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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

22 December

River Kennet - Newbury   1000 - 1345   Cool, bright and breezy. River 'full' but not in flood condition - carrying a little colour but not as much as I expected!.   2 Chub; 1¾lb & 1½lb. 1 Pike 3lb 14oz. 18 Dace, 8 Roach. 3 Gudgeon.   Not so much a trotting session as a hold the float in a slack behind the tree session. Seems a lot of fish were shoaled up in a very small slack! In truth I hadn't intended to go today - Paul and I had acquired the required permissions for a session on t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

4 October (Part 2)

River Kennet - Newbury   1100 - 1300   Warm with sunny spells, Breezy. 20ºC. River quite low.   2 Chub; 2lb 10oz, 2lb. 12 Dace, 10 Roach, 1 Gudgeon and a brownie.   So after a frustrating morning a couple of hours on the river to see if the chub would eat my worms - to which the answer was YES! Being a Friday I had expected to have the place to meself and planned to fish a number of swims. However as I turned up who should I see pulling on his chesties - Rusty! Being a gent he let me ha
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

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

16 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1900 - 2300   Warm, clear evening. 23º->16ºC.   1 Chub 2½lb, 3 chunky Dace & 3 Brownies   Quick return to Monday's venue - this time to accompany Paul who had arrived a couple of hours before me (some of us have to work Fridays!). Thankfully the trotting gear again won the day as ledgering was a dead loss. Paul blanked and I had just one chub rattle to show for my 2 hours on the lead.....
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

8 July

River Kennet - Padworth   1930 - 2330   Warm evening with a nice breeze to keep the mossies off. Still 16ºC when I packed up.   1 Barbel; 5lb 11oz   Unusually for me ledgered with two rods (and even more unsually left the trotting gear at home). One rod on boilie and one on halibut pellet. Pellet rod went off within ½ hour of arriving - a great start. Unfortunately it was then down to the crayfish to move in. Bait thieving activity died down for the last 45 mins - but it was false hope..
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

10

11/12 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead.   2030 - 0630   Warm still night. Thatcham weather site says min temp of 10ºC - but it felt no where near that cool at any time!   8 roach, 3 perch and a skimmer.   Another bad day at the office - fishing wise at least - though in truth it was a gorgeous night to be out just a pity a few more fish didn't show up. Although bites were a premium both Paul and I suffered from infuriating hooks pulls when we did connect. I had a fish on for ages and was just beginnin
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

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

19 June part 2

River Kennet, Padworth   1530 - 2230   Hot, overcast and sultry - still 21ºC when we packed up.   4 brownies - a couple circa 1¼lb (possibly the same one!)   Reports from the river suggested barbel fishing would be a bit of a struggle - so the trotting rod was added to the quiver in the hope of a few dace - but yet again one of my favoured trotting swims here was occupied with troot and not a lot else!   As expected the barbelling was hard going - not helped by tonnes of pussy willow f
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

26 January

River Kennet - Newbury   0900 - 1130   Bright with rising temps 1º->6ºC. River high and carrying some colour after last nights rain (and the start of the melt). WT 44ºF.   2 doz dace - few chunky ones though nothing particularly impressive. 5 Grayling - 3 of which needed the net but were sub 1lb (though not by much), 3 Roach, a bleak and 2 brownies both 1+lb.   Yet again a weekend where I had a Frome trip pencilled in is thwarted by more rain and a flooded Dorset river, so had to make
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

27 October

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1100   Cool, bright and breezy. 2º->6ºC   16 Grayling - biggest 1lb 2oz, 1 dace, 3 trout parr.   A morning spent leap frogging swims with Paul - who had a near identical catch return (19 ladies and 1 dace). However where as Paul was "catch a couple and move on", 10 of my grayling were from one swim - should've been 11 as I lost a quite substantial grayling to a hook pull - the perils of using a size 18. 1st ever dace either Paul or I have ever caugh
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

29 September Part 1

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0630 - 0800   Clear and bright (too bright by far!)   2 Perch: 1¼lb and ¾lb.   Umm tracking down my autumn perch is going to be a lot harder this year. BWB chose to emasculate this part of the canal last winter - removing bushes and trees that had overhung the water for years/decades - and hence removed the obvious holding areas. Hazard to boats - my arse!   Still there's a glimmer of hope - I caught perch 1st cast in the first 2 swims I tried - but alas had
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

16 July

River Kennet - Newbury   2000 - 2330   Breezy with clearing skies after (yet another) rainy day. Min 15ºC - felt very pleasant. River looking in superb nick, fuller than I've seen it for many a summer and running quite clear too.   3 Barbel; 3lb 15oz, 3lb 4oz, 2lb 6oz. 2 Chub 1lb 13oz, 1lb 10oz.   So maybe not the biggest fish in the river but after last Monday's monotony of looking at a stationary quiver tip it was a pleasant change to see the rod rattle (chub) or thump around (barbel).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

