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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

5 July

River Kennet - Colthrop & Brimpton   1000 - 1500   Cool (ish), overcast with drizzly rain at times. River down an inch or two - but still at a good level for this time of year.   4 chub; Best 3lb 6oz. 6 dace. A doz + brownies to 3lb 2oz!   Jungle fishing! Travelled light and covered quite a bit of water - looks like I'm the first to visit Cothrop this summer - had to cut my way in through the brambles on at least 5 swims! Trout were a bit of a pain - especially the big one as I thou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

27/28 July

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm Fishery Nr Godalming.   1730 - 0500   Warm overcast night - lovely night to be out - in shirtsleeves til the early hours. Pity then that at 5am the heavens opened, accompanied by an impressive electrical storm - so a hasty retreat was beat to the car - for some much needed kip!   10 crucians all over 1lb with half over 2 - biggest 2lb 15oz. 6 Tench - all over 3lb - best 4lb 3oz. A doz or so perch, roach and rudd.     After the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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20 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1815 - 2315   Cool and clear - temp down to 6ºC when I got back to the car!   1 Barbel 8lb 2oz, 1 Chub 2lb.   At last a barbel and a decent one too!   Quite a few rattles during the first couple of hours - which I'm kicking myself for not hitting - thought they were crayfish - but when I did eventually decide to hit one it turned into a 2lb chub!   Rattles stopped when it got dark and at around 2215 had a very strange juddery kind of a bite which when
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

10 October

A Southern Chalk Stream !   Dawn till Dusk!   Sunny spells and heavy showers - which apart from a brief downpour in the 1st hour missed us completely! Saw some very black clouds to the east and west of us in the afternoon - but nothing over us - so we had the sunny spells while others had the heavy showers - hooray!!   73(!) Grayling. 36(!) over a 1lb. Most in the 1¼ lb - 1lb 10oz bracket. Biggest 5 went; 2lb 6oz, 2lb 2oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 15oz & 1lb 13oz. 3 Chub; 5
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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19 October

K&A Canal, Thatcham   0700 - 1000   Mild (15ºC) and mainly overcast - sunny for last ½hour   6 Perch: 2lb 15oz, 2 around the pound mark and 3 tiddlers. 2 Chub both circa1lb, 1 Roach (small)   Successful dawn raid for a big stripey - though in truth the crayfish were rather too active for the majority of the time - especially once it got properly light after 0800 - by which time I'd had the biggie.   Wonder what's causing the red belly?  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

2 January 2015

River Kennet - Newbury   0800 - 1115   3 Chub; 4lb 2oz, 3lb 7oz, 2lb 12oz. 1 Perch 2lb 9oz. 1 Bream 2lb 6oz. A doz+ Dace, 5 Gudgeon, 4 Roach, 1 Grayling and 3 Trout parr.   River Kennet - Thatcham   1145 - 1315   1 Brownie - 1½lb (caught twice within 10 minutes!)   1345 - 1600   1 Grayling 1lb 10oz.   Bright and cool - with a breeze picking up in the afternoon. WT 48ºC. River in perfect winter nick - good flow (but w
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

12 March

River Kennet, K&A Canal, 'Flowing' Canal, Thatcham   0630 - 1800   Mild, neigh, warm at times under a milky sun (and out the wind). Clouding over mid afternoon. WT 51ºF.   4 Chub; 5lb 11oz, 5lb 4oz, 4lb 14oz, 4lb 2oz. (4 fish for 20lb give or take an ounce!) 6 Dace; ALL over 8oz (!) biggest 11oz. 2 Grayling; 1lb and the other was not far shy. Pike 5lb 1oz. Trout 3lb.   A peripatetic day with 5 venue changes and over a dozen swims fished - yet all the t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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My Perch Weights since 1990

Following on from the Chub weights progression thread I started on the main forum - (see:http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/6986096-kennet-chub-weight-progression-since-1982/) I've done the same with my perch captures (thanks to Rusty for putting the idea in my head!) to see if the same uplift in weights happened at around the same time (turn of the millennium). This file IS small enough to upload on the blog as there is less data (it starts from 1990 as I didn't have enough cap
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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14 December

