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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

20 July

Marsh Farm Fishery, Nr Goldalming (Harris Lake)   0730 - 1900   Cool, calm and overcast with light rain all afternoon from 1300. Max 16ºC   14 Tench; Biggest 3 - 6lb 2oz, 5lb 9oz & 4lb 9oz with the vast majority being around the 3¼lb mark (only 1 under 3lb). 4 Crucians; 2lb 3oz, 2lb 6oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 13oz. 1½doz 'bits' - mainly roach with a couple of rudd, perch and even a gudgeon!   A very enjoyable day's angling - our 'annual' visit here postpo
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

18 July

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2330   Cool, overcast, breezy and drizzly (well it is July!). 13ºC. River lowish and quite coloured.   1 Barbel; 6lb 11oz. 1 Chub 2¾lb.   A pleasant evening despite the conditions! Both fish in 1st couple of hours - chub first cast. Enjoyment of session somewhat tempered by the sight of a really big dog otter - 1st time I've ever seen one here - and pretty sure its a different animal to the one I've seen further upstream - had a good long look at it as
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

24 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   0745 - 1115   Cool and mainly overcast. 2º -> 6ºC. River low and clear (of course!)   33 Grayling; 10 over 1lb (!) best 4, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 13oz, 1lb 7oz, 1lb 6oz with another dozen around the 12oz mark. 3 Brownies - all small but bigger than parrs.   Christmas Eve sees the annual cleaning of my bait fridge as the maggots are served with an eviction order and the appliance is commandeered for Christmas duties. As usual for this v
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

0

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

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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

14 July

River Kennet - Thatcham   0700 - 1030   Bright and breezy. A chilly 9ºC rising to 16ºC. River very low - dread to think what it will look like in September if it stays dry...   10 Dace, 6 Brownies, 2 Chublets & a Grayling.   Pleasant mornings trotting despite failing to connect with a barbel or two - didn't even see any on the shallows. Nice to get another grayling from here - decent size too, not far shy of a pound. Most of the dace were of a decent stamp as well.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 January

River Frome - Wool   0830 - 1645   Overcast, mild and breezey (rather too breezey at times). River clear and quite low.   16 Grayling; best 3 1lb 11oz, 1lb 10oz, 1lb 9oz. The rest mostly small. 5 Brownies - most small with a couple of pounders.   Ever since my first visit here in November I've been bending Paul's ear to come and join me - and the premise of a belated birthday trip was the perfect excuse. However work (his) threatened to get in the way and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

6

9 July

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham   1930 - 2315   Cool, overcast some light drizzle at times - more like October than mid-July!   Blanked!!   Cue another Rusty faux headline!!! Shocked on 2 counts when I arrived. The first was not being able to even get in the car park - full of anglers cars. And the second was the state of the river - really coloured up and tanking through - more like mid-winter condition. I did consider turning around and going elsewhere - a thought that stayed with me all eve
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

6

7 January

River Kennet - Newbury   0830 - 1130.   Mild with broken cloud, 6º -> 9ºC. A lovely benign, winter's morning. River still on the low side - though up an inch or so and very clear - as it usually is in the winter. WT 46ºF - a little on the cool side for good sport - good thing no one told the fish!   4 Chub; 5lb 5oz, 3lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 2oz. 1 Barbel; 3lb 5oz. 1 Bream (!); 2lb 10oz. 19 Dace, most quite small with 2 or 3 nice ones, 2 Roach (1 a nice size, circa 8-10oz), 10 Gudgeon.  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

15 January

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury   0900 - 1630   Frosty and bright, temps around 2-4ºC all day. River low and clear   8 Chub; 4 chublets and 4 over 2lb, biggest 5lb 6oz. 16 Dace; half over 8oz, biggest 13oz & 12oz. 3 Roach, biggest 1lb on the nose. 6 Brownies - biggest 2, 4¼ & 3¾lb.   NAA day on this lovely part of the Kennet so had to share the place with a couple of dozen other anglers! Highlight of the morning was seeing Rusty do an impersonation
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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16 July

River Kennet - Newbury   2000 - 2330   Breezy with clearing skies after (yet another) rainy day. Min 15ºC - felt very pleasant. River looking in superb nick, fuller than I've seen it for many a summer and running quite clear too.   3 Barbel; 3lb 15oz, 3lb 4oz, 2lb 6oz. 2 Chub 1lb 13oz, 1lb 10oz.   So maybe not the biggest fish in the river but after last Monday's monotony of looking at a stationary quiver tip it was a pleasant change to see the rod rattle (chub) or thump around (barbel).
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

3 August

River Kennet - Newbury   0630 - 0900   Breezy with the odd light shower, river down an inch or two but quite clear.   3 Chub; 1¼lb and a couple of chublets, 2 Perch; 1lb 14oz & a tiddler, 30 Dace, 1 Roach, 2 Gudgeon and a brownie of around a pound.   Pre-Olympics trotting session - hoping for a barbel but more than happy with nearly a fish a chuck - a couple of the dace were real lumps (for dace!). and the perch was a nice bonus too.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

28 January

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1130   Cool and Overcast. 2-5ºC. River low, VERY low for late January.   26 Grayling; 10 over 1lb(!). Best 2 both 1lb 10z.   Change of plan due to footy being re-arranged for this afternoon had pencilled in a Speen session. Scratchy sort of morning until I found a shoal of nice, feeding, grayling - had only caught 7 by 1030 - so had a manic last hour (from the same spot too!)
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

7 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead.   0400 - 0800   Soggy!! Not actually raining for most of the trip (though tipped it down at the end of it) - but sat under the trees it was drip, drip, drip all morning!!   2 Carp; 7lb 12oz, 5lb15oz. ½doz or so rudd, 1 roach.   Frustrating morning after crucians. Had fishing rolling in my swim 3 or 4 times but the rudd were insatiable, nailing whatever baits I tried. Bigger carp on floating crust.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

0

27/28 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   1330 - 0600   Warm and Sultry - fresher in the morning!   8 Carp; Best 8lb 10oz - almost all the others were circa 6lb. 8 Roach, 4 Rudd and a Perch.   Very slow night - especially as neither Paul or I caught anything that we were actually fishing for - tench or bream. Nearly all my fish fell to float fished maggot right under my rod tip - just 2 carp on the method rod. Paul had a solitary blank saving common of around 7lb after 14 hours of fishing!   Paul got
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

6 August

Willows lake, Thatcham   0530 - 0930   Overcast, clearing to bright sunshine for last hour.   5 Carp; 12lb 9oz, 11lb 2oz, 8lb 11oz, 7lb 2oz, 6lb 13oz.   Another forlorn crucian hunt - but at least at this venue there are some 'easy' carp (too easy!! ) to amuse.   2 smaller fish on float tackle - bigger 3 on floating crust in the margins (ie within 1m of the bank!)   Biggest one:
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

21 July

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   0430 - 0830   Murky low cloud with sun breaking through. 11-14ºC   2 carp; 7lb 3oz, 5lb 13oz. 10 rudd.   Fruitless morning chasing crucians and/or tench. If the rudd didn't nail the bait the commons did - both took an age to land on my float tackle.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

23 July

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1945 - 2345   Clear warm evening. River full and looking in very good nick with a little colour. Shirtsleeves all evening - lovely!!!   1 Barbel; 4lb 14oz. 2 Dace and a spottie of a round ¾lb.   Took the trotting rod - to save Rusty from having to compose another headline - though in truth the dace weren't exactly playing ball either. Not helped by the troot wrecking my first and favourite swim with its airbourne antics. Only bite on the lead came quite late
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

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

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

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

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

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