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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

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18 December

​River Frome - Wool   ​0800 - 1400   ​Cool, and murky! River at normal levels with a tinge of colour (more than I expected to see! 74cm at East Stoke river gauge.   ​8 Grayling; all 'netters' with 6 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 9oz. 4 Trout: to 1½lb.   ​Slow day in Dorset. Bites at a premium - in fact was fishing for nearly 3 hours before I had my first fish. All ladies were of a nice stamp though was hoping for something a little bigger. Main excitement of the morning was being briefly connec
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2
Coarse Fishing

14 March (Part 1)

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0630(!) - 1130 Cool and overcast with drizzle to start - brigthening up. AT3º-6ºC. River at normal winter levels - though actually down an inch or so on last Friday. 9 Chub: 5 over 4lb - best two - 5lb 1oz & 4lb 14oz. 3X3lbers and the smallest went 2lb 14oz. 2 Bream; 3lb 4oz & 2lb 9oz. 1 Bleak, 1 Rainbow C2½lb. Back to the swim - that's a gift that keeps on giving! Had 7 chub from it today plus the 2 bream - the other 2 chub coming from a s
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0

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

0

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

0

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

0

29 September

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2300   Cool and breezey evening 12ºC (but felt colder!) River low and carrying quite a bit of leaf litter and floating weed - made bait presentation difficult.   2 Barbel (4lb14oz, 4lb 3oz)   Same venue - though different swim to 2 weeks ago (15 Sep) with remarkably similar results! Again both fish caught by 2000.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

0

Season's Bests 16/17

Somewhat of a mediocre season!   Best Carp 14lb 9oz, 30/8/16 Jubilee Lake Thatcham, Pellet Feeder (a very sickly looking fish - so no pic! Pic below is of my 2nd best of the season a 12lb 11oz fish caught from the same venue a week earlier) Best Barbel 10lb 4oz 10/10/16, River Kennet, Nr Thatcham. Ledgered Snailz Boilie. Yet again another season where I struggled to catch barbel - this double was the biggest of just 3 fish landed all season. Best Bream
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

24 June

River Kennet, Bulls Lock 1330 - 1530 Overcast and muggy. AT 19ºC but felt much warmer. 8 Dace, 3 Roach & 2 Brownies (2lb+ and one of around 12oz) Had to restock the bait fridge so perfect excuse (not that I EVER need an excuse) to run a float through a new swim for a couple of hours. As ever Chub were the intended quarry though the only fish to put a serious bend in the rod had an adipose fin - also lost 2 troot to hook pulls - though trout being trout they were probably
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0
Coarse Fishing

29 December

Kennet carrier (& main river) - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1330 Bright and breezy with a few light (& one heavy) showers. AT 5º-7ºC. River at normal levels - carrier still a little on the low side for winter. 1 Chub: 2lber. 20 Roach & Dace (slightly more roach - nothing note-worthy). 3 Brownies and a Rainbow - all 2½ - 3½lb - with the Rainbow at the top end of that and possibly pushing 4lb... A morning spent playing (and largely failing!!) at avoid the trout. Got off to
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

1

18 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   0430 - 0930   Bright and breezy, 15ºC   1 Tench - 2¾lb, 1 roach, 6 perch.   Caught float fishing maggot in the margin - not a single bleep on the lead!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

8 September

Middle Kennet (& carrier) - Marsh Benham 0600 - 1230 Hot and muggy. AT 18ºC - 28ºC. River a little on the low side but not at all bad for September. 12 Chub; A couple of around ¾-1lb - the rest all juveniles of around 6 inches. 1 Bream: 3lb 14oz. 50 Roach & Dace (more roach) - nothing especially noteworthy. 5 Perch - all small. 2 Rainbow's; 3½ & 4½lbs. Early start to try and make the most of the cool of the morning - but didn't really feel it after the long hike t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

2

31 August

Bucklebury Ponds   0930 - 1300   Overcast and breezey, 17-21ºC.   1 Crucian, 1lb, 1 Bream 2¼lb, 1 Goldfish (!) 1lb 14oz. 4 roach, 1doz perch.   Pleasant morning float fishing the margins with maggot.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 January

River Kennet - Brimpton   1015 - 1515   Cold, bright and sunny. River low - very low for mid Jan   2 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 1½lb. 1 Brownie 2½lb   A bright sparkly day though not ideal conditions - perseverance paid off - didn't get a bite until 1430 then 3 fish in half an hour from swims that appeared devoid of fish a couple of hours earlier (sun was off the water!)
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

21/22 June

Willows Lake - Thatcham   1500 - 0500   Cool clear night - down to 7ºC by dawn.   3 Carp; 12lb 11oz, 7lb 9oz, 4lb 6oz. 2 Perch.   I last took my brother, Colin, fishing on 26/1/91 - when he caught a brace of 13lb pike from the Kennet at Padworth - so was somewhat surprised to be asked at a family gathering last Christmas to come fishing with me again - ' I'll take you carp fishing' I says - expecting to hear no more about it! But he was serious so a plan w
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

