not much being reported from the Kennet, I was thoroughly enjoying my trips down to Godalming. So, another day dawns, finding me back on the A31 heading in the direction of Johnsons, this time meeting up with fellow Internet Angling Club member, Neil.   This visit I hoped to find a vacant peg near
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The plan – to help a friend on his first Marsh Farm visit – 08 July 2014

Long time friend, Simon, had been itching to get a session down at the well-known Marsh Farm fishery, in search of the crucian carp, and after several attempts to link up we were finally able to fit in a visit.   Arriving well before Simon, to ideal weather conditions, warm, calm and overcast, I setup in one of my favourite pegs on the railway bank. If you’ve read my previous blogs you will know my tactics for this lake, close range float fishing with one rod, and a small pellet feeder out by
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No real plan today - 1st July

Another relatively early, for me at least, start, I was driving up the A31 in the Guildford direction just as the sun was rising. And a spectacular one at that, so good that I needed to stop to get a picture. Only one problem….not many places to stop on this stretch of the A31, and the lorry in front of me was being driven very strangely. Indicating left when there was nothing to turn left into, and probably only going 40 mph. I think he was trying to tell me that it was ok to overtake, but I di
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The plan – Attempts help a mate catch a non-carp – 24th and 27th June

My mate, TJ, had previously only caught carp from local venues, plus a few roach, and had asked me to take him somewhere so he could try for some other species.   First of all I needed a venue without carp in it, very difficult these days as most commercial fisheries are stuffed with the things.   So, after doing a bit of homework, ie browsing the internet, first outing was to a venue that neither of us had fished before, only 7 miles from home, nice and close. On arrival we had a quick look
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The plan – To catch a fish, any fish – 10th June

I don’t know about you, but the first session on a previously unfished, by me, venue always brings a mix of feelings. There is the sheer excitement of visiting a new water, the anticipation of what you might catch, especially if you have done your homework and know something about the fish stocks. Then there is the fear that you might end up feeling a complete noddy, as anglers to the left and right of you are catching fish, while the float in front of you remains motionless!!   It was with th
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The plan is saved by the backup plan! – 3rd June

And another visit to Harris Lake on the Marsh Farm complex, with the plan to fish a different peg than previous in an attempt to build on my limited knowledge of the lake.   Weather almost perfect for this fishery, not much wind, settled air pressure, and overcast skies, great I thought as I settled into peg 4 in the low light levels of 6:30am start. Fishing by 7am, one rod with pole float and paste bait close in, and the pellet feeder rod about 2m short of the island. However, by 9am the sum
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The plan – a red tipped float by some lilies – 20th May

First early start for several months, up at 05:00, and fishing by 06:30, back to Marsh Farm, but Harris Lake this time. Things looked encouraging, a couple of patches of bubbles from what I hoped were feeding fish made me stop and set up in peg 12, an area of the lake I’d not fished before.     Not much of a plan today, apart from I wanted to fish near some lilies, and I hoped my close range float fishing would be more successful than on previous outings! It just looked right for a spring
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Another plan, with a very unexpected result - 6th May

The plan on Tuesday didn’t start off too well. Rather than setting the alarm clock I left it for our two cats to wake me, as they always do at around 5:30 every morning. Only on Tuesday both of them decided to have a lie-in, so when I got up at 6.15, they were still fast asleep!   Still managed to get to my chosen venue, Richardsons Lake on the Marsh Farm complex, without getting snarled up in the morning rush hour, and was fishing by 8am. So, the plan for today, one rod setup to float fish cl
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Same cunning plan, with better execution – 29th April

After forgetting to take some essential items last week I thought another attempt at pellet waggler fishing was required. This time I checked the tackle bag thoroughly as I put it into the boot of my car.   And having learnt that trying to get to the lake in the rush hour is not the best move, a much more leisurely start was made and I was settled into my chosen swim just after 11am.     Same plan to be executed as last week, initially fish the margins and scan the lake for signs of carp
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Cunning plan, not so good execution - 24th April

After failing to write anything for over a year......   I think this may have been the first time I have fished for coarse fish in April as I usually wait until May before venturing onto the bankside. However, recent surgery to treat kidney cancer and the loss of my main work contract meant that I currently have a bit of time available. In addition, fishing is supposed to be a fine method of recuperation.   So, after a leisurely start to the day, read instead, stuck in traffic on the M4 and
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9th February - River Kennet

As Rusty alluded to in his most recent blog, there would be three reports from the same outing on 9th Febraury….and following on from Chris, this is the last. The reader may think that being the last to be published means it has taken the longest to write and is therefore likely to be a work of literary genius. However…..it probably isn’t.   Being the chief organiser of the day, my plans got off to a very poor start when, less than 24 hours before the meet up time, I found out that we wouldn’t
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19th January - River Kennet

So, while watching Chris haul out chub after chub from his side of the river, I was catching the occasional dace, and not much else. Its amazing how concentrated fish can actually be, as we were fishing a section of the Kennet that is around 15 yards wide. There were trailing branches in the middle of the stream, from an overhanging tree, Chris was one side, I was the other, floats at times were no more than 6 feet apart and I didnt get a sniff of a chub.   Having given up on the idea of lurin
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31st December - Emm Brook

The where? I suspect this maybe an internet first, a fishing report from this stream!   Emm Brook….it’s a stream, (although now officially classed as a river by the EA) which flows through the Wokingham/Winnersh area in Berkshire, before joining the River Loddon just downstream of the Twyford & District section at Sandford Mill.   This is proper lowland small stream fishing, almost completely overgrown, inaccessible in the summer months, so I have to wait until winter to get any decent a
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30th November - River Blackwater

My one and only visit to this venue on the Blackwater had been back in March, when I managed to land two out five chub hooked, the other three knew exactly where a sunken branch was lying. The swim is not the most scenic, or sweetest smelling……Sandhurst sewage works….and I was downwind !     Today it didn’t appear have anything in it apart from some small chublets so although I caught my target species for the day, they were not quite the size of those encountered nine months previously!
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My first blog entry....testing, testing!

I created this blog purely so I could help Mr Plumb sort out posting images from Flickr onto his own blog! But hang on.....the majority of the pictures on Chris's blog are taken by me anyway! With copyright etc, I see the potential for a new revenue stream there, couple of quid a picture should do it, but, then again he might start charging me for the cracking breakfasts he cooks on the bankside during our summer night fishing trips......well....it is his stove and he is the only one that is abl
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