Kennet & Avon Canal - Widmead
0715 - 1030
Mild, overcast with some light drizzle and an ever increasing breeze. Canal quite full.
4 Perch: 2 'pounders', biggest 1lb 6oz. 3 Chub: again a brace of pounders - to 1lb 9oz.
Dawn perch raid to a favoured swim of old - been 3 years since I last fished here but for a decade from 05-15 this was a nailed on banker venue for big perch - had dozens and dozens of 3lbers in that time plus a couple of 4s. My last 3 from here was Dec 15 a
Lower Itchen Fishery
0800 - 1800
Bright and breezy, clouding over in the afternoon. River quite full (though has clearly been a lot higher recently)
20 Grayling; 9 over lb - best 4, 2lb 2oz, 1lb15oz, 1lb 12oz, 1lb 10oz. 4 Chub; 3lb 13oz, 3lb 6oz & 2, lbers. A dozen plus (too many!) trout to 4lb+ - mainly browns with a couple of silver tourists! 2 Salmon Parr.
Very slow morning followed by a lively afternoon. My first half a dozen swims produced just one decent grayling (f
River Kennet - Hambridge
0845 - 1045
Cool and overcast. River at normal levels with minimal colour.
2 Chub: 2lb 9oz & 1lb 14oz. 9 Dace & 6 Roach - nothing of noteworthy size. 1 Brownie.
Quick couple of hours as I needed to get some bait for my trip to the Itchen on Monday - not that I need an excuse to fish one of my favourite (and most reliable) swims on the Kennet. As usual biggest chub first cast and I must find a way of winkling out more than one in a session from
River Kennet - Speen Moors
1015 - 1400
Cool, overcast and quite breezy. River in good nick - not as high or coloured as I expected after all the rain last weekend.
5 Chub; 3lb 6oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 6oz & 2 chublets. 1 Perch 1lb 7oz. 30(!) Roach with around a 3rd in the 8-12oz bracket. 12 Dace - all, bar 2, a really good size - biggest weighed in at 11oz but nearly everything else was within an ounce or 2 of this - cracking stuff. 2 Bleak & a Gudgeon.
Super trotting sessio
Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne
0700 - 1000
Chilly and bright - clouding over. 3
6 Perch - only 1 below 8oz but only 1 over lb (and not by much!) 1 Roach c10oz (on a whole lob)
A sudden drop in temps and a bright crisp morning are not the ideal conditions to kick off my autumn perch campaign here - so glad to get any interest at all in my float fished lobs. Started in one of my 'banker' swims which produced all the fish before doing a bit of prospecting which produced just
Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
1245 - 1615
Overcast, cool and drizzly at first (after 2inches of rain in the previous 24 hours). Water up and coloured.
5 Perch; All 'netters' with a couple nudging a pound. 1 Tench; 2lb 6oz.
Quick 'snatched' session to the venue nearest where I live. Had planned to fish upstream of Newbury today but didn't fancy standing out in the pouring rain all day - so made the most of a short break in the weather (the rains returned as I walked ba
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
River Kennet - Brimpton (Aldershot water)
1030 - 1400
Warm and sunny. 21ºC. River at normal September levels.
13 Chub(!): 7 over 1lb but 'only' 2 over 2 - best 2lb 10oz & 3lb 2oz. 4 Roach - all a nice size - best 13oz. 2 Dace. 5 Brownies - all around 10oz with one a fair bit bigger.
Another swim I've not fished in a while - though I won't be so tardy revisiting it! Nice to see smaller chub coming through - and the roach were a real bonus as well.
River Kennet - Colthrop
0700 - 1015
Bright and sunny. River at normal early autumn levels (i.e. quite low).
2 Chub - both quite small. 5 Roach - handsized or better. 4 Dace. 12 Gudgeon and a bleak.
Bit of a recce trip as I haven't fished here for a while - ran a float through half a dozen swims on the backstream, giving each half an hour or so.
River Wye, Llanthomas
1630 - 1930
Warm,sunny evening.
2 Barbel: 5lb 14oz & 7lb 7oz.
Mission accomplished! I usually make a point of NOT fishing when I'm on holiday with Mrs P - I tend to stay married that way! However when a long weekend in the Brecons became a week's stay in Hay due to our Greek holiday falling victim of Covid it would have been churlish not to drop in on Geoff's! I've known Geoff over 20 years and around 9 years ago he acquired a mile (double bank) of t
Willows Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 2300
Warm evening (though temps were starting to plummet when I left) 21º->12ºC.
2 Carp: 13lb 14oz, 7lb 2oz. 2 Tench - both quite small but pushing a lb. 3 Crucians - handsized.
A session topped and tailed by the 2 carp. The biggie snaffled my float fished maggot within 20mins of starting and with a 16 to a 4lb bottom I was grateful for the help of a fellow angler for its netting! In truth the carp were a pain - especially until it got dark a
River Kennet - Marsh Benham
0700 - 1200
Cool and sunny - felt quite autumnal first thing. 9-15ºC
4 Chub; a brace of 2lbers and a couple of chublets. 30+ Roach & a doz+ Dace - nothing particularly big. 5 Bleak. 3 Rainbows 2½-4½lb. 1 Brownie; 3lb+
A morning hunting chub but finding mainly rainbows 🙄 - I also lost 3 - one of which was nailed by a huge pike as I brought it in!
