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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

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

0

23 November

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1130   Bright after a frosty start - 1st frost of the month. River very low.   29 Grayling, 11 over 1lb (!!). Best 3; 1lb 14oz, 1lb 8oz, 1lb 7oz. 1 Roach - unweighed but needed the net. 1 Brown Trout parr.   Pure co-incidence that my first visit of the season here corresponded to the 1st frosts of winter. Usual catch a couple and move on tactics until I found a pod of sizeable grayling feeding confidently under the branches of a willow. More importantly
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

18 November

Middle Kennet Estate water   0730 - 1630   Mild and mainly overcast with some 'milky' sunshine at times. River VERY low.   7 Chub; 4 over 1lb - biggest 3lb 1oz. 8 Perch; 2 over 1lb - biggest 2lb 3oz. 2 Bream - both circa 1lb. 3 Doz+ Roach - most quite small though 2 warranted the scales - one at 13oz the other a lovely fish of 1lb 4oz. 2 Doz + Dace - all quite small. 20 + Gudgeon. 8 Brownies - most over 2lb - biggest 3lb 8oz. 1 Rainbow - 2¾lb.   A lovely d
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

13 November

River Frome, Worgret & Wool.   0730 - 1030 - Worgret 1100 - 1500 - Wool.   Mild and breezy. Overcast am. Mainly sunny pm. River very coloured but well within its banks. (Not at all what I was expecting!!!)   4 Grayling; 2lb 11oz, 1lb 4oz, 12oz & a tiddler. 1 Dace; 10oz. 6 Brownies - most quite small. 1 Sea trout - 1¼lb.   A couple of new venues for this winter and a river I've been wanting to fish for AGES! So some new waters to learn - and th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

11 November

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1115   Very overcast with light mizzle all morning. Mild. WT 53ºF   4 Perch; 1¼lb and 3 tiddlers...   A morning prospectiing for perch with Paul - in seemingly ideal low light conditions. The main plan was to try and suss out some new swims - though Paul couldn't promise NOT to have a cast in one of my banker swims - which actually produced zilch for both of us. So a bit of a scratchy session - not sure we learnt much - e
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

7 November

River Kennet - Nr Newbury   0645 - 1015   Overcast & cool. River VERY low and carrying a lot of leaf litter. WT 51ºF.   20 Dace; a couple of real gooduns - one weighed at 11oz another of similar length but slipped back unweighed. 1 Perch 1¼lb. 3 Roach, 2 Grayling, 2 Gudgeon, 2 Brownies, biggest circa 1lb.   A morning's trotting for whatever turned up (but secretly hoping a chub or barbel would put in an appearance!) Dace appeared to fall into 1 of 2 categories - about ½ were fingerli
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 October

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1800 - 2330   Mild, overcast with a soft southerly breeze - really lovely night to be out. River low and carrying quite a bit of leaf litter as you'd expect. WT a balmy 56ºF.   1 Barbel; 9lb 0oz. 1 Carp; 15lb 9oz!!   Trick or Treat? Never been so disappointed to get such a lovely looking carp - as for nay on 10 mins I thought I was connected to the mother of all barbel!!! This is my 30th season barbel fishing this stretch of ri
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

29 October

K&A Canal - Nr Thatcham   0720 - 1100   Still, overcast and mild - with the sun breaking out for the last ¾hr and the breeze picking up. WT 52ºF.   6 Perch; 3lb 5oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 5oz, 2lb 3oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 12oz.   A perfect perch morning got off to a perfect start with the 3lber first cast! The biggest 2lber followed soon after and I thought I was going to be in for another morning's haulin! However there then followed nearly an hour of crayfish activ
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 October

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1000 - 1300   Bright and sunny after a frosty dawn. 4ºC -> 11ºC. River at its perennial autumn minimum - very low!   1 Chub; 3lb 10z, 3 Grayling; all around 12oz. 2 dace (small). 1 Brown Trout; 2lb 10oz.   On the hunt for a big chub so started out with corn and lobs - but ended up catching everything on double red maggot! All grayling a nice size - hope they grow on to be 'pounders' next year. Bit disappointed with the spottie - was convinced I was bringin
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5

17 October

River Kennet - Newbury   1715 - 2215   Overcast and breezy. 14ºC. River low with a fair amount of leaf litter.   1 Barbel, 4lb 0oz.   Barbel in the first hour - thereafter it was a case of 'Welcome to Crayfish City' the blighters were on the pellet within seconds at times. Also saw the otter 3 times and whilst I had planned to stay until midnight at least - I knew it wasn't going to be my night when it rolled in my swim a little after 10 o'clock - maybe it was after the crayfish!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 October

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1200   Mild/warm, still and overcast - 13ºC -> 17ºC. Neigh on perfick!   18 Perch: In order of capture: 2lb 14oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 8oz,*, 2lb 6oz, tiddler, ~, 2lb 6oz, 1lb 6oz, 3lb 3oz, 2lb 6oz (again! all different fish I think!), 1lb 7oz, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 2oz, 3lb 0oz, 3lb 14oz (equal PB!), 2lb 13oz, 1lb 3oz, tiddler,tiddler,~. !!! Nearly 40lb of perch !   1 Tench*: 4lb 3oz. 2 Chub~; 1¼lb and a chublet.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

