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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

22 September

Alders Lake   0830 - 1100   Foggy start then bright.   3 tench, 3 crucians, 1 bream (all<1lb) 40+ roach and perch.   Fancied a couple of hours just seeing the float go under at regular intervals and not know what would show up next - though the answer to that was mainly roach!!! 1st trip here since it was re-stocked following the the fish kill of 2005. Will probably leave it 2-3 season for the fish to get a bit bigger before I return! One curious aspect of today was that I could only
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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29 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0700 - 1200 Heavy drizzle for first couple of hours then dry and murky. 13º -> 15º   1 Barbel 10lb 2oz, 11 trout (3 X 1lb+), 10 dace.   This was meant to be just a trotting session but it was so wet on arrival, I set the brolly up and lowered a ledgered pellet under the near bank. Things got off to an auspicious start (NOT) with a cormorant surfacing in my swim followed by it's mate. Then a family of swans thought it would be a good place to have a ruck - th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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1 October

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2200   Overcast, drizzle 'in the wind' temp a constant 13ºC   7 barbel 11lb 6oz, 7lb 3oz, 6lb 10oz, 6lb 4oz, 6lb 3oz, 5lb 13oz, 4½lb   An eventful evening at the swim I 'discovered' on Saturday. River carrying more colour than at the weekend. Couldn't even fish for the first hour due to swans feeding just upstream sending down a constant barrage of floating ranunculus. Once I started fishing bites came thick and fast. Only downside is that while fighti
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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6 October

0700 - 0900 K&A Canal - Widmead   4 perch( 1lb 11oz, 1lb 9oz, 2<1lb)   0930 - 1230 Warwicks Water   1 bream (1½lb), 2 doz roach & perch.   Calm, high cloud, dry. 8º -> 16º. WT 14ºC     This was meant to be a perching session but the crayfish on the canal were a nightmare. If the perch didn't take the lobworm on the drop the signals were on the bait within a minute (I timed!!). Switched to Warwicks hoping for a late crucian but none were showing. Fished meat and pellet wi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 October

River Itchen, Gaters Mill   0800 - 1900   Overcast, mild and becalmed - shirtsleeves all day. (Perfick!). River 'full', gin clear with LOTS of debris - mainly ranunculus coming down.   74 Grayling ( 26 over a lb of which 17 over 1½lb and 5 over 2lbs - best 2lb 9oz). 10 Brownies (best also 2lb 9oz), 1 chub 3lb 10oz.   River Itchen back to its best - most of the fish were in the faster, streamier water. Paul managed 71 grayling (we both do returns for the EA's national grayling survey) and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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12 October

Summer Pit - Yateley   1915 - 2315   Mild, still evening, quite balmy under the trees. 17ºC ->16ºC. WT 14ºC   1 tench 3¼lb   Last throw of the dice to try and get a late season Crucian. Water was pretty lifeless though and was pretty surprised to get a fish 1st cast. Not surprised that this was my only bite of the evening! Fished meat (which caught the tench), bread and pellet.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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15 October

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1900 - 2315   Mild and breezy, air temp rose 1ºC to 14ºC. WT 13ºC. River down 3-4 inches on a fortnight ago - considerably less weed coming down too, dark when I arrived so couldn't gauge clarity.   10 - yes 10 barbel. 10.05 (thats 3 doubles in 3 trips!), 8.10, 8.02, 7.08, 5.07, 5.00, 4.14, 3 unweighed around the 4lb mark.   Another stonking evening on the Kennet!   Fished my ' new' swim last night (hereinafter called 'Doubles' or 'Broken Rod' - see below).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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20 October

River Kennet - Newbury   0730 - 1230   Cold and frosty. River clear with some leaf litter. WT - 47ºF (That's down 8ºF since Monday).   5 Chub (2-3lb, biggest 3lb 11oz), 3 barbel (all 2-3lb) 4 doz Dace, Gudgeon, Roach (mainly Dace).   A morning trotting maggot or worm - very surprised to get the barbel considering the drop in WT. All chub and barbel caught after 1030 having spent 3 hours dribbling in maggot (and catching nowt but dace). Small but great fun on float rod and CP. All barbel
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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26 October

