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Saturday 12th January, K&A Canal, Thatcham That’s the thing about my AN blog, it’s a record of my angling trips so if I shout about the good days I suppose I’ve got to shout about the bad ones too. That’s what I’m doing now. This early doors trip was always going to be touch and go, I’d guessed that Thursday would be the last day for mild conditions and hoped that the water would still be warm enough through Friday to this morning. To be honest it was just about, at 6 degrees I was glad I’d made the effort and the car temperature gauge showed 5 degrees on the way to the venue so although not mild it was still fishable and shouldn’t be too cold. The difference though was the wind chill, the brisk easterly blowing straight up the canal was biting and it wasn’t long before my fingers were numb, that was before I’d even started fishing. When I did start the float was being blown away from the feature I was targeting and what with the rippled surface everything seemed to be conspiring against me…payback for last week no doubt. I swapped banks which at least helped to get the float near the feature but by that time the images of bacon butties and fresh filtered coffee back in my warm kitchen had got the upper hand, I packed up an hour after first light. Not a great session but it’s all information logged for future reference. Good perch were showing and being caught in that swim last night so I do think it may be a holding spot, I was just a day later than I needed to be.

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0830 - 1800 Bright and sunny morning - clouding over after lunch (thankfully!). AT around 10ºC all day after a frosty start. River slightly on the low side. 22 Chub: Only 3 under 2lb and 8 over 4lb. Best 3 went 5lb 6oz, 5lb 2oz & 4lb 15oz. 7 Roach; 1lb 5oz, 12oz and 5 tiddlers. 7 Dace: 1lb , 12 oz 2@ 10oz and the other 3 weren't much smaller! 1 doz+ Brownies 2½lb - 4lb. 2 Rainbows both around 2½lb. My now annual end of season 'chubfest', though in truth this was very much a game of 2 halfs!. The bright morning sunshine and low river did not make for good sport and by the time I'd abandoned my usual banker stretch and headed upstream after an early lunch I'd caught 'just' 2 chub and 6 brownies. Thankfully conditions were much more conducive in the afternoon - heavy cloud cover and a stiffish breeze to put a ripple on the water and with judicous baiting and regular resting I caught chub pretty continously from the same long trot all afternoon. The rest periods were spent fishing a carrier that I've long suspected could hold big dace - though in previous visits over the past decade or so has failed to produce any (though I did once get a brace of 2lb perch from it!). Today they were in residence - all sandpapery males in breeding condition (would love to have found a pigeon chested female - they can be even heavier!) and a couple of lovely roach as swim mates. My first 1lb dace for 17 years (which was also from this venue - though further downstream).

River Kennet - Aldermaston 1345 - 1645 Warm with 'milky' sunshine. 19ºC. River low and sluggish. 2 Grayling; 1lb 6oz & 1lb 2oz (!!). 11 Roach; Biggest 12oz (weighed) nothing else even half that. 1 Gudgeon. Well I wasn't expecting that! First trip here in well over a decade and even when I did fish it more regularly it was usually hunched over a couple of quiver tips waiting for a barbel - I rarely got the trotting gear out on this venue. So a bit of a recce and for the first hour or so it looked like a fruitless one. I'd fished half a dozen or so swims without so much as a minnow bothering my maggots and had wandered a long way downstream from where I'd dumped my gear when I suddenly found some fish - 12oz roach was first up followed by the bigger lady. Pic below is of the smaller one - after I'd retrieved my gear to my new swim. (I didn't move again for the rest of the afternoon). Can't remember when I last caught a grayling so far down the Kennet! Pic of the gonk for Martin's benefit!

Three days in Swansea fishing as part of a week's family holiday on the Gower. It has to be said that this was salt water fishing (well, maybe a bit brackish), and my experience of such contests is that the fish normally come away with a 'clean sheet'! Though on this occasion I had built up my courage by watching a youtube video by some local youngsters who made it all look rather easy, catching small fish of a wide range of species. So I was hoping to get plenty of bites and catch even if the fish were very small Day 1 I ledgered ragworm, and caught a decent fish! A flounder of about 10 oz. I was well pleased. In addition I had three bites which I failed to connect with. Maybe the fish were too small for my ragworm? Day 2 I made the rash decision to switch to bread in the hope of a mullet. Slow to say the least, but towards the end of the day I saw lots of bubbles coming from a patch of water close to the edge. Then followed very tricky bites, with the float going down about an inch and staying still, just under the surface. BUT I did actually hook a small mullet which duly careered all round the swim before coming off the hook. Then a kindly local angler, who normally fishes for mullet, offered to show me the where and the how the next morning. Wow! Day 3 Of course I was full of expectation. Mullet are often found under boats where they feed off the weed growing on the hull. He had found one particular boat hosted a good shoal of fair sized mullet, but it was too far to float fish. Accurate casting of a ledger was needed. He predicted we would very soon have little knocks from mullet, and he was right. Normally, though, they didn't produce hittable bites, rather the reverse. As if to mock the angler they would slowly remove the bread from the hook until the metal was showing, and then they would refuse to have any more to do with it! But just occasionally they would get fed up and pull the tip round with a solid take! I started to get the hang of the casting, and things looked good, but gradually it became clear the mullet were not in a bold mood, and neither of us caught. But, unlike yesterday, the smaller mullet started to show lots of interest in the bread crusts we were chucking in, and at one stage it was quite dramatic with silver flashes everywhere. And one two of them were by no means small. After my friend had gone, and I'd had a nice lunch at the nearby sailing club, I returned with a float rod. Alas, the mullet had lost some of their enthusiasm. It may have been that the sun had moved so that the relevant area was now in shadow. They seemed to positively LIKE the bright light. In short, I didn't catch. So not much on the bank after 3 days, but an interesting and enjoyable time, of course with many questions. One thing I have wondered about is the use of groundbait. I used bread crumb, both in the feeder and balled in round the float, but it didn't seem to interest the mullet - whereas at times chucking in bits of bread (which sunk) or crust (which of course didn't) did. I've been wondering whether liquidised bread might have been more effective? Comments or advice from those who know more about sea fishing than I do would be welcome!

2.30 - 5.15pm I started off 'up in the water' with hemp and tares and casters hoping for some of the quality roach and rudd I've had in the last couple of months here. I had 6 roach in the first hour, but none were over about 5 ounces, so I switched to fishing on the deck practising the lift method. One nice bream about 3lbs, and 3 crucians all about 8 oz. Enjoyable fishing.

4-5pm. I had two false starts in other swims so only left myself an hour in bright sunlight. Pleasantly surprised, though. About 10 roach up to half a pound up in the water on hemp and tares. To me it's a slight puzzle. My general impression is that the lock cuts are pretty well devoid of fish in the summer. Why is Sandford an exception? Maybe I'm wrong and there are more fish in the others than I suppose. I must give a couple of the ones nearer my home another try. To be fair, the only one I've tried hemp and tares in is Sandford.

