Jump to content
  • entries
    1158
  • comments
    904
  • views
    1601752

About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

16 December

Kennet & Avon (flowing) Canal - Thatcham   1400 - 1600   Very mild & overcast. AT 56ºF, WT 52ºF. River with a tinge of colour after yesterday's rain.   5 Perch; 2lb 8oz, 2lb 3oz, 2 'pounders' and one just under.   Couldn't resist such perfect perch conditions. Fished the swim where I had my PB back in 2013 but which hasn't really produced much since. All fish caught in the last 45 mins.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

19 December

River Kennet - Newbury   0945 - 1415   Very mild, with milky sunshine at times. AT 59ºF. WT53ºF. River low and clear - almost at summer levels.   3 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 2 'pounders'. 5 Perch; 4 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 15oz, and one just shy of 1lb. 20 Dace. 6 Roach. 2 Grayling; both around 12oz. 3 Brownies; 2lb+ fish and a couple of parr fish.   Very productive trotting session - standing in the middle of the river in shirt-sleeves in December! Found a shoal of perch right at the end of th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

24 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   1230 - 1500   Bright and breezy after heavy morning rain. 8ºC. River up a tad and carrying a bit of colour.   18 Grayling; 5 over 1lb to 1lb 6oz. 1 Trout.   Traditional Christmas Eve session to empty the bait fridge so that it can be used as a 'Christmas overflow'. Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - didn't have more than 3 grayling from any one spot.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

26 December

River Kennet - Thatcham   0945 - 1315   Overcast, mild and breezy. River at normal levels with a tinge of colour.   2 Chub; 3lb 14oz & 3lb 11oz. 6 Dace - 4 in the 8-10oz bracket (nice!). 2 Grayling. 6 Trout; 4 over 1lb to 2lb 14oz.   Nice to get more than one chub from here and nice to get the place to meself - somewhat surprisingly. A couple of the trout had gorgeous golden colouration - including the biggest one - though I wish they didn't impersonate barbel in they way they fought
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 December

Middle Kennet - Kintbury   0745 - 1530   Bright and very breezy with a couple of very brief but very lumpy showers. Torrential rain curtailed proceedings half an hour early. River quite coloured and milky (much more than is normal for here) - the product of the springs breaking on the downs and not yesterday's rain. Middle and upper river has been like this for the past week according one of the keepers I was chatting to.   12 Chub; 9 over 3lb, but only 2 over 4 - b
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

3 January 2016

River Lambourn - Shaw   1400 - 1600   Overcast after heavy rain - river with a little colour and up a couple of cm (18cm by the Shaw EA Gauge).   20 Grayling; Most quite small with around ½doz in the 12oz-1lb bracket.   Going stir crazy after 3 days of rain - and wanting to catch my first fish of 2016. Thankful then for a 2 hour respite (in daylight). All fish from just 3 swims - which is somewhat unusual....
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

17 January

River Kennet, Newbury.   1030 - 1330.   Cold, and overcast with some sleety drizzle at times. Much heavier rain prompted a slightly earlier than planned pack up (coupled with no bites in the previous 45 minutes!). River 'full' with some colour - starting to drop out. AT 34ºF, WT 42ºF. (Balmy in comparison!)   2 Chub; 3lb 7oz, 2lb 0oz. 1 Perch; 1lb 12oz. 3 Grayling, 3 Dace.   Successful jaunt in search of some winter chub though bites were at a premium all morning - first 3 fish were all
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

7 February

River Lambourn - Newbury & Shaw   0915 - 1530   Bright and breezy with some brief showers. River quite coloured after yesterday's heavy rain - but quickly fining down.   39 Grayling; Around a third over 12oz - biggest 2, 1lb 6oz & 1lb 9oz. 7 Brownies 4 parr fish and 3 over 1lb - biggest 3lb 14oz!   Default venues when the Kennet is the colour of drinking chocolate. Did have a quick look in on Northcroft Stream - but even if it had been trottable I
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12 February

