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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

28 December

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham   0900 - 1600   Cold and sunny with snow on the ground from yesterday max temp 4ºC (briefly!). River up a couple of inches on last visit here (Nov) and carrying a little colour.   7 Chub: 4lb 5oz, 3lb 6ox, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 8oz, 2lb 0oz and 2 sub 1lbers. A dozen+ dace to 10oz, 4 dozen+ roach - most hand sized or bigger! 4 Brownies and a rainbow - all 2-3lb.   Chubbing in the snow - loverly! This venue really comes into its own in the winter mon
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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2 January 2018

River Kennet - Brimpton   1200 - 1545   Mild (10ºC) and overcast with drizzly rain for first hour or so. River up a touch and carrying a bit of colour.   5 Chub; 4lb 12oz. 4lb 10oz, 4lb 6oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 3oz.   Cracking afternoon's chubbing and a very satisfactory start to 2018. All fish in lovely winter condition and a superb average size ( 5 fish for over 20lb) though in truth I was hoping to re-acquainted myself with one (or both!) of the 5lbers I had from here back in the summer! F
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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6 January

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1400.   Cold and mainly cloudy. -1º -> 4ºC. River clear ( as always) and much lower than expected given we've had over 60mm of rain in the past fortnight.   50+ Grayling with around half over 12oz and a good few 'pounders'. Biggest 1lb 10oz. 1 Dace, 2 Brownies - a 2lber and a tiddler.   Cracking session - had planned a 2 venue day - a couple of hours here then a switch to the Kennet - but it took me 6 hours to work my way down the stretch such was the
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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19 January

River Kennet - Thatcham   1500 - 1700   Cool and sunny AT around 4ºC. River quite full with most colour dropped out.   2 Doz dace - with over half in the 8-10oz range !! 2 Brownies to circa 1lb.   With a really crappy weather forecast for Saturday AND Sunday - bunking off work early and snatching a couple of hours on the river was the order of the day - though I didn't expect to still be able to see a float at 5pm - spring is just around the corner (maybe!). Was hoping for a chub or 2 bu
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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4 February

River Kennet - Brimpton   0800 - 1100   Cold and bright after a cloudy start. AT around 1ºC but felt MUCH colder in a biting NE wind - should think the wind chill was sub zero! . River 'full' and quite clear.   2 Chub 3lb 7oz & 2lb 8oz. I Brownie of 2lb.   Chilly morning after the chub - and bites were at a premium - so very happy to winkle a couple out! Fished 3 swims and had both chub from the last one visited.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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17 February

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0700 - 1300   Cool, bright and sunny after a frosty start. River full and clear.   2 Trout - both over 2lb.   A real struggle of a day despite the river looking in good nick. Walked miles to fish all my usual 'banker' swims and hardly had a bite - and when the float did go under it was a pesky trout responsible!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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24 February

Northcroft Stream & River Lambourn, Shaw.   0700 - 0815 & 0830 - 1130   Cold, and sunny. -3ºC -> +3ºC   2 Dace & a 2½lb brownie from Northcroft.   20 Grayling (biggest 20oz) and 3 small brownies from Shaw.   A chilly morning's trotting. Started by trying to coax a chub or 2 from Northcroft - but quickly realised they weren't to be tempted. So it was off to Shaw for some easy grayling. Venue was rather busy with 7 other anglesr!!!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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4 March

River Lambourn - Newbury   0700 - 1100   Mild and Overcast. 8ºC. River quite 'full' and up a good couple of inches.   25 Grayling; Biggest 1lb 12oz with a lot of fish an ounce or two ±1lb. 2X 2lb+ Brownies !   Default cure for cabin fever after all the snow and ice. Big grayling first fish of the day and biggest lady from the Lambourn in over 5 years (since Dec 2012) - a dark fish that was almost completely jet black - as the big old ladies often are!  
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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11 March

River Kennet - Brimpton   0730 - 1000   Bright and sunny after a foggy start - mild. River quite full with a bit of colour - in lovely winter 'nick'.   3 Chub; 4lb 2oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 5oz. 1 Brownie.   Breakfast on the river for some fine winter's chub then home to cook the Sunday roast for Mother's Day.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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13 March

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham   0700 - 1600   Mild and becalmed. River quite high up nearly a foot on my last visit in Jan.   14 Chub; 11 over 1lb - best 3lb 12oz, 30+Roach, 6 Dace, a dozen + Brownies to 3lb.   End of season bash part 1!! Again invited Rusty to join me on my syndicate bit of river - and he actually caught some chub this time! Also got to meet some other members - first time I've met another angler here!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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14 March

Middle Kennet Estate Water - Kintbury.   0700 - 1800 (!)   Mainly overcast though mild with a strong southerly breeze. River 'full' with a little colour - in great winter nick.   25 Chub(!): Apart from 4 X1lb class fish which turned up in my various 'dace' swims at first and last knockings, all 3lb class fish. 3 over 4lb @ 4lb 14oz, 4lb 6oz & 4lb 1oz. 6 Dace - one decent fish of 10oz. 4 Roach - including one @ 12oz. 1 Gudgeon (possibly my first ever from here!). A dozen brownies to 3lb
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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16 June 2018

River Kennet   0400 - 0830 Thatcham 0915 - 1300 Newbury   Overcast start with some light drizzle - river very full for the time of year and quite coloured (boat traffic)   Thatcham - 1 chub 2¼lb, 6 dace, 1 roach, 1 Grayling and 4 Brownies to 2lb+ Newbury - 15+ dace, 2 grayling - both over 1lb!! & a couple more troot.   Wasn't going to continue this blog until somone unexpectedly asked if I was continuing and as I said yes I better put something up!!! Very pleasant start to the seas
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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17 June

