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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

Coarse Fishing

6 February

River Frome - Wool 0800 - 1400 Mild, overcast and very windy! AT 11º-13ºC. River still very pacey with a little colour but well within its banks at last. 1.16m on the E Stoke gauge still higher than I would have liked but lowest since early autumn! 11 Grayling: 7 over 1lb - best: 1lb 10oz, 1lb 8oz, 1lb 7oz. 1 Trout - small. 6 Salmon parr. 2 trip of the season to Dorset - and looking at the forecast for the next week probably my last - heavy rain will stuff the river up for se
Coarse Fishing

9 February (Part 1)

River Kennet - Newbury (Whitehouse stretch) 0900 - 1100 Mild, breezy and drizzly. AT 11ºC. River very pacey and very coloured up (again!) - after 42mm of rain in the past 48hrs. 1 Chub: 6lb 2oz - SB. 1 Roach - hand-sized. En route to the Lambourn I thought I'd drop in on my 5lber slack for an hour (herein after called my 6lber slack!) With the Kennet the colour of builder's tea I really wasn't at all hopeful but the roach first cast gave me a glimmer of confidence - rewarded

My PB List

In response to the mail I had asking "If that was your season's bests what are your PBs?" Here they are! Carp - 27lb 6oz: 15/08/08, Method Feeder/Hemp Bogey, CEMEX Blue Pool, Burghfield. Pike - 18lb 10oz: 10/02/01, Freelined Lamprey section, River Lambourn, Newbury. Barbel - 12lb 4oz: 27/07/04, Ledgered 14mm Halibut pellet, River Kennet, Thatcham. Bream - 9lb 7oz: 02/09/06, Ledgered 14mm Halibut pellet, Horseshoe Lake, Yateley. Brown Trout - 8lb 12oz: 14/03/08, Trotted M
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

28 July

River Kennet - Nr. Thatcham   1800 - 0000   Overcast, 20º -> 15ºC but felt a lot cooler fishing an exposed swim in a stiffish breeze - had the thermals on by 8 o'clock! River a little on the low side.   3 Barbel: 9lb 12oz, 8lb 5oz, 7lb 6oz.   A trio of terrific hard fighting barbel. First fish (the smallest) just after 2100 followed by the biggest just on 2300 with the 8lber on the stroke of midnight as I was about to pack up. All fish on 14mm halibuts
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

8/9 October

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   2015 - 0900   Warm, overcast and quite breezey. Temps never below 15ºC - Unseasonably warm.   13 carp - best 2, 13lb 11oz (common) & 12lb 0oz (mirror) - the rest evenly spread between 9½ - 3½lbs. 1 Crucian 2lb 5oz. 1 skimmer and a dozen assorted perch, roach & gudgeon (mainly perch).   The plan was going to be a dawn raid for stripeys on the canal - but a very last minute change of plan - due to the unseasonably warm ove
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

12 February

River Kennet - Newbury   0815 - 1115   Mild and overcast. Battery flat in thermometer so no temps. River up a bit to normal levels and carrying a bit of colour.   1 Barbel; 3lb 14oz. 3 Chub; 3lb 9oz, 3lb 3oz, 2lb 13oz. 2 Perch 1lb 12oz and one just shy of a lb. 2 Dace & 3 Gudgeon.   An 'insurance' session!! Meant to be having a day on the middle Kennet tomorrow - but if the weather forecast is accurate I'll probably get up, check the rain radar and go
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

22 August

Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead   0530 - 1100.   Bright and sunny after a cool, misty start. 10º -> 20ºC   1 Crucian; 2lb 2oz. 8 Carp; best 2 - 12lb 6oz & 11lb 9oz, smallest 6¾lb. 3 rudd & a perch.   A morning's float fishing (lift method as per usual!!). Crucian and 3 of the smaller carp on 6mm S-Pellet. Meat just got nailed by the rudd. Last couple of hours spent freelining bread - which brought 5 more carp including both bigger ones. Smallest
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

7 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2300   Cool and very breezy. Continuous rain & drizzle from 2000. 12ºC. Autumn has arrived! And to think I even brought a pair of binoculars with me last night hoping to take a peak at the supernova in M101 - fat chance with 100% cloud cover.....   6 Chub; 2 'pounders' and 4 chublets. 3 Dace, 3 Roach (1 over ½lb), 3 gudgeon.   Similar session to last week - though a few hundred yards downstream. Paul had spotted a couple of nice looking swims which
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

