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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

19 July

River Kennet - Newbury   1800 - 2330   Warm. muggy and overcast, 1 heavy-ish shower. 17ºC when I packed up.   2 Barbel; 6lb 10oz, 3lb 14oz.   Very pleasant evening by the river - though not a lot of bites or activity. Some crayfish activity for first hour or so which then stopped - usually a good sign! 6lber at around 2100 and the smaller fish quite literally at the end - was leaning forward to grab the rod to wind in to end the session when it was wrenched from my hands! Both fish on le
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

16/17 July

NAA Stillwater, Widmead   1830 - 0800   Heavy evening showers giving way to clearing skies - feeling quite cool by dawn (12ºC)   3 Tench; 6lb 14oz, 3lb 6oz, 2lb. 3 Bream; 5lb 3oz, 4lb 5oz, 4lb 1oz. 4 Carp biggest 5lb 14oz. 4 roach & 4 perch.   Slow but steady night - quite a lot of activity which didn't translate to bites! Paul had a much quieter session ( he did sleep through most of it!) with just a blank saving bream to show before he packed up at first light! * All carp (and bigg
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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12 July

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley   1800 - 2330   Warm and overcast. Temp 'down' to 18ºC when I left.   4 Tench: 6lb 1oz, 4lb 10oz, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 3oz. 1 Crucian 2lb 11oz. 1 rudd   Can't have too much of a good thing when it comes to catching big crucians! (or tench for that matter!). 3 Tench on 6mm s-pellet in the margins, 1 tench and the crucian on meat about 1½ rod lengths out. Both caught in consecutive casts just as it got properly dark.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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5 July

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley   1800 - 2330   Clearing skies - cooler than of late - down to 14ºC.   2 Tench; 7lb 0oz, 3lb 2oz. 1 Crucian 2lb 13oz. 1 Bream 2½lb.   Well, I'm certainly on a roll at the moment! My biggest ever Tinca from this venue and my 2nd best ever Crucian from here. After a really barren few seasons on the Crucian front this is now my 3rd, 2½lb+ fish from 3rd different venue! Lots of bubbling and activity - but nothing but line bites until
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

3 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   0415 - 1015   High cloud - warm. 15º -> 20ºC   4 Carp; 10lb 1oz, 9lb 6oz, 9lb 0oz, 7lb 11oz. 1 Crucian; 3lb 2oz. 2 roach, 1 rudd (all 3 of which needed the net to land.)   Despite the splendid crucian and the hard fighting commons - a quiet morning bite-wise. Crucian on float fished meat - in the margins - pretty much only bite of the morning - apart from the roach and rudd - wasn't even 'carped' as is the norm. Biggest common
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

5

29 June

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley   1800 - 2330   Warm and overcast evening - still 18ºC when I packed up. Lovely shirtsleeves evening - though the mossies were a pain!   5 Tench; 4lb 11oz, 4lb 6oz, 3lb 13oz, 3lb 12oz, 3lb 3oz. 1 Crucian 1lb 15oz (and a bit!)   Very pleasant evening's float fishing. Quite a bit of activity and loads of bubbling. 3 Tench and the Crucian caught tight (ie less than 1 metre) to the margins. All fish on meat over pellet. 1st Crucian from here for a couple of years!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

24/25 June

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   1300 - 0930   Hot and sultry (again!). Max 25ºC, Min 12ºC.   4 Carp (but see below!) ; 14lb2oz, 9lb 7oz, 5¾ & 4¾lbs. 3 Crucians; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 9oz. 4 roach & 2 rudd.   A very quiet night - saved, for me at least - by a very productive last 2½hrs when I had the 14 (on floating crust from right under my feet) and all 3 crucians on float fished meat - hooray! Paul and I had set ourselves a target for the session of
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

23 June (Part2)

River Kennet - Padworth   1815 - 2330   Warm and clear, lovely evening to be by the river!   1 Chub 6lb 5oz (!!) (1oz short of my PB!)   First trip to this new stretch of Kennet back-water - which is mainly quite shallow and with low flow - due to the sluices being up - suspect it will be a great flood venue. Was here ostensibly for a barbel or two but if the chub are that calibre I'm not complaining! Would love to meet him again in the winter - should thi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

