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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

22 August

River Kennet - Padworth 0600 - 1230 Bright and blowy! River at normal summer levels and carrying a bit of colour. 1 Chub, 7 Roach & 7 Dace. 3 dace in the 8-10oz class (nice!) and a couple of the Roach were 12-14oz as was the chub. 2 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak. After my success here trotting last month I promised to return and have a proper go on the float. Fished around 10- to a dozen swims and only had fish from 2 of them with the chub and all the bigger silvers coming from the fi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

20 August

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1900 - 2330 Warm, clear evening (Great views of Jupiter, Saturn & Mars) 21º-16ºC 3 Tench; 3lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz and a smallun (though would have been close to a lb). 2 Rudd (small but not micro-small!) Slow evening which burst into life a little after 10pm when I had all 3 tincas in quick succession - prompted me to spend an extra half an hour beyond my intended pack up time - but had no more bites after 2245. Last blackberry haul of the summer!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

14 August (5th Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy Fish-in)

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm , Milford. 0630 - 2330 Warm (still 18ºC when I got home at 0100), overcast and DRY - despite the forecast and the downpours the day before. There was some VERY annoying light drizzle for the last hour or so - but overall conditions were very benign - thankfully! 2 Crucians; 3lb 1oz & 2lb 9oz. 4 Tench - 2@4lb+ - biggest 4lb 9oz. 3 Perch. A doz+ Rudd (micro!!) 3 Time lucky! This is the 3rd IAC fish-in I've organised in 2020 and the first one to actu
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

8 August

Middle Kennet Weirpool - Marsh Benham 0600 - 1200 Hot and sultry - 19º -> 27ºC. River a little on the low side but not as bad as it can be in August! 12 Chub: 6 over lb, best 2 both went 4lb 3oz (different fish) - nice to see some small ones. 3 Bream; 2¾ to just under 4lb. 30 Dace. 20+ Roach. 4 Bleak. 1 Brown Trout - 6lb 1oz (!!) & 2 Rainbows of 2½ & 3½lbs. Cracking morning's trotting - though the big brownie was on ledgered meat and had me convinced I was into a b
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

6

5 August

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2230 Overcast and breezy with showers for the first hour. 21º - 18ºC bit felt chillier in the breeze. 1 Tench; 2lb 5oz. 3 Crucians - 2 'hand-sized' the third slightly bigger. 3 Perch. So at last I've caught a crucian out of Willows this season - just not quite the size I was after! Most fish in the first couple of hours and I should probably have had more has the bites were quite tentative and hard to spot in the heavy ripple. Only one fish afte
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 July/1 Aug

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0200 Hot and sultry. 28ºC and still 18ºC when I packed up at 2am. Bit of a breeze at times but not enough to keep off a veritable plague of mossies - plenty of Jungle Formula was called for! 4 Tench; 3lb 4oz, 3lb, 2lb 13oz, 2lb11oz. 1 Carp; 6lb 11oz. 2 Roach - handsized. 4 Perch.(and another 3lb of blackberries!) Steady evening's sport on one of the warmest nights I've ever fished. Rotated between maggot and prawn - all the small stuff on mag -
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

29 July

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1830 (by the time I started fishing) - 2300 Warm, slightly overcast evening. AT 23ºC  down to 16ºC when I packed up. 1 Tench (small), 2 Rudd (very small!) This evening's venue choice was dictated by the quality of the blackberries rather than the fishing! Another 3lbs picked which Mrs P will be converting into her rather lovely bramble jelly! Fishing was pretty dire - my worst return from Alders this summer. All fish around 2130 when I had half an hour
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

24 July

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0000 Warm, overcast and breezy. AT a balmy 18ºC at midnight! 2 Tench; 3lb 5oz & 2lb 7oz. 1 Crucian - handsized. Surprisingly slow evening with bites at a premium, though nice to get another of the lake's small crucians. Tench were 3 hours apart (8&11pm) with the crucian putting in an appearance just after 10pm. Alternated between prawn sections and maggot - though all fish falling to maggot. Had intended to fish longer but driving drizzle
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