26 September

River Kennet - Newbury   1830 - 2330   Warm, still evening - really surprised to see the thermometer in the car down to 11ºC when I left as it felt MUCH warmer under the trees - quilted shirt and coat both remained 'unworn' all evening. River LOW (now the norm for this time of year - alas ) and carrying quite a bit of colour.   4 Barbel; 6lb 15oz, 6lb 10oz, 5lb 2oz, 4lb 1oz.   Nice to get amongst some 'schooly' sized barbel! Got off to a cracking start wi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

13 October

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1200   Mild/warm, still and overcast - 13ºC -> 17ºC. Neigh on perfick!   18 Perch: In order of capture: 2lb 14oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 8oz,*, 2lb 6oz, tiddler, ~, 2lb 6oz, 1lb 6oz, 3lb 3oz, 2lb 6oz (again! all different fish I think!), 1lb 7oz, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 2oz, 3lb 0oz, 3lb 14oz (equal PB!), 2lb 13oz, 1lb 3oz, tiddler,tiddler,~. !!! Nearly 40lb of perch !   1 Tench*: 4lb 3oz. 2 Chub~; 1¼lb and a chublet.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

10 February

River Frome - Wool   0830 - 1700   Cool and overcast. AT 1ºC -> 5ºC. River clear with normal flow and levels.   5 Grayling; 2lb 12oz, 2lb0oz and 3 tiddlers. 2 Brownies; 1 parr and a ¾lber.   A day in Dorset with Rusty. This was another 'delayed decision' trip firstly because the forecast kept changing and secondly because of the forecast snow overnight potentially making the drive down problematic. However I judged that the river would be OK and this wa
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

9 March

Middle Kennet Estate - Newbury   0700 - 1800   Mild and overcast, breezy at times, temps around 10ºC all day. River still low - though up a tad (maybe a cm or so) on recently.   17 Chub, 6 over 1lb biggest 3lb 0oz. 24 Roach - biggest 1lb 4oz - though quite a few more needed the net. 15 Dace - best 2, 13oz & 12oz. 3 Gudgeon and 4 brownies.   A knackering day as we walked the entire length of the fishery TWICE in order to find the fish. My plan was to st
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

16 June 2012

River Kennet, Newbury & Thatcham   0400 - 1230   Cool, overcast and very blustery. River quite coloured and very full for the time of year - highest it's been in the summer for many a year.... (well since 2007 now I come to think about it!!)   2 Chub; 2lb & 1¼lb. 1 Barbel 3lb. 57 Dace, 7 Roach, 3 Grayling, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & a 1¾lb spottie.   Pleasant start to the season with plenty of fish to put a bend in the rod - we had planned a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

7/8 September

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   1930 - 0730   Clear, still night, quite chilly (5.5ºC) by dawn.   5 Carp; 12lb 10oz, 11lb 15oz, 11lb 6oz, 11lb 3oz, 10lb 10oz.   A repeat of last weekend for Paul and myself - hoping for a repeat performance on the crucian front. Alas, they were conspicuous by their absence with little evidence of fish rolling. Paul and I did both suffer some curious bites on the float which neither of us could connect with - and for me a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

29 September Part 1

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0630 - 0800   Clear and bright (too bright by far!)   2 Perch: 1¼lb and ¾lb.   Umm tracking down my autumn perch is going to be a lot harder this year. BWB chose to emasculate this part of the canal last winter - removing bushes and trees that had overhung the water for years/decades - and hence removed the obvious holding areas. Hazard to boats - my arse!   Still there's a glimmer of hope - I caught perch 1st cast in the first 2 swims I tried - but alas had
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

26 January

River Kennet - Newbury   0900 - 1130   Bright with rising temps 1º->6ºC. River high and carrying some colour after last nights rain (and the start of the melt). WT 44ºF.   2 doz dace - few chunky ones though nothing particularly impressive. 5 Grayling - 3 of which needed the net but were sub 1lb (though not by much), 3 Roach, a bleak and 2 brownies both 1+lb.   Yet again a weekend where I had a Frome trip pencilled in is thwarted by more rain and a flooded Dorset river, so had to make
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

