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Coarse Fishing

9 July

Middle Kennet Weir Pool, Marsh Benham 0500 - 1100 Warm and sunny - though feeling a tad chilly when I arrived. AT 10º - 24ºC. River low and looking a little threadbare. 9 Chub; 3lb 3oz. a 'pounder' and 7 chublets. 1 Bream; 2lb 4oz. 2 Doz Dace; all a 'nice' size but nothing particularly noteworthy. 5 Roach; small. 2 Rainbows both 2lb (and possibly the same fish!), 1 Brownie C½lb. Pleasant morning's trotting by the shade of the bankside trees - hadn't realised how warm it had g
Chris Plumb

Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing

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Coarse Fishing

7 July

Warwick's Water - Thatcham 1830 - 2300 Warm and sunny. AT 21º - 14ºC. 2 Tench: 2lb 13oz & 1½lb. 1 Perch 1lb 9oz. Summer tench campaign on this water starts with a (half) decent perch - my first over a lb from the water - which is rumoured to hold MUCH bigger ones! The perch came early in the session when the sun was still one the water and I wasn't really expecting a bite. Both tench, however, were caught after 2130.
Coarse Fishing

3 July, 10th Paul Goulbourn Memorial Trophy Fish-in.

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm fishery, Milford. 0600 - 2245 Warm with bright sunshine for most of the day - clouding over somewhat for the last 3-4 hours of daylight (thankfully!) AT, a chilly 5ºC when I arrived, highs of around 24ºC and 16ºC when I drove off a little after a 11pm. 12 Tench. Various sizes over 2lb with 4 over 4lb - biggest 5lb 12oz. 2 Crucians; both pounders though not by a lot. A doz roach and rudd - mainly rudd with sizes ranging from tiny up to a rudd of 14oz.
Coarse Fishing

26 June

Marshall's Mere (formerly Willows Lake) 1815 - 2245 Warm, mainly overcast and quite breezy. AT 21º - 16ºC. 2 Tench: 5lb, 3lb 13oz. 5 Carp, in order of capture: 7lb11oz, 11lb 12oz, 8lb 7oz, 13lb 2oz, 9lb 4oz. 2 Roach; small. A lively evening not catching tench (for the most part)! Started off float fishing prawn sections, but after 3 bumped carp and one lost in the lillies (to a hook pull, thankfully) in the first hour it appeared the carp were being just too active for anythi
Coarse Fishing

23 June

Johnsons Lake - Milford 1500 - 2300 Bright and breezy. AT 21º - 15ºC. 2 Tench: 3lb 3oz & a 'pounder'. 2 doz roach and rudd (more rudd) all 6-10oz with a couple of rudd a tad bigger. Fruitless hunt for a big crucian and it's amazing how quickly you can get bored of catching ½lb rudd! The roach and rudd were actually a bit of a pain snaffling baits on my float and feeder rod with regularity.  This stopped at dusk - and was hopeful a crucian would put in an appearance - but
Coarse Fishing

20 June

River Kennet - Brimpton 0430 - 0830 Warm & sultry. AT 15º-23ºC. River low - usual summer levels. 1 Bream (!): 5lb 2oz. 1 Chub 3lb 9oz. 6 Dace - all quite chunky, 1 Roach (diito). 1 Gudgeon. 5 Brownies; a couple 1-1¼lb the others half that. Great to be out in the relative cool of a June dawn - especially when it's forecast to be so hot later. A morning of firsts. As usual my banker chub swim produced a splashy trout first cast so I immediately rested it and went uspstream.
Coarse Fishing

18 June

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0430 - 1100 Hot and sunny (though quite nice in the shade under the trees!) AT 12º - 26ºC. River low. 2 Bream: 5lb & 3lb 10oz. 4 Chub: a brace of 2lb+ and a couple of smalluns. 14 Dace - all a good size. 2 Roach: small. 2 Gudgeon (!), 1 Brownie: a brute of a fish - over 4lb. 1 Rainbow: c2½lb. A favourite summer weirpool swim - and one I often start my season in. However it got off to a slow start - which was not surprising as I had a large dog
Coarse Fishing

