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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

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

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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

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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

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2 August

Warwicks Water - Thatcham   0530 - 0930   Bright start, soon clouding over - raining as I packed up.   6 Carp: All between 3½ - 6lb. 3 Roach.   It's not many seasons ago when I'd fish this pond with the expectation of half a dozen to a dozen crucians in a morning. More recently the place has suffered from low DO and the fishing has been poor. With water levels healthy again - this was a mission to see if the crucians were still around. The answer to that is yes - as I actually had one ro
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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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

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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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15 August

River Kennet - Padworth   1945 - 2315   Clear and breezy after heavy rain earlier in the day - river rose 4 inches whilst I was there - chair started off on dry gravel - seat was under water by the end (had me chesties on so didn't matter!).   1 Barbel 5lb 10oz.   Only bite (and fish - clearly) 1st cast. Not a touch afterwards!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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19 August

Bucklebury Ponds   0630 - 0900   Clear skies, 16ºC -> 20ºC   3 Bream; 2 circa 1½lb and a tiddler, a doz+ perch.   Bit of a half-hearted session as I wasn't expecting much action but after a hot, sticky and rather sleepless night it was lovely to be out in the cool(ish) morning air - a few fish were a bonus!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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20 August

River Kennet - Newbury   1945 - 2315   Clear and warm evening - lovely night to be out with the bats - absolutely dozens of them flying at dusk.   1 Chub 1¼lb   For the 2nd week in a row a fish first cast - followed by not a lot. Did get quite a few knocks and rattles which I took to be tiddlers - as it wasn't crayfish.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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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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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

2 February

River Lambourn - Newbury   0900 - 1130   Cool with bright sunshine - breeze picking up throughout the morning. 1º ->4ºC. River 'full' and clear as always, down an inch or so on December levels but still higher than its been for 5 or 6 years.   6 Grayling, a couple of 'pounders' biggest 1lb 5oz. 1 brownie of 1¼lb   Had to nip out to get some bait from Tony's for next weekend's assault on the Kennet (fingers crossed for a dry week), so perfect excuse to spend a couple of hours on the ba
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

16 February (part1)

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne   0700 - 1100   Overcast with 'milky' sunshine. 2º - 10ºC. WT 41ºF   3 Perch; 1lb 13oz and a couple of smalluns   With the current mild spell well and truely kicking in, Perch we're always going to be on the agenda for this weekend. I couldn't make up my mind though on A; where to fish and B; whether to do a dawn or a dusk session. In the end I decided to do both, Fish both venues I had in mind one at dawn and one at dusk (see 16 February (part 2)) for
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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12 March

River Kennet - Newbury   1130 - 1430   Cold (2ºC) with stiff NE wind - Brrrr. WT down to 41ºF   3 Grayling; 2 smalluns and one close to a pound. 22 Dace, 1 Roach & 11 Gudgeon.   I had great plans for this week - however they all involved mild, misty spring mornings (and evenings!) by the canal in pursuit of monster perch. The cold, Siberian blast over the last couple of days as put paid to those thoughts. I did dither about going at all today - but needed some bait - so a couple of
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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18 June part 2

River Kennet - Nr Newbury   1145 - 1530   Warm, overcast and very muggy - lovely to be standing IN the river.   2 Chub; both around 1¼lb, 20 Dace, 4 Roach, 8 Gudgeon and 4 spotties - all small apart form one which might have scrapped a pound.   Quick return to the venue I spent 2 hours at on the opening morning - reasoning that at least I should have the place to myself - wrong as it turned out - 3 other anglers already here. So whilst I had intended to fish a different swim the waders w
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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19 June part 1

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   0430 - 1030   Sultry!   4 Carp (3½ - 4½lb), 12 Roach, 2 Perch.   Merest hint of a rumour that crucians had been coming out of this small club pond had me setting up at dawn, though more in hope than expectation. A pity, as just a few seasons ago it was a prolific crucian water. Today there was not a sign of one so had to make do with the occasional muscular common putting in an appearance to put a bend in the rod and lead me a merry dance on a light bottom!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

30 June

NAA Stillwater - Widmead   0430 - 1030   Overcast clearing to bright sunshine - quite breezy.   1 Carp 5lb 15oz, 1roach, 1perch, dozen+ rudd.   Fruitless morning after crucians. At least I wasn't plagued by nuisance carp - the only one I caught was deliberate - off the top on bread. Rudd were a bit of a menace - especially as they gave very crucian-like bites at times.....!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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5 July

K&A Canal - Enborne   2000 - 0000   Hot and sultry - shirtsleeves all evening - still 16ºc when I packed up   3 Perch; a tiddler and a couple of 'nice ones' best circa 1lb. 7 dace and 2 chublets.   Had a notion and a plan to try and get a canal tench or two from here - thinking that if Paul can get one in January - July should be doddle! Wrong! Only gratifying thing was the number of fingerling dace and chublets - which IS good to see (there were loads and was quite difficult NOT to
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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