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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

30/31 August

TAA Stillwater - Thatcham   1800 - 0600   Warm night becoming increasingly cool (9ºC) by dawn.   4 Tench - 2 4lb+, 5 Carp biggest 2 14lb 9oz & 10lb 6oz.   A quick return to try and find some more tench - a plan which got off to a great start as 4 out of the first 5 fish were all tincas - caught float fishing the margins as well. Alas the carp then moved in! 14lber was one of the mankiest beat up fish I've ever caught - hence no pic!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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30/31 August

Willows Lake - Thatcham   1900 - 0600   Warm night, quite breezy at times - temps no lower than 14ºC   4 Carp - biggest 8lb 11oz.   Slow, fruitless night after this lake's big, elusive crucians. Float fished, so when the float did go under there was some 'interesting action' on light-ish tackle - but not really what I came here for!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1815 - 2315   Cool, clear and calm (despite being a very breezy day - the wind died down at dusk). 9ºC when I packed up but felt cooler. River low with a fair amount of leaf litter - autumn is here!   1 Barbel 6lb 10oz, 1 Chub 5lb 5oz.   Again no trotting rod - but still no blank - and I even had my target species (barbel) for a change - only my 3rd of the season. Both fish were caught in the first hour - just as well as I had
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 September

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0700 - 1300. Overcast but quite mild. River low.   4 Chub - all between ¾ - 1¼lb. 5 Roach - all small apart from one cracking looking fish of 12oz, 6 Gudgeon & a 1½lb brownie.   A morning spent doing nearly as much walking as fishing (covered 5.5km according to my pedometer!) Started out after perch in some favoured swims of old - but not so much as a bite (not even from a crayfish) - so it was then a hunt for some chub - eventually achieved in the last hou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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30 October

River Lambourn - Shaw   0800 - 1200   Overcast and chilly with a couple of short, sharp showers. 2º -> 6ºC. River at normal levels with a lot of debris and leaf litter (EA were cleaning the Gauge Weir at the top of the venue!)   17 Grayling (best 1lb 5oz), 5 Roach, 1 Brown Trout   Catch a couple and move on - fished a dozen swims - never had more than 2 fish from any of them. Trotted red maggot.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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30 October

River Kennet - Thatcham   0800 - 1130   Bright and sunny. AT 54ºF, WT 52ºF - up 7ºF on Monday evening!   1 Barbel 4lb 11oz, 1 brownie 1¼lb, 5 dace & a roach.   Slowish morning's trotting - started out with lobs for 1st hour hoping for a chub or two but nothing doing. Then an hour's trotting maggot before the barbel showed up - target for the morning was a barbel so at least that box got ticked! Rather a lot of minnows in residence - more than I've seen for a long time!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

30 October

River Kennet - Speen Moors 1000 - 1530 Bright and mainly sunny after early morning rain. AT around 13ºC all day. River still quite low and clear despite a wet October (109mm and counting!) 6 Chub; 4lb 10oz, 2lb 0oz and 4 in the ½-1lb bracket (of course!). 1 Perch 1lb 11oz. 17 Roach - only one troubled the scales (as I thought it would make a pound!) @ 14oz. 3 Dace. 1 Bleak. 2 Brownies; a 2+lber and a smallun. First hour and a half on Parliament Draft which accounted for both
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

7

30 November

Flowing Canal & river Kennet near Thatcham   0715 - 1215   Cool, bright and breezy after a cloudy start. WT 47ºF   1 Gudgeon and 1 trout parr.   Fruitless perch hunt in the company of Paul - we both started in THE swim (see 28 Oct entry ) but despite what I considered reasonably favourable conditions I couldn't help wonder that we were 48 hours too late (Thursday was perfect!) and neither of us got a hint of interest in our float fished lobs. So
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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30 June