24 February

River Frome, Wool   0830 - 1500   Cold and overcast - max 2ºC with a raw northerly wind. River high with a little colour (more than the Kennet!) but within its banks (at last!). EA Gauge at East Stoke 1.14m   7 Grayling - best 3; 2lb 9oz, 2lb 2oz & 2lb0oz, 1 Sea trout; 1¼lb.   First Frome trip of the season and given the season on this bit of river closes on 28th Feb, my last! All winter it looked highly improbable that I'd get to fish it at all - but
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

7 March (part 2)

River Kennet - Newbury   1100 - 1400   Overcast with drizzle. AT&WT both 49ºF. River still high with little colour - has dropped very little in the last month.   2 Barbel; 2¼lb & 3½lb. 2 Grayling; both 8-10oz. 14 Dace a few chunky ones but nothing particularly big. 1 Roach ½doz Gudgeon.   Trotting session for what ever comes along - but hoping a barbel or a chub or two would put in an appearance - so jolly happy with a brace. Could have been so muc
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

PB List (with Pictures!)

My PB List. Haven’t done one of these for a while and it seems an appropriate way to ‘celebrate’ my 400th blog post. And I’ve even dug out and scanned a few old photos (rather crappy ones I have to admit!) which are appearing on the WWW for the 1st time.   Best Carp – 27lb 6oz. 15 August 2008. Blue Pool – Burghfield. Method feeder – hair-rigged hemp bogey. I usually spend all summer trying to avoid carp as I pursue tench and crucians but this was caught on an IAC fish-in
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

19 June part 2

River Kennet, Padworth   1530 - 2230   Hot, overcast and sultry - still 21ºC when we packed up.   4 brownies - a couple circa 1¼lb (possibly the same one!)   Reports from the river suggested barbel fishing would be a bit of a struggle - so the trotting rod was added to the quiver in the hope of a few dace - but yet again one of my favoured trotting swims here was occupied with troot and not a lot else!   As expected the barbelling was hard going - not helped by tonnes of pussy willow f
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

11/12 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead.   2030 - 0630   Warm still night. Thatcham weather site says min temp of 10ºC - but it felt no where near that cool at any time!   8 roach, 3 perch and a skimmer.   Another bad day at the office - fishing wise at least - though in truth it was a gorgeous night to be out just a pity a few more fish didn't show up. Although bites were a premium both Paul and I suffered from infuriating hooks pulls when we did connect. I had a fish on for ages and was just beginnin
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

22/23 August

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm Fishery, Nr Godalming   1830 - 0900   Warm, balmy night under a full moon.   14 Crucians, 7 over 2lb, best 2 - 2lb 14oz & 2lb 10oz (smallest 1lb 7oz!). 14 Tench - all bar one over 3lb, best 5lb exactly. 2 Roach - a tiddler and a fish of 1lb 2oz, 6 rudd - all small and 2 perch ditto.   Well I think I've got those 2 species out of my system for another summer - simply cracking session which started with 4X2lb+ crucians in 4 casts
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

4 October (Part 2)

River Kennet - Newbury   1100 - 1300   Warm with sunny spells, Breezy. 20ºC. River quite low.   2 Chub; 2lb 10oz, 2lb. 12 Dace, 10 Roach, 1 Gudgeon and a brownie.   So after a frustrating morning a couple of hours on the river to see if the chub would eat my worms - to which the answer was YES! Being a Friday I had expected to have the place to meself and planned to fish a number of swims. However as I turned up who should I see pulling on his chesties - Rusty! Being a gent he let me ha
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

22 February

River Kennet - Thatcham   0645 - 1030   Bright and sunny - a lovely spring morning. River still very high though running clear and a couple of inches down on Sunday.   3 Chub; 5lb 14oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 6oz. 3 Perch; 3lb 1oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 3oz.   Stonking session in the swim I fished on Sunday - though this time there was a bit more flow as the flood water is starting to run off. In truth I hadn't planned to fish here but Paul paid a visit during the week and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

Season's Bests 2013-14

Plumby’s Annual Season Round-up! Bit of a strange season – summer was somewhat slow – saved by a three trips to Marsh Farm on the still water front and eventually finding some Barbel at a haunt of old, late summer, after some very poor river trips. Hard to remember now that the autumn was actually pretty dry – in fact on my only 2 trips to the Dorset Frome the river was actually fairly threadbare and in need of some water. Of course we then got biblical proportions of rain and the last 3 mo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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