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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

28 December

River Lambourn - Shaw   0900 - 1200   Cold, bright and sunny. River quite low and gin clear as always!   24 Grayling - 7 over 1lb - biggest a couple of fish @ 1lb 5oz.   Lovely morning's trotting - over half the fish from one swim - including 5 of the 'pounders'. Felt I was entertaining the local children at times as I had a crowd on onlookers everytime I landed a fish!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 December

River Kennet - Thatcham   (A) 0730 - 0930 (B ) 1000 - 1200   Cool and breezy. Overcast for first couple of hours then sunny. River quite pacey with a little colour.   2 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 2lb 9oz, 2 brownies (all from B ). 1 Grayling (!) from A.   Last winter (A) proved to be a reliable swim for chub and perch - and throughout the summer and autumn has also produced nice dace. However the fish have done a disappearing act this winter (Paul and Rusty
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0915 - 1215   Bright, crisp and cold. -2º->3ºC. A lovely winter's morning. River low and clear (as always!)   20 Grayling; 3 over 1lb - best 2; 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz. 2 Dace. 4 trout parr.   A great way to kill time while my car was having its MOT! Had arranged to meet up with Paul (who provided a lift back to the garage) and we leap frogged our way down the fishery - for near identical returns. Think Paul ended up with 21 g
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

7 December

Middle Kennet Estate - Newbury   0815 - 1600   Cool, bright and breezy, with showers for first couple of hours. River quite low.   10 Chub; All over 2½lb, with the majority in the 3lb+ class. Best 2, 4lb 1oz & 4lb 4oz. 7 Roach, 2 Dace. Around 10 brownies to 3lb & half a dozen rainbows to 4lb.   A fine days chubbing in the company of Paul & Chris (Rusty). Rusty was travelling up from Devon and we didn't expect to see him til mid morning so of co
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

29 November

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0715 - 1045   Mild (9/10ºC) with broken cloud - to bright sunshine at end. A lovely benign autumnal morning. Canal very clear (no boat traffic for a month due to maintenance work upstream) WT a 'balmy' 50ºF.   6 Perch; 2lb 15oz, 1lb 14oz, 1lb10oz & 3 tiddlers.   A session that got off to a very slow start with only 2 tiny perch to show for the first hour. A move 100m or so upstream brought instant rewards - and the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

22 November

River Frome - Wool   0800 - 1630   Very mild (14ºC), overcast and quite breezy with the very occasional drizzly flurry. NOT at all what was forecast - which was pretty much rain all day! River quite pacey (0.97m at East Stoke river gauge) and carrying a bit more colour than I'd have liked.   14 Grayling; 8 over 1lb (6over 1½lb). Best 3; 1lb14oz, 2lb0oz, 2lb1oz. 2 Dace; best 10oz. 1 Roach; 9oz. 9 Brownies to 2¼lb. 3 Salmon parr.   A trip that we nearly abor
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5

14 November

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0830 - 1630   Bright and sunny after biblical amounts of rain in the 1st hour (and the preceding hours of darkness). River though was clear and still quite low!   8 Chub; All over 2lb with half over 3lb. Best 4lb 4oz. 4 Dace; All gooduns - biggest a shade over 12oz! A doz+ brownies to 3½lb and a rainbow.   A day that was booked off work with the intention of heading down to Dorset in search of a monster grayling. A plan th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

9 November

Middle Kennet Estate   0730 - 1645   Bright and sunny - a lovely, benign autumn day - glad we didn't go yesterday! River still low and clear despite yesterday's monsoon!   12 Chub; Most around the 2½lb stamp - biggest 3lb 11oz. 60 Roach & Dace (2/3 roach,1/3 Dace). 8 Perch; a 1lb fish and 7 smalluns. A gudgeon, 2 Brownies to 3lb and a 3lb+ Rainbow.   First 'estate' trip of the winter and it didn't disappoint - there were fish everywhere - though we fai
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

1 November

River Kennet - Thatcham   0700 - 1200   Sunny morning after a rainy start - rain stopped almost as soon as I started fishing.   2 Perch; 3lb 10oz & 1lb 2oz. 19 Dace (5 of which were in the 8-10oz class - very nice). 3 Roach.   Fished trotted corn for the first 45 mins in the hope of snaffling one of the big chub that are usually in residence - but didn't get a touch. Was rueing that decision by 0830 with the swim now in full sunlight thinking I'd waste
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

26 October

Speen Moors   0730 - 1645   Mild, overcast and quite breezy. River low.   4 Chub; a 2lber and 3 chublets. 9 Perch; 4 over 1lb, best 1lb 15oz. 20 Roach & Dace. 30+ gudgeon and a brownie of around ¾lb.   First time in years that Paul and I have spent a whole day at Speen and it meant we had time for a good wander - though the best of the action was had in the first couple of hours which accounted for all my decent perch (and the 2lb chub) and a fine brac
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

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

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

1

5 October

River Kennet - Thatcham   0745 - 1000 (a) 1030 - 1230 (b )   Bright and sunny after a chilly start (ice on the car for the first time this autumn). River low and carrying a tinge of colour.   (a) 1 Chub (circa 1lb), 16 Roach, 5 Dace, 4 Grayling, a bleak and 2 brownies - biggest circa 1½lb. (b ) 3 Chub; 5lb 6oz, 4lb 13oz 4lb 9oz. 6 Dace biggest 10oz (the other 5 weren't much smaller!)   A couple of hours trotting in a couple of swims half a mile a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5