9 July

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham   1930 - 2315   Cool, overcast some light drizzle at times - more like October than mid-July!   Blanked!!   Cue another Rusty faux headline!!! Shocked on 2 counts when I arrived. The first was not being able to even get in the car park - full of anglers cars. And the second was the state of the river - really coloured up and tanking through - more like mid-winter condition. I did consider turning around and going elsewhere - a thought that stayed with me all eve
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

6

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

20 October

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1000 - 1300   Bright and sunny after a frosty dawn. 4ºC -> 11ºC. River at its perennial autumn minimum - very low!   1 Chub; 3lb 10z, 3 Grayling; all around 12oz. 2 dace (small). 1 Brown Trout; 2lb 10oz.   On the hunt for a big chub so started out with corn and lobs - but ended up catching everything on double red maggot! All grayling a nice size - hope they grow on to be 'pounders' next year. Bit disappointed with the spottie - was convinced I was bringin
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5

7 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2300   Cool and very breezy. Continuous rain & drizzle from 2000. 12ºC. Autumn has arrived! And to think I even brought a pair of binoculars with me last night hoping to take a peak at the supernova in M101 - fat chance with 100% cloud cover.....   6 Chub; 2 'pounders' and 4 chublets. 3 Dace, 3 Roach (1 over ½lb), 3 gudgeon.   Similar session to last week - though a few hundred yards downstream. Paul had spotted a couple of nice looking swims which
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

5 July

Wylies Lake - Newbury   0430 - 1200   Warm and mainly overcast. 10º->25ºC   8 Perch!   Not fished here for some seasons - after it recieved a rather severe scalping which took out all the margin vegetation. However I had heard of good tench catches this season - and even whispers of some half decent crucians showing up. A recent recce confirmed that it hadn't received another haircut recently - in fact it looked just as I remembered it - so with some anticipation I was setting up in a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

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

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

27 November

River Lambourn - Shaw   O800 - 1130   Cold and overcast with the odd flurry of snow. -3ºC -> +1ºC   25 Grayling; 3 over 1lb and 3 more just an ounce or two shy. Best 1lb 7oz. 12 Brown trout, 1 Roach.   Pleasant morning's trotting in the cold. Unusually for here nearly all the fish came from just 2 swims, with just a couple of fish to show from the ½doz+ other swims I tried. Most of the trout were no more than fingerlings - A sign of a succesful breeding season methinks!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

13 November

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1100   Cool & Overcast. 8-10ºC. River low, as per usual this time of year!   14 Grayling - 5 over 1lb - best 2, 1lb 9oz & 1lb 6oz. 7 Roach - all a 'nice' size - in need of a landing net! The 2 I popped on the scales went 11 & 13oz but the rest weren't much smaller. 1 Brownie (small).   Pleasant morning's trotting. Fish very spooky in the low water didn't get more than 1 from any swim EXCEPT the first swim I dropped into which produced 11 fish
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

25 October

River Kennet - Padworth   1800 - 2200   Cold and clear! AT down to 30ºF, WT 45ºF down 2ºF on Saturday. River also low and clear.   1 Brown Trout; 3lb 9oz.     Brrrrrrr! Probably need my head examined going barbel fishing in such chilly conditions - but it was the only free evening I've got this week. Not surprised I blanked with old whiskers - especially with a falling WT. Might have hoped for a chub or two - so mightly surprised to get a 3½lb trout - which picked up my 14mm hair-rigged
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

4 October

River Kennet - Padworth   1830 - 2300   Clear and misty evening. 15º -> 10ºC. River at normal summer levels - though carrying a bit more colour than usual after the weekend's rain.   2 Barbel: 8lb 11oz, 4lb 14oz.   Both fish in first 1¼hrs - smaller one 1st cast. Was also greeted by a Barn Owl flying within 10-15' of my head - probably hunting for the legion of rats scurrying around on the bank behind me after it got dark!!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

2 October

River Kennet - Nr Newbury   0645 - 1045   Bright after a misty start. 7 -> 12ºC River up and inch or two and carrying a bit of colour after yesterday's rain.   4 Chub - 3lb 0oz and 3 chublets all circa ¾lb, 2 Perch: 2lb 11oz & a smallun, 28 dace, 10 roach, 5 gudgeon and a grayling.   Started off trotting lobs and had both perch and the bigger chub in the first ¾hr before switching to maggot. Quick chat with Rusty who was en-route to Speen and finished off further downstream where
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

22 September

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley   1800 - 2315   A lovely warm evening under a hazy full moon. Temps 21º -> 16ºC. Shirt sleeves all evening and no mozzies!   2 Tench: 6lb 4oz, 3lb 13oz.   The last Hurrah on this venue - bringing the curtain down on a splendid series of mid-week after work float fishing sessions. Won't be back here again until next june (unless we get an early October heatwave!). Fished a new swim - probably not the right time to be experimenting but it had to be done - and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2
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