Season's Bests 2022-23
Entry posted by Chris Plumb in Coarse Fishing
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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 quest for tench & crucians - this one was caught deliberately however, on an evening when the tincas weren't playing ball!
Best Chub 6lb 5oz. 2 January Trotted maggot - River Kennet, Hambridge. Another super year for chub (I do luv em!) with over 100 X 1lb+ fish caught for the 3rd year running and whilst overall numbers were slightly down on last year - average sizes were up - I had 27 over 4lb - of which 7 were over 5lb - my best return on this front since 04/05. This rather washed out looking fish was caught when the Kennet was in full flood - hence its colouration I guess - and is a new venue best for me.
Best Tench 5lb 14oz. 23 June. Float fished prawn section - Harris Lake, Milford. Had a few 5lb+ tench from Marsh Farm this summer and was rather pleased to hear my club had stocked one of our lakes with tench that are even bigger. This fat looking tinca looked like it should have been well over 6 - but the needle never lies!
Best Bream 5lb 2oz. 21 September. Float fished maggot - Alders. The majority of my bream this season were river caught - occasionally turning up in some of my chub swims - and none of them left as much slime in the net as this specimen!
Best Crucian 4lb 2oz (New PB) 20 June. Float fished prawn section - Johnsons Lake - Milford. This is my 9th season fishing this lake - with pretty much the sole intention of trying to catch a really big crucian - though now its been achieved it won't stop me from returning! When I started the quest my pb was 3-13 - from a club water in 2011. I added an ounce to this 4 years ago with a fish from here - and eventually hit the jackpot this summer.
Best Perch 3lb 6oz 2 January. Float fished maggot - River Kennet, Hambridge. For the last couple of decades the majority of my big perch have come from the canal - not this season. All my 2lb+ stripeys came from the Kennet proper - this was my only 3lber - my first from this venue (next cast I caught the 6-5 chub - above!)
Best Grayling 2lb 2oz 5 February Trotted maggot - River Frome, Wool. Still chasing that 3lb lady - though this was actually my first 2lber from the Frome since 2019.
Best Barbel 2lb 1oz 31 August. Trotted maggot - River Kennet, Hambridge. Always pleased to catch a barbel these days - though might be putting in a bit more effort next season to find a bigger one than this!
Biggest Roach 1lb 0oz. 20 June Float fished prawn section - Johnsons Lake, Milford. With all the excitement of big crucians I'd forgotten I'd started the session with a nice roach - which I never bettered all season!
Best Dace 13oz 23 July. Trotted maggot - River Kennet, Marsh Benham. Had quite a few 'nice' dace this season and, as ever, was hopeful that the back end would produce a real biggy - alas nothing beat this summer caught fish from my syndicate stretch of the middle Kennet.
Edited by Chris Plumb
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