1 October

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2315   Warm, calm and mainly overcast evening. River quite low.   3 Barbel (!): 8lb 14oz, 6lb 4oz, 5lb 7oz.   At last - the frustrations of the summer evaporate under a benign autumn evening sky. Fished a swim I'd not frequented for a while (01/09/10 was the last time) but it certainly won't be 4 years before I return. Smallest fish at around 2000 then a flurry of activity just after 2200. Was putting the 6 back when the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

27 September

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne. River Kennet Speen Moors   0630 - 1030 Canal 1045 - 1230 Speen   Mild, calm and overcast. River low   5 Perch - biggest 1¼lb from the canal 1 Chub ;1lb 15oz, 2 dace, 2 roach, 3 gudgeon and a brownie from Speen.   Frustrating morning's perching - made so by lots of scattering fry but limited action on lobs. If I didn't get a bite straight away the signals snaffled the worm. Had meant to fish longer at Speen but couldn't get access to the swims I wante
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 September

Kennet & Avon Canal, Thatcham (and an hour on the river proper)   0630 - 1300   Warm, overcast, murky and muggy - perfect low light conditions for perching! Temp 17/18ºC   8 Perch; 3lb 6oz, 2lb 7oz and a couple of pounders. 2 Chub 1lb 14oz and a chublet. 1 Roach; 12oz (took a whole lob worm). 5 dace and a grayling (from the river in the last hour)   Plan was to do some prospecting for new perch swims so Paul and I covered quite a bit of towpath looking
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

17 September

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham   1800 - 2300   Warm, overcast and muggy - shirtsleeves all evening!   1 Chub 3lb 7oz, 8 Roach - all small save for one which was circa 8oz, 5 Dace - 2 gooduns at 8oz. 1 Grayling, 1 Gudgeon, 4 Brownies - 3 between 1¾- 2¼lb!     Familiar pattern of the summer - an hour's trotting for a good mixed bag - including the hoped for chub followed by 4 hours of crayfish rattles and bat line-strikes (and no barbel!!!). Trout were a bit of a menace - making good imitation
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 September

River Kennet - Newbury   0645 - 1000   Cool and overcast. River low (ish) with its usual summer colour!   1 Chub; 4lb 4oz, 16 Dace, 2 Roach, 2 Gudgeon, 1 Grayling   Pleasant morning spent mid river. Chub was the target so well pleased with a 4lber. Had a bit of pike trouble from what looked like a substantial esox. Put a lure rod up and threw a plug around for ½hour but couldn't get any interest.   Obligatory fish & pin pic (a Chris Lythe)
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

10 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1800 - 2300   Clear evening becoming quite cool; 9ºC when we packed up.   7 dace, 3 roach (all small)   A pleasant social with Paul - sharing (practically) the same swim. Last hour of daylight spent trotting for the silvers followed by 4 hours looking at a near stationary isotope - save for the odd crayfish rattle.   Paul, however faired rather better getting this very fat 10lb 10oz barbel in the first hour of ledgeri
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

5/6 September

Harris Lake, Marsh Farm fishery, Milford   1900 - 1000   Warm, becalmed and overcast night - don't know what the minimum temperature was but it must have been min-teens ºC. Simply a lovely night to be out fishing - could've got away with shirtsleeves ALL night if it hadn't been for the odd persistent mossie!   12 Crucians; 7 over 2lb (!) best 2lb 7oz. 6 Tench; all over 3lb - best 2, 4lb 7oz & 4lb 14oz. A roach (small).   Last hurrah at this venue for another summer and it didn't disa
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

3 September

River Kennet - Thatcham   1815 - 2230   Warm sunny evening becoming quite cool quickly with a very heavy dew.   21 dace - a dozen of which were 8oz or better - best weighed in at 10oz. 2 roach (small) 3 gudgeon and a brownie.   Cracking evening trotting - really good stamp of dace from a stretch of river I've not fished in over a decade. Darkness saw me switch to the lead for a couple of hours - alas the only interest I got was from the signals. Definitely a swim that I will return to so
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

23 August

River Kennet - Thatcham Warm and sunny. River down to normal summer levels.   0700 - 1015   1 chub 1½lb, 9 dace, 1 grayling and 6 brownies to 1¼lb   1045 - 1300   7 dace, 1 roach, 2 grayling and a brownie.   Pleasant's morning trotting on a couple of my favourite venues. Funny how grayling suddenly turn up every couple of years (the 2 caught at my 2nd swim being particularly surprising!). Chub first cast, augured well - pity a bigger one or a barbel didn't show up. A pair of canoei
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

15/16 August

NAA Lake - Widmead   1930 - 0645   Mild night despite clearing skies - very pleasant under the stars (and some late Perseids). No morning dew either.   7 Carp - all between 4lb 14oz & 9lb 7oz. 1 Tench; 4lb 14oz. 2 roach and a rudd.   Steady session with a 5lb+ carp 1st cast and a fish every hour or so thereafter until it got light when bites dried up completely. Had intended to fish a different lake - but it was rather busy (school holidays - sigh!) so dropped into a swim that I'd wa
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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