River Kennet - Padworth 1800 - 2200 Warm and overcast. River quite low and quite coloured up (usual late summer conditions!) 3 Chub; all ¾-1lb. 11 Roach - 4 in the 8-10oz class - all the others less that half this. 1 Dace; 6oz (looked bigger!) 3 Gudgeon. Moderately successful trotting sesh (and always nice to see a few gobio gobios turn up) to precede the expected blank on the lead once it got dark. Only 'rattles' were as a result of the signals!

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0000 Warm, overcast and breezy. AT a balmy 18ºC at midnight! 2 Tench; 3lb 5oz & 2lb 7oz. 1 Crucian - handsized. Surprisingly slow evening with bites at a premium, though nice to get another of the lake's small crucians. Tench were 3 hours apart (8&11pm) with the crucian putting in an appearance just after 10pm. Alternated between prawn sections and maggot - though all fish falling to maggot. Had intended to fish longer but driving drizzle (and a stationary float!) persuaded me otherwise!

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1830 - 2345 Cool,(cold!) clear evening under a full moon. AT down to 6ºC when I packed up (it got down to 2ºC in our greenhouse overnight). River up a couple of inches and looking in better nick than it has for a couple of months. 1 Barbel; 11lb 7oz. 1 Perch; 1lb 12oz. 11 Dace; (5 of which were over 8oz). 7 Roach; (all small save for one of 11oz). 1 Gudgeon. Hooray! After nearly 40 'rod hours' ledgering (and countless more trying to get one on the float) I finally get off the mark on the barbel front - and with a real lump too! As usual I started off on the float and was soon into some really nice dace - followed up with a nice bonus perch. By eight o'clock I was hunched over my isotopes waiting for something to happen. I planned to fish a bit longer than normal - and would in all probability have normally packed up when at a quarter to midnight my downstream rod gave that familiar 3 foot twitch and I was into my first barbel of the summer. Right from the off it was clearly a big fish - a real struggle to get it off the bottom - but once I did it was quickly mine! And with that it was off to bed - much earlier than I originally intended! Not the most sylph-like barbel I've ever caught!

River Lambourn - Shaw 0815 - 1145 Bright, cool and sunny. Temp up to 5ºC. River quite low as you'd expect this time of year. 31 grayling; All a decent size, nothing below a band 3 (20cm) and most 25cm+. Biggest 1lb 5oz with lots of fish an ounce or so either side of the 1lb mark. 1 trout parr. First trip to the Lambourn this winter and it didn't disappoint. Most fish (2/3rds) from the church stretch where I was also bitten off by a rather large pike!

River Kennet - Nr Newbury 0900 - 1600 Cold, overcast with snow laying to a depth of around 3-4inches. Temps hovering around 0ºC all day with frequent sporadic light snow flurries. No wind so wrapped up warm I was quite toasty all day - was actually rather a nice day to be out. River at near normal winter levels and quite clear. WT 42ºC 17 Chub(!); all over a pound with only 4 under 2¼lb, Biggest 4lb 2oz. Most fish in the 2½-2¾lb bracket. 10 Perch; Biggest 4, 2lb 8oz, 2lb 4oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 13oz. 16 Dace. 1 Roach, 2 Gudgeon. 4 Brownies including fish of 5lb 1oz and 4lb 5oz. 3 Rainbows to 2½lb. A session that defied logic or at least conventional wisdom as to what constitutes 'good angling conditions'. With air temperatures struggling to get above zero and water temperatures continuing to fall - we expected to struggle - how wrong can you be. I suppose we did have an overcast day and the road salt has yet to get into the rivers - but we considered these mere straws to be clutched! The date had been in Paul and my diaries for some time - we usually try and get a 'special' trip in sometime around my Birthday (which was last weekend). However it was touch and go whether, A we could find a venue that would let us on (or in the case of the Frome was within its banks) and, B we could actually get there. In the end we made the decison at 0700 on the day - and as a concession to the weather opted to arrive and leave in day light. (We usually arrive when it's still too dark to see a float - and leave under the same light conditions!!!!) Any fears that we had evaporated instantly. Paul probably spent most of the morning rueing his decision to turn down my offer to toss a coin for choice of first swim. We both had in mind where we wanted to start - but Paul said 'you can start there'. (well it is MY birthday!) And what a present the river delivered. In the first 1½hours of fishing I had 14 chub to 3¼lb plus the two biggest trout. I don't usually weigh the trout but these were 2 impressive fish. At times the fishing took on Mr Castwell proportions - with the float dipping at the same point in the swim every trot - and yet another 2½lb chub was brought to the net (as opposed to a similar sized trout in Skues' fable). A schooly 2½lber... By the time Paul joined me for mid-morning coffee, bites were begining to dry up - I was almost thankful!! We agreed that we'd rest the swim and that Paul would have first dibs to fill his boots in the afternoon - something he did with aplomb - snaffling another 8 fish including one of 5lb 3oz. I joined him right at the end of the day and was allowed to run a float through a few times. Paul had just announced that we hadn't caught a 4 lber today (a less than subtle ruse to draw attention to the fact he'd caught a 5 methinks!) when bang on cue I get one of just that size. Between the morning and late afternoon chubfests - Both Paul and I had some great predator action. Paul had spent most of the morning catching dace - something I joined in on after my chubby start but after lunch we both decided on seeing if we could get some predators. Paul had his pike gear with him and had seen a fish in the shallows - plus I'd lost a dace to a pike. My target was a perch or two - though that was more in hope than expectation. Sure enough my perch campaign got off to a slow start - chub in cold conditions is a bit of a staple but perch - I must be mad. These thoughts were going through my head after 15minutes of looking at a stationary float when all of a sudden it bobbed twice and slowly went under. A strike met with the briefest restistance and no lob - crayfish? a perch?. The answer wasn't long in coming as my next bait was snaffled even before the float cocked and a nice perch shot out from the slack into the main current - a nice fish of 2½lbs... I'd added 3 smaller ones to this when I had a call from Paul. He'd caught a big pike and could I come and take its portrait with its captor. It was a VERY nice pike short and very fat as trout fishery pike often are and at 17lbs exactly a new PB for Paul.. Paul then caught a couple of jacks and after the hiatus I returned to my Perch swim to continue where I'd left off with a couple more 2lb+ fish and half a dozen smaller ones upto 1lb. 4 O'clock and time to pack up as we wanted to be off the country roads while it was still light. Normally I'd be a bit regretfull at leaving a venue such as this while there was still fishable light - Paul too - but today we were well and truely sated!!!! Paul's 5lber - should be easy to identify again in the future... Winter Wonderland