River Kennet - Woolhampton   1830 - 2330   Still and overcast. AT & WT both 50ºF. River down 6-9 inches on last visit here (18 Sep) minimal leaf litter in river (expect that to change this weekend!)   2 Bream (2-3lb), 1 Chub 4lb 7oz   All fish caught before 2100 (could have had an early night!). Chub was very long, had a huge head and mouth and was VERY lank and out of condition. Tail and anal fins frayed and bloodied - looked like it had just finished spawning! Reckon it ought to ha
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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2 November

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2330   Clear and still. AT 54ºF --->45ºF, WT 52ºF. River low - another couple of inches down on 3 weeks ago and carrying quite a bit of debris - mainly ranunculus.   2 Barbel (8¼lb , 4lb)   River needs some rain!!! Both fish in the 1st couple of hours (again!) then the signals moved in (never a good sign). Floating debris quite annoying. Lovely clear night - good for firework spotting - also saw a few meteors (Taurids?).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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10 November

K&A Canal @ Enbourne/Speen Moors   0700 - 1130   Bright and breezy - clouding over. WT 48ºF. low and gin clear.   1 chub (1½lb), 1 perch (scraper lber), a dozen dace, ½doz each of chublets, roach, gudgeon and small perch, 1 B. Trout.   1st hour on the canal then switched to the river. Stiff downstream breeze made bait presentation a nightmare - managed 3 perch before moving. Fished mainly on PD - some lovely dace showing had 5 around the 8oz mark - a couple of roach of similar size.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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24 November

River Lambourn - Shaw   0915 - 1215   Cold and overcast - 5ºC. River moderate height and gin clear   16 Grayling (2 pounders - best 1lb 6oz), 4 Brownies - biggest 1½lb.   Trotted maggot. Usual 'catch a couple and move on' tactics. Fished a dozen swims and had a fish from all of them...
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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1 December

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0715 - 0845   Bright and breezy - after heavy overnight rain (¾in fell yesterday). AT 46ºF. WT 48.5ºF   7 Perch (5 over lb - 3lb 3oz, 2lb 5oz, 1lb13oz, 1½lb, 1¼lb) 1 chublet   Short session - as only had about 45 mins of 'good light' - good for perch that is - bites dried up when it got too bright. Water carrying a tinge of colour which would have helped too. All fish on lobs.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0730 - 1030   Rain, continual unrelenting rain! 5ºC   5 Grayling (2 'pounders', best 1lb 7oz), 12 roach, 2 Brownies (biggest 1¾lb)   Rather hoped I'd sneak an hour of so of daylight before the rains came but the 1st drops started to fall on my 1st trot through. A couple of roach were ½ decent - around 8-10oz. All grayling a decent size (10oz+).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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31 December

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0745 - 1015   Cool, cloudy and calm. AT 41ºF -> 47.5ºF. WT 44ºF   7 Perch - 2lb 15oz, 2lb 3oz, 2lb, 1lb 8oz, 3<1lb.   Dawn raid on a perfect perch morning. 6 fish in the first hour - only 1 bite after 0900! All fish to float fished lobs.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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5 January

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0745 - 1315   Showery/bright/showery. River up and carrying a little colour after overnight rain (forgot my thermometer).   1 Chub, 3lb 14oz and 8 chublet. 4 perch 2lb 3oz, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 13oz, 1lb 6oz. 3 doz dace,roach & gudgeon.   Spent 1st 2 hours searching the usual spots for perch with float fished lobs without a touch. Switch to maggot brought all the silvers and the chub. Switched back to lobs for the last ½hour and had all 4 from a swim I haven't c
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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12 January

