Jump to content
  • entries
    1158
  • comments
    904
  • views
    1588119

About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

Coarse Fishing

25 July

River Kennet - Padworth 1715 - 2145 Warm, overcast and very breezy. AT 22º -> 16ºC. River low and threadbare! 13 Roach and 7 Dace. Nothing particularly noteworthy - though all the roach were a handsized or slightly bigger. A lively hour catching 'silvers' followed by 3 hours sat behind a couple of stationary quiver tips for the inevitable blank targetting a barbel (and to think this place used to be called 'Barbel Alley'). Had intended to stay a bit longer - but an early p
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

5
Coarse Fishing

6 August

River Kennet - Hambridge 0530 - 0730 Cool and clear. AT 7º (!) -> 13ºC (Was thankful for my fleece!). River VERY low - can't remember when I last saw it this threadbare. 2 Chub; 1lb 10oz & 1lb 7oz. 11 Dace - all small. 5 Roach - ditto apart from one of around ½lb. 2 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak A couple of hours trotting and home for breakfast! Doesn't look like anyone's been here since I came in June, place was a jungle! Banker chub swim was full of bleak & and small dace - s
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

5
Coarse Fishing

1 December

River Lambourn - Newbury 0845 - 1415 Cold and cloudy. AT -2º -> +1ºC. (Proper Grayling weather!). River very full and clear. 23 Grayling. 8 over a lb - best 4 went 1lb 14oz, 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz (X2 - different fish). 5 Brownies: all small/parrs. I do love cold days like this - wrapped up warm and staying mobile. Had the rare luxury of not seeing another angler so fished the length of the stretch twice with a break for lunch in between. Took corn but forgot it in the mo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

5

31 January

River Kennet - Newbury   0800 - 1200   Cold and overcast - easterly breeze. AT & WT both 42ºF. River up at 'normal' winter levels - little colour.   5 Chub - 4lb 6oz, 3lb11oz, 3lb 10oz, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 3oz, 5 Dace, 3 Grayling, 1 Brown Trout (c¾lb) & dozen Gudgeon.   All fish on trotted maggot though started with worm for first ½hour or so to see if any perch were in residence - not a sniff yet strangely had the 4-6 chub first trot when I switched to maggots (and three more soon afte
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

7 March

River Kennet - Newbury   0630 - 0900   COLD, and clear. AT was 22ºF when I arrived WT a whole 20ºF warmer at 42ºF. River clear and quite 'full'.   13 (!) Chub: In order of capture; 3lb 1oz, 6lb 0oz, 2lb 14oz, 5lb 2oz, 3lb 10oz, 4lb 13oz, 4lb 3oz, 4lb 10oz, 3lb 7oz, 4lb 15oz, 1lb 11oz, 2lb 2oz, 3lb 6oz. 1 Barbel 3lb 4oz. 1 Dace.   Simply an awesome session!! All fish on trotted double red maggot (to a size 14). I seriously questioned the wisdom of this trip
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

24/25 June

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   1300 - 0930   Hot and sultry (again!). Max 25ºC, Min 12ºC.   4 Carp (but see below!) ; 14lb2oz, 9lb 7oz, 5¾ & 4¾lbs. 3 Crucians; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 9oz. 4 roach & 2 rudd.   A very quiet night - saved, for me at least - by a very productive last 2½hrs when I had the 14 (on floating crust from right under my feet) and all 3 crucians on float fished meat - hooray! Paul and I had set ourselves a target for the session of
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

28 January

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Hungerford   0730 - 1715   Cold, mainly overcast with some sunny spells especially after noon. -1ºC->2ºC but felt MUCH colder in a raw NEly wind. River still quite low for late Jan.   42 Grayling; 15 over 1lb - best 3, 1lb11oz, 1lb10oz, 1lb 8oz. 3 Dace; small(ish!), 8 Brownies - biggest 2lb 10oz - but most were parrs, 7 Rainbows to 3¼lb.   A chilly days grayling fishing with Paul. Tried and failed to find any big dace - water l
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