21 July

River Kennet - Padworth 1745 - 2215 Warm (22ºC) and sunny - though temps were dropping sharply after sunset. River at normal summer levels. 5 Chub: A 2lber and 4 fish in the 12oz-1lb class. 2 Roach; 1lb (on the nose!) & 14oz (!!), 3 Dace - all quite chunky ones. 1 brownie - c12oz. Bit of a 'recce' trip as I haven't fished here since 2017 and whilst I didn't really expect to get a barbel, when I switched from trotting to ledgering, I certainly didn't expect such a fine bra
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

17/18 July

Jubilee Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 0400 Warm clear night with a slight breeze to keep the dew and mossies at bay. Still 14ºC when I packed up at 0400. Lovely night for star/planet gazing - with a double dose of the ISS. 1 Carp 6lb 2oz. Really quiet night - not at all what I expected - only bite came at around 2200 on my float fished prawn section in the margins (hoping for a tinca to show up) - the alarm on my other rod ledgering pellet or boilie was silent all night apart from t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

14 July

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2315 Overcast and warm(ish). AT 15ºC when I packed up. 1 Bream; 5lb 10oz. 2 Tench: 2lb 15oz and a smallun. 1 Crucian - small - handsized - but a very welcome sight. 4 small Rudd. First time in a few seasons I've had tench AND bream in the same session from here - the bream was very much a last cast fish - was starting to pack my stuff away when I noticed my float dithering around and I assumed it was another crucian or even a crayfish - so very p
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

11 July

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm - Milford 0000 - 0500 Cool and clear. (Thermo in the car was at 4ºC when I left - and it felt chuffing cold - thankfully the fish kept me busy!). Good night for observing the night sky - lots to see. ISS went over twice, perfect  visibility of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Venus rising at dawn was stunning - and could clearly see Comet NEOWISE just before sunrise in the eastern sky - twas visible for around 20mins at around 0320 - and I even saw a stunningly long m
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

10 July

Johnsons Lake - Milford 1500 - 2315 Sunny spells and quite cool (16º-17ºC) for the 2nd week of July. 1 Tench (small) and 1 Rudd. Dismal session - lake was rammed again and yet again had to drop into the only available swim - and it was little consolation that few others - apart from some of the carpers were catching. Brian - 2 swims down (in one of my favourite spots!) didn't even register a bite!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

7 July

River Kennet - Hambridge 1800 - 2030 Cool (14ºC or there-abouts), overcast with drizzly rain at times for the first hour. River down and inch or so on 3 weeks ago but still with good flow for this time of year. 3 Chub: 2lb 15oz, 1lb 11oz & a chublet. 30+ Dace & Roach - in roughly equal numbers - slightly more roach. Nothing particularly big - a couple of the dace were in the 6-8oz bracket - but good to see so many 'silvers' in the river. 3 Gudgeon (also a welcome sight - t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

3 July

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1400 - 2015 Bright and breezy (actually blowing a hoolie!), clouding over with persistent rain from 1730 and much cooler - making for a thoroughly unpleasant evening! 4 Tench; 2lb7oz & 3 small uns. 4 Roach - all a 'nice' size, the one I weighed went 12oz the other 3 weren't much smaller. 5 Rudd. (And no carp - don't think I even had a bite from one) So there are some 'silvers' in Willows as well (Have these rudd been recently stocked???) Again was
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

2 July

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2300 Coolish, overcast with rain from 8-9pm - not a good evening to forget the brolly - had taken it out of my quiver as a weight reduction measure for my roving session at Brimpton last weekend and forgot to put it back in!? Temps  down to 13ºC when I packed up. 3 Tench: 3lb 13oz, 2lb 5oz and a small-un. 5 Rudd, 1 Roach, 1 Perch. Damp but rewarding session - first time for a while I've had any 'silvers' from here. Also had a crayfish which is al
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

28 June

River Kennet - Brimpton 0500 - 1200 Cool, bright start - becoming VERY windy and showery. AT never above 16ºC - so the fleece never came off! River with good flow and a little colour. 1 Chub 2lb 2oz. 6 Dace - a couple of chunky ones (6-8oz). 1 Grayling - circa 10-12oz. 10 Brownies - most around 12oz with a couple much bigger to 2½lb. Pleasant mornings trotting despite the wind and I also had a couple of fruitless hours ledgering meat - without a touch (not even from the crayf
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

