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Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

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8 March (parts 1, 2 and 3!) Free Fishing Friday!

River Itchen - Twyford Meads 0800 - 1100 Itchen Navigation - Winchester 1130 - 1430 River Lambourn - Shaw - 1530 - 1700   WET. Rain, continuous, unrelenting rain. Mild - 10ºC and no wind (so that's alright then).Did I mention the rain?   Twyford Meads - 9 Grayling, best 2; 1lb 5oz & 1lb 3oz the rest all small.16 Salmon Parr, 1 Brown Trout. Itchen Navigation - Blanked. Lambourn - 4 Grayling 1 small the other 3 12-14oz. 1 Brown Trout, 1¼lb   La
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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Coarse Fishing

8 March (Part 2)

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0915 - 1300 Bright and breezy with a raw Easterly. AT 5º-9º but felt a lot chillier in the wind! River in full flood, in the fields and over the footpaths - but very clear. 5 Chub: 3lb 4oz, 2lb 14oz, 2lb 9oz*, 2lb 4oz* and a chublet of around 8-10oz. 1 Brownie c 2½lb. Surprisingly productive morning given the sub-optimal conditions - all fish on trotted maggot from the one swim which I rested for over an hour and caught 2 more chub* when I returned
Coarse Fishing

8 March (Part 1)

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0700 - 0900 Cool and mainly cloudy with a raw easterly wind. AT 3º-5ºC - but felt sub-zero with the wind chill! 1 Pike: c2lb. 4 Perch all small. Not the most ideal of conditions for a dawn perching session and a bite off from a pike first cast didn't help either - nor did the duck gangbang that kept kicking off in my swim, 1 poor female mallard was being molested by 4 males at the same time! Bites at a premium when things did settle down and

8 March

River Kennet - Nr Newbury   0700 - 1800   Bright and breezy - with heavy afternoon showers - becoming really quite windy. Max AT 10ºC. River 'full' and carrying a bit of colour,   7 Chub - best 3; 6lb 6oz (new PB) , 4lb 5oz, 4lb 0oz) 70+ Roach and Dace in roughly equal nos. - all small save for one lovely roach of 1lb 1oz, ½doz Gudgeon, 1 skimmer Bream, 1 small Perch, 5 Brownies - biggest 4lb 4oz, 1 Rainbow 2½lb.   A day of the river with Paul. All fish o
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2
Coarse Fishing

8 March

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0815 - 1745 Cool, overcast with milky sunshine at times. AT 0º - 10ºC. river at normal winter levels - looked in great nick. 35 Chub - with nearly 2doz over 3lb(!) Had 11 over 4lb of which 5 were over 5lb (!). Best 5lb 9oz. 18 Dace some quite chunky ones but nothing particularly noteworthy. 8 Roach - all small apart from one 'netter'. 6 Brownies 2½ - 3½lb - with most at the upper end of that range! Wow! This has become my annual chub fest - I h
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

8 March

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0830 - 1800 Bright and sunny morning - clouding over after lunch (thankfully!). AT around 10ºC all day after a frosty start. River slightly on the low side. 22 Chub: Only 3 under 2lb and 8 over 4lb. Best 3 went 5lb 6oz, 5lb 2oz & 4lb 15oz. 7 Roach; 1lb 5oz, 12oz and 5 tiddlers. 7 Dace: 1lb 😀, 12 oz 2@ 10oz and the other 3 weren't much smaller! 1 doz+ Brownies 2½lb - 4lb. 2 Rainbows both around 2½lb. My now annual end of season 'chubfest', t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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8 June

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1830 - 2300 Coolish, overcast evening though temps didn't really drop when it got dark - 14ºC. 2 Carp; 8lb 5oz & 7lb 11oz Entertaining evening as both fish took an age to land on lightish tackle and float rod (I was after crucians as per usual!). Thankfully there are few snags and you can wear them out at distance with the only jeopardy being when you get them close in to net and they seem to realise there are tree roots available! Was hoping that
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 July