Season's Bests - 2010/11

And so endeth another season. No PB's this season - though a few fish got close (6lb 5oz chub the closest). A much better summer than in the past few years with some really nice crucians (from a variety of waters too) and quite a few 6lb+ tench - all caught float fishing. Winter started with a long cold snap form mid-Novemeber - rather curtailing the perennial 4lb+ perch hunt - though a morning when I brought 4, 3lbers to the net will live long in the memory!   Best Carp; 14lb 10oz, 21
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

16 June (part 2)

River Kennet - Thatcham   1330 - 1600   Overcast, sunny spells, one brief shower (17ºC)   2 Chub - a 2lber and a chublet. 9 Dace, 2 Grayling (!), 3 Brownies - biggest 1½lb.   Note to self - arriving at said venue at lunchtime on 16th June is not the smartest plan to secure 1st choice trotting swim (or 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th choice for that matter - yes the place was pretty busy!). So no 1st day barbel on the pin - though a brace of surprise grayling was some compensation - both around 1
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

6 July

River Kennet, Newbury   1600 - 2300   Overcast and breezy with some drizzle. 20º->15ºC but felt a LOT chillier where I was sitting in the breeze! River at normal summer levels and carrying quite a bit of colour   1 Bream; 2lb 10oz   An evening barbelling session with Paul to this (once) prolific section of river. Over the years I have come to call this swim THE Banker - I can't remember coming here in high summer and NOT catching a barbel. These days th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

21 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0945 - 1315   Bright and sunny after a cloudy start - 16ºC. River low and quite coloured up!   6 Chub; 5lb 2oz, 3lb 7oz, 1¼lb & 3 chublets. 12+ dace, 3 brownies, 1 roach & a gudgeon.   Well as I had to go to the tackle shop to pick up some stuff for tomorrow - seemed a good excuse to have a few hours by the river exploring some new swims. Fished 4 swims in all - 2 of which I've never run a float through before - one of
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

29 January

K & A canal, flowing canal & River Kennet - Thatcham   0700 - 1700   Mild, overcast and VERY blowy for most of the day. AT 54ºF, WT 48ºF. River quite 'full' though with surprisingly little colour.   8 Perch: 3lb 12oz (SB ), 3lb 4oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 6oz, 2lb 1oz, 1lb 14oz. (Nearly 22lb of perch ) 2 Chub; 3lb 5oz, 2lb 2oz. 4 Dace & 2 Roach.   After last week's chub fest I wanted to take advantage of the return to mild weather and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

4 February

River Kennet Newbury   0800 - 1045   COLD and clear. AT -9ºC when I drove off confirmed by a reading of 16ºF when I arrived on the bank. WT a balmy 35ºF - coldest day I think I have ever been fishing. However dressed appropriately and standing IN the river for warmth I was really quite toasty apart form the thumb and index finger on my right hand -which kept 'sticking' to the metal of my Witcher. Thought that frozen rings would be a mare but in fact the water froze on the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

3 March

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1000   Overcast with rain/drizzle for ¾hr from 0830. AT & WT 48ºF.   2 Perch; 3lb 2oz & 2lb 7oz.   Unexpectedly had a free morning due to Sam deciding on a lay in after partying last night rather than go training. Dad's taxi still had to take Matt to work for 0630 which was the time I'd have rather have been making my first cast. So I arrived 30 or so minutes later than I would have liked to get a couple of nasty s
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

1st June (!)

NAA stillwater Widmead and Thatcham   0400 - 1200.   Overcast, still and mild - temps around 17/18ºC   1 carp, 11lb 5oz.   1st EVER close season session - oooo I feel a little bit dirty! Don't intend to make a habit of it but I had some time owed to me which if I didn't take by next week (and as ½ the office we already off, next week was out) I would lose. So I thought I'd join Paul on one of his 'free Fridays'. 1st part of the morning was purely reconnai
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

9 December

Middle Kennet Estate(s) Newbury (am), Kintbury (pm)   0745 - 1615   Breezy with sunny spells. 7º->9º->7ºC. River 'full' and clear - though within its banks after recent (and very evident) flooding.   5 Chub; 4 over 2¼lb - best 2, 4lb & 3lb 10oz. 3 Grayling - 1lb 13oz, 1lb 2oz & 14oz. 5 Dace, 3 over 8oz - biggest 13oz. 2 roach, a gudgeon and 2 Brownies both circa 1½lb plus a 4lb bream which doesn't count as it was hooked in the dorsal - giving the most
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