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham   0830 - 1315   Bright start, clouding over - quite chilly in the breeze. AT & WT 45ºF. River in great winter nick - quite pacey but well within its banks with a slight tinge of colour.   4 Chub; 4lb 2oz, 3lb 4oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 12oz. 1 Grayling, 2 Brownies both 1lb+.   Very satisfying morning in a swim a rarely visit in the winter!! Can't think why - though it is quite a long walk and there's very few back up spots if this does
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

21 February

Northcroft Stream   0930 - 1400   Mild, overcast and VERY breezy. River in great winter shape - quite pacey with very little colour.   3 Chub; 4lb 6oz, 3lb 15oz, 2lb 11oz. 23 Dace.   Couldn't decide where to go today - the mild weather suggested a canal perching session - the howling gale whistling around the house when I awoke at 0530 suggested other wise!! So a lay-in and Plan B - Chub - always a winter favourite. Smaller one in the weir-pool - the other 2 plus most of the dace from a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

6 March

Northcroft Stream & River Kennet - Newbury   0615 - 1000 plus an hour at Hambridge*.   Bright, frosty start. Soon clouding over. River full, pacey and gin clear!   2 Chub; 4lb 8oz & 2lb 11oz. 5 Dace & 2 Grayling*   Chub were the initial target and thankfully it paid to get bankside early (it got rather busy later). Both chub in the first half an hour. Spent the last hour trying to catch a large (12-15lb at a guess - got a good look at it) pike
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12 March

River Lambourn - Shaw & Newbury   0600 - 1230   Cool & misty giving way, eventually, to bright sunshine. AT -1º -> 6ºC (line icing up in the rings for the first hour) River gin clear as per usual. EA Gauge at Shaw - 0.26cm.   24 Grayling - with around a ¾ 12oz or better. Plus 7 Dace, 3 Roach & a Chublet form the drain!   Morning session which turned into an impromptu Anglersnet fish-in with Rusty, Steve Walker & JV44 all rocking up to the venue at 0930. By then I'd al
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

16 June 2016

River Kennet - Newbury   0430 - 0800   Cool and overcast - but dry. River surprisingly high with some colour.   4 Chub; 3lb 2oz, 2lb 10oz and a couple of fish circa 1½lb, 13 Dace, 2 Grayling, 2 brownies   So begineth another season - I have been umming a ahing over whether or not to continue with this blog - but someone asked if I was and I said yes so will carry on for the time being - pity the view counter's been broken for months - was hoping to celebra
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

16/17 June

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm Fishery, nr Godalming   1230 - 0445.   Warm (especially overnight), overcast, with heavy showers - though the worst of it missed us. Lots of thunder rumbling away in the distance - thankfully that's where it stayed!.   18 Crucians; 7 over 2lb, 2lb 9ozX2, 2lb 7oz, 2lb 6oz, 2lb 4oz X3, 3 Tench to 3lb 10oz (all over 3lb)   Informal IAC 'match' competing for the inaugural Paul Goulborn Memorial Trophy - to be awarded to the captor of t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20/21 June

Marsh Farm, Milford   1430 - 2315 Johnsons 2330 - 0315 Harris 0330 - 0730 Johnsons   Warm, slightly overcast with a full moon. Simply a lovely night to be out - never really got dark!   8 Crucians; 3lb 7oz, 2lb 14oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 7oz X2, 2lb 6oz, 1lb 13oz, 1lb 11oz, 11 Tench; Best 5lb exactly with another 5 over 4lb. 1 Brown Trout (!) 1lb 9oz.   After the excitement of the IAC fish-in on the 16th, a quick return to MF in the hope (thankfully mor
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

22 June

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0845 - 1515   Warm, overcast and very muggy - with some drizzly rain at times. River very full for high summer and quite coloured (though that's normal for the summer!)   2 Chub: 3lb 2oz, 2lb 14oz. 2 Dace, 3 Grayling, 8 Brown Trout - 3 over 1lb to 1lb 10oz.   Relaxed morning's trotting though it quickly became a quest to A - avoid the minnows and B - catch something without an adipose! A change of venue further downstream event
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

