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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

20 June

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   0430 - 1000   Clear and sunny, warm after a cool start (8ºC when I set up).   6 Carp; best 2, 14lb 8oz, 8lb 4oz - the rest 6 or 7lbers.   So after a crucianless night on Marsh Farm a morning trying for one nearer to home - this lake has them to over 3lb - but alas it is also the home to a lot of voracious carp! The 4 smaller ones all 'fell' to my float gear. All the time I was feed little bits of bread into the margins by

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

18/19 June

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Godalming   1430 - 0930   Warm and with sunny spells. Quite breezy at times (as it ALWAYS is here - must be the windiest place in Surrey!)   16 Tench; 5 over 4lb, biggest 5lb 2oz, all the rest between 2½ - 3½lb, 11 Roach, 4 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 8oz! , 1 Perch, 1lb 9oz (on float fished meat at midnight), 6 Rudd.   A cunning plan that was hatched a year ago. The day started with me popping over to the tackle shop for GAS exchang

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

16 June 2012

River Kennet, Newbury & Thatcham   0400 - 1230   Cool, overcast and very blustery. River quite coloured and very full for the time of year - highest it's been in the summer for many a year.... (well since 2007 now I come to think about it!!)   2 Chub; 2lb & 1¼lb. 1 Barbel 3lb. 57 Dace, 7 Roach, 3 Grayling, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & a 1¾lb spottie.   Pleasant start to the season with plenty of fish to put a bend in the rod - we had planned a

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1st June (!)

NAA stillwater Widmead and Thatcham   0400 - 1200.   Overcast, still and mild - temps around 17/18ºC   1 carp, 11lb 5oz.   1st EVER close season session - oooo I feel a little bit dirty! Don't intend to make a habit of it but I had some time owed to me which if I didn't take by next week (and as ½ the office we already off, next week was out) I would lose. So I thought I'd join Paul on one of his 'free Fridays'. 1st part of the morning was purely reconnai

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

Season's Bests 2011/12

And another season comes to a close. And a rather good one it was too - with 3 PB's, an equalling PB and a couple of near misses. A rather indifferent summer, despite a PB Bream and a PB Crucian in the same week - was compensated by some great post September angling. The autumn perch campaign got off to a real flyer. A session which produced 18 fish for nearly 40lb including 5X3lbers and a PB equalling 3lb 14oz fish was a real red letter day (see 13 October entry). This winter I was eagerly look

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

14 March

Middle Kennet Estate   0730 - 1800   Cool and overcast all morning, bright sunshine in the afternoon feeling quite warm despite the thermo only reading 10ºC. River VERY low.   4 Chub; 3lb 4oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 11oz and a chublet. 5 Perch; a couple of 'pounders' best of which was just under 2lb - the rest around 12oz. 25 roach - most fairly small though had one 'goodun' of 14oz. 9 Dace. 1 Bream 2¼lb. 10 gudgeon, 4 bleak & 6 brownies to 3¼lb.   Usual mixed b

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

9 March

Middle Kennet Estate - Newbury   0700 - 1800   Mild and overcast, breezy at times, temps around 10ºC all day. River still low - though up a tad (maybe a cm or so) on recently.   17 Chub, 6 over 1lb biggest 3lb 0oz. 24 Roach - biggest 1lb 4oz - though quite a few more needed the net. 15 Dace - best 2, 13oz & 12oz. 3 Gudgeon and 4 brownies.   A knackering day as we walked the entire length of the fishery TWICE in order to find the fish. My plan was to st

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3 March

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1000   Overcast with rain/drizzle for ¾hr from 0830. AT & WT 48ºF.   2 Perch; 3lb 2oz & 2lb 7oz.   Unexpectedly had a free morning due to Sam deciding on a lay in after partying last night rather than go training. Dad's taxi still had to take Matt to work for 0630 which was the time I'd have rather have been making my first cast. So I arrived 30 or so minutes later than I would have liked to get a couple of nasty s

