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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

23 July

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0500 - 0830   Cool (9/10ºC), clear and misty. River up a couple of inches.   3 Chub: 4lb 15oz, 2lb 14oz, 1lb 8oz. 20 Dace and half a dozen brownies to circa 1lb.   Pre breakfast trotting trip - and another fine chub from here - and many of the dace were a good size too - biggest I put on the scales went 10oz with another ½ doz not much smaller.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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29 July

River Kennet - Newbury   0500 - 1200   Cool(ish) and cloudy with drizzly rain for last 30 mins.   2 Chub; both circa 1¼lb. 3doz+ Dace, 1½doz Roach, 1 Gudgeon and 5 Brownies - 3 over 1lb.   Morning trotting session on 2 venues a couple of miles apart before the rains came. Chub from each (was hoping for better on that front) and plenty of silver fish.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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31 July

​Alders Lake - Thatcham   ​1800-2300   ​Coolish - with a heavy shower.   ​4 Bream; all between 2lb 12oz & 3lb 8oz, 1 Roach 1lb 2oz (!!), 2 Perch.   Still no tench from here this summer - but the bream as ever were very obliging and the roach was a real surprise - first redfin I've had from here in ages and it was a real beauty!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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4/5 August

Jubilee Lake - Thatcham   1800 - 0600   Warm overcast night - despite the forecast which predict a cool night - temp didn't drop below 13ºC.   2 Carp; 8lb 5oz & 6lb 7oz. 1 Bream 6lb 8oz.   Slow, slow night. Venue was VERY busy with lots of noise on the bank meant I didn't get a solitary bite all night on my margin rod - and fishing at range wasn't much better. All fish on pellet (was alternating with boilies).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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10/11 August

Harris Lake, Marsh Farm, Milford   1900 - 0900   Clear cool night, down to 9ºC. Not a great night for spotting Perseids due to the near full moon - still spied a few really bright ones however!   12 Tench; All over 3lb with 3 over 4 - best 4lb 12oz. 10 Cruicans; 4 over 2lb, best 2 - 2lb 8oz & 2lb 7oz. A doz rudd, half a dozen roach and 2 perch.   Busy night as nearly all wish during hours of darkness - and all bar 2 on the float. Chopped prawn again ac
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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14 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2130   Warm and overcast - with a couple of very light showers. River low.   2 Chub - both circa 2lbs. 3 Dace. 1 Grayling. 4 Brownies to 1lb+   Trotting/barbel session cut short! Started in a couple of banker chub swims - hoping for something bigger than actually turned up. Once I settled down over my ledgering rods things got err interesting! Was watching a pair of swans and their 6 cygnets slowly making there way upstr
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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16 August

River Kennet/Carrier, Marsh Benham   0900 - 1300   Warm, muggy and overcast. River low.   8 Chub; a 3lber and 7 chublets, 30+ roach, a doz dace, 5 perch, 2 bleak and a 3½lb rainbow.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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18/19 August

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   1800 - 0600   Breezy with heavy showers up to midnight, cool and clear there after.   3 Carp; 8lb 1oz, 7lb 10oz, 3½lb.   Another slow night on the lakes - again nothing in the margins - all bites on pellet.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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21 August

Alders Lake - Thatcham   1800 - 2300   Warm, overcast, very muggy with occasional light drizzle. Still 19ºC when I packed up!   2 Bream - a couple of ounces either side of 4lb.   Lovely evening to be out - wished I could have stayed longer! Both fish within 10 mins of each other just as it got properly dark at 2130.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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25/26 August

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham.   1800 - 0600   Warm, still night.   2 Carp; 4½lb and another barely a lb. 1 Roach: 12oz and 1 Perch.   Another quiet night - though in truth as I was after one of the lakes few large crucians I wasn't too surprised by the lack of action!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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1/2 September

Jubilee Lake - Thatcham.   1800 - 0600   Cool, clear night with a bright ¾moon for the first half. Still 10ºC when I packed up so nowhere near as cool as forecast -had my rarely used thermal one piece on and was actually too hot for most of the night!   5 Carp; all between 5-8lb. 1 Tench; 4lb 0oz. 2 Roach, 4 Perch.   Probably last night of the summer - and it got off to a very slow start - no bites at all before midnight - thankfully the second half was a bit more livelier. Was hoping to
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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10 September

K&A Canal Colthrop River Kennet Brimpton   0615 - 0815 - Canal 0830 - 1100 - River.   Sunny start quickly clouding over.   Canal - blanked River; Chub 2lbish, 1 Grayling, 5 Brownies.   First time on this stretch of canal - part of a plan to find some new perch hotspots - alas this doesn't appear to be one of them - not a bite of lobs so switched to the river for a rather sratchy session in VERY low water.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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16 September

