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Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

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Coarse Fishing

13 November - Part 2

River Kennet - Thatcham 1100 - 1330 Mild and overcast - 12ºC. River up a couple of inches - with surprisingly little leaf litter here compared to what I had to contend with further upstream (see pt1). 1 Chub; 2lb 14oz. 2 Dace & 1 Roach. Scratchy couple of hours - not helped by the usually reliable weirpool seemingly stuffed with minnows and little else. Thankfully one of the 'semi-reliable' chub swims gave up one of its occupants!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

23 December (Part 1)

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0915 - 1345 Dull and drizzly.AT 7º - 9ºC. River very low and clear. 3 Chub; 1¼lb & 2 chublets. 3 Dace, 1 Roach (nothing of any size), 1 Brownie1½lb Pre christmas trip to use up my maggot as my bait fridge in the garage gets its annual clean and is sequestered for the turkey and other Christmas victuals. A rather dismal session - and that wasn't just the weather - very few of my banker swims produced so much as a bite - and I even struggled for b
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

17 June

River Kennet - Hambridge 0430 - 0830 Warm and sultry - already 23ºC when I packed up - had planned to move to another venue after starting here but the heat decided me otherwise. River low and clear. 2 Chub: 2lb 12oz & 2lb 3oz. 20 Dace; all small. 10 Roach: ditto. 1 Bream - a large-ish skimmer which had me more than a little excited for a minute as thought I was bringing in a rather nice roach! 2 Gudgeon (hooray!) 2 Brownies - a 'pounder' and a parr. I did a recce here a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

3 August

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 2230 Warm and overcast. AT22º->20ºC 1 Tench; 1lb 11oz. 1 Roach, 4 Perch - all small ( but not micro-small!) A very frustrating evening as I repeatedly had sail-away, unmissable bites which had me striking at thin air! Still can't decide whether it was signals or small fish taking the shot - suspect the latter as the bait came back unmolested! Dusk eventually saw some fish actually hooked but the only one to put a decent bend in the rod was a f
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

12 November (Part 2)

River Kennet - Brimpton 1200 - 1430 Warm with bright sunshine. AT 17ºC. River very low (of course!) 1 Chub: 1lb 10oz, 1 Dace. 4 Brownies 2 in the 1½-2lb range and two under a lb. I hate trout! Bright conditions and a low, clear, threadbare river were already very sub-optimal conditions for autumn chubbing. And what I really DIDN'T need were acrobatic brownies turning up 'early doors' in ALL my favourite chub hotspots. Alas, that's exactly what happened. Dropped into the weirp
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

10 March

River Kennet (& carrier) - Marsh Benham 1030 - 1600 Cold and mainly cloudy - snow flurries to start - brightening up. Breezy. AT 1º->4ºC. River at normal winter levels with a tinge of colour.. 9 Chub: (in order of capture...) 1 ½lb, 4lb 6oz, 3lb 5oz, 4lb 10oz, 5lb 10oz, 4lb 8oz, 4lb 15oz, 3lb 14oz, 4lb 14oz. 6 Brownies 2½-3½lb. 1 Rainbow 5 ½lb. It's been quite a poor season on the chub front from my syndicate stretch and I was going into the last week of the season not
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

Season's Bests 2022-23

And so endeth another season. And a pretty pleasing one - with some of my favourite Kennet swims producing good fish (mainly chub) throughout the season. The summer started off with a bang - in the shape of my first ever 4lb+ crucian - the biggest of 5 X 3+lbers in an afternoon - any of which would have been season's bests in recent years - a real Red Letter Day! Best Carp 14lb 5oz. 10 August  Free-lined bread flake - Willows. As usual I spent most of the summer trying to avoid carp in my q
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

28 July

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0730 - 1330 Warm(ish) and overcast and quite muggy. AT 18ºC - 21ºC. River down a bit - more than I expected after another wet week.... 2 Bream: 3lb 3oz & 2lb 10oz. 3 Chub; 2 around ¾lb and another even smaller. 40+ Dace & Roach (in roughly equal nos - slightly more dace) - only one fish to trouble the net - a super dace of 10oz. 2 Bleak. A rare failure at finding decent chub - though a couple of hard fighting river bream were more than adeq
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

