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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

8 August

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   0530 - 0830   Bright and sunny - 12-15ºC   2 Carp: 3 & 4¼lb. 1 skimmmer, ½doz perch & roach.   Float fishing - aledgedly for crucians! Lake very quiet.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

12 November

Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton 1530 - 1645 Mild (13ºC), overcast & breezy. 6 Perch: 3 over a lb - biggest 1lb 11oz. Bunked off work an hour early to make the most of some ideal autumn perching weather - alas the 2lbers stayed away!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0

5 July

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   0500-1100   Showery and breezy 15ºC   2 Carp (3-4lb), 2 Crucians (both circa 1¼lb), 1 Tench (scraper pounder), a dozen roach & perch.   Slow morning. Long periods without a bite interspersed with short bursts of activity - even struggled for bites on maggot at times. All fish caught float fishing
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 December

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0745 - 1115   Mild, overcast and breezy, 11ºC. Water levels down 4-6 inches on last Sunday - still carrying a tinge of colour. WT 47ºF.   1 Perch, 2lb 7oz, 6 chublets all ½ - 1lb, 4 gudgeon.   A real struggle for bites despite seemingly ideal conditions - though WT still a little on the low side - so I'm blaming that. Perch came after an hour and half of trying lobs - chub when I switched to maggot.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 December

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0745 - 1015   Cool, cloudy and calm. AT 41ºF -> 47.5ºF. WT 44ºF   7 Perch - 2lb 15oz, 2lb 3oz, 2lb, 1lb 8oz, 3<1lb.   Dawn raid on a perfect perch morning. 6 fish in the first hour - only 1 bite after 0900! All fish to float fished lobs.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

15 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1845 - 2315   Cool and clear - high hazy cloud. Full moon. 15º -> 10ºC (But felt chillier with a very heavy dew!). River lower than I expected after the heavy rain last Friday.   2 Barbel (4lb 10oz, 4lb 7oz)   A return to the hotspot I discovered last autumn (see last seasons enteries for 29 Sep, 1 Oct & 15 Oct) - though not so much joy this time! Both fish at dusk - either side of 2000.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

9 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0715 - 1115   Bright and sunny. 12º-18ºC. River carrying quite a bit of colour (height of the boating season on the K&A )   5 Barbel - largest 5lb 9oz, smallest 3lb 6oz, 5 Chub - best 2lb, 2 roach, 2 dace.   A pleasant morning's trotting - 4 of the barbel came in the last hour from a swim vacated by another angler who had caught nowt on the lead (he was using corn/meat)!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

24 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0930 - 1315   Cold, overcast and quite breezy. AT hovering around 0ºC all day. Just warm enough not to suffer iced up rod rings. River low and clear.   17 Grayling. 9 over 1lb (!), best 3, 2lb oz (!!!), 1lb 13oz & 1lb 10oz.   Cracking morning's trotting - until I got married I always went fishning on Christmas Eve! Catch a couple and move on tactics. Fish were hungry - in a couple of swims they were boiling on the surface wh
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

26 October

River Kennet - Woolhampton   1830 - 2330   Still and overcast. AT & WT both 50ºF. River down 6-9 inches on last visit here (18 Sep) minimal leaf litter in river (expect that to change this weekend!)   2 Bream (2-3lb), 1 Chub 4lb 7oz   All fish caught before 2100 (could have had an early night!). Chub was very long, had a huge head and mouth and was VERY lank and out of condition. Tail and anal fins frayed and bloodied - looked like it had just finished spawning! Reckon it ought to ha
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

28/29 June

Jubilee Lake - Thatcham   1900 - 0430   Glorious might to be out - warm (min 15ºC) with a balmy southerly breeze to keep the dew off - fantastic view of Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky too!   7 Carp; 15lb 8oz, 9lb 14oz, 9lb 3oz, 8lb 7oz, 8lb 2oz, 6lb 15oz, 5lb 8oz.   Not one of my favourite venues - too busy and noisy - which probable explains why I struggled to get a single bite in the margins. All fish during darkness on the feeder - the biggest two
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12 January

River Lambourn - Shaw   0830 - 1100   Cold and clear 1ºC -> 4ºC. River up and carrying a tinge of colour after heavy rain yesterday.   7 Grayling - 2 'pounders', best 1lb 4oz, 4 Brownies, 2 Roach, 1 Salmon Parr.   As ever a reliable winter fallback for when the Kennet is up and coloured. Bites hard to get but not impossible - bigger fish on the Church stretch.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 October

River Kennet, Nr Newbury.   0700 - 1100   Torrential rain at dawn (I waited for it to clear! ), brigthening up. 15ºC. River low with LOTS of leaf litter - coloured up AND fined down in the time I was there!   7 Chub: 5lb 5oz, 4lb 7oz, 3lb 11oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 7oz & a chublet. 1 Barbel 4lb 1oz, 1 Perch c¾lb, 4 doz roach dace & gudgeon in roughly equal nos.   A pleasant morning's trotting (once the rain had stopped). All the big chub & the barbel caught in the last ¾
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

5 July

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley   1800 - 2330   Clearing skies - cooler than of late - down to 14ºC.   2 Tench; 7lb 0oz, 3lb 2oz. 1 Crucian 2lb 13oz. 1 Bream 2½lb.   Well, I'm certainly on a roll at the moment! My biggest ever Tinca from this venue and my 2nd best ever Crucian from here. After a really barren few seasons on the Crucian front this is now my 3rd, 2½lb+ fish from 3rd different venue! Lots of bubbling and activity - but nothing but line bites until
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