23 June (Part1)

River Kennet - Thatcham   0745 - 1145   Warm & sultry, 22ºC. River at normal summer levels - carrying a tinge of colour.   4 barbel, 5lb 12oz, 4lb 3oz, 3lb 13oz, 1lb 14oz. 3 Chub, 4lb 4oz, 2lb 10oz, 1¼lb, 3 Brownies all small(ish).   Pleasant morning's trotting. All fish from fast shallow water.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

21/22 June

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   1200 - 0800   Warm day (25ºC), balmy night with light southerly breeze keeping the dew off - lovely night to be out.   11 Carp - all commons, best 9lb 3oz most circa 5lb, 7 Bream - best 4lb 14oz, most circa 4lb, 3 Tench - 6lb 9oz and a couple of 2lbers, 4 roach (one of 13oz) and 3 rudd.   A productive session fishing with Paul - who had avery similar return after a slow start. Most carp and all the bream & tench caught float
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

19 June

River Kennet - Newbury   0415 - 0800   Clear and cool - only 7ºC when I arrived.   3 Chub - 2lb9oz, 2lb3oz ,1½lb. 1 Barbel, 3lb 2oz. 4 Perch (1 'pounder' of 1lb 6oz), 16 Dace, 14 Roach, 4 Gudgeon, 2 Brownies & 1 Grayling.   After the frustrations of the opening day, a pre-breakfast visit to an old friend. A nice mixed bag all on trotted maggot - was hoping for some bigger chub but nice to see some 'silvers' showing. Barbel caught on the very last cast of the morning!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

16 June 2010

Marsh Farm   0730 - 1800   Bright and sunny with a stiff NE breeze - one day I'll get to fish this place when it isn't blowing a hooley!!! Was nice sat out in the sun - though really quite chilly when I moved to a swim in the shade!   2 Crucians - both circa 1lb, 8 rudd, 1 roach, perch & gudgeon.   A nice social start to the season in the company of Paul & Alan. I would like to blame my lack of fish on the conditions - though that doesn't cut any i
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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Out of the Blue/On Fishing at Sea

Another book review...   Out of the Blue/On Fishing at Sea - Chris Yates   When the Out of the Blue first came out in hardback in 2008 I didn’t rush out to buy it as I might have for any other new work from Chris Yates. In truth, I had been a little under-whelmed by his offering 2 years earlier - How to Fish. Not that this is a bad book, in fact by any other yardstick of modern angling writing it IS an excellent read. It was just that I didn’t consider it to be Yates at his b
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

The River Prince

Close season is the time for me to catch up on my other angling passion - books. Reading them and looking out for a bargain or two on ebay - oh, and banging out the odd review for Elton. This is a book I''ve wanted to read for some time so was pleased when Medlar re-issued it last October....     The River Prince - ed. by Chris Yates   Any readers of my previous book reviews on Anglersnet will know that it is now a well established fact that I like my angling anthologies
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

Season's Bests 09-10

Well that's it until the 16th June - a 3 month break for me - and after my personal 'Vomit Fest' last spring, I can't see meself making the annual trip to the South Coast for the IAC Black Bream trip.   A very slow summer was more than compensated by a fine autumn's perch fishing. 2 PB's and 4 fish over my old PB of 3lb 9oz. That 4lber will have to wait another year though. No other PB's though it was nice to get another 6lb chub - especially as it was caught trotting. The coldest wint
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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14 March

Middle Kennet   0700 - 1630   Bright and sunny - too bright for good sport but a fine spring day so not complaining. AT upto 12.5ºC - warmest day of the year!   3 Chub - 3lb 6oz, 3lb 2oz, 2lb 9oz. 11 Perch - 3 over 1lb, best 1lb 11oz. 28 Dace - only 1 really good-un of 10oz. 1 Roach. 4 Rainbows to 4lb 6oz. 1 Salmon Parr.   Another lovely day spent roaming around. Fish were quite spooky and we never got the chub feeding with abandon. Fished hard in a swim known to contain a HUGE chub - b
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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12 March

Middle Kennet Estate   0730 - 1815   Cool overcast and showery. 5-9ºC. River clear and at normal levels.   6 Chub; Smallest 2lb 0oz, Biggest 4lb 5oz. 7 Grayling; biggest 2lb 2oz, the rest all between 12-20oz. 1 Bream; 5lb 6oz. 12 Dace; biggest 11oz. 1 Perch; circa ¾lb. 8 Brownies to 3lb.   A great mixed bag from a very pleasant days roving in the company of Paul, Merv & Dave. Spent most of the day to 3.00pm trotting corn which resulted in the chub AND
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

