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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

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Entries in this blog

5 January

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne   0745 - 1400 (With 1½hrs out to wander round Speen Moors looking at the floods before returning for the final 45 mins)   Dull, mild and overcast 9-10ºC. A lovely, benign winter's day - perfect perching weather. WT 47ºF   13 Perch. 12 over 1lb with 4 X2lbers - biggest 2lb 7oz   Every May Paul and I have what we call - "A Wander". We take a day out to look at a few venues and plan our campaign for the opening week - just an
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

9

1 January 2013

River Lambourn - Shaw   1030 - 1330   Bright and Sunny. 6ºC. River just about as high as I can remember seeing it (40cm on the EA Shaw River Gauge - last winter it was 16-18cm). Gauge weir was a mere riffle and footpath under the bypass only navigable with wellies. Despite the depth, river had very little colour.   21 Grayling - nothing over 1lb though quite a few in the 10-14oz bracket. 3 Brownies - 2 over 1lb, best 1¾lb.   A trip that was postponed from yesterday when I had intended to
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

28 December

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   1245 - 1600   Mild (very - 11ºC), overcast, slight drizzle at times and quite breezy (though we found a sheltered spot). WT 46º   1 roach, 1 dace and err 10 bleak!   Paul and I had penciled in this date a while back for a Christmas trip and permissions had been granted to fish an estate water on the middle Kennet. Unfortunately the heavy rains over the past 10 days have put paid to that - a real shame as conditions othe
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

24 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0945 - 1145   Overcast, mild and very breezy - with more sodding rain - becoming really quite heavy by the end. Would have fished longer but reached that "I'll be glad when I'm fed up with this moment" earlier than anticipated. River very, very full and carrying a little colour.   13 Grayling - 2 pounders (best 1.05) and a couple more just shy. 3 Brownies - 2 parrs and a 1¼lb fish.   Maggots have their annual eviction as my bait fridge gets its once yearly cle
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

21 December

K&A Canal Thatcham   1300 - 1600   Bright and breezy. 9ºC. WT 47ºF Canal very high, over the banks in several places when I arrived - but dropped over a foot during the afternoon.   4 Perch; 2lb 12oz, 2lb 3oz, 1lb 14oz and 1 sub pounder (but not by much). 2 Chub (lets), 15 Roach, 1 dace and a bleak (1st of the season!)   Plan was if I can't find the perch - maybe they can find me! Plonked my self in one spot and sparingly fed maggot all afternoon - wit
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

15 December

River Kennet - Newbury.   0800 - 1200   Bright and mild. River high and carrying a little colour, too high even for chesties in my fav swim.... 2 Doz Dace - a few quite chunky ones but nothing as impressive as last weekend. 4 Grayling, 2 Chublets & 2 Roach.   Bit of a shall we shan't we session - knowing that the river would be well up and far from ideal for good sport. Having the Lambourn round the corner as back up should it be hopeless helped the decisio
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

3

9 December

Middle Kennet Estate(s) Newbury (am), Kintbury (pm)   0745 - 1615   Breezy with sunny spells. 7º->9º->7ºC. River 'full' and clear - though within its banks after recent (and very evident) flooding.   5 Chub; 4 over 2¼lb - best 2, 4lb & 3lb 10oz. 3 Grayling - 1lb 13oz, 1lb 2oz & 14oz. 5 Dace, 3 over 8oz - biggest 13oz. 2 roach, a gudgeon and 2 Brownies both circa 1½lb plus a 4lb bream which doesn't count as it was hooked in the dorsal - giving the most
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

1 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   1100 - 1400   Cold with sunny spells. 5ºC. River very full and gin clear looked in cracking nick!   17 Grayling; 2 'pounders' biggest 1lb 7oz   Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - venue was rather busy and bumped into that reprobate Rusty who was worming for roach! Had rather hoped to be fishing the Frome this weekend - alas it still has a flood warning out for the river - and here's why - somewhere just behind the tree Ru
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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16 November