1 July

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   1745 - 2345   Overcast, breezy with a few short sharp showers. Cool - becoming even cooler - down to 9ºC in the car on the way home.   3 Carp; 7lb 9oz, 5lb 6oz, 4lb 11oz.   Not long after Paul's funeral - his wife Kim wanted me and Geoff to come over and sort through his fishing tackle (and bait fridge/freezer). Kim was keen for both of us to have whatever tackle we would make use of and one of the pieces I took was his p
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

6 July

River Kennet - Newbury   1800 - 2330   Warm, overcast evening (mossies were out in force!!). River down a couple of inches on opening week.   3 Chub; all between 1-2lb. 18 Dace, 6 Roach and 3 brownies.   First of what will probably be many blank barbel evenings!! At least the chub seem to be hanging on - nice to see some school sized fish to come through - but as soon as I switched from the trotting rod to ledgering gear the only interest I had was from the signals - one of which was eno
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

10 July

Bucklebury Ponds   1130 - 1400   Overcast, breezy and drizzly - warm.   2 carp; 4lb 3oz, 3lb 6oz. 12 Roach, 4 Perch and a skimmer.   Fishing time has been severely curtailed by athletics over the last 4 weekends - so just a quick session on my local pond float fishing maggot.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

11 July

​River Kennet, Near Thatcham   ​1800 - 2200   ​Warm and quite breezy.   2 Dace, 1 Grayling and 6 trout to 1lb+   Another failed barbel session cut short early by a large dog otter surfacing in by swim THREE times in under half an hour! :-(  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

21 July

River Kennet - Padworth   1800 -2300   Warm and overcast with light rain for last 2 hours.   30 Dace & 2 Perch.   Another trotting/static combo. Nice to get a bite a chuck on the trotting gear - and both perch were in the 8-10oz bracket. Not so much as a crayfish rattle on the ledgering rods...
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0

31 July/1 August

Marsh Farm, Milford.   1730 - 2300 Johnsons 2330 - 0530 Harris   Cool clear night - down to a chilly 9ºC when I packed up.   5 Crucians: Best 2lb 15oz, all others sub 2lb. 5 Tench - a brace of 3lbers and 3 in the 1-1½lb bracket. 2 TINY carp!   Just back from a week in Norfolk (took Paul's travel rod and caught 'A' mackerel off the beach at Weybourne where we were staying!) Plan for tonight was to try and get a decent tench - so even set up a feeder ro
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

5 August

Alders Lake - Thatcham   1800 - 2230   Clear evening and quite breezy - good evening for spotting early Perseids (saw 3).   2 Bream; 5lb 6oz & 4lb 14oz. 1 Tench (circa 1½lb).   Catch reports on the NAA forum had me visiting this venue with a smidgen of optimism for a change - and despite bites being at a premium, the tench early doors removed any doubt!. Both bream as it got dark and both on meat - alternated between maggot and meat - giving each an ho
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

8 August

​River Kennet, Newbury.   1800 - 2315   ​Cool, overcast evening. River down to usual summer levels.   ​1 Barbel; 6lb 2oz. 1 Chub 1½lb. 30+ Dace. 1 Roach.   Hurray, a barbel at last! Started off with the trotting rod as per usual - and again found a bit of river with stacks of silver fish. Then expected to spend a few hours looking at near static quiver tips (apart from the odd bat crashing into the line). However, just as it got properly dark the pellet rod (fishing a boilie on the other
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12/13 August

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   1900 - 0700   Warm, overcast (alas) and breezy night.   4 Carp; 8lb 9oz, 7lb 8oz, 7lb 3oz, 6lb 7oz.   Slow night - all fish at dusk or dawn - with 5 bite-less hours in between. Couldn't even enjoy the Persieds due to the cloud cover.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
×
×
  • 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