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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

19 October

River Kennet - Brimpton   0800 - 1115   Bright and sunny. river up a couple of inches and carrying a bit of colour - looked perfect!   5 Chub: 5lb 11oz, 4lb 14oz, 3lb 5oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 0oz. 3 brownies - 2 over 1lb...   Cracking morning's trotting - all the chub from the same swim - took it nice and slow - fed well before my first cast then rested & fed between each fish - certainly paid off as I don't usually get more than a couple at any one time....
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 December (part 1)

River Kennet - Hambridge 0945 - 1245 Bright sunshine, calm and quite mild (9ºC). River FULL! Bank high and up another 6 inches or so on my last visit here at the begining of the month - little colour though. 2 Perch; 2lb 11oz & 2lb 8oz. 8 Grayling - (all 6-10oz), 2 Roach, 1 Dace & 3 Brownies to circa 1lb. So, the plan for today was to start on a favourite flood water swim - hoping to snaffle a big chub and then switch to the canal for the witching hour for some perch.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 December

Northcroft Stream - Newbury 1030 - 1130 Overcast with a chilly breeze - AT 6ºC. 1 Chub 2lb 3oz. Quick, impromptu session as Jaq hit the sales (again!). In truth, I didn't expect to catch as the stream was somewhat turbulent so rather surprised to see my float disappear on my first put in. It proved to be my only bite!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

27 December

Kennet & Avon Canal  - Woolhampton 1345 - 1615 Dull, calm and cool. AT 7ºC despite forecasts promising double figures! 7 Perch; 1lb 8oz, 1lb 5oz & 5 smalluns. Lovely benign afternoon on the canal - near perfect winter weather for perching - though would have preferred it to be a bit milder. Biggest 2 on the dinner bell time of 4 o'clock!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

26 December

River Lambourn - Shaw 1000 - 1300 Cool (7ºC) and drizzly - river very full and with a merest hint of colour. 5 Grayling - all smallish & 5 Brownies (ditto apart from one 'netter') As Sam was in Newbury for the NAC Boxing Day run and Jaq was hitting the sales - I had the perfect excuse for a quick session (not that I need an excuse!). Picked here as I wanted to see what the river was like now they've removed the gauge weir plus I wanted to try out my new wading boots. Fish
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

22 December

River Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0845 - 1245 Mild with bright sunshine. River very full - up at least a foot on normal levels and quite coloured (for here!) 3 Chub; 2 over 1lb (but not by much!), 20 Dace and Roach in equal nos - some quite chunky ones too - best roach was 14oz and had 3 dace over 8oz. 4 Brownies from 2lb to over 4lb & a Rainbow of nearly 5lb! Winter chub hunt thwarted by troot turning up in all my banker swims, some really chunky ones too, which didn't
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

14 December

River Lambourn - Newbury 1130 - 1430 Cool (3º->6ºC), bright and very blowy! River well up and with just a hint of colour. 25 Grayling; With half over 10oz. Best 1lb 4oz with quite a few more an ounce or two shy of that. 3 Brownies, a lber and a couple of parr fish. Default venue when the Kennet has burst it's banks (It's flowing into on of our club lakes atm!). Usual catch a couple and move on tactics, though I did get 8 or 9 from one spot including the biggest one.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

26 January (Part 2)

K&A Canal - Woolhampton   1400 - 1615   Mild, overcast and breezy with drizzly showers turning to rain. AT 10ºC. WT 9.1ºC   3 Perch; 1lb 9oz, 1lb 4oz, 13oz. 1 Pike 2lb 4oz. 2 Chub(lets)   Mild snap had me heading for the canal in pursuit of stripeys. Didn't get a bite until 1530 then a flurry of fish around 4 o'clock - usual pattern for winter perching on the canal!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

1 December

River Kennet - Hambridge 0945 - 1330 Cold (2 - 5ºC) and quite sunny. River high (well over a foot up on my last visit here in Sep) but with very little colour. 3 Chub; 5lb 7oz, 4lb 10oz &1¾lb, 2 Grayling, 1 Dace & 3 Brownies to circa 1lb. Cracking brace of chub from one of my favourite flood water pools. Fish in splendid winter condition. Wished I'd brought a spinning rod with me - a pike kept attacking my float as I reeled in (but not any of the fish!)
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

24 November

K&A Canal - Enborne 0730 - 1230 Dull, mild and calm. Ideal weather for perch. Canal however was very coloured up which was less than ideal. 1 Perch - small - barely longer than the lob it gorged on! 2 Roach. Bit of an epic fail. Had high hopes for today - milder weather and reports of big stripeys had me setting off full of expectation. Hadn't planned on the canal being so coloured however - and somewhat strangely above Guyers Lock it was clear - enough to see the bottom.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

24 November

K&A Canal Enborne (& Speen Moors)   0715 - 1230 (with an hour at Speen in the middle)   Cool, overcast with drizzly rain for a couple of hours.   1 Chub; 2lb 9oz.   Fruitless search for a perch - not a single bite on the canal - and not a lot of interest on the river after the first cast chub!!    
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

