Jump to content
  • entries
    1158
  • comments
    904
  • views
    1590739

About this blog

Diary of a (mainly) river angler.

Entries in this blog

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

0

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

0

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

0

10/11 August

Harris Lake, Marsh Farm - Godalming AS   1400 - 0930   Hot and sunny. Night was clear and felt quite cool by dawn with a mega heavy dew! Gorgeous night to be out fishing under the Perseids!   14 Tench; Biggest 3, 5lb 13oz, 4lb 10oz, 4lb 8oz. All the rest in the '3lb class' save 2 which were smaller. 7 Crucians - all over 1lb (though a couple by not much!) biggest 2lb 5oz. 2 roach, 1 rudd & a perch.   A really lovely session which came to life at 2130 a
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

27 October

River Lambourn - Newbury   0800 - 1100   Cool, bright and breezy. 2º->6ºC   16 Grayling - biggest 1lb 2oz, 1 dace, 3 trout parr.   A morning spent leap frogging swims with Paul - who had a near identical catch return (19 ladies and 1 dace). However where as Paul was "catch a couple and move on", 10 of my grayling were from one swim - should've been 11 as I lost a quite substantial grayling to a hook pull - the perils of using a size 18. 1st ever dace either Paul or I have ever caugh
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

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

0

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

0

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

0

5 October

Somewhere in Hampshire (guess the river!)   0815 - 1815   Bright and sunny morning after overnight rain. Clouding over after lunch with more (quite heavy at times) rain after 1530. Temps. 11º-14º-11ºC.   26 Grayling; 12 over1lb, best 3, 2lb, 1lb 14oz, 1lb 13oz. 7 Chub between 2¾lb to 4lb 5oz (2,4lbers). 13 Brownies to 3½lb.   Enjoyable (despite the late rain) session where persistence was rewarded. Paul and I only found one prolific swim (and that was ma
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

1 December

River Lambourn - Newbury   1100 - 1400   Cold with sunny spells. 5ºC. River very full and gin clear looked in cracking nick!   17 Grayling; 2 'pounders' biggest 1lb 7oz   Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - venue was rather busy and bumped into that reprobate Rusty who was worming for roach! Had rather hoped to be fishing the Frome this weekend - alas it still has a flood warning out for the river - and here's why - somewhere just behind the tree Ru
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

13 October

River Kennet - Speen Moors   0700 - 1130   Sunny spells. 3->10ºC. River up a touch with a little colour after this week's rain - looks in really good nick.   3 Perch; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 11oz and sub pounder, 5 Chub all between ½-1lb - good to see!, a doz dace, roach & gudgeon all small!   Successful dawn perching session - both caught from a new swim - or at least a swim that hasn't produced big stripeys in ages, followed by an hour's trotting maggot. Ni
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

20 October

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   0700 - 1100   Cool, calm and murky/foggy - very autumnal!. 5->10ºC   3 Perch; 2lb 1oz and a couple of tiddlers, 1 chublet and 6 roach.   Better conditions for prospecting for perch - though 2 hours with lobs produced a couple of missed bites and 2 small perch who weren't much bigger than the lobs used to catch them! Switched to maggot as I could see silvers snaffling my freebies just under the surface - so of course
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

3 November

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Newbury.   0700 - 1700   Bright and breezy morning after a frosty start. Clouded over mid afternoon and the wind dropped. (Glad we're not going today in all this rain!). River up on this time last year with good flow - still not as high as I thought it would be....   9 Chub; All bar 1 over 2½lbs, best 2, 4lb 5oz & 3lb 14oz. 9 Perch; 2lb 3oz & 1lb 10oz the rest all small. 20 dace and a doz+roach (all small though a few of the dace we
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

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

0

21 August

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham   0530 - 1130   Warm, overcast and very breezey.   3 Carp; 14lb 10oz, 4lb 6oz, 4lb 13oz. 9 skimmers, 10 perch - all small save for one scraper pounder, 4 roach, 2 rudd, 3 gudgeon.   A morning's float fishing in the hope (forlorn as it turned out!) of some crucians. 14lb was 'interesting' on a float rod and a 4lb bottom.Fished meat and maggot - gave each an hour in rotation. No fish on meat - no bites - at least none I could see in
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

16 August

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham   1815 - 0000   Warm, overcast and quite breezey. 16ºC at Midnight. River down a bit (on 3 weeks ago) with a little colour.   1 Barbel; 5lb 8oz.   Return to the swim where I had a 7,8 & 9 recently (see entry for 28th July). Thought the weekend's rain might have gingered things up a bit but the river seemed pretty lifeless. Only one bite and even that was a very tentative plucky affair - thought I was into a Signal and just lifted the rod to remove the beast
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

PB List (with Pictures!)

