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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

18 June (part 1)

NAA still water - Widmead   0430 - 0900   Overcast and cool (ish)   Doz+ rudd, 1 perch.   A morning that didn't get off to the best of starts as I couldn't even get into the venue I wanted to fish - the latch on the gate was jammed - looks like someone had vandalised it! So this was very much plan B - and a not very successful plan at that - the rudd were a pain - even when fishing meat and I couldn't even tempt a carp off the top....

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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

17 December

River Frome - Wool 0830 - 1345 Bright, milky sunshine - very cold start - the thaw arrived mid morning - which I was very thankful for - line freezing in the ferrules had made for a tough couple of hours prior to that. AT -6ºwhen I arrived ->+6ºC when I drove off. River at normal levels - 1.05m at the East Stoke gauge. 13 Grayling: 8 over a lb - the 3 I weighed went 1lb 14oz & 2 X 1lb 10oz (different fish!) most of the others lbers around 1lb 6oz. 3 Trout - a lber, one half

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

5 July

NAA Still Water - Thatcham   0430 - 0815   Overcast and mild. AT 63ºF at 0430. WT 73ºF   Blanked!   And blanked in some style too!! This is the 'easiest' water in the NAA portfolio - the one where they hold junior fish-ins. And yet for nearly 4 hours I couldn't buy a bite - despite fishing a single red maggot for most of that time - suicidal tactics usually if you wanted to avoid being plagued by small stuff. Paul did at least manage a couple of bites resulting in a carp & a crucian

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

10 September

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   0630 - 1100   Overcast, muggy and breezy. 17º -> 20ºC   4 Carp; 7lb & 3 ± 5½lb. 6 roach.   A morning spent mainly watching a stationary float - despite fishing single red maggot on a size 18. Was hoping for a crucian or two to put in an appearance but in the end was happy when a few muscular commons turned up. Thankfully this pond is pretty snag free so was able to wear them out on light tackle....!

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

14 July

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1900 - 2330   Warm and overcast 19º ->17ºC. Shirtsleeves all eveing! River in good flow with some colour and little debris.   3 Barbel (6lb 13oz, 5lb 6oz, 4¼lb)   All fish caught between 2200 - 2230. No bites before or after ! Privileged to witness at very close quarters a Barn Owl hunting on the opposite bank then swooping over to 'quarter' the field behind me. Awesome sight - and more than made up for the 3 biteless hours. (1st sighting was shortly after

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

27 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0815 - 1030   Cold and clear -1ºC -> 2ºC. River at normal levels.   7 Grayling - best 1lb 2oz, 2 small brownies.   Short session as I needed to pop out for some maggots for Monday's trip...

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

16 June 2010

Marsh Farm   0730 - 1800   Bright and sunny with a stiff NE breeze - one day I'll get to fish this place when it isn't blowing a hooley!!! Was nice sat out in the sun - though really quite chilly when I moved to a swim in the shade!   2 Crucians - both circa 1lb, 8 rudd, 1 roach, perch & gudgeon.   A nice social start to the season in the company of Paul & Alan. I would like to blame my lack of fish on the conditions - though that doesn't cut any i

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

24 February

River Frome - Wool   0800 - 1530   Bright and sunny - quite warm (16ºC) for Feb despite a frosty start. River quite full (1.06m at E stoke) and a little coloured.   7 Grayling - 4 over 1lb best 2lb 1oz & 1lb 11oz. 2 Trout (both sub 1lb) and a Salmon Parr.   Sparkly day in Dorset with bites at a premium - especially in the morning - when I broke for lunch I had just 3 modest sized grayling to my name - but returning to the 2 swims that produced them resulted in better sport in the aft

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3 August

River Kennet - Brimpton.   0500 - 0930   Lovely summer's morning - sun rising therough the valley mist - temps a warm15º - rising to a muggy 21ºC when I packed up. River a little on the low side as is usual at this time of year.   2 Chub; 5lb 4oz & 1½lb. 11 Dace - with half a dozen over 8oz (!!) best went 10oz. 4 Brownies - all over 1lb - biggest 2lb 10oz.   Cracking morning's trotting - nice to find a pod of big dace - or rather 2 pods as the fish cam

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2 July - Part 2 (pm)

River Kennet - Brimpton 1300 - 1530 Warm, mainly overcast - though with more sunshine than before lunch - very muggy. AT 20ºC and feeling particularly sticky after a longish walk through the undergrowth! River quite full! Think the weir at Colthrop has been opened up more than the one at Crookham - there was a LOT of water coming down the Aldershot - too much to wade out at the tail of the weirpool! 3 Chub; 4lb 5oz, 4lb 0oz, 2lb 11oz. 3 Dace, 1 Roach & 5 Brownies (½lb - 1¼lb)

23 September

River Kennet - Hambridge 1330 - 1900 Warm (18ºC) and overcast. River low and a little turbid. 2 Chub: both ¾ - 1lb (had quite a few of this size recently - wonder if they've been stocked?) 12 Dace; 3 in the 6-8oz class. 8 Roach; one 'netter' others all small. 1 Grayling: small. 1 Gudgeon. 3 Bleak & a trout parr. A couple of hours trotting followed by 3 frustrating hours ledgering pellet and getting totally annihilated by the crayfish. They were stripping the bait as soon

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

1 July (7th IAC Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy fish-in)

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford 0600 - 0000 5 Tench; biggest 5lb 4oz the others 3-4lb. 7 Crucians; 5 over 1lb with a couple over 2 - best 2lb 4oz. A dozen+ rudd - most tiny with one of around 4-6 oz. Annual IAC get together in memory of Paul - a chance to catch up, raise some money for Duchess of Kent Hospice and this year, put a face to a name - Stephen Jackson  who has been on the IAC list forever ventured down from Carlisle for his first IAC fish-in.  A slow day angling

23 June (Part1)

River Kennet - Thatcham   0745 - 1145   Warm & sultry, 22ºC. River at normal summer levels - carrying a tinge of colour.   4 barbel, 5lb 12oz, 4lb 3oz, 3lb 13oz, 1lb 14oz. 3 Chub, 4lb 4oz, 2lb 10oz, 1¼lb, 3 Brownies all small(ish).   Pleasant morning's trotting. All fish from fast shallow water.

