And another season comes to a close. And a rather good one it was too - with 3 PB's, an equalling PB and a couple of near misses. A rather indifferent summer, despite a PB Bream and a PB Crucian in the same week - was compensated by some great post September angling. The autumn perch campaign got off to a real flyer. A session which produced 18 fish for nearly 40lb including 5X3lbers and a PB equalling 3lb 14oz fish was a real red letter day (see 13 October entry). This winter I was eagerly looking forward to fishing the River Frome in Dorset for the 1st time - and it didn't disappoint. It proved to be quite a hard water, not at all as prolific as the Itchen but the rewards were worth it - producing 3 Grayling that are now in my all time top 10 - with a 2lb 14oz lady on my last trip only an ounce shy of my PB. I also had the vicarious enjoyment of seeing my good mate Paul get his PB from the river at 2lb 15oz. So no 3lber (yet!) - but we both got mighty close! Roll on November!

 

Best Carp: 15lb 9oz, 31 Oct 2011, River Kennet, Nr Thatcham. Ledgered Halibut pellet. This fish turned up in one of my favourite barbel swims - and had me convinced I was into a huge barbel - my only carp from this stretch of river in over 30 years of fishing it.

 

Best Pike: 15lb 3oz, 2 Jan 2012, River Kennet, Speen Moors. Float fished lobworm. A rather fortuitous capture but more than adequate compensation for a lack of perch that day!! Biggest pike I've ever caught on my float rod! And my best pike from this venue though I last seriously pike fished it over a decade ago - around 2000BC - Before Crayfish!

 

Best Bream: 12lb 2oz , 2 Jul 2011, Summer Pit. Float fished maggot, lift method. My first ever double figure bream - and the biggest of 5 fish in excess of 8lb from this venue last summer - all caught float fishing.

 

Best Barbel: 9lb 7oz, 29 June 2011, River Kennet, Padworth.

And 9lb 7oz, 24 August 2011, River Kennet, Nr Thatcham.

Both fish caught on ledgered Halibut pellet. A rather 'scratchy' barbel campaign - not helped, I suspect by repeated otter sightings throughout the summer. On 4 separate occasions I had an otter in my swim whilst having an evening barbel session - different swims & venues too!

 

Best Tench: 7lb 7oz, 16 June 2011, Summer Pit. Float fished meat - lift method. The season got off to a great start with my 3rd biggest ever tinca and my best from this venue - alas - on the tench front at least it was all down hill from then on...

 

Best Chub: 6lb 7oz, 19 Feb 2012, River Kennet, Nr Kintbury. Trotted red sweetcorn. A swim that I've had a hunch over for a couple of seasons finally produces - a new PB by an ounce.

 

Also had a 6lb 6oz equalling my previous PB fish whilst barbelling in June.

 

 

Best Perch: 3lb 14oz, 13 Oct 2011, Kennet & Avon Canal, Thatcham. Float fished lobs. I managed 7 perch over 3lb this season - 5 on the same day I snaffled this beauty to equal by PB caught not far downstream in 2009.

 

Best Crucian: 3lb 13oz, 26 June 2011, Newbury AA lake, Widmead. My longest standing PB was broken by this stonking slab of gold - as usual I invested a lot of energy into crucians last summer and this is the reason why!

 

Best Grayling: 2lb 14oz, 26 Feb 2012, River Frome, Wool. Trotted red maggot. Not a great pic as the fish just wouldn't pose for the camera! So below is a pic of Paul's 2lb 15oz fish from the same venue a month earlier!

 

Best Roach: 1lb 4oz, 18 Nov 2011 & 9 Mar 2012. Both from 'Middle Kennet Estates' (different ones) and both on trotted maggot. One gratifying aspect of this winter on the middle Kennet was the good numbers of roach that we found - no real biggies but quite a few over 8oz augurs well for the future.

 

Best Dace: 13oz, a weight equalled 4 times this winter - on 15 Jan, twice on 19 Feb & 9 Mar - from various Middle Kennet venues - all on trotted maggot. Similar to the 'mini' roach revival Paul and I found a lot of good sized dace in large numbers this winter. The really big ones eluded us - though I did find some VERY big dace on one occasion - I just couldn't catch one! I thinks Paul's best was a 14oz fish caught quite early in the winter before it would have been at maximum weight.

 

My best trout went unphotographed - in fact I'm not even sure what weight they were - they're a bit of an occupational hazard in the winter and I usually try to avoid them at all costs. I did also get only my 2nd ever proper salmon a 4lb+ grilse from the Frome which was also slipped back sans picture!