3
Coarse Fishing

4 January (Part 2)

River Kennet - Newbury (Whitehouse) 1330 - 1430 Started raining the second I cast out and got progressively heavier - blowing in my face so becoming deeply unpleasant!! AT 5ºC. River bank high, really pushing through and very coloured up. 1 Chub 5lb 10oz (!) Well, as I was parked around the corner for my Lambourn jaunt I thought I'd at least have a look at the slack that produced my SB chub last week. With more water and a LOT more colour it didn't look at all promising - but

22 November

River Lambourn - Nr Newbury   0845 - 1100   Overcast and chilly 5ºC. River at normal levels - and gin clear as usual!   9 Grayling - all a nice size, best 4 - 1lb 10oz, 1lb 7oz, 1lb 6oz, 1lb 3oz. 3 Brownies - all small.   Nearly didn't go as the weather forecast had been pretty dire - glad I did however - very pleasant couple of hours trotting.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

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

28 September

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1845 - 2300   Clear night, AT 11ºC. River VERY low and clear.   2 Barbel; 4lb 6oz, 3lb 13oz.   A new swim - one with a bit of depth AND flow. No crayfish activity - always a good sign. Both fish on ledgered pellet, after 2100.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

22 January

Middle Kennet Estate   0800 - 1645   Drizzle/rain ALL day! Mild 7-8ºC. River at normal winter levels - carrying some colour - more than is usual for here.   3 Chub; 5lb 7oz, 3lb 14oz, a chublet, 1 Perch 1lb 10oz, 1 Bream; 4lb 4oz, 1 Pike; 14lb 2oz, 2 doz Dace - biggest 2 - 12oz & 11oz, ½ doz Brownies - biggest 2lb.   Belated birthday trip - loads of cracking dace - hardly a fish under 6oz and loads around the 8-10oz mark. 2 smallest chub and the bream
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

10 March

River Lambourn - Newbury   0615 - 0900   Cold and overcast 2ºC. River clear as ever!   11 Grayling, 7 between 1lb 6oz - 1lb 12oz (most over 1½lb)   Day off work to take Matt to a University open day - so an excuse to sneak a couple of hours on the river. Real catch a couple and move on tactics and really good average size of fish.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

7 August

River Kennet - Nr. Thatcham   0700 - 0930   Cool, overcast with light drizzle. 15ºC. River a little on the low side - but was lower this time last year!   2 Barbel; 7lb 6oz, 6lb 13oz. 5 Chub; 4lb 8oz. 3lb 15oz, 3lb 10oz, 2lb 14oz & a chublet. 6 dace, 1 brownie.   Cracking little trotting session - one of my bigger float caught barbel. Most fish in the last ¾hr having moved a few yards downstream of where I started.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

10 August

Trwynhwrddyn Point, Pembrokeshire   1100 - 1300   Overcast/milky sunshine. Tide going out - high tide about an hour before I started.   3 Bass - all small 12-14inches   3 Fish that had me feeling ridiculously pleased with myself! I rarely do any sea fishing and have no tackle. So with a borrowed spinning rod (thanks Paul) and some pike lures (most of which I think I've found over the years!) I looked a bit of a numptie compared to some other anglers with all the gear, who were launching
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

22 September

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley   1800 - 2315   A lovely warm evening under a hazy full moon. Temps 21º -> 16ºC. Shirt sleeves all evening and no mozzies!   2 Tench: 6lb 4oz, 3lb 13oz.   The last Hurrah on this venue - bringing the curtain down on a splendid series of mid-week after work float fishing sessions. Won't be back here again until next june (unless we get an early October heatwave!). Fished a new swim - probably not the right time to be experimenting but it had to be done - and
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