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

26 February

River Frome Worgret 0800 - 1130 Wool 1200 - 1600   Bright and sunny after a foggy start - felt positively warm in the sun - had far too much on! River clear and low.   11 Grayling: 10 over 1lb (9 over 1½!). Best 5, 2lb 14oz, 2lb 5oz, 2lb 2oz & 2 at 1lb 14oz.   Last trip down to Dorset this winter as the water closes to coarse anglers at the end of Feb. I wanted to give Worgret a proper go this time as it was the colour of milky tea when I came here in

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

19 February

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0830 - 1730   Cool and Sunny with broken cloud 2ºC->7ºC->2ºC. River very low.   9 Chub; 6lb 7oz (new PB ), 5-2, 3-15, 2-13, 2-10, 1-10 and 3 chublets. 47 Dace, of which less than a dozen were under 8oz!!!! 2 fish of 13oz, 3 fish weighed at 12oz but probably had a load more that were close,10 Roach; 4 of which were over 10oz - best 14oz. 10 Brownies and a Rainbow.   This was supposed to be a club day on this lovely e

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

12 February

Middle Kennet - Nr Newbury.   0730 - 1700   Cool and overcast. -2º ->5ºC Positively balmy compared to recent arctic conditions - WT was a chilly 39ºF though.   8 Chub; 4 'pounders' to 2¼lb and 4 chublets. 19 Dace; most a 'nice' size - only one warranted the scales though; a lovely fish of 11oz. 6 Roach, 8 Brownies to 2½lb.   Plan for today was to catch some chub in the morning and then move up to where we'd caught all those roach earlier in the winter.

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

10 February

River Frome - Wool   0830 - 1700   Cool and overcast. AT 1ºC -> 5ºC. River clear with normal flow and levels.   5 Grayling; 2lb 12oz, 2lb0oz and 3 tiddlers. 2 Brownies; 1 parr and a ¾lber.   A day in Dorset with Rusty. This was another 'delayed decision' trip firstly because the forecast kept changing and secondly because of the forecast snow overnight potentially making the drive down problematic. However I judged that the river would be OK and this wa

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4 February

River Kennet Newbury   0800 - 1045   COLD and clear. AT -9ºC when I drove off confirmed by a reading of 16ºF when I arrived on the bank. WT a balmy 35ºF - coldest day I think I have ever been fishing. However dressed appropriately and standing IN the river for warmth I was really quite toasty apart form the thumb and index finger on my right hand -which kept 'sticking' to the metal of my Witcher. Thought that frozen rings would be a mare but in fact the water froze on the

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

28 January

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1130   Cool and Overcast. 2-5ºC. River low, VERY low for late January.   26 Grayling; 10 over 1lb(!). Best 2 both 1lb 10z.   Change of plan due to footy being re-arranged for this afternoon had pencilled in a Speen session. Scratchy sort of morning until I found a shoal of nice, feeding, grayling - had only caught 7 by 1030 - so had a manic last hour (from the same spot too!)

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

20 January

River Frome - Wool   0830 - 1645   Overcast, mild and breezey (rather too breezey at times). River clear and quite low.   16 Grayling; best 3 1lb 11oz, 1lb 10oz, 1lb 9oz. The rest mostly small. 5 Brownies - most small with a couple of pounders.   Ever since my first visit here in November I've been bending Paul's ear to come and join me - and the premise of a belated birthday trip was the perfect excuse. However work (his) threatened to get in the way and

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

15 January

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0900 - 1630   Frosty and bright, temps around 2-4ºC all day. River low and clear   8 Chub; 4 chublets and 4 over 2lb, biggest 5lb 6oz. 16 Dace; half over 8oz, biggest 13oz & 12oz. 3 Roach, biggest 1lb on the nose. 6 Brownies - biggest 2, 4¼ & 3¾lb.   NAA day on this lovely part of the Kennet so had to share the place with a couple of dozen other anglers! Highlight of the morning was seeing Rusty do an impersonation

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

7 January

River Kennet - Newbury   0830 - 1130.   Mild with broken cloud, 6º -> 9ºC. A lovely benign, winter's morning. River still on the low side - though up an inch or so and very clear - as it usually is in the winter. WT 46ºF - a little on the cool side for good sport - good thing no one told the fish!   4 Chub; 5lb 5oz, 3lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 2oz. 1 Barbel; 3lb 5oz. 1 Bream (!); 2lb 10oz. 19 Dace, most quite small with 2 or 3 nice ones, 2 Roach (1 a nice size, circa 8-10oz), 10 Gudgeon.  