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 – a 24hr booking around half a dozen of us had on this CEMEX water. I was getting plagued by carp knocking the feeder but not taking the hook offering (pellet or boilies) so I figured I’d give them something EXACTLY the same as was in the feed and made up a ball of hemp with Kryston bogey and hair-rigged that instead. Above was the result! Blog Entry: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-263-1415-august/ Best Pike – 18lb 10oz. 10 February 2001. River Lambourn – Newbury. Free-lined Lamprey section. An opportunistic capture – and one of the few pike I’ve ever ‘stalked’. I saw the fish laid up in a small weir-pool and was able to lower a bait within a couple of feet of its nose. As soon as the bait hit the bottom I could see the pike’s gills ’flare’ but it still took nearly 20mins to edge up to the offering before engulfing it – exciting stuff! Best Barbel – 12lb 4oz. 27 July 2004. River Kennet, Arrowhead – Thatcham. Ledgered Halibut pellet. A bit of ‘prospecting’ which paid off at the time – but despite repeat visits a swim that never produced another fish despite also getting an 8lber and a river carp of similar size the same evening. Still the only 3 fish I’ve ever had from the swim. Best Bream – 12lb 2oz. 2 July 2011. Summer Pit – Yateley. Float fished (lift method) maggot. Really a venue I used to visit for its tench and crucians – but I was actually after bream when I caught this and had a number of 8lb+ fish that summer from the same venue. Blog entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-704-12-july/ Best Brown Trout – 8lb 12oz. 14 March 2008. Middle Kennet Estate – Newbury. Trotted Maggot. (No photo) I rarely weigh trout let alone photograph one – especially when like this they are caught right in front of the keeper’s cottage. I Usually spend the winter trying to avoid them and hoping they get off when I hook one – though was rather pleased to land this on light-ish tackle in fast water. Blog Entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-222-14-march/ Best Tench – 7lb 10oz. 18 June 2003. Wylies Lake – Thatcham. Float fished (lift method) black pudding. Black pudding (it needs slicing and frying up first to give it a skin) is one of my favourite tench baits – and one that was first suggested to me by reading the very first printed book on angling. Published in 1496, The Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle (also from which the woodcut of an angler float fishing is my Anglersnet Avatar) is attributed to one Dame Juliana Berners – though there is scant evidence such a person ever existed. In it a recommended bait for tench, is described as a paste made from black sheep’s blood, honey and flour – which must have looked like (and smelt like) black pudding. Best Chub – 6lb 7oz. 19 February 2012. Middle Kennet Estate – Nr Kintbury. Trotted Red Sweetcorn. Patience rewarded. A swim I had a hunch held big chub but which I think I’ve rushed at too much in the past – often getting a few schooly ones before killing the sport. This fish was the last one of half a dozen caught in a morning where I rested and fed the swim after each capture. Just in time too – this winter’s floods have changed this swim significantly – washing away the bush that used to create the slack that held the chub – I didn’t get a bite here from 2 visits this (12/13) winter…ho hum. Blog Entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-848-19-february/ Best Salmon – 5lb 10oz. 13 October 2008. Lower Itchen Fishery. Trotted Maggot. (No Photo) Again a species I’d rather not be catching when I’m fishing for grayling – was still nice to get my first ‘proper’ one though! Blog Entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-281-13-october/ Best Rainbow Trout – 4lb 10oz. 5 March 2004. Barton Court – Kintbury. Trotted Maggot. (No Photo) A species I rather wished wasn’t in the Kennet at all! Best Perch – 4lb 2oz. 16 February 2013. Kennet & Avon Canal – Thatcham. Float fished lobworm. Don’t think I need to say any more about this! Blog entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1017-16-february-part-2/ Best Crucian – 3lb 13oz. 26 June 2011. Newbury AA Lake – Widmead. Float fished (lift method) bacon grill. One of my favourite summer species. Blog Entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-699-26-june/ Best Grayling – 2lb 15oz. 6 January 2002. Lower Itchen Fishery. Trotted maggot. One of my first winters at LIF – and looking through my diary I’d forgotten just how awesome the grayling fishing was back then. In just 2 trips in 01/02 I had 27 grayling over 2lb of which 9 were over 2½lb. This 2.15 was the biggest – over a decade later and I’m still hunting a 3! Best Roach – 2lb 11oz. 7 February 2003. Middle Kennet Carrier – Nr Hungerford. Trotted maggot. A red letter day to end all red letter days. 7 Feb 2003 is now hard-wired into my consciousness. I had a 1-15 roach pretty much 1st cast and this beauty last cast. In between these 2 redfins I had…. Best Dace – 1lb 2oz. 7 February 2003. Middle Kennet Carrier – Nr Hungerford. Trotted maggot. …3 dace over 1lb including this fat pigeon chested female (plus 5 more between 13-15oz). Martin Bowler catches a 1-02 dace from the same swim in Catching the Impossible (filmed sometime after my capture I have to add!) And finally some odds ’n sods… Brown Goldfish - 1lb 14oz: 21/06/05, Float fished Bread, Pumphouse Lake, Yateley. Sea Trout - 1lb 12oz: 06/01/02, Trotted Maggot, Lower Itchen Fishery. Eel - 1lb 6oz: 11/10/03, Trotted Maggot, River Test, Timsbury Rudd - 1lb 6oz: 27/07/91, Float fished Maggot, NAA Lake, Widmead.

River Kennet - Thatcham 0700 - 1200 Sunny morning after a rainy start - rain stopped almost as soon as I started fishing. 2 Perch; 3lb 10oz & 1lb 2oz. 19 Dace (5 of which were in the 8-10oz class - very nice). 3 Roach. Fished trotted corn for the first 45 mins in the hope of snaffling one of the big chub that are usually in residence - but didn't get a touch. Was rueing that decision by 0830 with the swim now in full sunlight thinking I'd wasted the best part of the morning. I needn't have worried - though I was contemplating switching to Plan B and a venue just downstream when at around 1000 I connected with something distinctly chub-like which headed for the trailing branches on the opposite bank. However once I'd bullied it into open water I could see it was a really good perch and I thought I'd be celebrating my 500th blog posting with a 4lber - alas 6 ounces shy - but my best of the season (so far). Also nice so see some really chunky dace in this swim this season.