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0700 - 1630   Misty and murky all day, heavy showers for last 2 hours - 7-9ºC.   7 Chub; 5 over 2lbs biggest 3lb6oz. 7 Grayling (!) 4 over1lb (&3 over 1½), biggest 1lb 11oz. 9 Dace; 3 of which were 6oz+. 1 Roach. 7 Brownies to 3lb.   Eagerly anticipated trip - nice to see the river full after 4+ years of low water. Of course it meant having to almost completely re-learn the venue! We half expected the fish holding area
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5

10 November

River Lambourn - Shaw   0900 - 1145   Benign & dull, with a few spots of rain. 9ºC. River fullest I've seen it at this time of year for quite a while!   12 Grayling.   Had planned to go perching - but feeling a bit ropey at the moment and although I did get up for a dawn raid on the canal I decided I needed an extra 2 hours kip more than I needed a 3lb perch! (Yes I must be ill!) I still had to go out to get some bait in preparation for another raid on the Middle Kennet later in the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

3 November

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Newbury.   0700 - 1700   Bright and breezy morning after a frosty start. Clouded over mid afternoon and the wind dropped. (Glad we're not going today in all this rain!). River up on this time last year with good flow - still not as high as I thought it would be....   9 Chub; All bar 1 over 2½lbs, best 2, 4lb 5oz & 3lb 14oz. 9 Perch; 2lb 3oz & 1lb 10oz the rest all small. 20 dace and a doz+roach (all small though a few of the dace we
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

27 October

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1100   Cool, bright and breezy. 2º->6ºC   16 Grayling - biggest 1lb 2oz, 1 dace, 3 trout parr.   A morning spent leap frogging swims with Paul - who had a near identical catch return (19 ladies and 1 dace). However where as Paul was "catch a couple and move on", 10 of my grayling were from one swim - should've been 11 as I lost a quite substantial grayling to a hook pull - the perils of using a size 18. 1st ever dace either Paul or I have ever caugh
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

20 October

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1100   Cool, calm and murky/foggy - very autumnal!. 5->10ºC   3 Perch; 2lb 1oz and a couple of tiddlers, 1 chublet and 6 roach.   Better conditions for prospecting for perch - though 2 hours with lobs produced a couple of missed bites and 2 small perch who weren't much bigger than the lobs used to catch them! Switched to maggot as I could see silvers snaffling my freebies just under the surface - so of course
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 October

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0700 - 1130   Sunny spells. 3->10ºC. River up a touch with a little colour after this week's rain - looks in really good nick.   3 Perch; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 11oz and sub pounder, 5 Chub all between ½-1lb - good to see!, a doz dace, roach & gudgeon all small!   Successful dawn perching session - both caught from a new swim - or at least a swim that hasn't produced big stripeys in ages, followed by an hour's trotting maggot. Ni
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

5 October

Somewhere in Hampshire (guess the river!)   0815 - 1815   Bright and sunny morning after overnight rain. Clouding over after lunch with more (quite heavy at times) rain after 1530. Temps. 11º-14º-11ºC.   26 Grayling; 12 over1lb, best 3, 2lb, 1lb 14oz, 1lb 13oz. 7 Chub between 2¾lb to 4lb 5oz (2,4lbers). 13 Brownies to 3½lb.   Enjoyable (despite the late rain) session where persistence was rewarded. Paul and I only found one prolific swim (and that was ma
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

29 September Part 2

River Kennet - Thatcham   0945 - 1130   Still bright and sunny!   1 Chub (circa 1lb). 3 Nuisance brownies, 2 well over a lb and a tiddler.   As I was in the area and had some maggot left I thought I'd trot a few swims to see what would turn up - and the answer was mainly trout!!! Each of the spotties were from 3 different swims and caught pretty much 1st or 2nd cast - and each chose to take to the air - wrecking said swim - ho hum!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

