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About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

12 October

Summer Pit - Yateley   1915 - 2315   Mild, still evening, quite balmy under the trees. 17ºC ->16ºC. WT 14ºC   1 tench 3¼lb   Last throw of the dice to try and get a late season Crucian. Water was pretty lifeless though and was pretty surprised to get a fish 1st cast. Not surprised that this was my only bite of the evening! Fished meat (which caught the tench), bread and pellet.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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8 October

River Itchen, Gaters Mill   0800 - 1900   Overcast, mild and becalmed - shirtsleeves all day. (Perfick!). River 'full', gin clear with LOTS of debris - mainly ranunculus coming down.   74 Grayling ( 26 over a lb of which 17 over 1½lb and 5 over 2lbs - best 2lb 9oz). 10 Brownies (best also 2lb 9oz), 1 chub 3lb 10oz.   River Itchen back to its best - most of the fish were in the faster, streamier water. Paul managed 71 grayling (we both do returns for the EA's national grayling survey) and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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6 October

0700 - 0900 K&A Canal - Widmead   4 perch( 1lb 11oz, 1lb 9oz, 2<1lb)   0930 - 1230 Warwicks Water   1 bream (1½lb), 2 doz roach & perch.   Calm, high cloud, dry. 8º -> 16º. WT 14ºC     This was meant to be a perching session but the crayfish on the canal were a nightmare. If the perch didn't take the lobworm on the drop the signals were on the bait within a minute (I timed!!). Switched to Warwicks hoping for a late crucian but none were showing. Fished meat and pellet wi
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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1 October

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1830 - 2200   Overcast, drizzle 'in the wind' temp a constant 13ºC   7 barbel 11lb 6oz, 7lb 3oz, 6lb 10oz, 6lb 4oz, 6lb 3oz, 5lb 13oz, 4½lb   An eventful evening at the swim I 'discovered' on Saturday. River carrying more colour than at the weekend. Couldn't even fish for the first hour due to swans feeding just upstream sending down a constant barrage of floating ranunculus. Once I started fishing bites came thick and fast. Only downside is that while fighti
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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29 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   0700 - 1200 Heavy drizzle for first couple of hours then dry and murky. 13º -> 15º   1 Barbel 10lb 2oz, 11 trout (3 X 1lb+), 10 dace.   This was meant to be just a trotting session but it was so wet on arrival, I set the brolly up and lowered a ledgered pellet under the near bank. Things got off to an auspicious start (NOT) with a cormorant surfacing in my swim followed by it's mate. Then a family of swans thought it would be a good place to have a ruck - th
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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24 September

River Kennet - Newbury   1900 - 2330   Cool and breezy - clear then high cloud and bright moon. 15ºC --->11ºC (but felt cooler!)   1 barbel 5lb 15oz   Mission accomplished! This session was about getting my mate Simon his first ever barbel - a feat he achieved impressively with an 8lb 10oz fish - my 'banker swim' came up trumps again! Simon also had a small >2lb chub, whilst I just about saved my blank though I had loads of sharp taps and knocks all
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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22 September

Alders Lake   0830 - 1100   Foggy start then bright.   3 tench, 3 crucians, 1 bream (all<1lb) 40+ roach and perch.   Fancied a couple of hours just seeing the float go under at regular intervals and not know what would show up next - though the answer to that was mainly roach!!! 1st trip here since it was re-stocked following the the fish kill of 2005. Will probably leave it 2-3 season for the fish to get a bit bigger before I return! One curious aspect of today was that I could only
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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18 September

River Kennet, Woolhampton   1815 - 2315   Cool and clear at first - then clouding over.   1 barbel 9lb 5oz, 2 chub (2lb, <1lb), 1 roach, 1 doz bleak,   Started with float fished maggot - in order to get my bleak point for the species race. Roach (quite a decent size) on maggot too. Then ledgered with two rods for a change - pellet on one, boilie on the other. A chub to each bait followed rather appropriately at 9.15pm by the barbel - my 1st from this ve
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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15 September

River Kennet - Newbury   0630 - 1230   Bright and sunny 7.5ºC -> 19ºC   3 Chub (4lb 2oz, 3lb 10oz, 2lb 13oz) 2 Perch (2lb 2oz, >1lb) 1 Barbel (2lb), 2 Trout (both 1lb+ - probably same fish!) 60+ Dace, Roach & Gudgeon (mainly dace).   A morning trotting red maggot for a nice mixed bag. Big perch 1st cast and all the chub came in the 1st 1½hrs otherwise caught steadily throughout the morning despite the bright conditions. River still 'full' though
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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10 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1845 - 2315   Clear and breezey. 18ºC----->9ºC. No moon - really dark night!   3 Barbel; 5lb 0oz, 2 sub 4lbers.   River down 3 inches on last visit, still carrying some debris - mainly ranunculus - which frustratingly kept catching the line. 2 smaller fish around 2100, 5lber last cast.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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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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3 September

Summer Pit , Yateley   1900 - 0000   Cool, clear and still. Temp dropped from 18ºC - 8ºC   3 Tench - (6lb 11oz, 4lb 14oz, 3lb 3oz) 4 Crucians (2lb 10oz, 2lb 4oz, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 14oz)   All fish caught after dark - 1st bite around 2045. Unusually, most fish to float fished meat (lift method as per usual!). 4.14 Tench and the 2.10 Crucian falling to bread. Biggest tench of the season and my biggest ever from this venue - had gorgeous, almost vermilion, colour
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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31 August/1 September