Lower Itchen Fishery 0830 - 1630. Cool and overcast after a soggy start, rain returning just as we packed up, temps didn't get above 4ºC all day. River quite pacey with a slight tinge of colour. 37 Grayling; 14 over 1lb with half of these over 1½lb. Best two; 2lb 5oz & 1lb 13oz. 1 Brownie and 2 Salmon Parr. IAC fish-in in memory of Paul Goulbourn. A poignant day on the Itchen. Paul and I were introduced to this fishery back in the late 90's - via an IAC fish-in and we made a point of fishing it every season since - always scheduling a trip in mid to late Feb - so today was full of recollections of trips past and a fitting venue for some of his old IAC mates to gather in his memory. The talk on the list this week has all been about otters and blow me if the first thing we saw when we arrived at Gaters Mill at first light was an otter. And not just a fleeting glimpse - we watched as it scampered up the bank, crossed over the track and plunge into the river to head upstream under the M27. After this early excitement the first challenge was to get the cars up the track - we'd been warned that it was in a poor state but everyone made it up safely even if a few cars had to be pushed out for the return journey. The angling was everything I'd hoped it would be (save for the lack of chub). The river was quite 'full' but thankfully the lack of rain in the previous days had meant it had had a chance to fine down. The weather was exactly as per forecast - early rain giving way to a dry, cool, overcast day. I started in a spot where I expected there to be chub but the extra water meant that the slack that is usually there - wasn't. However it wasn't long before my trotted corn was snaffled by my first fish of the day a 1lb 9oz grayling - a super start. It quite quickly transpired that the fish appeared to be shoaled up in a few specific spots - and I ended up catching all my grayling from just 3 swims - rest and return being my mantra for the day. Sometimes at fish-ins you can go all day without actually meeting up with anyone - especially on a large venue such as LIF. Dave had a arranged for everyone to down rods and meet up for lunch - with the offer of freshly cooked sausages, toasted sandwiches and cupcakes! It made for a nice sociable interlude - even if Ed did miss the photocall in his urgency to return to the river! Thank you's to: - everyone who came especially those that travelled some distance to make it - Dave Smith for organising the day and acting as treasurer -£120 (+ Gift Aid) was raised by the event which will be given to Duchess of Kent Hospice where Paul spent his final days. - Chris (Rusty) for offering to give me a lift and being great company. Some the IAC Reprobates! (That's Brian on his knees - praying for a 2lber?) My biggest of the day.

Middle (just ) Kennet Estate. 0900 - 1645 Bright afternoon after a soggy morning. AT up to 11ºC. River quite full but with little colour. 28 Chub; nearly all in the 2½-3½lb bracket. Only 2 under 2lb and only one over 4lb (and that by just 3oz). 2 Dace. 7 Trout (6 Rainbows & a Brown) up to 2¾lb. Treated myself to a late birthday trip. Keeper directed me to a carrier that he said was 'black' with chub back in the summer (but warned that the extra water might have pushed them out). He (and I) needn't have worried. First 6 trots all produced chub and I had a dozen in no time at all. Rested it in favour of another chub swim on the main river - and that was pretty much the pattern of the day - rest and return! Most fish (around 2/3rds) on trotted red corn - the rest on trotted maggot. The swim on the main river.

River Frome - Wool 0800 - 1400 Dull, overcast and cool - AT around 6ºC all day with a breeze picking up. River VERY full, barely within its banks and that only recently given the state of the field. 1.30m at the East Stoke river gauge - much higher than I'd usually fish it - BUT after a dry week it was reasonably clear. 10 Grayling - only 4 needed the net - biggest 1lb 11oz but that was the only really 'decent' one. 1 Sea Trout (1¼lb and still with sea lice on it), 1 brownie - small. Bit of a gamble - but the river levels have been so high on the Frome since the start of the season (1st Nov) it looked like my DDAS ticket was going to go to waste - and with more rain forecast this week - it was a case of now or never! The venue is never prolific so it was nice to get a few, and would often get a fish first trot when I moved swims. Frustratingly I lost nearly as many as I landed including a large fish which I had on for sometime before the hook pulled (again!) - hope it was just a troot! Resting and returning to swims was the order of the day - all fish coming from just 3 spots (and one of those only produced one fish!) One of yesterday's 'hotspots'.

8th August - Shh So I managed to secure a ticket on the water that featured in my last blog and thought it was about time I christened my new rod so I popped down there to fish the afternoon into the evening. As before I baited a good number of likely looking spots with soaked pellet, corn and a few chops and fished them in rotation judging by what I'd seen. It's seriously exciting stuff, watching these dark, old cheese's feeding, all the time willing them to drift off momentarily so you can sneak a rig in. When they come back it's as if time stands still, you freeze to the spot, even trying to breathe quietly as you watch them edge closer to the hookbait. Then in an instant the serenity is broken, the centerpin turns into a blur and your holding the rod at full compression in an attempt to stop them reaching any cover. I had 3 and a tinca over about 5 hours fishing. - 9th August - Shh Another day off... Lasted a couple of hours sitting around at home before I gave in and hotfooted over to the forgotten lake with 4 hours to try and outwit another of it's residents. Baited a number of swims, concentrating on trying to catch from new ones this time. Got off to a very good start in the first swim. Sneaked a hookbait onto a new spot that only had one fish feeding on it, put the rod down and sneaked the 5 yards next door to check another spot when the pin went into meltdown. Pressure off. I had a bit of a wander around after that. The other spot I'd seen fish on had become occupied by a chap that I'd met the day before... he'd been a member for over a season and was yet to land a carp. Anyway, I crept about checking spots before spotting a couple of tails waving at me from the dark water next to a very snaggy tree. It seemed like I waited forever for them to drift off before getting the rig in with a fresh handful of bait. 10 minutes later they were back, 5 or 6 of them feeding with gusto, somehow avoiding my rig. Then out of nowhere a familiar looking ghosty sped in, beelined for the hookbait and hooked itself instantly. A real hit and hold scrap later and as I suspected it was the same fish that I'd opened my account with a week previously. They played hard to get after that with all the spots looking quiet, until I saw a fish ghost over the area I'd had the most action from. They had obviously cleaned all the bait out and were looking for more, so in went the rig and a handful of grub. 20 minutes and one aborted take later I landed another absolute stunner. I'm sure you can see why I love the place and understand that I want to keep it's location quiet.

31st March - K&A Canal Popped back to the canal with the soft plastics tonight. It was rather an impromptu trip after unexpectedly getting off from work early but it was certainly worthwhile. I thought I'd try another new stretch to prevent it getting a little stale, and to give the other stretches a bit of respite. I made a quick call to see if the old man wanted to join me and 3/4 of an hour later we were tackling up, full of expectation. We fished for an hour or so in the biting wind with only a little jack to show for it and feeling rather deflated we came close to admitting defeat and going home. Somehow I managed to persuade him to stay, with the promise that it would pick up as the light was fading. For once my premonitions rang true and as the sun dropped below the horizon I had a right result. 4 good'uns in approximately 15 minutes, and when you consider half of that time was spent weighing and photographing fish, it was pretty hectic. 2.11 2.13 3.0 The other one was 2.4, which I slipped back without a pic. Dad chipped in with a beauty of 2.10 a few minutes after mine which rounded the evening off fantastically. I don't think I could ever get bored catching these perch on the jigs. That said I have ordered some gear for drop-shotting, just to mix things up a little. No doubt I'll be straight back out there when it arrives so hopefully the next entry won't be too far away.