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   0430 - 1030   Overcast clearing to bright sunshine - quite breezy.   1 Carp 5lb 15oz, 1roach, 1perch, dozen+ rudd.   Fruitless morning after crucians. At least I wasn't plagued by nuisance carp - the only one I caught was deliberate - off the top on bread. Rudd were a bit of a menace - especially as they gave very crucian-like bites at times.....!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 July (Part 2)

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2345   Cool,(cold!) clear evening under a full moon. AT down to 6ºC when I packed up (it got down to 2ºC in our greenhouse overnight). River up a couple of inches and looking in better nick than it has for a couple of months.   1 Barbel; 11lb 7oz. 1 Perch; 1lb 12oz. 11 Dace; (5 of which were over 8oz). 7 Roach; (all small save for one of 11oz). 1 Gudgeon.   Hooray! After nearly 40 'rod hours' ledgering (and countless mo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 July (Part 1)

Alders Lake - Thatcham   0530 - 1030   Bright and quite cool with a breeze picking up for last hour.   3 Rudd. 9 Perch.   A dawn session more in hope than expectation! Was after the lake's resident tench or bream though reports this summer from here haven't been exactly favourable! Water looked pretty life-less so whilst I had planned to stay longer - I decided an early pack up to get home in time for the start of the cricket was the better option!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 July

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!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

30 July

Harris Lake, Marsh Farm - Milford 1600 - 0000 Cool (for late July!), 17ºC - 15ºC, very breezy (thanks to storm Evert) with a couple of brief flurries of rain - though precipitation had been much heavier prior to arrival. 23 (!!!?!!!) Crucians: 18 over 2lb (the other 5 all around 1¾lb - I had 2 @1-14). Best 5 went, 3lb 2oz, 2lb 15oz, 2lb 14oz, 2lb 12oz & 2lb 11oz. 7 Tench: best 4lb 2oz - the others all 2-3lbers. 1 Perch: unweighed but needed the net and easily ½lb. 2 Rudd (micr
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

30 July

River Kennet - Brimpton 0530 - 1000 Warm, muggy with hazy sunshine. AT 15º -> 22ºC. River very low. 2 Chub; 4lb 9oz, 4lb 4oz & 2 chublets. 9 Dace; 5 absolute chunks all 8-10oz, 7 Roach - variety of sizes but nothing over 6oz. 1 Perch: small, 1 Bleak. 1 Brownie: 1¼lb. For the second river trip in a row I get to see an otter and this one defintely wasn't shy! I'd eased into position mid-river to get a run through a favourite chub swim, only to get the flippin trout prett
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0
Coarse Fishing

30 January (Part 2)

River Kennet - Hambridge 1300 - 1400 Mild and overcast. AT 7ºC River very high and clear, but down a few inches on last week. 1 Chub 3lb 10oz. Bit of a recce to see if I could actually access the river. Pleased to say I could (just), so it would have been churlish not to have a few minutes with my grayling gear. One bite, one fish - normal service is resumed!!
Coarse Fishing

30 January (Part 1)

River Lambourn - Newbury 0900 - 1200 Mild and overcast. 7ºC. River very high. 1.85 on the Shaw gauge upstream. Clear as always though. 12 Grayling with half over a lb. Biggest two 1lb 10oz & 1lb 6oz.. 4 Brownies a 'pounder' and 3 parrs. Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - waders needed to get access to most swims. The Lambourn has been very slow to run off after hitting record levels at the beginning of the month it has 'only' dropped 20cm (the Kennet has dropped 4

30 January

River Lambourn - Newbury   0830 - 1130   Cold, bright & sunny. -2.0º -> 2.0ºC   13 Grayling; 8 over 1lb (!) best 3, 1lb 12oz, 1lb 11oz, 1lb 8oz.   Cracking little session after a slow start. Had planned to go perching on the canal but bottled it when I saw how 'sub-optimal' conditions were. Blanked in first 3 swims I fished - and didn't get more than 2 from any swim. Works look nearly finished - looking good! Biggest grayling from the Lambourn this season.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 December (part 2)