26 July

River Kennet - Thatcham   1500 - 1600   Warm and sunny - river quite low   3 Chub; one might have made a pound the others no where near that size!. 4 Roach - all a 6-8oz (good to see). 1 Dace and 3 brownies to 1½lb.   I left work early to go home and watch the cricket only to find Ireland had been bowled out for 38 in under 16overs - so a snatched hour on the river before a weekend spent in Manchester watch athletics (England AAA champs).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

3 October

River Kennet - Hambridge 0845 - 1245 Sunny spells. AT 8º ->17ºC. River still very low (prayer mats are out for a wet autumn!). 7 Chub; biggest 3lb on the nose, 5 between 1½ - 2½lb and a chublet. 1 Barbel; 1lb 13oz, 13 Dace & 9 Roach (all fairly small), 1 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak & a Brownie c¾-1lb. Super morning's trotting - nice to get another baby barbel for the 2nd trip running here and I might have lost a much bigger one though I think the leviathan that snapped my 6lb
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0

20 July

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2330   Overcast quite breezy with a couple of very light showers. Min 15ºC. River low.   3 Barbel; 7lb 1oz, 4lb 10oz, 4lb 1oz, 1 Chub 2½lb   A pleasant evening by the river - chub caught early in session - all barbel caught after 2200. Ledgered 14mm halibuts - as per usual!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12 March - Part 1

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0615 - 0815   Mild and overcast - sunny for last 20 mins. AT 7ºC. WT an encouraging 48ºF.   2 Perch; 1lb 6oz & a tiddler. 1 Chub 1lb 11oz.   Dawn raid for stripeys in seemingly perfect conditions - pity no one told the fish that! Started off promisingly enough with a few bites, activity and the 3 fish all in the first ¾hour. But the rise in water temps seems to have woken up the crayfish and after about 0700 they were relentless. And despite switc
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 December

Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton   1300 - 1600   Mild, cloudy and benign - perfect perching weather. AT 10ºC   9 Perch; 2lb 15oz, 1lb 13oz - the others all around 8-10oz. 1 Chub 1¼lb and a Rudd(!)   The CRT have made it very difficult to locate big stripeys on the canal - by removing pretty much every bit of over hanging vegetation from miles of bank - however conditions were ideal for winter perch so a roving approach - travelling light and giving sw
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

2 December

K&A Canal Thatcham & River Kennet - Arrowhead   0730 - 1315   Mild, breezy with light drizzly showers.   8 dace - all a 'nice' size (6-8oz class), 1 chublet & a gudgeon.   Another fruitless perch hunt, not a bite (at least from something that didn't have claws!) on the canal so finished off with an hour on the river.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12 July

Johnsons Lake - Milford   1530 - 2315   Warm and sunny with quite a stiff breeze until dusk.   2 Crucians; 3lb 3oz, 2lb 15oz. 6 Tench - all over 3½lb - best 2; 5-12 & 5-02. 2 Carp (very small - one may have scrapped a pound the other less than half that!). 3 Rudd - all small.   Very pleasant evening's float fishing the margins - as usual not a lot until dusk (just the rudd) - first fish (the 2-15 cru) at around 1930 - thereafter steady sport until 2300. All fish on prawn (apart from
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

26 November (Part 2)

River Lambourn - Newbury 1230 - 1430 Mild, dull and overcast. 11ºC. River low. 18 Grayling - with around half a lb or better - the two I put on the scales went 1lb 8oz & 1lb 6oz and had a few more not far shy of these two. 1 Brownie - small. With 3 other anglers working the venue I was very pleased with this return - clearly managed to find a few spots that hadn't already been visited and like this morning's session further upstream managed to get a couple of shoals compe
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0
Coarse Fishing

13 July

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1930 - 2300 Warm with high broken cloud - affording a super view of the Super 'Buck' Moon when it got dark. AT 25º -> 17ºC. 2 Bream: both 3lbers but not by much. 1 Tench 1¼lb. 2 Perch: small An evening with a slow start and a livelier finish! I nearly packed up after an hour or so as I was being totally plagued by crayfish and whilst they did a quick disappearing act - usually a good sign that something that would find a signal a tasty snack has appe
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

0

2 October

​Kennet & Avon Canal (flowing) - Thatcham   ​​0630 - 1030   ​Cool, clear and bright. River quite low but with a tinge of colour after yesterday's rain.   ​4 Perch - all between ¾ - 1¼lbs. 13 Dace, 1 Grayling.   ​First perching trip of the autumn and with a bright clear day forecast I wanted to make the most of the dawn light, Consequently I was at the water's edge way too early and had to wait a while before I could see my float. But as soon as I could it went under with some alacrit
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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