16 June 2025

River Kennet - Hambridge 0430 - 1200 Warm and mainly sunny. AT 15º - 20ºC. River quite low - normal summer levels though a lot lower than this time last year. 12 Chub: 10 over a lb, best 3lb 6oz with one other over 3lb - all the others 1½-2½lbs. 4 doz (!) Dace & Roach. More dace than roach and whilst nothing particularly noteworthy all the dace were a nice size. All the roach were quite small save one that needed the net and may have pushed 8oz. 11 Brownies - 1 'pounder' and 1
Coarse Fishing

New PB List

Not done one of these since 2019, though not much had changed until the season just finished! Best Carp – 27lb 6oz. 15 August 2008. Blue Pool – Burghfield. Method feeder – hair-rigged hemp bogey. Best Pike – 18lb 10oz. 10 February 2001. River Lambourn – Newbury. Free-lined Lamprey section. Best Barbel – 12lb 4oz. 27 July 2004. River Kennet, Arrowhead – Thatcham. Ledgered Halibut pellet. Best Bream – 12lb 2oz. 2 July 2011. Summer Pit – Yateley. Float fished (
Coarse Fishing

Season's Bests 2024-25

Another season comes to a close and a rather splendid one it was too. Bookended by two fabulous chub which twice upped a PB that had  stood since the 2011/12 season. My tench best also fell, a record that had stood since 2003 was bettered by something of a mug fish which was caught multiple times over the summer by different anglers (I caught it twice!) Record rainfall in September burst the springs on the downs unusually early and put the Kennet into flood or near flood all winter. This, again,
Coarse Fishing

14 March (Part 2)

River Kennet - Colthrop 1300 - 1530 Cool & mainly cloudy with the odd spot of rain. River full and fairly clear. 1 Chub: 3lb 13oz. 1 Grayling: 2lb 2oz !! 2 Brownies: 6-10oz. This venue is on the way home from my syndicate stretch so I couldn't resist giving it a few hours for the 4th Friday afternoon in a row!! Fished my 3 'banker' chub swims giving each ¾hr. Had the chub from the first swim followed by the brownies and the grayling from the second. Think its the same 2lb
Coarse Fishing

14 March (Part 1)

Middle Kennet carrier - Marsh Benham 0700 - 1200 Cool, with sunny spells. AT -2ºC - 7ºC. River full pacey and reasonably clear. 4 Chub: all between 2½ - 3½lb. 1 Roach: handsized. 8 Brownies: all between 1¾lb - 3½lb. Last day session failing at playing 'Avoid the Trout'! 3 of the chub from a newish swim - one that produced a few roach last time out. Resting it and returning just resulted in more trout!
Coarse Fishing

10 March (Part 2)

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne (down) 1430 - 1730 Mild and overcast with a light shower as I packed up. AT 12ºC - 9ºC. 7 Perch, in order of capture: 2lb 6oz, 1lb 11oz, 1lb 15oz, 2lb 3oz, 2lb 2oz, 2lb 7oz and a tiddller to finish! 1 Pike 2lb* With 'winter' forecast to return for the remaining days of the season I wanted to use the last mild day for a while to target some canal perch from my 'new' swim on DS alley. For 2 hours it looked like I was wasting my time - not a fli
Coarse Fishing

10 March (Part 1)

River Kennet - Speen Moors  1000 - 1330 Mild, overcast with light showers. AT 8ºC - 12ºC. River at 'normal' winter levels quite full but with little colour. 2 Chub: 3lb 0oz, 2lb 4oz. 3 Brownies: 3lb and 2 of around ¾lb Again, bites at a bit of a premium (where have all the roach and dace gone?) and a splashy first cast trout in one of my more reliable chub swims wasn't a great start. Thankfully a somewhat less reliable spot produced a welcome brace of chevins...
Coarse Fishing

7 March (Part 2)

River Kennet - Colthrop 1230 - 1500 Mild, cloudy with light showers. AT 12º-13ºC. River very pacey still with a little colour. 1 Chub: 6lb 5oz. 1 Grayling 1lb 3oz. Another stellar chub from the venue - though a different swim to the one that produced last week's 7lber. That's now 14 chub over 4lb from this stretch of river/canal since late October...  
Coarse Fishing