29 September Part 1

K&A Canal - Thatcham   0630 - 0800   Clear and bright (too bright by far!)   2 Perch: 1¼lb and ¾lb.   Umm tracking down my autumn perch is going to be a lot harder this year. BWB chose to emasculate this part of the canal last winter - removing bushes and trees that had overhung the water for years/decades - and hence removed the obvious holding areas. Hazard to boats - my arse!   Still there's a glimmer of hope - I caught perch 1st cast in the first 2 swims I tried - but alas had
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

22 September

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0630 - 1100   Bright and sunny after a cool start - not quite a frost but down to 3ºC. River running low and clear.   7 Perch; 3 over 1lb (though 2 by not much) best 2lb 2oz. 2 Chublets, 1½doz roach - including some 'gooduns' 3 in the 8-10oz bracket and a 12oz fish, 5 dace, a doz gudgeon.   A pleasant mornings trotting and exploring familiar haunts. First hour or so on lobs switching to maggot once the sun was up. Fished 10 swi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

17 September

River Kennet - Newbury   1945 - 2320   Mild, breezy and overcast. 14ºC. River at normal summer levels.   1 Barbel; 4lb 4oz and a chublet.   Umm - bit of a pattern developing here - yet again a fish first cast with little action following. At least there was no crayfish - just the occasional rattle and pull - which eventually resulted in a small chub. Fished a swim I've never ledgered before....
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

10 September

River Kennet backstream Padworth   2000 - 2300   Overcast, breezy with showery rain at times. 16ºC River down a touch on when I last fished here in August (see 8th August entry)   1 barbel 4lb 11oz   Yet again a fish first cast, followed by not a lot. Well nothing with fins - the signals were insatiable. Probably should have fished a couple of swims in rotation like last time, though I rather suffered from 'swim inertia' being tucked snug under my brolly on a rainy evening...
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

7/8 September

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   1930 - 0730   Clear, still night, quite chilly (5.5ºC) by dawn.   5 Carp; 12lb 10oz, 11lb 15oz, 11lb 6oz, 11lb 3oz, 10lb 10oz.   A repeat of last weekend for Paul and myself - hoping for a repeat performance on the crucian front. Alas, they were conspicuous by their absence with little evidence of fish rolling. Paul and I did both suffer some curious bites on the float which neither of us could connect with - and for me a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

3 September

River Kennet - Padworth   1945 - 2345   Clear and misty evening, with a near full moon - very ethereal! River at normal summer levels (ie higher than last year!)   2 Barbel: 6lb 3oz & 6lb 0oz   Quite a few bumps and rattles - but didn't get a proper bite until around 2230 - with the second fish arriving on the scene ½hr or so later - would have thought it was the same one if I hadn't weighed them!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 August/1 September

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   2000 - 0700   Warm and overcast night, didn't get below 14ºC. Drizzle until midnight but by dawn our brollies/shelters were dry. Lovely night to be out.   2 Crucians; 3lb 7oz & 2lb 3oz. 1 Carp 10lb 5oz.   Not quite mission accomplished first cast - but certainly 1st bite!! Biggest crucian of the season, my 3rd biggest ever and the first 3lber I've ever had from this water. Plan was to try and avoid attracting the car
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

6

27 August

River Kennet - Newbury   0930 - 1230   Showery, 17ºC. River down to 'normal' summer levels - still several inches higher than this time last year!   30+Dace, around a dozen Roach, some gudgeon and chublet and a brownie.   Pleasant morning's trotting - though I rather hoped I'd connect with something that needed the net (though a couple of the dace and the brownie fell into that category - some of the dace were very chunky...)
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

25 August

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   0600 - 1000   Mainly overcast with some sun breaking through and the odd bit of light drizzle. 15/16ºC   2 Carp; 9lb 2oz, 6lb 6oz, 1 rudd, 2 perch.   Another blank for my target species (crucians and or tench). Smaller carp on crucian tackle - so took an age to land. Bigger one off the top on bread.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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