Kennet & Avon Canal - Avington   0645 - 1230   Bright start, rain from 1000.   6 Perch: 1¼lb & 5 small uns. 1 Chub - small. 7 Skimmers to 1lb, 2 doz roach - to 1lb, 2 Gudgeon and 3 Ruffe!   First autumn perching session - which whilst it got off to a good start with the pounder first cast - didn't get any better. Loads of pred activity too - think they were pre-occupied with fry and ignoring my lobs. First EVER ruffe from the Kennet system - only o
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

21 September

Alders   1800 - 2200   Cool clear evening - temps down to 9ºC but felt much cooler with a very heavy dew.   1 Bream - 1½lb.   Last evening of the summer - and it was a slow one with the only bite resulting in a blank saving skimmer just as it got properly dark.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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23 September

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1000   Warm, overcast and still - perfect perching conditions - shame no one told the fish!   2 perch; both 12oz(ish)   Slow morning in a favourite swim of old. Next perching trips will be exploring waters new!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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28 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1800 - 2200   Cool and overcast - river up a tiny bit after recent rain and full of leaf litter.   4 Dace, 1 Roach & 2 Brownies   Another barbel blank (preceded by the usual 30 mins or so trotting!), didn't even have any crayfish worrying the baits. Had planned to stay longer - but 3 sightings of an otter in my swim - didn't exactly fill me with confidence!  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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30 September

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0700 - 1300. Overcast but quite mild. River low.   4 Chub - all between ¾ - 1¼lb. 5 Roach - all small apart from one cracking looking fish of 12oz, 6 Gudgeon & a 1½lb brownie.   A morning spent doing nearly as much walking as fishing (covered 5.5km according to my pedometer!) Started out after perch in some favoured swims of old - but not so much as a bite (not even from a crayfish) - so it was then a hunt for some chub - eventually achieved in the last hou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

8 October

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne   0700 - 1300   Calm and overcast.   15 perch'; 3 over 1lb, best 1lb 9oz. 1 Pike 3lb 11oz.   A morning exploring likely spots along the length of the lower section - fished around half a dozen swims and had fish from most of them. All fish on lobs.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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12 October

River Kennet - Newbury   1730 - 2200   Mild/warm evening 14ºC. River very low.   2 Chub; 2lb 13oz & 1lb 10oz, 9 Dace and a Brownie of around 1lb.   Still no barbel - but I did at least get a couple of chub this time. Yet again had an otter visit my swim!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

14 October

Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton   0700 - 1200   Warm and overcast.   5 Perch; 3 over 1lb - best 1lb 11oz. 1 Pike; 3¼lb, a doz+ Roach, 1 Chublet, 1 Dace, 1 Rudd, 4 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak (8 different species!)   New venue for me and one which might be promising on the perch front! Boat traffic was a total PITA - way busier than I experience on other parts of the canal.... ?
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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27 October

Lower Itchen Fishery   0800 - 1700   Bright, mild and sunny. River low.   45 Grayling - with some 2 dozen over 1lb - most in the 20-24oz range. Biggest 2 went 1lb 11oz &1lb 12oz. A dozen+ brownies to 3½lb. 5 Salmon parr.   Lovely day's trotting. Alternated between maggot and red corn all day and caught roughly equal numbers on each bait.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

29 October

Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham   1000 - 1400   Bright and sunny. River very low.   6 Chub; 2½lb, 1¼lb and 4 chublets. 4 Dozen roach - all hand sized or better! 8 Dace, 4 Bleak and a couple of 2lb brownies.   Started by stalking chub - freelining lumps of meat into various holes - usually had just one go at each before spooking the fish - and of course it was usually the smallest of the shoal that snaffled the meat first (or a trout)- still twas good fun! Then it was bite a chuck on maggot
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

5 November

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne * Northcroft Stream^   0700 - 0945* 1000 - 1230^   Cold and bright start - clouding over by the time I left. 0ºC - 8ºC   7 Perch; 4 over 1lb, best 2 1lb 9oz & 2lb 0oz (hooray!)* 6 Dace, 4 Roach, 1 Gudgeon and a brownie.^   A lovely crisp morning - not the most ideal conditions for stripeys thankfully no one told the fish that. Had to contend with some really inconsiderate dog owners - one even threw a st
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12 November

River Kennet - Brimpton   0730 - 1230   Cool, bright and breezy after a showery start. River low despite recent rains.   2 Chub: 5lb 1oz, 4lb 0oz. A dozen brownies to 2½lb. 1 bleak!   Lovely brace of chub caught from the same swim (the 2nd and bigger fish after resting it for 90 mins). Trout were a bit of a pain!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

19 November

River Frome - Wool   0745 - 1345   Cool and quite bright for most of the day. River at normal levels - 0.72cm at E Stoke.   9 Grayling; 7 over 1lb to 1lb 10oz. 2 Brownies to circa 1lb. 1 Salmon Parr.   Started with a bit of a grueller - no fish of note at all for the first 3 hours. Moved to some swims I'd never fished before at the venue and thankfully found a few ladies - nothing approaching 2lb alas - but quite a few in the 20oz class.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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