Knotts Lake   1900 - 0800   Warm and overcast - some breeze - no dew.   2 Tench (6lb 4oz, 5lb 7oz), 9 rudd, 2 doz perch - biggest 1½lb   A VERY quiet night rescued by two nice tench either side of midnight. Biggest on pellet out by the island, 5lber on float fished meat in the near margins. Rudd and perch on maggot - some quite nice sized ones too. Lost a substantial perch (+2lber) at the net when the hook pulled - it lay motionless on the surface for second - just out of net range - bug
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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27 August

Summer Pit   1930 - 0000   Overcast and calm17ºC>13ºC   3 Tench ( 5lb 9oz, 4lb 3oz X 2 (same fish???)), 2 Crucians (2lb 2oz, 1lb 13oz) 1 Rudd.   Lake looked lifeless - no bubbles or rolling fish - can't judge a book by it's cover! Biggest tench first cast on meat - one other tench on meat. Other tench plus the 2 crucians on bread. Also fished 4mm pellet for a short while - though this was just an invitation to catch the tiny rudd! All fish caught with the Lift Method.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

25 August

Warwicks Water   0600 - 1200   Warm and sunny (at last)   15 Crucians (all between 1¼ - 1¾lb), 7 Carp (2¾ - 6lb), a dozen roach/rudd.   Fished meat, 4mm pellet and bread - all crucians on meat. Lift method - a couple of the carp on freelined bread.No bites for the first hour then the swim was really fizzing. Most fish caught before 1030 - final hour and a half switched to floating crust for the carp.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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20 August

River Kennet - Thatcham   1930-2330   Clearing skies - cooler 12ºC.   2 Barbel (4¼lb, 6lb 13oz)   Both fish caught either side of 2100. Levels same as 7 days ago - however an annoying amount of debris - ranunculus and water cress coming down made fishing difficult at times - maybe some weed cutting's been going on upstream? Much less activity than last week - no other bites/knocks/rattles etc other than the 2 which resulted in fish. Chilly in a NE breeze too!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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17 August

Pumphouse Lake (Yateley)   1930-0000   Warm (17ºC) and overcast - started raining as I packed up...   3 Bream (6lb 2oz, 5lb 9oz, 4lb 13oz)   Fished 2 rods - pellet on the lead produced not a touch. Started float fishing maggots in the margins - and had no bites for the 1st hour or so - sense of deja vu! Switched to float fished meat - and all the fish fell to this - though rather wished they were tench! Final fish was right on the stroke of midnight when I'd packed most of the gear away
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 August

River Kennet (Nr Thatcham)   1915 - 2315 Scattered cloud, 18ºC, one light shower.   4 Barbel (9lb10z, 6lb 5oz, 5lb 6oz, 4lb). 1 Chub (2lb)   First trip since holidaying in Scotland (Caught a few Pollack spinning from the rocks nr Oban). 3 fish (Chub, 6 & 4lber) in the first ½hour then lots of knocks/rattles which didn't develop (not crayfish) - presumably small chub/dace/gudgeon??? Final two fish at 2215 and 2250 - saved the biggest for last. 9lber had a large (size of 10p) wart on he
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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26 July

Summer Pit (Yateley)   2000 - 0000   Clear and breezy after heavy afternoon rain.   5 Tench (3½ - 4¾lb), 1 Bream 4lb 10oz, 1 rudd   That's better - nearly didn't go as I want to be there early but was held up getting home. And I forgot to take any bread. All fish on float fished meat - lift method. Lake is around 18 inches deeper than last year. No sign of any crucians. Lovely evening - had the place to myself.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

24 July

River Kennet (nr Newbury)   1900 - 2300   Sunny and breezy   2 Barbel (7lb 15oz, 4½lb), 1 chub (3lb), 1 dace (!)   River up (as you'd expect - but dropping) Quite coloured but no small debris (just the odd small tree!!!). Larger barbel 1st cast. Loads of small rustles and knocks which weren't crayfish (no marks on the pellet) - but which I'm pretty sure were dace - as I managed to catch one on 14mm pellet for the 2nd trip running - this one was much smaller too!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 July

Pumphouse Lake, Yateley   1800 - 2300   Cloudy then rain.   Blanked!   Friday the 13th - pah! 10 rod hours without a touch. Pellet on the lead on 1 rod, float fishing the margins with a variety of baits on the other - couldn't even buy a bite with maggot or worm. Packed up early when the wind picked up and it started to rain - heavily! - I hadn't brought my shelter - the weather forecast having predicted a dry warm night! Glad the rain made my mind up for me - Paul fished on 'til 1st lig
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

11 July

River Kennet (nr Newbury)   2000 - 2300   Clear.   2 Barbel (6lb 4oz & 5lb 14oz), 1 Bream (3¾lb) 1 dace (9oz)   New swim - all fish to 14mm pellet - including the rather overambitious dace. Barbel between 22-2300 - as per usual!   River at normal levels - down about 3-4 inches on 10 days ago - carrying its usual summer colour (boat traffic has a lot to answer for) - and some - just enough to be annoying - debris.      
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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6 July

River Kennet (nr Thatcham)   2000 - 0000 Clear with a stiff breeze.   4 Barbel (9lb 7oz, 8lb 15oz, 6lb 2oz, 3½lb) 1 Chub 3lb 3oz   All on pellet (of course!) Chub caught in the 1st 20 mins of arriving - all the barbel caught in 1 manic hour between 10-11.00pm.   River down 2-3inches on last week.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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1 July

Warwicks Water   0800 - 1200   Rain, drizzle and more rain!   10 crucians (All 1lb+, best 1lb 11oz) 6 roach.   All caught on float fished meat - lift method.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

29 June

River Kennet (Woolhampton)   2000 - 2300   Dry, Clear and breezy.   1 Common Carp (9lb6oz), 2 Chub (both <3lb), 1 Bream (<3lb)   Halibut pellet - as usual! Carp last cast!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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