2 October

River Kennet - Nr Newbury   0645 - 1045   Bright after a misty start. 7 -> 12ºC River up and inch or two and carrying a bit of colour after yesterday's rain.   4 Chub - 3lb 0oz and 3 chublets all circa ¾lb, 2 Perch: 2lb 11oz & a smallun, 28 dace, 10 roach, 5 gudgeon and a grayling.   Started off trotting lobs and had both perch and the bigger chub in the first ¾hr before switching to maggot. Quick chat with Rusty who was en-route to Speen and finished off further downstream where
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

23 October

K&A Canal, Thatcham   0715 - 1115   Mainly overcast, some sun just after dawn and a couple of light showers. AT 50ºF, WT 47ºF.   10 Perch: 3lb 9oz, 3lb 4oz, 3lb 3oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 15oz, 2lb 9oz, 2lb 8oz, 2lb 6oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 8oz. 27lb of fish!!!!!   Brilliant morning's perching!! 3lb 3oz fish first cast and thereafter caught steadily upto 1030 when 3 barges came through in quick succession and killed the swim. First ever time I've had 4X3lbers in a ses
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

25 October

River Kennet - Padworth   1800 - 2200   Cold and clear! AT down to 30ºF, WT 45ºF down 2ºF on Saturday. River also low and clear.   1 Brown Trout; 3lb 9oz.     Brrrrrrr! Probably need my head examined going barbel fishing in such chilly conditions - but it was the only free evening I've got this week. Not surprised I blanked with old whiskers - especially with a falling WT. Might have hoped for a chub or two - so mightly surprised to get a 3½lb trout - which picked up my 14mm hair-rigged
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

7 November

Middle Kennet   0730 - 1630   Cool and overcast after a bright start. River low but carrying just a tinge of colour after heavy overnight rain.   9 Chub, 7 over 1lb - best 2; 4lb 6oz & 4lb 4oz. 15 Perch, 8 over 1lb - best 2; 2lb 7oz & 2lb 2oz (most of the 'pounders' were over 1½lb). 1 Pike 5lb 6oz. 60+ roach & dace - in equal nos. ½doz gudgeon. 6 rainbow trout to 3¼lb & 5 brownies to 3¾lb.   Stonking session on one of my favourite parts of
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

13 November

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1100   Cool & Overcast. 8-10ºC. River low, as per usual this time of year!   14 Grayling - 5 over 1lb - best 2, 1lb 9oz & 1lb 6oz. 7 Roach - all a 'nice' size - in need of a landing net! The 2 I popped on the scales went 11 & 13oz but the rest weren't much smaller. 1 Brownie (small).   Pleasant morning's trotting. Fish very spooky in the low water didn't get more than 1 from any swim EXCEPT the first swim I dropped into which produced 11 fish
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

20 November

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1200   Overcast with drizzle. AT6ºC. Near perfect conditions except for the fact that WT was only at 45ºF.   2 Perch: 3lb 3oz & 3lb 2oz. 1 Chub 1¼lb.   Chub very first cast - hit the lob as soon as it was in the water - thereafter bites at a premium - a fish at 0830 and another 2 hours later - but well worth the wait! Paul had a small chub and a 2lb 6oz stripey.     The 3-3   Pea
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

27 November

River Lambourn - Shaw   O800 - 1130   Cold and overcast with the odd flurry of snow. -3ºC -> +1ºC   25 Grayling; 3 over 1lb and 3 more just an ounce or two shy. Best 1lb 7oz. 12 Brown trout, 1 Roach.   Pleasant morning's trotting in the cold. Unusually for here nearly all the fish came from just 2 swims, with just a couple of fish to show from the ½doz+ other swims I tried. Most of the trout were no more than fingerlings - A sign of a succesful breeding season methinks!
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

5 December

Middle Kennet   0930 - 1600   Cold, bright and sunny after a foggy start. River low - waiting for those springs on the downs to burst - not long now (hopefully)!   9 Chub; 6 over 1lb biggest 4lb 4oz - all the others between 2-3lb. 19 dace; best 2 went 13 & 12oz - with quite a few others circa 8-10oz. 5 Brownies - biggest circa 2lb but unweighed.   Day didn't get off to the best of starts - as on arrival I discovered that I'd left my landing net at home
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

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