Disruption is the word that springs to mind when I look back over the past season. After a bone dry winter relief (from an angling point of view) came in the form of heavy rain leading up to June 2012, as you would expect this bolstered levels and provided some temporary respite for the struggling Kennet. Only the respite didn’t turn out to be temporary, I kept expecting to see the water drop back during the dry spells but there weren’t many of those for the rest of the season. As a consequence there was a period of about three months during the summer when the Kennet was in prime condition, wading was still possible and it was a pleasure to fish. From there on it became more difficult, during autumn and winter the rain kept coming and what we have now is a river just within its banks and very susceptible to the lightest of rainfall. I don’t mind this situation, it’s much better than if we’d had a dry summer but it has had an impact on the fishing, swim availability has been more limited with some stretches like Brimpton being a muddy torrent most of the time. As regards results well it’s been a pleasing year with January 2013 being particularly notable. This is when I found a swim which produced perch after perch and all of them a good size. Early season activities centred around barbel, the first week off work saw me feeding pints of maggots into what I thought were reliable swims but it wasn’t until the last day of my holiday (24th June) that I finally managed to catch one, only 4lb 4oz but enough on light trotting gear; July and August were fairly quiet for me fishing wise, motorcycling took priority as I prepared my bike for what was to be week long holiday in Cornwall. In the event the weather was terrible so I went in the car and then a family emergency ended the holiday not long after it had started. The time I did spend fishing though was to prove invaluable, in trying to avoid September boat traffic I chanced my arm in a canal swim and stumbled across a shoal of decent perch. Exactly how decent I wasn’t to find out until later in the season but for now 2lb 12oz was pretty good; September also accounted for one of the more amusing moments of the season. A pike grabbed a dace that I’d caught and managed to hook itself neatly in the top jaw, probably a PB pike on the float at 6lb 14oz; October was the last month that my club stretches were fishable without any restriction due to high water levels. After that it was a case of fish the Lambourn, the K&A Canal or search out slack water on the Kennet and there wasn’t much of that. Before the Autumn deluge I did have one final fling at Speen Moors (the APFA Kelly Kettle swim) and achieved a venue PB chub at 4lb 10oz; The onset of winter brought with it the worst fishing conditions I’ve known. The Kennet was high, coloured and fast in most places and the Thames was quite lierally all over the place. The location of last year’s PB chub was four feet under water and although the high levels eventually receded a days rain would see them straight back up again. I never did get down to Goring for winter chubbing which is a real shame. Another disappointment was the lack of access to the Middle Kennet Estate venue but this is perfectly understandable given the conditions the riverkeeper was having to deal with. I did get there twice late in the season and both times caught chub so I’m very grateful for that. November saw me having a brief encounter with roach on the Lambourn. After initial success with a nice little specimen and eyeballing a shoal which contained much bigger fish I really thought I was onto something. As usual though my impatience got the better of me and after failing to tempt the larger roach I abandoned the mini campaign after a couple of visits; January was without doubt the highlight of my season, remember that perch swim I found on the canal during September? Well it accounted for a PB perch of 3lb 8oz and one of the best sessions I can remember, six fish for just under 18lbs in weight This spot was to retain my focus until the end of the season though it never quite lived up to that session again. In fact it dumped me firmly in my place when it failed to provide a fish on an occasion where I was absolutely certain that I’d do well. It was also responsible for my season going out in a quiet whimper rather than a big bang, my final evening session on the 14th March resulted in a spectacular blank. So that’s my review of the 2012/13 season. All things considered it’s been a pretty good year and I’m now looking forward to hot sunny days fishing for carp off the surface and (on the occasions I can manage to get up early enough) misty dawn mornings after tench. Oh and there’s Wingham, I fully intend to put my hand up again this year so if I’m fortunate enough to go who knows what that might bring?

Ok a bit of a cheat title because it was over two sessions but it was from one swim during consecutive dusk/dawn periods. I had no intention of spending a night by the K&A Canal. Saturday 5th January, River Kennet, Newbury and the K&A Canal, Thatcham At last an opportunity to get on the river trotting. The Kennet has been pretty inaccessible with all the rain so the few short sessions I've had have been on the Lambourn catching grayling, nice but I was beginning to miss catching chub. Chris Plumb's blog indicated that there might be a chance at one venue so that's where I headed for the late morning session, the afternoon would be spent on the canal trying to take advantage of the perfect perch conditions. As I drove over the bridge first impressions weren't good, despite the dry spell the river was still way over its banks and I wondered whether it was actually higher than when Chris had fished it. Walking the venue revealed just one fishable swim but it looked a corker, sure there was loads of water but it wasn't coloured and the increased flow on the far bank had created a beautiful glide between the middle of the river and the near bank. Trotting commenced and I'm pleased to report that it was interrupted on several occasions by fish. The first two were chub with 3lb being the largest, unfortunately a trout put an end to those but small grayling, roach, dace and perch followed over the next few hours. Exactly the sort of session I was after. So off to the canal buoyed with enthusiasm, that is until I spent an hour in my chosen swim with no sign of any perch being present. Thoughts of my local pub and dinner started to enter my head as it got darker and creepier, I phoned Steve to let him know that somebody has stolen all of the fish in the canal and that I was thinking of going home. He made the valid point that I may as well stick it out through dusk until it got proper dark, I just needed to be careful about the ghost of an axe murderer who'd drowned in one of the locks (it was a heavy axe and he wouldn't let go apparently). I couldn't fault his logic and also couldn't remember the last occasion Id fished for perch at the 'right' time of day so I pressed another lobworm into service and cast out. Not long after that fry started showing on the surface, not in large numbers but it was activity at last. It was like a switch had been flicked somewhere, my float shot under and I lifted into a solid lump of a perch, I haven't yet caught a tiddler from this swim and that trend continued with this 3lb 2oz beauty; About 20 minutes later another bite and another 'three' but no spare ounces this time, 3lb exactly; I was both elated and speechless but amazed myself by retaining enough composure to re-bait and cast out in rapidly fading light, sadly there was no more action, the feeding spell had only lasted half an hour. Fumbling around and packing up was a tricky business (I'd forgotten my headtorch) but I got back to the car in one piece and contemplated the evening ahead. Forget the pub, early dinner and early to bed, dawn was only a few hours away. Sunday 6th January, K&A Canal, Thatcham and the River Kennet, Newbury Back to the same canal swim and at 7:30am on the dot I could just see well enough to fish. I'd been feeding maggots for half an hour by then and the time had come to lower in the first lobworm of the day. I thought the float had disappeared as soon as it hit the water but in the gloom I wasn't sure that I could trust my eyes, a tentative strike provoked something at the other end and a couple of minutes later the first perch of the day was on the bank, 2lb 12oz; I won't go into chapter and verse about the following two hours, suffice to say it was the best perching session Ive had and included a new PB. The next fish, 2lb 15oz; And the PB, I'm really pleased that this looks noticeably larger than the other fish. Sometimes I look at my perch photos and wonder whether they really look the weight, this one does at 3lb 8oz; Finally 2lb 7oz to round the morning off; At 9:30am I hadn't had a bite for a while so I concluded that the morning feeding time had come to an end. The canal was getting busy with canoeists, dog walkers and pesky anglers so it seemed a good time to move back to the river. The sun came out for a bit and the chub and dace came out for a bit longer, nothing large but it was really pleasant to finish the day on running water. It had been a memorable weekend, the perch weren't full of spawn yet so itll be interesting to try that swim nearer the end of the season, I wonder how much heavier a 3-08 will get?

