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
River Kennet - Newbury
1900 - 2330
Cool and breezy - clear then high cloud and bright moon. 15ºC --->11ºC (but felt cooler!)
1 barbel 5lb 15oz
Mission accomplished! This session was about getting my mate Simon his first ever barbel - a feat he achieved impressively with an 8lb 10oz fish - my 'banker swim' came up trumps again! Simon also had a small >2lb chub, whilst I just about saved my blank though I had loads of sharp taps and knocks all
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
River Kennet, Woolhampton
1815 - 2315
Cool and clear at first - then clouding over.
1 barbel 9lb 5oz, 2 chub (2lb, <1lb), 1 roach, 1 doz bleak,
Started with float fished maggot - in order to get my bleak point for the species race. Roach (quite a decent size) on maggot too. Then ledgered with two rods for a change - pellet on one, boilie on the other. A chub to each bait followed rather appropriately at 9.15pm by the barbel - my 1st from this ve
River Kennet - Newbury
0630 - 1230
Bright and sunny 7.5ºC -> 19ºC
3 Chub (4lb 2oz, 3lb 10oz, 2lb 13oz) 2 Perch (2lb 2oz, >1lb) 1 Barbel (2lb), 2 Trout (both 1lb+ - probably same fish!) 60+ Dace, Roach & Gudgeon (mainly dace).
A morning trotting red maggot for a nice mixed bag. Big perch 1st cast and all the chub came in the 1st 1½hrs otherwise caught steadily throughout the morning despite the bright conditions. River still 'full' though
River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
1845 - 2315
Clear and breezey. 18ºC----->9ºC. No moon - really dark night!
3 Barbel; 5lb 0oz, 2 sub 4lbers.
River down 3 inches on last visit, still carrying some debris - mainly ranunculus - which frustratingly kept catching the line. 2 smaller fish around 2100, 5lber last cast.
Horseshoe Lake, Yateley
1930 - 0630
Clear night - misty morning, Temp 22ºC ar dusk---->12ºC at Dawn
1 bream 4¼lb
Well that was a good nights sleep!!! Had only bite (and fish) within 1½hrs of arriving (on ledgered pellet) and hardly another touch all night. No further bites on pellet. Float fished meat, black pudding, broken up Meteor boilies in the margins. A few half-hearted bites on BP and the boilies but nothing hittable.
Summer Pit , Yateley
1900 - 0000
Cool, clear and still. Temp dropped from 18ºC - 8ºC
3 Tench - (6lb 11oz, 4lb 14oz, 3lb 3oz) 4 Crucians (2lb 10oz, 2lb 4oz, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 14oz)
All fish caught after dark - 1st bite around 2045. Unusually, most fish to float fished meat (lift method as per usual!). 4.14 Tench and the 2.10 Crucian falling to bread. Biggest tench of the season and my biggest ever from this venue - had gorgeous, almost vermilion, colour
Knotts Lake
1900 - 0800
Warm and overcast - some breeze - no dew.
2 Tench (6lb 4oz, 5lb 7oz), 9 rudd, 2 doz perch - biggest 1½lb
A VERY quiet night rescued by two nice tench either side of midnight. Biggest on pellet out by the island, 5lber on float fished meat in the near margins. Rudd and perch on maggot - some quite nice sized ones too. Lost a substantial perch (+2lber) at the net when the hook pulled - it lay motionless on the surface for second - just out of net range - bug
Summer Pit
1930 - 0000
Overcast and calm17ºC>13ºC
3 Tench ( 5lb 9oz, 4lb 3oz X 2 (same fish???)), 2 Crucians (2lb 2oz, 1lb 13oz) 1 Rudd.
Lake looked lifeless - no bubbles or rolling fish - can't judge a book by it's cover! Biggest tench first cast on meat - one other tench on meat. Other tench plus the 2 crucians on bread. Also fished 4mm pellet for a short while - though this was just an invitation to catch the tiny rudd! All fish caught with the Lift Method.
Warwicks Water
0600 - 1200
Warm and sunny (at last)
15 Crucians (all between 1¼ - 1¾lb), 7 Carp (2¾ - 6lb), a dozen roach/rudd.
Fished meat, 4mm pellet and bread - all crucians on meat. Lift method - a couple of the carp on freelined bread.No bites for the first hour then the swim was really fizzing. Most fish caught before 1030 - final hour and a half switched to floating crust for the carp.
River Kennet - Thatcham
1930-2330
Clearing skies - cooler 12ºC.
2 Barbel (4¼lb, 6lb 13oz)
Both fish caught either side of 2100. Levels same as 7 days ago - however an annoying amount of debris - ranunculus and water cress coming down made fishing difficult at times - maybe some weed cutting's been going on upstream? Much less activity than last week - no other bites/knocks/rattles etc other than the 2 which resulted in fish. Chilly in a NE breeze too!