10 March

River Lambourn - Newbury   0615 - 0900   Cold and overcast 2ºC. River clear as ever!   11 Grayling, 7 between 1lb 6oz - 1lb 12oz (most over 1½lb)   Day off work to take Matt to a University open day - so an excuse to sneak a couple of hours on the river. Real catch a couple and move on tactics and really good average size of fish.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

7 March

River Kennet - Newbury   0630 - 0900   COLD, and clear. AT was 22ºF when I arrived WT a whole 20ºF warmer at 42ºF. River clear and quite 'full'.   13 (!) Chub: In order of capture; 3lb 1oz, 6lb 0oz, 2lb 14oz, 5lb 2oz, 3lb 10oz, 4lb 13oz, 4lb 3oz, 4lb 10oz, 3lb 7oz, 4lb 15oz, 1lb 11oz, 2lb 2oz, 3lb 6oz. 1 Barbel 3lb 4oz. 1 Dace.   Simply an awesome session!! All fish on trotted double red maggot (to a size 14). I seriously questioned the wisdom of this trip
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

4

28 February

Middle Kennet Estate.   0845 - 1745   Heavy drizzle all morning, dry afternoon, temps around 4/5ºC all day. River carrying some colour - more than is usual for here.   3 Chub; 3lb 14oz, 3lb 12oz, 1½lb, 2 Perch; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 10oz. 1 Roach 1lb 2oz. 3 Grayling; biggest 14oz. 21 Dace - best 2 - 13oz & 12oz. 4 Brown Trout - biggest just on 4lb (caught twice!!)   A day on the river with Paul (& Rusty ) nearly didn't go - thankfully the predicted monsoo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

27 February

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0645 - 0915   4 seasons in 2½hrs! Heavy rain stopped just as I arrived - followed by and hour of calm overcast conditions, then an hour of bright sunshine, with heavy rain/hail to finish off. AT dropped from 7ºC to 4.5ºC. WT 46ºF Water 'up' and carrying some colour.   6 Perch - in order of capture: 2lb 13oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 10oz, 3lb 11oz, 3lb 4oz, 3lb 1oz. 6 fish for 16½lbs!   The plan for this morning was meant to be - a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

19 February

Lower Itchen Fishery   0830 - 1730   Bright and cool with sunny intervals. River high and carrying quite a bit of colour (alas).   8 Grayling - 3 over 1lb - 2lb 4oz, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 12oz, 2 Chub 4lb 1oz, 2lb 13oz, 1 Rainbow trout 1½lb, 1 Brownie, 1 Parr (Salmon or trout - hopefully the former as it will mean another point for the species race - pic to be submitted for adjudication!!!)   IAC day on the Itchen - and a bit of a grueller with bites at a premium
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

12 February

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Hungerford   0730 - 1730   Cool and overcast with afternoon showery rain. AT 1º -> 5ºC. WT 44ºF river carrying a slight tinge of colour.   33 Grayling; 13 over 1lb (7 over 1½lb) - best 1lb 14oz, 2 Dace (small), 5 Rainbows to 2¾lb, 3 Brownies to 1¾lb     A fruitless search for those elusive big Kennet dace. Fished with Paul who had a very similar return (36 ladies and 3 small dace). Thankfully the grayling are showing well
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

6 February

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 0930   Cool, calm and overcast - with 'milky' sunshine breaking through for last hour. 4ºC. WT a more promising 46ºF, little colour and quite a bit of flow.   2 Perch; 2lb 5oz & a tiddler.   A struggle for bites in seemingly perfect conditions for stripeys - though in retrospect a dusk session may have been better. Both fish fell after 0830 when it was brighter with sun on the water.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 January

River Lambourn - Newbury   0830 - 1130   Cold, bright & sunny. -2.0º -> 2.0ºC   13 Grayling; 8 over 1lb (!) best 3, 1lb 12oz, 1lb 11oz, 1lb 8oz.   Cracking little session after a slow start. Had planned to go perching on the canal but bottled it when I saw how 'sub-optimal' conditions were. Blanked in first 3 swims I fished - and didn't get more than 2 from any swim. Works look nearly finished - looking good! Biggest grayling from the Lambourn this season.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
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