Middle Kennet (& carrier) - Marsh Benham 0930 - 1430 Mild, mainly cloudy with sunny spells. AT 12ºC. River very pacey with a tinge of colour. 2 Chub: 3lb 6oz, 2lb 3oz. 16 Roach - all quite small. 1 Dace (ditto). 4 Bleak. Nice to see some silvers showing again! Usually when the Kennet is in flood this carrier is a mecca for silver fish and one of this season's mysteries was where had they got too - all syndicate members had struggled to find them. Nothing of any size alas - but there was an added bonus of no trout showing up! Made the long walk to fish my south bank slack - and was rewarded with the bigger chub (the smaller one had come from the carrier...)

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0730 - 1330 Warm(ish) and overcast and quite muggy. AT 18ºC - 21ºC. River down a bit - more than I expected after another wet week.... 2 Bream: 3lb 3oz & 2lb 10oz. 3 Chub; 2 around ¾lb and another even smaller. 40+ Dace & Roach (in roughly equal nos - slightly more dace) - only one fish to trouble the net - a super dace of 10oz. 2 Bleak. A rare failure at finding decent chub - though a couple of hard fighting river bream were more than adequate compensation, plus there was the added bonus of NO trout! Nice to see so many silvers in the river too.

Kennet carrier (& main river) - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1330 Bright and breezy with a few light (& one heavy) showers. AT 5º-7ºC. River at normal levels - carrier still a little on the low side for winter. 1 Chub: 2lber. 20 Roach & Dace (slightly more roach - nothing note-worthy). 3 Brownies and a Rainbow - all 2½ - 3½lb - with the Rainbow at the top end of that and possibly pushing 4lb... A morning spent playing (and largely failing!!) at avoid the trout. Got off to a promising start with a chub in the first 10 mins - alas, it would be my only one! Turned into something of a syndicate Christmas social - with over half the membership turning up at some point in the morning!

Johnson's Lake - Milford 1430 - 2315 Bright and sunny with a cooling NEly breeze which did a great job of keeping the mozzies at bay! AT 20º -> 10ºC. 5 Crucians - in order of capture: 3lb 7oz, 3lb 9oz, 3lb 8oz, 3lb 1oz, 4lb 2oz (NEW PB!) 8 Tench - biggest around 2½lb the rest less than half that! 1 Roach (1lb) (!), 4 Rudd - all between 6-10oz and a micro perch! WOW! Annual pilgrimage here pays off spectacularly - my first ever 4lb crucian and the first time I've ever had 5X3lbers in a session. All caught on small chopped prawn segments and all during daylight hours (the 4lber was landed just before 7pm) which meant I had even higher expectations for dusk. Alas, the tench moved in and proved to be a bit of a menace! (the carpers were complaining about them when I arrived!) A real Red Letter Day. Tired but elated this morning!

The end of another year, the second after my 20 year+ hiatus from the sport that has totally recaptured me like a bleak to a pinkie. It included my first ever grayling (they never had them in Surrey) and my first Crucian and Rainbow since 1977 approx. I'm quite anal in my record keeping, writing a journal, updating a spreadsheet, and then there's been this jolly-old blog since March, so I am well-equipped to shake a creel full of statistics at you which are of interest to, at best, myself. Here goes: Total number of trips: 167 Total number of hours spent fishing: 912.25 Thus average length of trip = 4.6 hours Total number of fish caught: 1,277 (not including 49 minnows) Total weight of fish: 1,850lbs. This average weight per trip = 11lbs, number of fish caught per trip = 7.74 @ 1 fish every 42 minutes. Number of blank trips was 20, ie 1 in 8 trips. number caught number over 1lb Seasons biggest number caught number over 1lb Seasons biggest Bleak 102 NA NA Bream 75 27 6lb 2 Brownie 25 16 3lb 8 Common 117 116 18lb 9 Chub 8 2 1lb 12 Crucian 10 4 2lb 12 Dace 39 0 12oz Grayling 7 2 1lb 4 Gudgeon 12 NA monster! Mirror 90 90 16lb 10 Perch 270 13 2lb 6 Pike 2 2 3lb 2 Rainbow 1 1 5lb 3 Roach 450 0 12oz Rudd 20 0 4oz Tench 49 45 5lb 8 There. Not great, is it. The profile suggests someone who has concentrated on Willows (carp, tench), and hasn't got to grips with rivers (the chub count is appalling). Plenty of room for improvement, especially chub, and I'd like to do some piking this winter. I also aim to get the blanks down to 1 in 5, and find some larger roach. BTW the picture is from 1975, a shot of me and my late Dad fishing (he hated it, but came with me occasionally, bless him).

Attractor groundbait dowsed with liquid worm, hook bait lobworms, straight lead. On Wednesday I found a new swim where I was getting bites from good perch. I would play them for 20 seconds or so and think they were securely hooked, and then they got off. I just landed one of about 1.5 lbs, but lost 4 or 5 good fish. Today, Friday, I tried again with the same approach. 4 small ones and a lovely 2 lb 9oz. It started well, but after the 2 pounder the swim went dead. I assume the fight spooked the rest, as I didn't think to draw him out of the swim asap. Will do so next time!