My PB List. Haven’t done one of these for a while and it seems an appropriate way to ‘celebrate’ my 400th blog post. And I’ve even dug out and scanned a few old photos (rather crappy ones I have to admit!) which are appearing on the WWW for the 1st time.   Best Carp – 27lb 6oz. 15 August 2008. Blue Pool – Burghfield. Method feeder – hair-rigged hemp bogey. I usually spend all summer trying to avoid carp as I pursue tench and crucians but this was caught on an IAC fish-in
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

1

16 February (part 2)

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham   1300 - 1730   Mild, overcast with some 'milky' sunshine at times. 10ºC. WT bouncing between 44/45ºF when I arrived rising to 46ºF when I packed up.   1 Perch; 4lb 2oz! (New PB ), 1 Chub; 5lb 10oz.   MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! It is a quest that started in 2005 with an eavesdropped conversation in Tony's tackle emporium when a guy at the till was describing in some detail the capture of a 4lb 11oz perch from the canal while
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

8

4 January 2020

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0800 - 1630 Cool and overcast morning, bright sunny afternoon. AT 4º - 8ºC but felt cooler in the breeze! 9 Perch; Most around 12+oz but nothing over 1¼lb, 1 Pike; 2lb. 1½doz Roach, 2 Dace & a Gudgeon. Another session after big stripeys and just like most of my catches further downstream fish of a remarkably similar stamp. Started off with Pike trouble - got bitten off first cast - and landed it (same one!) second - so I got my hook back.
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

10 January

River Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1430 Bright and cool (5ºC when I started). River still very full but with little colour despite over ½inch of rain yesterday. 5 Chub; All bar one over 2lb though the biggest was not quite 3lbs. A doz Roach - all 'hand-sized' with a couple slightly bigger. 4 Dace - including a brace of 10oz fish. 10 Brownies & 5 Rainbows - all in the 2½-3½ class. Day off - to treat meself fo my birthday and it turned into a day of trying (and usua
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

2

Season's Bests 2012-13

Plumby's Annual Round-up!     This time last year the word on everyone’s lips was drought. We’d had 3 dry winters on the trot – hosepipe bans were already being introduced and the chalkstreams of southern Britain were drying up. The springs feeding the Kennet didn’t ‘burst’ at all during the winter of 11/12, the river was looking very ‘threadbare’ and I feared for what conditions I’d find in June. What a difference a year makes!! April 2012 was one of the wettest on record – the s
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0

8 July

River Kennet - Padworth   1930 - 2330   Warm evening with a nice breeze to keep the mossies off. Still 16ºC when I packed up.   1 Barbel; 5lb 11oz   Unusually for me ledgered with two rods (and even more unsually left the trotting gear at home). One rod on boilie and one on halibut pellet. Pellet rod went off within ½ hour of arriving - a great start. Unfortunately it was then down to the crayfish to move in. Bait thieving activity died down for the last 45 mins - but it was false hope..
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

10

8 March (parts 1, 2 and 3!) Free Fishing Friday!

River Itchen - Twyford Meads 0800 - 1100 Itchen Navigation - Winchester 1130 - 1430 River Lambourn - Shaw - 1530 - 1700   WET. Rain, continuous, unrelenting rain. Mild - 10ºC and no wind (so that's alright then).Did I mention the rain?   Twyford Meads - 9 Grayling, best 2; 1lb 5oz & 1lb 3oz the rest all small.16 Salmon Parr, 1 Brown Trout. Itchen Navigation - Blanked. Lambourn - 4 Grayling 1 small the other 3 12-14oz. 1 Brown Trout, 1¼lb   La
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

0
Coarse Fishing

26 September

River Kennet - Hambridge 0700 - 1330 Cool (5ºC when I started), bright and breezy. River quite low - normal for Sep. 3 Chub; all 1-2lb. 5 Barbel (!!!); all 12oz-1lb. 8 Dace - all chunky ones in the 6-8oz class with a couple a tad bigger. 4 Brown Trout; one close to 3lb the others circa 12oz+. Another recce session - following up on some recently acquired intelligence (cheers Martin - spot on! ?). Been a few years since I last exchanged my NAA card for a CSAS one to fish this
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

4

28 October

Flowing Canal (Kennet & Avon) Nr Thatcham   1500 - 1715   Bright, VERY breezy, with a very heavy shower to finish - temps cooler than of late at 10ºC   3 Perch; 4lb 5oz (!!!) New PB , 3lb 8oz and a smallun of around 12oz. 1 Chub 3lb 6oz.   Blimey! Autumn perching campaign gets off the mark at last in spectacular fashion. Unexpectedly had the afternoon off so with the St Jude's storm easing away it was off to do some more prospecting on the canal. And y
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb

7
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We and our partners use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences, repeat visits and to show you personalised advertisements. By clicking “I Agree”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.

  I accept