23 June

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford 0000 - 0500 Clear, quite cool, still with some breeze. 11ºC - but felt chillier. 5 Crucians: 3 over 2lb - 2-13, 2-11 & 2-04. 10 Tench: most in the 2-3lb class. Biggest 2 went 6-05 & 4-04. 1 Perch. If the previous 10 hours angling had been frustrating the next 4 were totally frenetic. Fishing right under my rod tip in the margins my float fished prawn sections were taken within minutes of casting out each time. What was slightly curiou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

22 June

Johnsons Lake - Milford 1300 - 2315 Bright and sunny - though felt surprisingly chilly in the shade and into a stiffish breeze. 5 Tench; Biggest 4lb 11oz I've had a trip here every June since 2014 and over the past 6 years haven't failed to get  one (usually several!) of the lakes famously big crucians (even getting a PB last June). So it was more in expectation than hope for a repeat performance. I had reckoned on picking a Monday would find the venue a little less busy - a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

19/20 June

Dobsons Lake - Widmead 1500 - 0600 Mainly overcast with drizzly showers - Cool 12-15ºC. 2 Carp; 10lb 10oz & 6lb 3oz. 1 Bream; 5lb 6oz. 6 Perch. 1 Roach. Slow, slow night, punctuated on the stroke of 1am by a rather nice common - the only time my bite alarm indicated a fish in the whole session. All the other fish fell to float fished maggot on the marginal shelf (I was hoping to connect with some of the tench that had been showing recently!) Of course I wasn't even meant
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

18 June

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2230 Cool, overcast evening after a day of persistent rain. 14ºC all evening but felt cooler facing the breeze (which at least kept any mossies away!) 7 (!) Tench; 4 small ones (last year's stocking?) and 3X3lbers - biggest 3lb 8oz. Well I wasn't expecting that! It's taken a while since the fish kill 15 years ago and the remodelling of this lake - but if this is the sport now on offer then all the effort has not been in vain! I hadn't even planne
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

17 June (Part 2)

River Kennet - Widmead 0845 - 1145 Warm & Sultry. 1 Chub: 1lb 10oz, 21 Dace - with around a third 8oz or better - weighed a couple, both at 10oz and had another 4 or 5 that weren't much smaller. 1 Grayling - small. 3 Brownies - a pounder and 2 tiddlers. Having exhausted my first swim it was off to another spot a mile or so downstream - and a haul of cracking dace. This swim 'looks' very chubby so it was nice to have that confirmed - all be it right at the end of the sessi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

17 June (Part 1)

River Kennet - Hambridge 0500 - 0800 Cool, misty start - though quickly warmed up. River at normal levels and carrying a surprising amount of colour - didn't think there would have been much boat traffic to colour it up. 1 Pike; 9lb 6oz, 2 Chub; 3lb 3oz & a pounder. 1 Dace.  2 Brownies  one that must have been close to 2lb and a tiddler. I had planned an evening session on a stillwater for today - but weather warnings for thunderstorms this evening saw me up at the crack
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

16 June 2020

Middle Kennet Weirpool - Marsh Benham 0500 - 1100 Warm, sunny and quite humid - temps already 15º C when I pulled into the car park at 0430. A lovely summer's morning - though the mossies were out in force! 10 Chub; 7 over pound, with 2 over 4lb - biggest 4lb 9oz. 2 doz Dace and Roach - in roughly equal nos - slightly more dace than redfins - nothing particularly big, though most of the roach were 'hand-size' or better. 1 Perch; under lb but needed the net, 1 Rainbow - c3lb.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

8 June

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2300 Coolish, overcast evening though temps didn't really drop when it got dark - 14ºC. 2 Carp; 8lb 5oz & 7lb 11oz Entertaining evening as both fish took an age to land on lightish tackle and float rod (I was after crucians as per usual!). Thankfully there are few snags and you can wear them out at distance with the only jeopardy being when you get them close in to net and they seem to realise there are tree roots available! Was hoping that
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
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