Warwicks Water   1000 - 1400   Overcast and breezy.   A dozen or so perch.   A quick recce to see how the clubs crucian project is coming along (and I'd heard of crucians and tench being caught!). Alas if the micro-perch didn't nail the bait the crayfish did - the lake bed is covered in the critters - I dropped a piece of meat at my feet to see the mayhem that ensued!!! Can't see how the fish get a look-in!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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2/3 July

3rd Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy - Harris Lake - Marsh Farm.   0800 - 0800   Hot, bright and breezy. Breeze never really died down even at night.   19 Tench - biggest 5lb 4oz with nearly all the rest in the 3½-4½lb class. 13 Crucians; 3 over 2lb (just!) - biggest 2lb 3oz. Around half the rest were 'Big 1's' (had 3 @ 1lb 15oz!). 3 Roach, 3 Rudd & 4 Perch.   IAC came out in force to do Pauls' memory proud! Record attendance at this meant £400 being raised for Sue Ryder. Despite chall
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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15 July

Northcroft Stream - Newbury   0430 - 0815   Warm with cloudless skies. River looked in surprisingly good nick - still reasonable flow.   2 Chub - both circa 1lb (and possibly same one - caught nearly 3 hours apart!), 2 doz dace & 9 Roach.   Pre breakfast trotting session - hopeful for some ( bigger) chub which didn't show up.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20/21 July

Willows Lake - Thatcham   2000 - 0500   Warm (min 16ºC), overcast and drizzly most of the night especially early on.   8 Carp; biggest 18lb 5oz - all the rest between 5¾lb - 9¼lb. 1 Tench - circa 1lb and a skimmer.   A night of 2 halves - started float fishing the margins targetting the lake's rare but large crucians - and sure enough had crucians rolling in my swim repeatedly as it got dark - so hopes were high! Alas the carp kept getting to the bait first and when I didn't connect wit
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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30 July

Alders Lake - Thatcham   1800 - 2230   Bright and breezy.   1 Tench - unweighed but around a pound.   Hopeful that the recent rain might have pepped things up a bit - though the opposite looked likely as the water appeared quite lifeless. Thankful for a solitary bite - which I missed - but the tench belied its size by nearly pulling my rod in!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 August

Alders Lake - Thatcham   1830 - 2230   Warm and breezy.   1 Tench - c1lb, 1 perch.   Frustrating evening - as I was getting loads of bites which I couldn't hit - quite unusual for here - as was seeing other anglers on the water! Still another 2½lb of blackberries picked!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 August

Alders Lake - Thatcham   1800 - 2300   Warm and overcast.   3 Tench - all between 1-2lb.   Another Monday evening and another new swim (bin working my way around the lake this season trying a different swims each trip.) Bites at a bit of a premium - much as expected - but at least when they cam they produced and end result - unlike last week!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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25 August

River Kennet - Marsh Benham   0600 - 1300   Cool (6ºC when I arrived) and sunny - with a nippy northerly breeze. River lower than my last visit 4 weeks ago.   1½doz+ Chub, Biggest 3lb 5oz, the rest all chublets. 1 Pike; 3lb 10oz, 2doz+ Roach, 5 Dace (2 of around 8oz), 1 Perch, 1 Bleak, 1 Gudgeon.   Ledgered meat for the first couple of hours or so - 45 minutes each in 3 different swims - but the only pull resulted in a meat munching pike again - possibly the same one that I had here las
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

29 August

River Kennet - Newbury   1800 - 2245   Warm and overcast evening though clouds cleared and temps started to plummet in the last half an hour.   7 very chunky dace - all 6-8oz. 1 Roach, 2 brownies to 1½lb.   First serious attempt of the season for a barbel - but of course I started out with a trotting rod for the first hour or so. Once I switched to the ledgering the only indications were from bats and crayfish - LOTS of crayfish - A pattern I'll see a lot of in the next couple of months!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

31 August/1 September

Willows Lake - Thatcham   1800 - 0600   Cool clear night down to 7ºC at dawn and very misty and damp with dew.   9 Tench: All over a pound with 3 fish over 2lb. 7 Carp biggest 2, 12lb 2oz & 8lb 15oz all the others between 3½ - 6½lb. 1 Crucian 2lb 2oz. 4 perch.   A return to the swim of a fortnight ago hoping for - and getting - a similar return for what will probably be my last overnighter of the summer. As before, started off float fishing maggot but the micro perch were in residen
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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3 September

Alders Lake - Thatcham   1800 - 2230   Warm and quite breezy.   2 Tench; 2lb 6oz and a pounder. 4 Perch.   Yet another new swim - feel I've given this lake a proper go now and whilst not blanked hasn't been as productive as last summer - when I caught mainly bream and hardly any tench - complete opposite to this summer!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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10 September

River Kennet - Bulls Lock   1800 - 2300   Warmish and overcast.   3 Dace and a chublet.   Another fruitless barbel session on a rarely fished stretch of river. As per usual started off trotting for not a lot - and once ledgering the only rattles came from the crayfish of which there were A LOT!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

15 September

River Kennet - Thatcham   0900 - 1200   Bright and sunny - quite warm.   1 Chub 2lb 3oz, 2 Dace, 1 Roach & 5 Brownies (2 circa 1lb)   Off to Lanzarote tomorrow and didn't want to leave maggots in the bait fridge whilst I was away (not that I need an excuse!)
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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