River Kennet - Padworth   1930 - 2330   Warm evening with a nice breeze to keep the mossies off. Still 16ºC when I packed up.   1 Barbel; 5lb 11oz   Unusually for me ledgered with two rods (and even more unsually left the trotting gear at home). One rod on boilie and one on halibut pellet. Pellet rod went off within ½ hour of arriving - a great start. Unfortunately it was then down to the crayfish to move in. Bait thieving activity died down for the last 45 mins - but it was false hope..
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 January

​K&A Canal Enborne   ​ 0800 - 1115   ​River Kennet - Thatcham   ​1200 - 1430   ​Murky, mild and drizzly.   ​Canal; 7 Perch to circa 1lb, 1 Pike 4lb 11oz. ​River: 1 Chub; 1½lb, 5 Grayling, 2 Dace, 2 Perch, 4 Brownies to 2lb+   ​Had planned to spend all morning hunting stripeys on the canal - but there was way too much boat (or rather canoe) activity for good sport. So switched to a couple of hours on the river - rather surprised to get so many grayling from here....
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

8 January

Kennet carrier - Marsh Benham 0915 - 1345 Cold, calm and cloudy. Temps hovering around 0ºC all day (-1º when I arrived, +1º when I packed up). River in fine winter condition - gin clear and at normal levels. 9 Chub; 6X2lb+ - best 3lb 3oz (first fish caught!). A doz Roach - all a 'nice' size but nothing to trouble the scales. 5 Dace; best a clonker of 13oz. Half a doz Brownies - most around the 2lb mark - with one nearly double that. Got a few days off either side of this comi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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8 February

River Lambourn - Shaw   1130 - 1430   Bright, sunny and cool - 4ºC. River 'full' and clear - travelled very light so no thermometer.   19 Grayling - 5 over 1lb, best 2 of 1lb 6oz each. 5 small Roach 3 Brown Trout (½ - ¾lb).   Pleasant afternoon in the snow - all fish on trotted red maggot.   Snow fish......    
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 February

River Frome - Wool   0800 - 1500   Bright and sunny after a frosty and misty start. River in great nick - clear with good pace - 0.94cm on the East Stoke river gauge.   10 Grayling; Half over a lb. Best 3; 2lb 3oz, 1lb 11oz, 1lb 9oz. 1 Sea Trout; c2lb.1 Salmon parr, 1 Trout parr.   A 'sparkly' day in Dorset which got off to a real flyer - with the biggest 3 grayling listed above all on the bank by 0830!. Once the sun was up for the day the fishing turned i
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 February

River Kennet & Carrier - Marsh Benham 0745 - 1200 Bright and mild. River down an inch or two on last visit (10 January)- and quite clear. 3 Chub; All 1¾ - 2½lb. 1½doz Roach - all a 'nice' size but nothing over 8oz. 8 Dace - most small with one chunky one of 8oz. 8 Brownies 1-2½lb & 3 Rainbow's to 4½lb Another morning failing not to catch trout! Fished all the usual chub banker swims - but they were mainly full of trout. The rainbows as ever gave a very chubby like fig
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0730 - 1030   Rain, continual unrelenting rain! 5ºC   5 Grayling (2 'pounders', best 1lb 7oz), 12 roach, 2 Brownies (biggest 1¾lb)   Rather hoped I'd sneak an hour of so of daylight before the rains came but the 1st drops started to fall on my 1st trot through. A couple of roach were ½ decent - around 8-10oz. All grayling a decent size (10oz+).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 December

River Kennet - nr Thatcham   0745 - 1015   Cool, overcast and breezy with some light drizzle. Travelling light so forgot thermometer (in other bag!). River low and looking rather threadbare.   2 Chub; 3lb 2oz, 2lb 15oz. 3 Grayling 10 - 12oz+. 1 Brownie c12oz   Every year I try and get a chub in every month of the season - so that's December ticked off! In truth I was hoping to make a re-acquaintance with the 5lb+ fish I caught from this swim back in the su
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 December