7 March (Part 1)

River Lambourn - Newbury 0830 - 1130 Mild, overcast with light showers. AT 11ºC. River very full and gin clear as expected! 1.73m on the Shaw gauge. 21 Grayling: 8 over a lb, best 1lb 9oz. 2 Brownies: small. As per my last trip here nearly all the fish from just 2 hotspots just off the faster current. Lost a very large trout (least I assumed it was a trout as I never saw it!) after having it on for an age, but eventually the hook pulled - perils of using an 18!
Coarse Fishing

4 March

Middle Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0700 - 1200 Bright and sunny, cold start. AT -3º -> 11ºC. River full, pacey with most of the colour dropped out. 2 Chub: a couple of ounces either side of 3lb. 3 Roach: all around 4-6oz. 5 Brownies: 4 between 1½-3lb and a small-un. Another sparkly day in West Berkshire which prompted an early start to get on the water before the sun did. The strategy paid off with both chub in the first 20 mins. Nice to find a few roach as they've been
Coarse Fishing

28 February

River Kennet - Colthrop 1300 - 1530 Bright and sunny. AT 8ºC. River very full, pacey with quite a bit of colour. 1 Chub: 7lb 3oz (New PB!). 2 Brownies: small. Well I wasn't expecting that! My original plan for today had been to go down to Dorset and fish the Frome as it's the last day of the coarse season on the river - but river gauges yesterday showed the river 5cm over the top of normal range and scuppered those ideas. So it was back to a stretch of river I'm beginning to
Coarse Fishing

25 February (Part 2)

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne (down) 1430 - 1715 Sunny spells. AT 10º - 8ºC. 9 Perch: 6 over a lb, best 3: 2lb 10oz, 2lb 1oz. 1lb 13oz. First visit to a new swim from one of the platforms on Dog Sh!t Alley. I rarely fish here and the amount of footfall and dog poo on the tow-path reminded me why! However walking this bit recently sans rods I spied this spot which simply screams perch so resolved to give it a try. My hunch was soon confirmed with a perch of 1½lb in the fir
Coarse Fishing

25 February (Part 1)

River Kennet - Speen Moors 1000 - 1400 Mild with sunny spells. AT 8º - 10ºC. River very full and quite coloured up after recent rains. 1 Chub: 3lb 5oz. 2 Brownies : 5lb 0oz (I actually weighed it for a change) and one of a few ounces. Bites few and far between. So nearly a session where my first cast splashy trout (the smaller one) looked like being a blank saver.  However returning to one of my earlier swims produced the chub almost immediately followed by a brute of a brown
Coarse Fishing

21 February

River Kennet, Colthrop 1200 - 1530 Mild, breezy and drizzly. AT 12ºC. River pacey, with a tinge of colour. 1 chub: 3lb 14oz. 1 brownie: small. Had hoped the milder conditions and rain might have gingered things up a bit. However, I struggled for bites in all my favoured spots. Chub eventually coming from a far bank slack which I've rarely paid attention too, but will get further attention before the end of the season.  
Coarse Fishing

18 February

River Kennet - Brimpton 1000 - 1300 Bright and sunny with a keen Easterly breeze. AT 1º - 5ºC. River full, pacey and clear. 2 Brownies: both c¾lb, would have suspected they were the same fish were they not caught ½mile apart! Very sub-optimal conditions made me almost grateful for a couple of trout to put a bend in the rod. Almost!😏
Coarse Fishing

16 February

Lower Itchen Fishery 0830 - 1700 Cold & cloudy. AT 1ºC - 3ºC. River very full and pacey - with more colour than I was expecting to see. 14 Grayling: 10 over a lb with 8 over 1½. Best four - 2lb 4oz, 2lb 3oz, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 13oz. 3 Chub: 4lb 8oz and a couple of 3lbers. 2 Brownies: a 4lber and one half that. 2 Sea Trout; both 2-3lb. Another Itchen day organised by Neal (Cheers Neal!). First 5 fish (from pretty much the first five trots too) resulted in the biggest 4 grayling
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