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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

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

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

3 August

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   0500 - 1030   Warm, overcast and sultry. 15ºC -> 25ºC. WT 73ºF (too warm methinks!)   3 Carp; (all between 4-5lb), 4 roach, 3 perch, 1 rudd.   A torpid morning's angling. Yet again failing to catch any crucians - think I used up all this season's 'Crucian Luck' on 26 June! For quite a while I struggled to catch anything - even float fished maggot was ignored. Eventaully had a brief flurry of activity from the carp - just as the swim was bathed in ful
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

26/27 July

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley   2100 - 0600   Warm, calm, overcast and muggy. 17ºC at Midnight and still 15º+ when I packed up - lovely evening to be out.   2 Tench; 5lb 5oz, 3lb 11oz. A couple of roach & perch.   A very last minute decision to go - based on A, the weather forecast - lovely balmy evening. B, Jaq reminding me she was having a girls night out. And C, Paul having already planned an evening session here. Tuesday is one of my training nights - I coach athletics (stop snigger
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

22/23 June

Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead   1700 - 0730   Cool and breezy (very) with short sharp showers to start. Overnight felt very chilly in the wind (temps were down to 10ºC) so the quilted, thermal one-piece suit made a rare appearance. I went from feeling chilled to toasty in a matter of minutes (though that might just have been struggling to get in it!)   1 Tench; 4lb 3oz. 2 Bream, 5lb 2oz & 4lb 3oz. 1 roach & 1 perch.   A session that failed to liv
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

1 August

Newbury AA stillwater - Widmead   0500 - 1000   Warm, overcast and sultry. 16ºC->21ºC   3 Tench; 3lb 10oz, 3lb 7oz, 1lb 11oz. 2 Carp; 9lb 14oz & 8lb 5oz. 7 Rudd.   Dawn raid in the hope of another monster crucian - and whilst I had a big fish roll shortly after baiting the swim it was a case of nothing doing. Rudd were a nice size - upto 9-10oz, though in truth a bit of a pain as they kept giving crucian like bites on my lift float rigged meat! Carp
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

1 July

Bucklebury Ponds   1000 - 1300   Breezy, overcast with frequent light showers.   3 Carp; all between 3-4lb. 2 Bream; both circa 2lb. A dozen+ roach and perch - mainly perch plus a roach/bream hybred of around 1lb.   Quick morning visit to my 'local'. Carp were actually a bit of a menace - took an age to land on light tackle and suspect they were bullying the target species (basically anything that wasn't a carp!) off the bait. Also got smashed a couple of times - only had 1½lb hook lengt
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

2 July

River Kennet - Newbury   1945 - 0000   Dull, overcast with fine drizzle. Quite 'warm' (15ºC), really felt quite snug under the trees! River looks in fine fettle - though carrying a little colour.   2 Chub 2lb 15oz, 2lb 2oz.   An evening ledgering for barbel, but not disappointed to 'only' get a couple of blank saving, schooly chub. Bigger one first cast - smaller one just as it got properly dark at around 1045pm. A good year for bats - loads and loads of them at dusk!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

22 January

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1045   Cool, overcast with some short showers early on. AT 0º->3ºC. River up a couple of inches on my last visit (Christmas Eve).   15 Grayling; 5 over 1lb - best 2, 1lb 10oz & 1lb 7oz. 2 Brownies & 1 roach - all small.   Quick trotting session - catch a couple and move on. Venue 'busy' with Anglersneters!!!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

6 February

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0815 - 1215. Overcast, mild and very breezey. WT 49ºF   4 Perch; 3lb exactly, 1lb 10oz and a couple of tiddlers.   Slow morning - 3lber in the 1st 15 minutes. Would have liked to have started ¾hr earlier but had to take Sam into work. Stiff upstream breeze made accurate casting and presentation difficult. (And when I did get it right a ruddy canoeist would come along - had to reel in 37 times for them - yes I counted!)  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

20 February

Middle Kennet Estate   0900 - 1730   Cool, Overcast and Dry. AT around 5-6ºC all day. River at normal levels and carrying a tinge of colour - all in all neigh on perfect winter conditions!   10 Chub. 8 over a pound, biggest 3; 4lb 5oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 5oz. 13 Dace. Most a good size, best 4; 14oz, 11oz 10ozX2. 1 Grayling - 1lb 7oz. 8 Brownies to 2½lb.   Typical day spent wondering the banks with rods in hand. Spent all morning searching out the dace and had c
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

7

25 February

River Itchen   0830 - 1730   Mild and overcast all day. AT 13ºC Max. River at near normal levels though carrying quite a bit of colour.   22 Grayling; 12 over 1lb, with 6 of those over 2lb - biggest 2lb 7oz. 2 Chub 4lb 3oz, 3lb 8oz.   Thanks to Paul's excellent networking skills (& silver tongue) we had exclusive use of this lovely bit of river for a second time (see blog entry 13/10/08 for the first). Bites at a premium and quite hard work at times -
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

6 March

Middle Kennet Estate   0830 - 1800   Bright and sunny after an overcast morning. AT 3º->8ºC, quite chilly in a stiff easterly breeze.   6 Chub; Biggest 2, 4lb5oz & 4lb 0oz, 2 Perch; 2lb 14oz & 2lb 7oz. 15 Dace; Biggest 10oz though nearly all the others weren't much smaller. 2 Roach, both small. 10 Brownies to 2½lb.   Typical session wandering the banks searching for fish - walked even further than normal as it was tough going once the sun came o
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