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   1400 - 1600   Mild, overcast with drizzly rain clearing to a rather lovely sunset (see crap picture below!) AT & WT both 50ºF.   5 Perch; 3lb 10oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 12oz & 2 small-uns. 1 Roach - small but still somehow managed a whole lob!   Boss has very kindly given me a few days off work following Paul's passing and having spent the morning making a couple of calls, reading condolences and eulogies - and Clare's
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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2 October

​Kennet & Avon Canal (flowing) - Thatcham   ​​0630 - 1030   ​Cool, clear and bright. River quite low but with a tinge of colour after yesterday's rain.   ​4 Perch - all between ¾ - 1¼lbs. 13 Dace, 1 Grayling.   ​First perching trip of the autumn and with a bright clear day forecast I wanted to make the most of the dawn light, Consequently I was at the water's edge way too early and had to wait a while before I could see my float. But as soon as I could it went under with some alacrit
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

22 June

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0900 - 1200   Much cooler than of late 'only' 20ºC.   1 Chub; 2lb 2oz, 4 Dace & 4 Brownies.   Just a short session today as work is interrupting my week off! (but in a good way - off to an awards ceremony soon - http://www.hpma.org.uk/awards/awards-ceremony fingers crossed we win!) This wasn't so much as a trotting session as a trek with full pack! My pedometer recorded that I covered 3.8km as a searched (and generally fai
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

24 November

K&A Canal Enborne (& Speen Moors)   0715 - 1230 (with an hour at Speen in the middle)   Cool, overcast with drizzly rain for a couple of hours.   1 Chub; 2lb 9oz.   Fruitless search for a perch - not a single bite on the canal - and not a lot of interest on the river after the first cast chub!!    
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

22 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0830 - 1100   Mild and overcast - river still quite low and gin clear as always....   22 Grayling; Biggest 1lb 8oz with around half the rest a couple of ounces either side of a pound. 1 Roach: 1lb 2oz. 2 Brownies - a 2lber and a parr.   Quick trotting session usual catch a couple and move on tactics - nice to get another decent roach from here.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

19/20 June

Johnsons Lake - Marsh Farm   1600 - 2315 & 0245 - 0500 (with 3 hours kip in the car)   Warm, muggy overcast with showery rain all evening. Bright an breezy in the morning.   11 Tench; 5 over 5lb, best 3 - 7lb 7oz, 6lb 7oz, 6lb 4oz. 3 Crucians; 3lb 14oz (new PB), 3lb 2oz, 2lb 10oz. 2 Rudd to 10oz.   Another cracking June trip here - 4th season in a row - though this one was definitely more eventful! My hopes weren't high to start with as reports from th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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Coarse Fishing

7 November (Part 1)

River Lambourn - Newbury 0700 - 1000 Cool and misty. River quite low especially given how wet October was. 8 Grayling; All between 8-10oz with a couple a tad bigger. 6 Brownies - a couple of netters - the rest were parrs. Scratchy morning's trotting - fish thin on the ground - most of my usual banker swims turned up nothing - think they were just too spooky in the clear shallow water.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

12 March

Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton 1500 - 1800 Sunny with scattered showers. Windy/blowing a hoolie, especially during the squalls. 8ºC 9 Perch: 2lb 14oz & 8 small uns - one of which was close to a pound the rest half that or less. 2 Pike: 3lb 13oz & 3lb 4oz. 1 Chub circa 8oz. Pike are always a piscatorial hazard when fishing lobs but slightly miffed to get one from each of my 2 'banker' perch swims. It looked like my last trip here of the season would end in disap
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

14 March (Part 1)

River Kennet (& Carrier) - Marsh Benham 0830 - 1345 Milky sunshine to start - clouding over - very breezy. AT 5º ->10ºC. River in good winter nick - full with a slight tinge of colour. 3 Chub: All over 2lb - best 3lb 6oz. 1 Pike: 4lb 11oz (On sweetcorn - took it on the retrieve!). A doz Roach; various sizes - one worthy of the scales went 14oz. 2 Dace - small. 1 Rainbow - 2½lb & 2 Brownies: 1½ - 2lb. Last day trip to the venue I started my river season back in June
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