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

27 August

River Kennet - Padworth   1815 - 0015   Cool and clear, rain for last hour. 11ºC. River up a bit (but not as much as I expected!) and carrying a bit of colour.   2 Barbel; 5lb 14oz & 5lb 2oz.   With 3 inches of rain in the past 5 days I expected the barbel to be on the munch so a brace of 5lbers was somewhat below expectations!!! First fish whilst it was getting dark (2000) and the second fish coaxed me out from under my brolly to get wet at around 2315.  

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

9 December

River Kennet - Brimpton   1045 - 1415   Bright and sunny after a brief but torrential shower. River lower than I expected after a wet week and carrying a tinge of colour.   6 Chub: 6lb 4oz, 5lb 6oz, 4lb 7oz, 3X 1-2lbers. 1 brownie circa 1lb.   I've fished Brimpton regularly since I joined NAA in 1982 and whilst I catch 5lb+ chub most seasons I've never had a 6 until today! Thing is I didn't even plan to fish here today but I turned up at Hambridge to find

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

19/20 June

Newbury AA Lake - Widmead   1500 - 0800   Bright and breezy, calm and clear overnight, rain at dawn.   12 Carp - all between 5-8lb, best 8¼lb, 1 Tench, 3lb 1oz, 3small perch.   This was meant to be a tenching session - and all seemed to be going to plan with a tinca first cast. Alas it was my only one - the carp obviously muscling in on the action. Bread, pellet and meat - all caught.

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

Out of the Blue/On Fishing at Sea

Another book review...   Out of the Blue/On Fishing at Sea - Chris Yates   When the Out of the Blue first came out in hardback in 2008 I didn’t rush out to buy it as I might have for any other new work from Chris Yates. In truth, I had been a little under-whelmed by his offering 2 years earlier - How to Fish. Not that this is a bad book, in fact by any other yardstick of modern angling writing it IS an excellent read. It was just that I didn’t consider it to be Yates at his b

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

28 July

River Kennet - Marsh Benham   0830 - 1430   Warm, bright and breezy with a couple of lumpy showers. River still higher than anticipated and carrying quite a bit of colour.   2 Pike; both 3lbers, 7 Chublets, 1½doz Roach. 1 Doz Dace, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak and a Trout.   First trip of the season to 'my' syndicate stretch of river - both pike on ledgered meat from the weirpool - had me thinking I hooked small barbel both times!

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

6 July

River Kennet - Newbury   0430 - 0800   Clear and sunny. River at near normal summer levels and carrying its usual summer colour...   11 Chub; All quite small with a couple slightly bigger (just over 1lb). 3 Doz+ Dace, 1 Roach. 4 Brownies to 1lb.   Lovely morning's trotting and home in time for brekfast. Really nice to see some juvenile chub in the river - augur's well for the future....    

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

28 December (Part 1)

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0800 - 1200   Chuffing cold and clear. AT -4ºC when we arrived - and the line was still freezing in the rod rings at 12noon when we packed up. WT a slightly more encouraging 41ºF.   1 Chub; 1¾lb, 1 gudgeon, 1 trout parr.   A day on the river(s) with Paul - had to keep moving to stay warm!!! Paul also managed 3 fish - a chub (smaller than mine) a roach and a dace. Packed up at lunchtime as we decided we'd taget a species that's not fussed by a bit of frost!

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

14 September

Alders Lake - Thatcham   0930 - 1330   Bright and Breezy. 17ºC   3 Bream - 3lb 4oz & 2 skimmers. 3 perch & 1doz+ rudd.   A short session to check up on the 'progress' of this lake which suffered a total fish kill 6 years ago. And my verdict would be is that it seems to be thriving on neglect!!! Since 2005 it has been re-modelled and stocked as a non-carp venue (though a few snuck in during the floods of 07). Because of this it is much clearer than

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

10 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   1830 - 0000   Mild and drizzly - 17ºC   4 Roach & 2 Perch   Another dismal session - cut short as I decided a warm bed was the more preferred way to spend the the rest of the night! Even struggled for bites on float fished maggot!

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

11/12 September

Pumphouse Lake - CEMEX Yateley   1930 - 0530   Clear and chilly night - temp down to 7ºC at dawn - the thermal one-piece made a rare appearance!!   2 Tench, 3¼lb & 4¼lb   Slow night, no bites until well after midnight - then a mini flurry when I had the 2 tincas - both on ledgered pellet.

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2 March - pt1

River Kennet - Brimpton   0745 - 1200   Quite mild, dry and cloudy with sunny spells - river up to near normal winter levels with a tinge of colour.   1 Chub; 2lb 13oz. 2 Grayling, 4 Brownies to 2½lb   Was hoping to re-acquaint my self with some of the big chub I had from here at the start of winter (see; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1572-9-december/ ) but, alas the trout were rather to eager, trashing swim after swim. Eventually had a chub from the 5th swi

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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