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

6 September

River Kennet - Padworth   1800 - 2300   Warm(ish) and overcast. River very low.   7 Chub; a couple circa 1lb, the rest half that size. 3 Roach, 2 Dace & 3 Perch.   Another barbel blank on what used to be called barbel alley - preceded by a blank saving trotting session before it got dark - nice to see a few small chub - shows there's been some recruitment recently.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

26 February

River Frome - Wool   ​0745 - 1500   ​Mild, sunny spells interspersed with fine drizzle. VERY windy! At 10ºC.   ​6 Grayling: 5 over 1lb - all between 1lb 4oz - 1lb 11oz. 2 Small trout. River at 'normal' levels with a bit of colour. 92cm at East Stoke.   ​Last weekend of the season here and it was a bit of a slog in challenging conditions - wind in particular was very strong and downstream in most swims. Bites at a real premium, but thankfully usually resulted in a half decent (and very fa
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

18 December

​River Frome - Wool   ​0800 - 1400   ​Cool, and murky! River at normal levels with a tinge of colour (more than I expected to see! 74cm at East Stoke river gauge.   ​8 Grayling; all 'netters' with 6 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 9oz. 4 Trout: to 1½lb.   ​Slow day in Dorset. Bites at a premium - in fact was fishing for nearly 3 hours before I had my first fish. All ladies were of a nice stamp though was hoping for something a little bigger. Main excitement of the morning was being briefly connec
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

2 October

​Kennet & Avon Canal (flowing) - Thatcham   ​​0630 - 1030   ​Cool, clear and bright. River quite low but with a tinge of colour after yesterday's rain.   ​4 Perch - all between ¾ - 1¼lbs. 13 Dace, 1 Grayling.   ​First perching trip of the autumn and with a bright clear day forecast I wanted to make the most of the dawn light, Consequently I was at the water's edge way too early and had to wait a while before I could see my float. But as soon as I could it went under with some alacrit
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

26 September (part 2)

K&A Canal - Thatcham   1515 - 1815   Bright and sunny. AT around 15ºC - a very pleasant afternoon.   11 Roach. Best 12oz, with another fish circa 8oz - the rest all smalluns.   Failed perch hunt (part 2)! Paul and I were hitting the canal for the first time this autumn in search of stripeys. Conditions weren't exactly in our favour and the boat traffic was heavier than we would have wished. Plan was to start off fishing maggot and hope that by attracting the silver fish the perch wou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

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

8 August

River Kennet - Colthrop   1000 - 1100   Warm and muggy.   6 Dace, 4 Roach & 3 brownies - biggest around 1¼lb.   Quick trotting session while Jaq picked blackberries. (Blackberry crop not a patch on last year!)A couple of the dace and one of the roach needed the net.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

1 August

River Kennet - Newbury   0915 - 1145   Overcast, warm and muggy. River still in great nick for mid-summer - more water than many a year - but now shallow enough to wade out to get a trot to one of my favourite spots!   3 Chub - all between 1¾-2¾lbs.3 Perch; one just over a pound the other 2 not much under. 20+ dace, 7 roach, 3 gudgeon and a brownie.   Very pleasant morning's trotting - nice to see some chub back in residence in one of my favourite Kennet swims (and a host of other speci
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

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

5 July

River Kennet - Colthrop & Brimpton   1000 - 1500   Cool (ish), overcast with drizzly rain at times. River down an inch or two - but still at a good level for this time of year.   4 chub; Best 3lb 6oz. 6 dace. A doz + brownies to 3lb 2oz!   Jungle fishing! Travelled light and covered quite a bit of water - looks like I'm the first to visit Cothrop this summer - had to cut my way in through the brambles on at least 5 swims! Trout were a bit of a pain - especially the big one as I thou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

25 June

River Kennet - Thtacham   1900 - 2330   Warm evening with temps dropping quickly once the sun went down. 9ºC when I got back to the car (drenched in dew!)   1 Chub 2lb 15oz. 11 Dace, 1 Gudgeon.   Ever since the winter I've hankered after doing a summer evening in this swim thinking that it ought to hold barbel. First hour and a half it was out with the trotting rod and after a biteless 20 mins I then had a steady stream of dace - including some very chunky specimens - I even weighed a co
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

27 February

River Kennet - Thatcham   1600 - 1800   Sunny with some broken cloud, Cool (4ºC). River still very high and carrying a bit more colour than last weekend.   1 Perch 2lb 4oz, 3 Roach; 14oz and 2 smalluns, 1 chunky dace of around 6oz.   Had a free afternoon so with the forecast heavy showers by-passing West Berkshire it seemed a shame not to visit my new favourite swim! And yet again it threw a bit of a curve ball - no chub - 1st time that has happened - but a smattering of silver fish turn
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

4 January 2014

K&A Canal - Enborne   1415 - 1615   Rain! 5ºC. Canal the colour strong tea - and flowing unusually fast! WT 45ºF   3 Perch; 1lb11oz, 1¼lb and a sub pounder.   Paul and I had planned a morning trip - but given the forecast I'd switched to a post lunch session and Paul packed the whole idea in! Was still touch and go whether I went - but with the wind dropping right out I thought I'd at least go and have a look! And when I got there I nearly turned around and went straight home. Normal
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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