Willows was busy as ever, and I chatted to a number of anglers on my way to one of the remaining swims. A few had come out, but one guy had been there since 8am and had not caught a thing - and now it was early 4. I chucked in a few balls of breadcrumbs mixed with pellets in the far margin opposite my narrowish swim then set up and cast out. Before I'd even got my seat set up, the rod was dragged across the bank and I held on for a 7lb 9 mirror - wow! Tonight was going to be the night. I had no more bites on the method feeder, short of one bringing in a 4-ox roach, foul hooked in the head. I switched to float fishing the near margin earlier than planned to drum up some action. Had a three perch, three more roach and a small bream. But I also had tench of 1lb 2 and 3lb, and as it darkened, two pretty crucians of 4 and 6 ounces, the smaller having recovered from having a big bite taken out of its back. As it got dark, my line got tangled around the end of the rod which required a head torch switched on to sort out, which probably sent any fish scampering away from the margins. When the same thing happened again ten minutes later, I took the hint and packed up. I'd seen the carp up on the surface on open water in the warmth of the evening sun, so I'm sure a pellet waggler, or a floating dog biscuit would have caught well, but I took my chance in the margins which on this occasion, did not pay off. Never mind.

Middle Kennet 0800 - 1730 Bright, calm and sunny after a frosty, misty start. River still high with most colour now dropped out. 10 chub (3lb 7oz, 1¾lb & 8 chublets), 40 roach (best 1lb 3oz, 3 or 4 others ½ decent - most very small), 20 Dace (4 'good-uns', best 10oz), 7 Brownies - biggest 4lb 11oz*, 1 rainbow 2½lb, 2 gudgeon. Most - actually nearly all apart from the 3-7 chub and a couple of brownies - fish caught in first and last couple of hours. Walked miles in between times looking for fish prepared to feed in bright conditions. Biggest roach on trotted bread flake in first hour - though most fish on red magg (trout seem to like bread even more than maggots!). Saw remarkable sight of 5 buzzards circling and calling in the same thermal (right above us). Paul had 2 or 3 dozen - mainly roach plus the obligatory brownies and a 2½lb chub. *2nd biggest ever - would have been a PB but for last Monday!

Lower Itchen Fishery 0830 - 1830 Dull and overcast all day temps around 11/12ºC. River low, gin clear & carrying quite a bit of debris - mainly weed with some leaf litter. 44 Grayling: 14 over 1lb - best 3, 2lb 1oz, 2lb 1oz & 1lb 15oz. 3 Chub, 4lb 14oz, 3lb 6oz, 2lb 12oz, 2 Brownies, 4 Salmon Parr, 1 roach & a gudgeon - possibly my 1st ever from LIF - can't ever remember catching one from here before! Very pleasant days angling organised by Paul with Lee, Merv & Dave joining us for some early autumn grayling action. We all caught between 40 - 60 ladies and I think we all caught chub too - Lee and Dave certainly had 4lb+ fish. No other 2lb grayling caught - all my biggest fish (above) along with another grayling of 1¾lb and the 2 smaller chub came from the carrier. My brace of 2lbers...

Middle Kennet Estate 0830 - 1800 Bright and sunny after an overcast morning. AT 3º->8ºC, quite chilly in a stiff easterly breeze. 6 Chub; Biggest 2, 4lb5oz & 4lb 0oz, 2 Perch; 2lb 14oz & 2lb 7oz. 15 Dace; Biggest 10oz though nearly all the others weren't much smaller. 2 Roach, both small. 10 Brownies to 2½lb. Typical session wandering the banks searching for fish - walked even further than normal as it was tough going once the sun came out. Thankfully I'd bagged the brace of perch whilst it was still overcast and gloomy in the morning and most of the dace came in the last hour as the sun set. All chub on trotted corn. Perch on lobs.

K&A Canal - Nr Thatcham 0720 - 1100 Still, overcast and mild - with the sun breaking out for the last ¾hr and the breeze picking up. WT 52ºF. 6 Perch; 3lb 5oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 5oz, 2lb 3oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 12oz. A perfect perch morning got off to a perfect start with the 3lber first cast! The biggest 2lber followed soon after and I thought I was going to be in for another morning's haulin! However there then followed nearly an hour of crayfish activity and my 'lobworm attrition rate' shot up - was worried I was going to run out. Thankfully bites from stripeys returned - but they were never really having it, probably as there was also a pike feeding in the swim. My smallest perch clearly showed signs of having been grabbed by one and I was briefly connected to an Esox before it bite through my hooklength. A couple of piccies - first, and last fish caught just after the sun came out...

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2330 Mild, overcast with a soft southerly breeze - really lovely night to be out. River low and carrying quite a bit of leaf litter as you'd expect. WT a balmy 56ºF. 1 Barbel; 9lb 0oz. 1 Carp; 15lb 9oz!! Trick or Treat? Never been so disappointed to get such a lovely looking carp - as for nay on 10 mins I thought I was connected to the mother of all barbel!!! This is my 30th season barbel fishing this stretch of river and in all that time I've never caught a carp - until last night! Barbel caught at 2015 - carp 1½hrs later.

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 I hung on his every word. I have never stared at wagglers so intently!! Whilst he didn't go on to descibe the swim the general area was given away - and I resolved to give the stretch some serious attention. At the time I'd been following up rumours of 4lbers from Speen and whilst I'd had a smattering of 3s and pushed my PB to 3lb8oz, I'd come to the conclusion that low 3s appeared to be the top weight I could realsitically hope for from there. So it is somewhat ironic that this season has seen me switch back a little bit to Speen and to the canal at Enborne for my perching. In the 8 years since that piece of intelligence I have had 38 perch over the 3lb mark from the Thatcham stretch (I've just looked back in my diaries counting them!) and my PB had edged up to 3lb 14oz - a mark I've achieved twice. But last winter the canal authorities saw fit to rip out ALL the swims on this stretch. Every overhanging bush, branch and tree has been cut down and grubbed out - every holding area for big stripeys gone. Consequently finding the fish this winter has been a real challenge and whilst I have few decent fish - I was still going into the last month of the season not having caught a 3lb perch for the first time in over a decade. So part 2 of yesterday's adventure was to try and make up for the fact I hadn't had a 3lb perch this season (which now I come to think of it I still haven't! ). My season's best before today being a 2lb 14oz fish from Speen back in Oct (see blog for entry 13 October). The swim I had in mind is one that Paul has 'discovered'. He's fished it a couple of times and had a 3lb 8oz perch just the day before. It's also not a million miles away from where Rusty has been catching 3lbers this winter too - so if you can't beat them..... I arrived in quite bright sunshine and the first puzzle was to find the swim - it wasn't at all apparent I was in the right spot - little evidence on the bank so a quick call to Paul to get my barings. I was also surprised that Chris wasn't in his swim - I would have bet money on him perching today - and sure enough a couple of hours or so after I arrived he showed up! I wasn't expecting much action until late afternoon - so the first couple of hours were quite lesuirely - despite arriving at 1 o'clock it was gone 2 before I put a lob out into the swim. The time was spent having some lunch, trickling some maggot into the swim - and even trotting maggot to see if there were any bait fish around (there wasn't!) Eventually I cast a worm out but really wasn't expecting much - in fact sitting on the mossy bank I was actually starting to nod off (the result of a lunchtime beer no doubt) when suddenly my float disappeared and my rod tip wrapped around as a fish headed for the tree roots. This was clearly no perch - I briefly thought it might be a tench before I saw those lips surface - a big chub - by far and away my best ever from the canal - and my biggest of the season. Most unexpected. An hour after this Rusty arrived and shortly after he was installed in his swim I had my second bite of the afternoon - this alas didn't meet with success - a pike, whose love of lobs I have oft chronicled, shot off across the canal with the line parting as I gave it some resistance. And then it happened. Bob, bob, under, strike. It's happened a hundred times before and thankfully it didn't enter my head that this was any different. It did feel like a good un and I was simply feeling pleased that I would have my 3 for the season. As I netted it I even shouted 'a big 3' in response to the enquiry from the angler fishing downstream on the opposite bank. On the bank though it was clearly bigger than any perch I'd ever seen in the flesh, deep and incredibly fat the needle on my scales initially bounced down to nearly 4½lbs before settling on just over 2oz above the 4lb mark - I'd done it! Even better I had Chris on hand to act as official photographer. There was still an hour of daylight left and with Chris quickly getting a decent stripey too we thought we might be in for something really outstanding - especially as there was fry scattering in the margins next to my swim. Alas our floats remained stationary and the surface activity quickly died down so whilst I could have fished on for another 20 minutes or so I reasoned that perch dinner time had come and gone and it was time for my dinner and a celebratory glass or three of Rioja!