K&A Canal - Woolhampton 1400 - 1615 Bright sunshine - and quite mild at 9ºC but quickly got cooler as the sun set. 1 Perch; 1lb 3oz. 1 Pike 3lb 9oz. With a couple of cracking perch already 'under my belt' (see 30 December part 1)! for the day I decided to fish a couple of new swims on this stretch. The first appeared to be Pike heaven - lost one, then landed one, so moved to another new spot - where I had a solitary bite right at the death resulting in the stripey.... 
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 December (part 1)

River Kennet - Hambridge 0945 - 1245 Bright sunshine, calm and quite mild (9ºC). River FULL! Bank high and up another 6 inches or so on my last visit here at the begining of the month - little colour though. 2 Perch; 2lb 11oz & 2lb 8oz. 8 Grayling - (all 6-10oz), 2 Roach, 1 Dace & 3 Brownies to circa 1lb. So, the plan for today was to start on a favourite flood water swim - hoping to snaffle a big chub and then switch to the canal for the witching hour for some perch.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 December

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Newbury   0830 - 1615   Wild morning - wet and windy. Rain stopped at 1130 to give a bright afternoon with the wind dropping. Mild, 10ºC.   7 Chub; 2 @ 5lb+ - best 5lb 4oz - the rest around 2½ - 2¾lb, one under 2lb. 9 Roach quite a few chunky ones up to 1lb. 1 Dace (8oz). 1 Gudgeon. 6 Brownies to 3lb. 8 Rainbows to 4lb 8oz   Another day's fishing, another storm - and at least today I had the River Keeper to thank for staying reaso
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 December

River Frome - Wool   0830 - 1600   Cold, and very bright with everything white in a very heavy hoar frost - very picturesque. -3ºC -> +3ºC - though in negative territory for most of the day (certainly all morning) by the way the line was freezing in the ferrules. River looked in good nick - down a few inches on our last trip in Nov (85cm by the East Stoke gauge)   11 grayling: 4 over 1lb - 2lb 0oz, 1lb 13oz, 1lb 10oz, 1lb 3oz.   Bit of a grueller of a s
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

30 December

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0800 - 1430 Cold and bright - clouding over after lunch. AT -1º - 3ºC. Line freezing in the rings for the first couple of hours! River up a good 6+inches on last visit (over the bank in several places) and carrying quite a bit of colour - way more than I expected to see! 2 Chub; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 9oz. 6 Roach - all small. 2 Dace - one good fish of 8+oz and a tiddler. 1 Brown trout (though it was bright silver - sea trout???) 1½lb. Plan for today was ori
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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30 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1130 - 1500   Cool and overcast. 15ºC. River at near normal summer levels carrying it usual tinge of colour.   1 Barbel; 3lb 13oz, 1 Chub; 3lb 2oz. 4 Grayling, 1 dace, a gudgeon and 3 brownies.   Bit of a recce session with a lot of walking involved - Paul and I are planning an evening trip tomorrow and we're undecided where to go (or even whether to fish a river or a lake!). Fished 6 swims in total so didn't spend long in any
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

30 August

Alders Lake - Thatcham   0930 - 1330   Breezy with hazy sunshine.   20+perch   Reports that the tench were at last beginning to show up in this lake - which was restocked with non-carp species after a total fish kill 8 years ago - had me returning for a recce session. Fished a couple of swims which both had enough bubbling activity to give me cause for optimism but regardless of what bait I tried (maggot, prawn, cockle, meat or pellet) the only fish pulling the float under were perch - a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

30 August

River Kennet - Hambridge 1600 - 2230 Overcast, breezy and quite cool - clearing to reveal great views of the blue super moon! AT 17ºC - 12ºC. River a little on the low side... 1 Chub: 4lb 13oz. 2 Perch 1lb 9oz & a tiddler. 5 Dace & 3 Roach (all small). 4 Gudgeon. 4 Brownies - all small. Evening session ledgering for barbel preceded by half an hour's trotting to inoculate me from a blank! I needn't have worried however, as the chub fell well into the dark on my ledgere
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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