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1745 - 2215
Overcast, quite breezy at times and the AT actually went up a degree from 15-16ºC
1 Bream; 4lb 14oz. 1 Tench - c1lb. 2 Perch - both 'half decent' around 8-10oz. 3 Rudd.
Bites a-plenty for the first couple of hours (though I think a lot of them were rudd attacking the shot) - went very quiet as it got dark - exact opposite to what usually happens. Only bite after 2000 was the bream - which was very much a last cast fish - and meant I had a ve
River Kennet - Widmead
1015 - 1215
Sunny spells and still cool - 14ºC.
1 Chub: 1½lb. 13 Dace: most a really nice size - biggest 12oz. 1 Roach.
A real pain getting through the minnows - but once you did there were some quality dace on offer - still hoping this swim will produce decent chub - but had just the one modest sized one early in the session to show for my efforts. Best dace of the season (so far!)
River Kennet - Hambridge
0615 - 0930
Cool (9ºC) and overcast - more like late October than late August! River higher than normal for this time of year - but reasonably clear given all the rain this week.
2 Chub; 3lb 14oz & a chublet. 1 Pike; 8lb 12oz. 7 Dace, 5 Roach and a couple of brownies - 12oz+.
Chub first cast ( as per usual) after trickling in maggot for 15mins before starting. One of the dace was an absolutel clonker - a season's best for all of 2 and a bit hours
River Kennet - Brimpton
1800 - 2300
Warm, still evening (calm after the storm!). River up a tad and carrying a bit of colour (and the odd branch!)
2 Roach (handsized). 2 Dace. 3 Gudgeon & a Brownie (small).
An hour's trotting - hopeful of a chub - but really just a blank prevention measure (!) followed by 4 hours staring at a couple of isotopes willing one of them to wrap around with a three foot twitch. Alas the only excitements came from the crayfish and numerous bats c
River Kennet - Padworth
0600 - 1230
Bright and blowy! River at normal summer levels and carrying a bit of colour.
1 Chub, 7 Roach & 7 Dace. 3 dace in the 8-10oz class (nice!) and a couple of the Roach were 12-14oz as was the chub. 2 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak.
After my success here trotting last month I promised to return and have a proper go on the float. Fished around 10- to a dozen swims and only had fish from 2 of them with the chub and all the bigger silvers coming from the fi
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1900 - 2330
Warm, clear evening (Great views of Jupiter, Saturn & Mars) 21º-16ºC
3 Tench; 3lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz and a smallun (though would have been close to a lb). 2 Rudd (small but not micro-small!)
Slow evening which burst into life a little after 10pm when I had all 3 tincas in quick succession - prompted me to spend an extra half an hour beyond my intended pack up time - but had no more bites after 2245. Last blackberry haul of the summer!
Harris Lake - Marsh Farm , Milford.
0630 - 2330
Warm (still 18ºC when I got home at 0100), overcast and DRY - despite the forecast and the downpours the day before. There was some VERY annoying light drizzle for the last hour or so - but overall conditions were very benign - thankfully!
2 Crucians; 3lb 1oz & 2lb 9oz. 4 Tench - 2@4lb+ - biggest 4lb 9oz. 3 Perch. A doz+ Rudd (micro!!)
3 Time lucky! This is the 3rd IAC fish-in I've organised in 2020 and the first one to actu
Middle Kennet Weirpool - Marsh Benham
0600 - 1200
Hot and sultry - 19º -> 27ºC. River a little on the low side but not as bad as it can be in August!
12 Chub: 6 over lb, best 2 both went 4lb 3oz (different fish) - nice to see some small ones. 3 Bream; 2¾ to just under 4lb. 30 Dace. 20+ Roach. 4 Bleak. 1 Brown Trout - 6lb 1oz (!!) & 2 Rainbows of 2½ & 3½lbs.
Cracking morning's trotting - though the big brownie was on ledgered meat and had me convinced I was into a b
Willows Lake - Thatcham
1830 - 2230
Overcast and breezy with showers for the first hour. 21º - 18ºC bit felt chillier in the breeze.
1 Tench; 2lb 5oz. 3 Crucians - 2 'hand-sized' the third slightly bigger. 3 Perch.
So at last I've caught a crucian out of Willows this season - just not quite the size I was after! Most fish in the first couple of hours and I should probably have had more has the bites were quite tentative and hard to spot in the heavy ripple. Only one fish afte
Willows Lake - Thatcham
1800 - 0200
Hot and sultry. 28ºC and still 18ºC when I packed up at 2am. Bit of a breeze at times but not enough to keep off a veritable plague of mossies - plenty of Jungle Formula was called for!
4 Tench; 3lb 4oz, 3lb, 2lb 13oz, 2lb11oz. 1 Carp; 6lb 11oz. 2 Roach - handsized. 4 Perch.(and another 3lb of blackberries!)
Steady evening's sport on one of the warmest nights I've ever fished. Rotated between maggot and prawn - all the small stuff on mag -
Alders Lake - Thatcham
1830 (by the time I started fishing) - 2300
Warm, slightly overcast evening. AT 23ºC down to 16ºC when I packed up.
1 Tench (small), 2 Rudd (very small!)
This evening's venue choice was dictated by the quality of the blackberries rather than the fishing! Another 3lbs picked which Mrs P will be converting into her rather lovely bramble jelly! Fishing was pretty dire - my worst return from Alders this summer. All fish around 2130 when I had half an hour