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2 January 2012 (A big fat Pike!)

River Kennet - Speen Moors   1230 - 1600   Bright and sunny start followed by a heavy shower. AT 5-7ºC. Forgot to take WT!   1 Pike; 15lb 3oz (!!!). 4 Perch 1lb 9oz and 3 smalluns. 2 Roach. 2 Dace. 8 Gudgeon.   Rather hoped that the weather would have held to what we'd had in recent days (mild and overcast). Bright sunshine and a sudden drop in temperature is not what the angler ordered and I ummed and ahhed all morning about whether or not to go. However

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

27 December

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0730 - 1630   Mild and overcast with light winds - a lovely benign winters day. 10ºC. River VERY low.   4 Chub to 2lb 10oz. 5 Grayling - all between 10oz - 1lb 6oz, 14 Dace - nearly all over 8oz - 5 over 10oz, best 12oz (had 3 at this weight!), 3 Roach, 6 Brownies to 2¾lb.   A lovely day to be by the river - we were restricted by low water levels to where we could fish - but finding a shoal of big dace in the very first sw

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

24 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0745 - 1115   Cool and mainly overcast. 2º -> 6ºC. River low and clear (of course!)   33 Grayling; 10 over 1lb (!) best 4, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 13oz, 1lb 7oz, 1lb 6oz with another dozen around the 12oz mark. 3 Brownies - all small but bigger than parrs.   Christmas Eve sees the annual cleaning of my bait fridge as the maggots are served with an eviction order and the appliance is commandeered for Christmas duties. As usual for this v

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

22 December

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0730 - 0945   Mild, with cloud clearing (rather too quickly for my liking) to milky sunshine. AT 48ºF, WT 47ºF   1 Perch; 2lb 6oz   Couldn't resist the lure of the canal with these mild conditions - though, alas, it was much brighter than forecast! Fished 4 swims and only managed 2 bites all morning - both of which came from the 2nd swim I dropped in and resulted in the blank saving stripey. Banker swim failed to produce - again!

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

18 December

Middle Kennet Estate water.   0800 -1600   Cold, frosty and bright. -1ºC -> 5ºC. River very low   5 Chub; 5lb 15oz, 2lb 3oz & 3 chublets 2 of which were circa 1lb. 47 Roach; Most in the 6-8oz bracket - the 5 I put on the scales were 9oz, 10oz, 12oz, 14oz & 1lb 2oz but an awful lot weren't much smaller than the 9oz fish - probably had nearly 20lb of roach in all! 2 Dace & 6 Brownies biggest circa 2½lb.   Chalk this one up to the river keeper

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

8 December

River Kennet - nr Thatcham   0745 - 1015   Cool, overcast and breezy with some light drizzle. Travelling light so forgot thermometer (in other bag!). River low and looking rather threadbare.   2 Chub; 3lb 2oz, 2lb 15oz. 3 Grayling 10 - 12oz+. 1 Brownie c12oz   Every year I try and get a chub in every month of the season - so that's December ticked off! In truth I was hoping to make a re-acquaintance with the 5lb+ fish I caught from this swim back in the su

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2 December

River Lambourn - Shaw   0730 - 1230   Frosty and bright start - clouding over by mid morning. 0ºC -> 6ºC. River low.   56 (!!) Grayling; 3 over 1lb - best a lovely fish of 1lb 12oz. 2 Roach (small). 8 Brownies small ( but bigger than parrs).   Nice sociable session with Paul. Original plan had been to do some more prospecting for perch on the canal but the weather forecasts had been predicting a cold clear Friday morning all week - so Plan B was the lad

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

27 November

River Frome - Wool   0745 - 1445   Bright and sunny and VERY breezy - lashing rain for 1st hour! River low and clear.   11 Grayling; 3 smalluns - all the others between 1lb 9oz - 2lb 2oz (2X2lbers). 1 Dace (small). 9 Trout (all small). 1 Salmon 4½lb, 1 Salmon parr.   A challenging session due to the strong downstream wind - made presentation a nightmare and I must have spent half the session with my float waving around in the sky everytime I tried to rebai

Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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