Season's Bests 2011/12

And another season comes to a close. And a rather good one it was too - with 3 PB's, an equalling PB and a couple of near misses. A rather indifferent summer, despite a PB Bream and a PB Crucian in the same week - was compensated by some great post September angling. The autumn perch campaign got off to a real flyer. A session which produced 18 fish for nearly 40lb including 5X3lbers and a PB equalling 3lb 14oz fish was a real red letter day (see 13 October entry). This winter I was eagerly look
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

14 March

Middle Kennet Estate   0730 - 1800   Cool and overcast all morning, bright sunshine in the afternoon feeling quite warm despite the thermo only reading 10ºC. River VERY low.   4 Chub; 3lb 4oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 11oz and a chublet. 5 Perch; a couple of 'pounders' best of which was just under 2lb - the rest around 12oz. 25 roach - most fairly small though had one 'goodun' of 14oz. 9 Dace. 1 Bream 2¼lb. 10 gudgeon, 4 bleak & 6 brownies to 3¼lb.   Usual mixed b
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

18 December

Middle Kennet Estate water.   0800 -1600   Cold, frosty and bright. -1ºC -> 5ºC. River very low   5 Chub; 5lb 15oz, 2lb 3oz & 3 chublets 2 of which were circa 1lb. 47 Roach; Most in the 6-8oz bracket - the 5 I put on the scales were 9oz, 10oz, 12oz, 14oz & 1lb 2oz but an awful lot weren't much smaller than the 9oz fish - probably had nearly 20lb of roach in all! 2 Dace & 6 Brownies biggest circa 2½lb.   Chalk this one up to the river keeper
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

8

2 January 2012 (A big fat Pike!)

River Kennet - Speen Moors   1230 - 1600   Bright and sunny start followed by a heavy shower. AT 5-7ºC. Forgot to take WT!   1 Pike; 15lb 3oz (!!!). 4 Perch 1lb 9oz and 3 smalluns. 2 Roach. 2 Dace. 8 Gudgeon.   Rather hoped that the weather would have held to what we'd had in recent days (mild and overcast). Bright sunshine and a sudden drop in temperature is not what the angler ordered and I ummed and ahhed all morning about whether or not to go. However
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

7

23 November

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1130   Bright after a frosty start - 1st frost of the month. River very low.   29 Grayling, 11 over 1lb (!!). Best 3; 1lb 14oz, 1lb 8oz, 1lb 7oz. 1 Roach - unweighed but needed the net. 1 Brown Trout parr.   Pure co-incidence that my first visit of the season here corresponded to the 1st frosts of winter. Usual catch a couple and move on tactics until I found a pod of sizeable grayling feeding confidently under the branches of a willow. More importantly
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

15/16 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   1500 - 0700   Overcast and breezy with light drizzle most of the night after a warm sunny afternoon. Min 15ºC - mild despite the breeze!   6 Carp - all commons - biggest 9lb 13oz, smallest 6lb 8oz. 1 Bream 4lb 8oz. 1 Tench 2lb 8oz. 2 Doz+ Roach and Rudd.   It comes to something when the highlight of your fishing trip is breakfast!!! However the pork and bramley apple sausages, fried egg sandwiches and mugs of steaming fresh tea w
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5

13 November

River Frome, Worgret & Wool.   0730 - 1030 - Worgret 1100 - 1500 - Wool.   Mild and breezy. Overcast am. Mainly sunny pm. River very coloured but well within its banks. (Not at all what I was expecting!!!)   4 Grayling; 2lb 11oz, 1lb 4oz, 12oz & a tiddler. 1 Dace; 10oz. 6 Brownies - most quite small. 1 Sea trout - 1¼lb.   A couple of new venues for this winter and a river I've been wanting to fish for AGES! So some new waters to learn - and th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

18 November

Middle Kennet Estate water   0730 - 1630   Mild and mainly overcast with some 'milky' sunshine at times. River VERY low.   7 Chub; 4 over 1lb - biggest 3lb 1oz. 8 Perch; 2 over 1lb - biggest 2lb 3oz. 2 Bream - both circa 1lb. 3 Doz+ Roach - most quite small though 2 warranted the scales - one at 13oz the other a lovely fish of 1lb 4oz. 2 Doz + Dace - all quite small. 20 + Gudgeon. 8 Brownies - most over 2lb - biggest 3lb 8oz. 1 Rainbow - 2¾lb.   A lovely d
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

25 July

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   0500 - 1000   Bright and sunny - cool start. 9º -> 16ºC   5 Carp - biggest 2; 11lb 0oz & 9lb 7oz - a few 'bits' - roach, perch & a gudgeon.   A dawn raid hoping for a crucian or 2 but alas the carp were too voracious!! Whatever I put on the hook - bread, maggot, meat, pellet the carp nailed within minutes - didn't give the crus a look in. Bumped as many as I landed too! Biggest carp however was caught deliberately -
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

2 December

River Lambourn - Shaw   0730 - 1230   Frosty and bright start - clouding over by mid morning. 0ºC -> 6ºC. River low.   56 (!!) Grayling; 3 over 1lb - best a lovely fish of 1lb 12oz. 2 Roach (small). 8 Brownies small ( but bigger than parrs).   Nice sociable session with Paul. Original plan had been to do some more prospecting for perch on the canal but the weather forecasts had been predicting a cold clear Friday morning all week - so Plan B was the lad
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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