K&A Canal - Woolhampton 1330 - 1615 Bright & breezy - with one very lumpy shower. AT 10º ->6ºC 7 Perch; 5 over 1lb, best 3, 1lb 9oz, 1lb 11oz & 2lb 2oz. Similar conditions to Friday's session though slightly LESS windy. Fished a different swim and had all 3 bigger ones  in the last half an hour - getting progressively bigger.  All 3 had damaged flanks, seems they've all escaped the attentions of the local pike!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

8 December

River Kennet - Hambridge 0945 - 1415 Cool with a bright start - clouding over (thankfully). AT 4º-10ºC.  River VERY high - highest I've seen it this winter - yet with surprisingly little colour considering it rained most of yesterday! 2 Chub: 3lb 10oz, 3lb 3oz. 2 Perch: 3lb 0oz , 2lb 7oz. 1 Roach (small), 1 Grayling (ditto). 1 Brownie - c2lb. Started off in my downstream flood swim - as it is more shady and had both chub from it (plus the red-fin, lady and brownie). Moved ups
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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8 August (Part 2!)

River Kennet backstream, Padworth   1900 - 2330   Warm, yet clear evening. Lovely night to be out - got to see some early Perseids.   3 Barbel; 8lb 7oz, 5lb 3oz, 4lb 6oz.   Bit of an exploratory session - fished a couple of new swims - and got stung to blazes by the nettles - clearly 2 spots that have not seen an angler this season!! Fished in rotation - plan was to give each spot an hour or until I caught - whichever was soonest then switch. As it happene
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 August

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham   0530 - 0830   Bright and sunny - 12-15ºC   2 Carp: 3 & 4¼lb. 1 skimmmer, ½doz perch & roach.   Float fishing - aledgedly for crucians! Lake very quiet.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham.   0630 - 0930   Overcast and muggy with a little drizzle at times. River down a few inches on a month ago but still in fine nick with little colour.   2 Chub; 2lb 2oz, & 1¼lb, 6 Dace - all really chunky specimens, 2 Gudgeon & 4 brownies biggest 1¾lb.   Pleasant early trotting session - spent a fascinating 10 minutes watching a barbel feeding no more than 3 feet from my waders - obviously taking grubs and whatever I was disturbing with my feet - tried t
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 August

River Kennet - Colthrop   1000 - 1100   Warm and muggy.   6 Dace, 4 Roach & 3 brownies - biggest around 1¼lb.   Quick trotting session while Jaq picked blackberries. (Blackberry crop not a patch on last year!)A couple of the dace and one of the roach needed the net.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

8 August

​River Kennet, Newbury.   1800 - 2315   ​Cool, overcast evening. River down to usual summer levels.   ​1 Barbel; 6lb 2oz. 1 Chub 1½lb. 30+ Dace. 1 Roach.   Hurray, a barbel at last! Started off with the trotting rod as per usual - and again found a bit of river with stacks of silver fish. Then expected to spend a few hours looking at near static quiver tips (apart from the odd bat crashing into the line). However, just as it got properly dark the pellet rod (fishing a boilie on the other
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

8 August

Middle Kennet Weirpool - Marsh Benham 0600 - 1200 Hot and sultry - 19º -> 27ºC. River a little on the low side but not as bad as it can be in August! 12 Chub: 6 over lb, best 2 both went 4lb 3oz (different fish) - nice to see some small ones. 3 Bream; 2¾ to just under 4lb. 30 Dace. 20+ Roach. 4 Bleak. 1 Brown Trout - 6lb 1oz (!!) & 2 Rainbows of 2½ & 3½lbs. Cracking morning's trotting - though the big brownie was on ledgered meat and had me convinced I was into a b
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

6
Coarse Fishing

8 August

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0630 - 1230 Torrential rain for first 90 mins or so followed by showers (some quite lumpy!). Cool for August (13ºC) and quite breezy - sun eventually appeared for the last hour or so. 2 Chub: 3lb 13oz & a smallun. 1 Bream; 3lb 14oz. 4 Doz Roach & Dace (mainly roach - nothing of any size). 3 Bleak. 1 Rainbow Trout - 3½lb. I read 3 weather forecasts on Friday evening and whilst all predicted a showery weekend they all also said that Sunday wo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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7/8 September

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.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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