10 October

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0700 - 1230   Mild, mainly overcast and VERY breezy. 17ºC. River very low.   1½+ doz Perch, 4 over 1lb (though 3 not by much!) biggest 2lb 12oz. 1 Chub, 1lb 14oz, 1 Bream 1½lb. 1doz roach, 3 dace and 10 gudgeon.   First trip here this season so was a case of having a good wander around - fished 6 swims in total - and had perch from 5 of them. A lot of perch in the 10-12oz bracket - big enough to snaffle a whole lob - small enou
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

7 October

River Itchen   0800 - 1815   Mainly cloudy with sunny spells. 11ºC -> 15ºC -> 9ºC.   41 Grayling; 18 over 1lb, best 5 - 2lb 4oz, 2lb 2oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 14ozX2. 2 Chub 4lb 6oz, 3lb 7oz. 10 Brownies to circa 1¾lb.   A 2lb crucian and a 2lb grayling in the same week!! River was low and consequently the fish were quite spooky so it was a case of catch a couple and rest the swim - my biggest 2 fish both came from swims that had already been fished 3 or 4 t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

3 October

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   0630 - 0930   Warm despite clear skies. 15º - 20ºC   1 Crucian, 2lb 15oz. 1 Carp 5lb 7oz, a rudd (small!)   Mini campaign to get an autumn crucian meets with success!! Though in fairness this morning felt more like high summer! Thought my chance had gone, as despite having the odd crucian rolling it wasn't until the sun just started to bathe the swim in full light at around 0900 that I had a bite from one (the carp trashing the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

28 September

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley Complex   1600 - 2330   Warm clear night - temps still 14ºC when I packed up.   1 Tench 3lb 3oz. A doz+ perch & 2 rudd.   This Indian Summer has persuaded me to have one last session here. The perch were really having the meat but switched off when it got dark. Tench on the stroke of 8 o'clock and 'bumped' another ½hr later - which proved to be the last bite of the session!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

26 September

River Kennet - Newbury   1830 - 2330   Warm, still evening - really surprised to see the thermometer in the car down to 11ºC when I left as it felt MUCH warmer under the trees - quilted shirt and coat both remained 'unworn' all evening. River LOW (now the norm for this time of year - alas ) and carrying quite a bit of colour.   4 Barbel; 6lb 15oz, 6lb 10oz, 5lb 2oz, 4lb 1oz.   Nice to get amongst some 'schooly' sized barbel! Got off to a cracking start wi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

22 September

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm Fishery - Nr Godalming   0700 - 1900   Bright but mainly overcast with some sunny intervals particularly around the middle of the day. Temps upto 17ºC. WT 16ºC. Quite breezy at first (isn't it always here!)   20 roach & rudd and 3 perch - and that er was it!!!   Bit of an epic fail!! Paul and I were after some late summer/early autumn crucians but we didn't have a sniff of one all day - despite a total of 48 rod hours and count
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

21 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0945 - 1315   Bright and sunny after a cloudy start - 16ºC. River low and quite coloured up!   6 Chub; 5lb 2oz, 3lb 7oz, 1¼lb & 3 chublets. 12+ dace, 3 brownies, 1 roach & a gudgeon.   Well as I had to go to the tackle shop to pick up some stuff for tomorrow - seemed a good excuse to have a few hours by the river exploring some new swims. Fished 4 swims in all - 2 of which I've never run a float through before - one of
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

15/16 September

River Kennet - Padworth   2015 - 0145   Cool & clear. AT down to 10ºC.   1 Barbel; 8lb 0oz*.   Out later than usual as I'd agreed to pick up one of my son's from a party at 'stupid o'clock' - any excuse to get out on the bank. Just as well, as I've I'd kept my usual hours I'd have been looking at a blank - only bite came on the stroke of 0100 when I'd have usually been tucked up in bed! No other excitements save for seeing a truely spectacular meteor - I half expected to see on the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

15 September

River Kennet - Thatcham   1000 - 1200   Warm and sunny - lovely early autumn morning. 17ºC but felt a whole lot warmer.... River very low 1 Barbel; 4lb 15oz. 1 Chub; 2lb 2oz. 2 dace, 2 brownies and a grayling.   Meant to be mowing the lawn today and as I type this while having some lunch I 'spose I better get out there. My excuse this morning was that it was too wet to cut (heavy dew last night) - so with a pint of maggots in the fridge, a trotting rod made up in the quiver I was on the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

0

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

0

7 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2300   Cool and very breezy. Continuous rain & drizzle from 2000. 12ºC. Autumn has arrived! And to think I even brought a pair of binoculars with me last night hoping to take a peak at the supernova in M101 - fat chance with 100% cloud cover.....   6 Chub; 2 'pounders' and 4 chublets. 3 Dace, 3 Roach (1 over ½lb), 3 gudgeon.   Similar session to last week - though a few hundred yards downstream. Paul had spotted a couple of nice looking swims which
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

2/3 September

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley Complex   1900 - 0200   Warm, muggy evening - despite clear skies - really lovely night to be out. Temps down to 13ºC when I left but felt MUCH warmer under the trees - this place has its own micro-climate it seems!   1 Bream; 8lb 4oz. 1 Tench; 3lb 0oz.   An evening which started optimistically as there was quite a bit of activity when I arrived - a few fish bubbling and topping and the fry were getting hammered by preds - mainly
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2315   Chilly evening under clearing skies. Temp plummeted after dark. Down to 10ºC - I felt warmer standing IN the river all evening that Paul who was on the bank!!!   19 Dace, 2 Grayling and 1 each of a chublet, roach, gudgeon and a brownie.   Trotted maggot until it was too dark to see the float - last ½ hour of daylight was bite a chuck - very good to see some 'silvers' in the river. Dace were quite small save for 2
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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