18 September

River Kennet - Aldershot Water/Brimpton 0900 - 1400 Foggy start clearing to a bright, warm, sunny day. AT 12º -> 21ºC. River very low and a little coloured up - usual for early autumn especially after a dry spell. 2 Chub; both around ¾lb. 15 Dace; all quite chunky most around the 6oz mark with a couple of bigger ones. 13 Roach; all handsized or bigger. 1 Bleak. 2 Brownies - circa ½lb each. A session topped and tailed in the weirpool at the top of the Aldershot - which prod
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

20 November (Part 2)

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0900 - 1245 Mild and overcast - with the earlier drizzle thankfully stopped. AT 11ºC. River low for late Nov - but then we've hardly had a drop of rain for the last 3 weeks! 2 Chub: 2lb 15oz, 1lb 8oz. 1 Perch 1lb 7oz. 5 Roach. 1 Dace. 1 Brownie 1½lb- sigh! I hate trout! Having tip-toe'd into the top of a favoured chub swim and trickled maggot in for 10 minutes I managed to pull off the perfect cast - and had the float running down just the line I wa
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

18 December (Part 1)

River Kennet - Thatcham 0900 - 1130. Cool & murky. 7ºC. River low and clear - very low for December. 1 Chub: 3lb 15oz. 7 Roach - all handsized with a couple of netters of around 10oz. 1 Dace - 11oz (first cast!). 2 Brownies - small. With river levels so low both of today's venues were a bit of a gamble. And one which very nearly didn't pay off! I'd fished all my usual hotspots with nothing remotely chubby in residence - though the big dace was a nice bonus. I was trotting
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

6 November

River Kennet (and Carrier),  Marsh Benham 1015 - 1500 Mild and overcast morning, with a torrential downpour at lunchtime giving way to bright sunshine - 4 (well 3) seasons in one day! AT 11º - 13ºC. River still  very low. West Berks has had  116.6mm (over 4½inches in old money!) of rain in the past 2½ weeks - since 20 October - the prayers for a wet autumn are being answered - yet very little is making its way into the water course. Hopefully though the aquifers are being topped up and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

29 December

Kennet carrier (& main river) - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1330 Bright and breezy with a few light (& one heavy) showers. AT 5º-7ºC. River at normal levels - carrier still a little on the low side for winter. 1 Chub: 2lber. 20 Roach & Dace (slightly more roach - nothing note-worthy). 3 Brownies and a Rainbow - all 2½ - 3½lb - with the Rainbow at the top end of that and possibly pushing 4lb... A morning spent playing (and largely failing!!) at avoid the trout. Got off to
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

2 January 2023 (Part 1)

River Lambourn - Newbury 0900 - 1230 Cool, bright and sunny. AT 6ºC. River at normal winter levels - and as clear as gin (of course) despite heavy rain all weekend. 12 Grayling: 4 over 1lb - best 1lb 10oz. 5 Brownies - a lber and 4 parrs. An insurance session as I reckoned 32mm of rain over the weekend would have stuffed up the Kennet too much (I was wrong see part 2!) so opted for a couple of hours on the Lambourn as a cure for cabin fever! Bit of a scratchy morning - not he
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

8th Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford 0730 - 2315 Hot, sunny and sultry. AT around 25ºC all day and still 18ºC when I drove off at a little before midnight. 11 Tench: various sizes from quite small bars of soap up to 5lb - biggest 5lb 3oz. 2 Crucians 2lb 4oz & 1lb 2oz. 30 Rudd - most handsized - with a few a bit bigger, the one I deemed worthy of the scales went 14oz. A dozen roach - all small. Annual gathering of the Internet Angling Club - to remember our departed friend Pa
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

2 October

Warwicks Water - Thatcham 0700 - 1300 Warm, calm and overcast (though a thunderstorm rolled in just after I packed up 🙂) AT 16º-18ºC 2 Tench: 5lb 14oz, 2lb 2oz. Doz+ Perch: all fairly small. Reports of big stripeys had me starting my autumn perch campaign on this rarely fished and somewhat neglected pond. It was always going to be a case of trying to avoid the small perch and hope a biggie turned up. However I thought I'd hit the jackpot first cast - my float hadn't even cock
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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