15 September

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 2200 Calm, clear evening - affording excellent views of Jupiter, Saturn & a very bright half moon. Temps dropped rapidly when the sun went down - resulting in a very heavy dew. 2 Tenck; 2lb 13oz and a 'pounder'. 1 Bream; 4lb 2oz. 2 Roach;  both 'netters' and whilst unweighed would both have made ½lb easily. 15 Perch; various sizes from micro to a couple that were half decent and in need of the net. Plagued with perch for the first hour - but
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3

13 September

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   0700 - 1300   Calm and cloudy with sunny spells, 11º - 15ºC.   8 Carp (best 2; 8lb 11oz & 8lb 6oz, rest 3½ - 5lb), 7 Crucians (Smallest 1lb 2oz, 4 over 1½lb, biggest 1lb 11oz), 1 small Tench, 9 roach, & a perch.   At last, a decent crucian session!! All crucians caught between 0930 - 1130. All fish on float fished meat - lift method, except 3 carp - including biggest 2 - on freelined breadflake.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

14 March

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0615 - 1015   Bright and breezy AT up to 12ºC. River surprisingly full and bombing through. Canal above Guyers Lock has been practically dewatered - so think a breach must be emptying into the river.   2 Chub (3lb 2oz, 2lb 14oz), 1 Brownie (2lb) 4 Gudgeon   3 hours playing 'hunt the fish' eventually led to a couple of chub from a swim I've never caught one from before! Upto that point it looked like a few early gudgeon were going to be 'blank savers'!!!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

22 June

CEMEX Summer Pit - Yateley   1830 - 2330   Warm, overcast and muggy. Min temp 17ºC at midnight as I left.   1 Tench - 2¼lb   Despite seemingly ideal conditions the lake was pretty lifeless with only sporadic bubbling and little of this after 2030 (around the time I caught my blank saving tinca). No crucians showing. Only had 1 other bite!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 June (part 2)

River Kennet - Padworth   1630 - 2230   Warm (ish) and overcast becoming quite breezy and rather cool. River 'full' and looking in very fine fettle.   3 Barbel; 9lb 11oz, 9lb 0oz, 5lb 3oz. 21 Dace.   A game of 2 halves! Again I found myself introducing Paul to a new venue on his recently acquired TAA book. The plan was to have 3 hours trotting in order for Paul to have a good explore then fish into darkness on the lead. A plan that was nearly executed to p
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

18 June (part 2)

River Kennet - Newbury   1830 - 2300   Sunny with temps dropping quite quickly after sun down - but perfectly pleasant under the trees! River still very full.   1 chub 1lb 11oz, 10 dace, 1 roach, 1 gudgeon and a brownie of 2lb 4oz!   A quick return to the swim where I had a barbel on the float yesterday - reasoning that where there's one....! However it was a case of watching the float dip with satisfying regularity for an hour and a half, followed by three hours staring at stationary is
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

31 December

River Kennet (& carrier) - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1400 VERY mild (14ºC) and cloudy morning - brightening up for last couple of hours. River still on the low side but up a couple of inches on 3 weeks ago and carrying a bit of colour. 4 Chub: 4lb 1oz, 2lb 2oz and a couple of chublets - one of around a pound the other half that. 1 Bream; 5lb 2oz. 40+ Roach and Dace - mainly roach in an approx ratio of 2-1. Nothing particularly newsworthy - though they weren't tiddlers either - a cou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0

14 January

Middle Kennet   0800 - 1645   Bright and very breezy - one heavy shower. River high and coloured.   5 Perch (2lb 11oz, 2lb 6oz, 2lb 3oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 10oz), 1 Chub (1¼lb), 4 Doz+ Dace - almost all over 6oz - I weighed 9 which were all 11-12oz. 19 Brownies - Biggest 3lb 12oz, 1 Rainbow - 2½lb, 2 Roach (14oz), 2 Grayling, 3 Gudgeon!   Treated me self to a Birthday Outing - alone with Paul. Did MUCH better than we had any right to expect given the coloured water. Paul had a similar return -
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

5 September

River Kennet, Newbury   0600 - 1030   Bright and sunny. 10 -> 15.5ºC. River lowest I've seen it all season and clear despite rain in the week.   6 Chub: 5lb 2oz, 2lb 5oz, 2lb 3oz, 1lb 10oz & 2 chublets (circa ¾lb), 1 Perch; 2lb 9oz, 9 Dace, 1 Grayling, 1 doz Roach, 2 doz Gudgeon.   A very satisfactory morning's trotting. Perch just about last fish caught - from low, clear water bathed in bright sunshine - who says they feed best in low light levels!!!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

1 September

River Kennet - Nr. Thatcham   1915 - 2345   Clear, still evening with a heavy dew - temp down to 11ºC at midnight. River at normal summer levels - with a little colour.   2 Barbel: 10lb 2oz, 8lb 0oz. 1 Chub 2¾lb   Fished a new swim - somewhat surprising as this is my 29th season on this stretch of water and I've fished nearly every inch of it in that time. A fine brace and my first double since 15 Oct 2007 - it will be a lot less than 29 years before I ret
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

Season's Bests 2015-16

Best Carp; 17lb 14oz, 11/07/15. Free-lined bread. NAA Still water, Thatcham. http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1311-1011-july/   Best Barbel; 11lb 7oz, 30/07/15. Ledgered halibut pellet. River Kennet, Nr Thatcham. http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1321-30-july-part-2/   Best Tench; 7lb 6oz, 19/6/15. Float fished prawn section. Johnsons Lake, Milford. http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/bl
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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