River Lambourn - Shaw   0830 - 1100   Cold and clear 1ºC -> 4ºC. River up and carrying a tinge of colour after heavy rain yesterday.   7 Grayling - 2 'pounders', best 1lb 4oz, 4 Brownies, 2 Roach, 1 Salmon Parr.   As ever a reliable winter fallback for when the Kennet is up and coloured. Bites hard to get but not impossible - bigger fish on the Church stretch.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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14 January

Middle Kennet   0800 - 1645   Bright and very breezy - one heavy shower. River high and coloured.   5 Perch (2lb 11oz, 2lb 6oz, 2lb 3oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 10oz), 1 Chub (1¼lb), 4 Doz+ Dace - almost all over 6oz - I weighed 9 which were all 11-12oz. 19 Brownies - Biggest 3lb 12oz, 1 Rainbow - 2½lb, 2 Roach (14oz), 2 Grayling, 3 Gudgeon!   Treated me self to a Birthday Outing - alone with Paul. Did MUCH better than we had any right to expect given the coloured water. Paul had a similar return -
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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26 January

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0800 - 1200   Bright and breezy. AT47ºF -> 49ºF. WT 46ºF. River still very high and over the bank in several places - has fined down.   50+ dace (biggest weighed 10oz) ½doz roach and chublets, 1 doz gudgeon.   Had planned to do some perching - but couldn't get to the swims I wanted as the banks were flooded. Surprised still to see so much water in the river after a dryish week. Most dace a good size with few under 4oz.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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2 February

River Lambourn - Shaw   0730 - 1030   Sunny and cold -2ºC -> 4ºC. River very high (As high as I've ever seen it) with a little colour.   9 Grayling (2 'pounders - biggest 1lb 5oz), 8 roach (best 1lb 2oz and another just shy of 1lb - rest small) 4 brownies (2 over 1lb) & 5 Salmon Parr.   Struggle for bites at first - got a little easier with some cloud cover - most fish on the 'church' stretch. 2nd (&3rd) respectable roach from here this winter.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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21 February

River Kennet - Newbury   0700 - 1130   Dull & overcast with some breeze. AT 42ºF -> 52ºF. WT 46ºF - river at 'normal' winter levels. Little colour.   10 chub - 5lb 5oz, 4lb 10oz, 4lb 6oz, 4lb 4oz, 4lb 3oz, 3lb 14oz, 3½lb, 3lb, 2lb & a chublet! 1 Barbel 2¼lb, 6 dace, 2 brownies & 1 grayling.   Back to the swim that produced so spectacularly back in December. (See entry for 15 December). All fish on trotted double red maggot. Many/most fish caught on the fast shallows at the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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10 July

Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead   0500 - 0900   Bright and breezy - water levels well up after yesterday's rain - and lake looked rather lifeless.   1 carp (4lb 13oz), 2 tench (2-3lb), 7 Perch (one of 1lb 6oz), 2 Roach (13oz & 1lb) (!), 3 Rudd.   Fished VERY,VERY tight to margins - hoping - in vain for a crucian. Most on meat - roach on floatfished bread.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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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

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18/19 July

Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead   1900 - 0600   Mild (min16ºC) , overcast and drizzly - dry during dark hours, breezy. WT 19ºC   2 Carp (13lb 2oz, 8lb 14oz), 1 Tench (4lb 5oz), ½doz Perch - best 1lb 6oz.   Very quiet night - place seemed lifeless despite conditions seemingly being OK for fishing! My night was rescued by a busy hour just after midnight when I had all three fish. Tench on float fished meat both carp on pellet. Perch on maggot in the morning. Paul fared no better - a solita
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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17/18 June

Newbury AA lakes - Thatcham   1430 - 1100   Sunny becoming overcast. Breezy becoming VERY breezy. 13ºC-18ºC.   9 Carp (3½ - 8lb) 3 roach and a rudd.   Disappointing session on a usually prolific water. Paul did much better (eventually) and had a dozen on The Method - including a brace of 10's. Had hoped to do some surface fishing but legions of terns, ducks & geese made this sadly impossible - the buggers were insatiable - and did we try and sate them! Float fishing the margins - ano
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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