20 May

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1400 - 2200 Warm and sunny with a nice breeze to keep the mozzies away! 1 Tench: 3lb 13oz. 2 Carp: 5lb 11oz & 4lb 6oz. A rare (very - I usually have a bit of a break in the spring) 'closed season' outing - a trip to cure the lockdown blues! Just wanted to sit on the bank and watch a float for a few hours not even so bothered about catching! As usual I set my stall out to try and snaffle one of the lake's big but scarce crucians and as the tackle sh
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

1 July

River Kennet - Newbury   2045 - 0000   Warm and overcast - river still has good flow though a little turbid.   2 Dace & a spottie.   Planned to be bankside way earlier - but was seriously delayed getting home. Quick 20 mins trotting followed by 3 hours looking at a mainly stationary rod tip. Had a couple of promising rattles but nothing that developed into anything 'hittable.'
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

8 September

River Kennet - Newbury   0700 - 1000   Bright and sunny - river quite low. (Though nowhere near as low as 2011)   1 Chub 3lb 11oz,1 Perch (circa 1lb) 40+ Dace & Roach (2/3rds dace to 1/3rd roach). 8 gudgeon and 2 spotties.   Pleasant morning's trotting in the sunshine. Nice to see so many silver fish in the river - like to see a few more chub and barbel though!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

23 July

River Kennet - Newbury   1845 - 2315   Hot and muggy - temp still 21ºC when I got back to the car at 2330!   1 chub; 2lb 10oz, 2 Grayling 1lb 2oz and one not far under 1lb, 7 Roach - 4 really chunky ones biggest weighed in at 14oz, 4 Dace, a perch and a gudgeon (but yet again NO barbel)   This is getting a little repetitive! Another decent short trotting session - in fact for half an hour it was like fishing the Kennet of old - almost fish a chuck and never quite know what species would
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

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

12 January

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham   0900 - 1500   Cool, calm and mainly overcast. AT around 6ºC all day. River a couple of inches lower on my last visit over Christmas - with most of the colour dropped out.   8 Chub; 5 over 1lb - best 3lb 2oz, 2 doz+ Roach, 4 Dace - to 8oz & 4 Perch (all small). (NO trout - bit of a first for here!)   Birthday treat with Rusty as my guest. Low water meant chub were a little on the spooky side - only found one swim where I caught more th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4
Coarse Fishing

26 September

River Kennet - Hambridge 0700 - 1330 Cool (5ºC when I started), bright and breezy. River quite low - normal for Sep. 3 Chub; all 1-2lb. 5 Barbel (!!!); all 12oz-1lb. 8 Dace - all chunky ones in the 6-8oz class with a couple a tad bigger. 4 Brown Trout; one close to 3lb the others circa 12oz+. Another recce session - following up on some recently acquired intelligence (cheers Martin - spot on! ?). Been a few years since I last exchanged my NAA card for a CSAS one to fish this
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

4
Coarse Fishing

6 February

Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1345 Cold with fog - which eventually cleared for the last hour. AT -2º -> 4ºC, rings icing up till midday. Stream very full with just a hint of colour - perfect winter nick! 8 Chub: All bar one over 2lb; Best, 4lb 4oz, 3lb 9oz & 3lb 4oz. 2 Doz Roach & Dace (2/3rds Roach) A couple of the dace were lumps - one went 10oz the other, unweighed but of similar stamp. 1 Perch- small(ish). 4 Trout between 1¾- 2½lb. Day got of to an inau
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

4
Coarse Fishing

8 March

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0815 - 1745 Cool, overcast with milky sunshine at times. AT 0º - 10ºC. river at normal winter levels - looked in great nick. 35 Chub - with nearly 2doz over 3lb(!) Had 11 over 4lb of which 5 were over 5lb (!). Best 5lb 9oz. 18 Dace some quite chunky ones but nothing particularly noteworthy. 8 Roach - all small apart from one 'netter'. 6 Brownies 2½ - 3½lb - with most at the upper end of that range! Wow! This has become my annual chub fest - I h
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

4
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We and our partners use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences, repeat visits and to show you personalised advertisements. By clicking “I Agree”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.

  I accept