Pumphouse Lake (Yateley)
1930-0000
Warm (17ºC) and overcast - started raining as I packed up...
3 Bream (6lb 2oz, 5lb 9oz, 4lb 13oz)
Fished 2 rods - pellet on the lead produced not a touch. Started float fishing maggots in the margins - and had no bites for the 1st hour or so - sense of deja vu! Switched to float fished meat - and all the fish fell to this - though rather wished they were tench! Final fish was right on the stroke of midnight when I'd packed most of the gear away
River Kennet (Nr Thatcham)
1915 - 2315
Scattered cloud, 18ºC, one light shower.
4 Barbel (9lb10z, 6lb 5oz, 5lb 6oz, 4lb). 1 Chub (2lb)
First trip since holidaying in Scotland (Caught a few Pollack spinning from the rocks nr Oban). 3 fish (Chub, 6 & 4lber) in the first ½hour then lots of knocks/rattles which didn't develop (not crayfish) - presumably small chub/dace/gudgeon??? Final two fish at 2215 and 2250 - saved the biggest for last. 9lber had a large (size of 10p) wart on he
Summer Pit (Yateley)
2000 - 0000
Clear and breezy after heavy afternoon rain.
5 Tench (3½ - 4¾lb), 1 Bream 4lb 10oz, 1 rudd
That's better - nearly didn't go as I want to be there early but was held up getting home. And I forgot to take any bread. All fish on float fished meat - lift method. Lake is around 18 inches deeper than last year. No sign of any crucians. Lovely evening - had the place to myself.
River Kennet (nr Newbury)
1900 - 2300
Sunny and breezy
2 Barbel (7lb 15oz, 4½lb), 1 chub (3lb), 1 dace (!)
River up (as you'd expect - but dropping) Quite coloured but no small debris (just the odd small tree!!!). Larger barbel 1st cast. Loads of small rustles and knocks which weren't crayfish (no marks on the pellet) - but which I'm pretty sure were dace - as I managed to catch one on 14mm pellet for the 2nd trip running - this one was much smaller too!
Pumphouse Lake, Yateley
1800 - 2300
Cloudy then rain.
Blanked!
Friday the 13th - pah! 10 rod hours without a touch. Pellet on the lead on 1 rod, float fishing the margins with a variety of baits on the other - couldn't even buy a bite with maggot or worm. Packed up early when the wind picked up and it started to rain - heavily! - I hadn't brought my shelter - the weather forecast having predicted a dry warm night! Glad the rain made my mind up for me - Paul fished on 'til 1st lig
River Kennet (nr Newbury)
2000 - 2300
Clear.
2 Barbel (6lb 4oz & 5lb 14oz), 1 Bream (3¾lb) 1 dace (9oz)
New swim - all fish to 14mm pellet - including the rather overambitious dace. Barbel between 22-2300 - as per usual!
River at normal levels - down about 3-4 inches on 10 days ago - carrying its usual summer colour (boat traffic has a lot to answer for) - and some - just enough to be annoying - debris.
River Kennet (nr Thatcham)
2000 - 0000
Clear with a stiff breeze.
4 Barbel (9lb 7oz, 8lb 15oz, 6lb 2oz, 3½lb) 1 Chub 3lb 3oz
All on pellet (of course!) Chub caught in the 1st 20 mins of arriving - all the barbel caught in 1 manic hour between 10-11.00pm.
River down 2-3inches on last week.
River Kennet (Newbury)
1900 - 2300
Dry, windy and overcast.
2 Barbel (8lb6oz,<4lb) 2 chub (both <3lb)
River up, some colour and quite a bit of debris (mainly weed) coming down. 1 chub 1st cast then 3 fish in the last ½hour. All fish on 14mm Halibuts.
Warwicks Water
0730 - 1030
Dry and overcast
7 Crucians (all over 1lb - best 1lb 10oz), 3 carp (best 3½lb) 1½doz roach and a few perch.
Fished meat or 4mm pellet on the lift method - most fish to meat.
Knotts Lake
1730 - 0600
Very heavy showers - then dry.
9 Tench (best two 5lb & 4lb 14oz - all the others 3lb+ fish)
Most fish on Halibut pellet out by the island - couple of fish on float fished meat in the margins - also lost a couple of carp on float tackle.
Paul managed 5 tench - best a fish of 5lb 10oz and had around a dozen carp between 7-11lb all on pellet - couldn't get past them to the tench!
River Kennet (Nr Thatcham)
1800 - 2330
Light Showers
4 Barbel (10lb 11oz, 5lb 15oz, 5lb 10oz, 4lb 6oz)
Fished 14mm halibut pellet and Meteor boilies - (Had one hour pellet, one hour boilie...). Double on boilie - other 3 on pellet.
Paul also caught 4 - all in 3-4lb bracket
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