Harris Lake, Marsh Farm Fishery, Nr Godalming. 1530 - 0930 Overcast and muggy becoming cooler am. (And DRY despite the forecasts for days beforehand forecasting rain!) 14 Tench; 7 over 4lb, best 3 - 6lb 2oz, 5lb 7oz, 5lb 5oz. 6 Crucians; 3lb 1oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 3oz*, 2lb 1oz*, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 10oz. 4 Roach - 3 over 1lb (!) best 1lb 6oz. 3 Rudd - all 10-12oz. 3rd time Paul and I have done a night here and this cracking session was following on from last season's successful experiment which also copied the same pattern of not a lot happening until it got dark and then steady action during the night. Though all the roach and rudd were caught within the first couple of hours of arriving; a rather unexpected and very pleasant 'Welcome to Marsh Farm'! The feeding switched was flicked around 2230 - and the fish came out in 'bursts' through out the night - often 2 or 3 in quick succession followed by up to an hour staring at a stationary float. There were some notable differences to previous trips - one was bait de jour. Last time out we eeked out a precious few prawns between the 2 of us as bait (they were meant to be Paul's lunch) - as that was all we could catch on - so this time we came armed with tonnes of them - so of course - I didn't get a bite to them - and Paul hardly any better. Nearly all my fish came to good old maggot (I had 4 tench on meat - the only exceptions). Fished float fishing the margins lift method (as per usual!) I think all of Paul's float caught fish also fell to maggot or meat - and he also had a lot of tench on corn - though these were caught ledgering out by the island (the cad!) Another curiosity was in the difference of catch returns - Paul ended with 10 tench and 10 crucians - but the vast majority of his tench (8 I think) fell to the ledger rod - his float rig caught mainly crucians - whereas my float approach - some 20m away in the next swim - using the same tactics (and bait) produced mainly tench. *These 2, 2lb crucians were shamelessly poached from Paul's swim. We were packing up and I was chatting to Paul in his peg and looked into the water to see a group of crucians right close to the bank in no more than a foot of water mopping up some bait that Paul had thrown away. Watching them, they would scoot in, feed for around 20 seconds and then leave - to return a minute later to repeat the process. Simply waiting for them to return and lower a bait in front of your chosen fish resulted in an instant take - 1st time I've ever 'stalked' crucians! Paul wasn't too amused though! All in all a great night's fishing - though the lack of any breakfast (the onsite tackle shop have stopped selling bacon butties ) was a bit of a let down. Plumby's stove will be packed for our next trip here! A couple of the roach... Crucians - my 3... Paul's biggest (2½) Tench - my 6 and a 5½ for Paul.

Middle Kennet Estate 0730 - 1645 Bright and sunny - a lovely, benign autumn day - glad we didn't go yesterday! River still low and clear despite yesterday's monsoon! 12 Chub; Most around the 2½lb stamp - biggest 3lb 11oz. 60 Roach & Dace (2/3 roach,1/3 Dace). 8 Perch; a 1lb fish and 7 smalluns. A gudgeon, 2 Brownies to 3lb and a 3lb+ Rainbow. First 'estate' trip of the winter and it didn't disappoint - there were fish everywhere - though we failed to connect with some of the venue's bigger specimens. (I blame the bright sun and low water for that!). Paul and I put quite a bit of effort into snaffling a big stripey - but without success (Paul also had a pounder) despite there being a LOT of predator activity for the first hour or so. My other aim for the day was to get amongst the chub so that box got ticked - and Paul wanted to snaffle a pike or 2 - and he managed a jack of around 4lb. All in all a cracking day. Misty Morn Autumn Gold

Lower Itchen Fishery 0800 - 1800 Rain, rain and more rain - yes pretty much non-stop all day - though thankfully not particularly heavy apart from a few brief 'pulses'! River carrying a tinge of colour but otherwise looked in fine fettle! 3 Doz Grayling with half of these 1lb+. Best, 1lb 15oz with another half dozen in the 1lb10oz - 1lb12oz class. 3 Chub; 3lb 11oz and a brace of 2lbers. 9 Brownies - all between 2½-3½lb. 3 Salmon; 2 parr and a grilse of 5lb - on trotted corn! A soggy day in Hampshire though thankfully there was little wind and regular trips to the hut meant there were opportunities to dry out (a bit!). Nice average size of grayling - the trout though got to be a bit of a pain and meant I stopped using red corn - my usual first choice bait here for the ladies - but the trout were shooting to the surface and snaffling the stuff whenever I threw in free offerings it was if it were trout pellets in a stew pond and to get a salmon on the stuff is - well!!!!!

Harris Lake - Milford 1430 - 0430 Warm and muggy with a gentle breeze - clearing ovenight with temps down to 12ºC at dawn. 18 Crucians; 10 over 2lb - biggest 2lb 11oz. 11 Tench; 5 over 5lb - biggest 5lb 12oz. 6 Perch, 6 Roach, 1 Rudd. Very busy session with over half the fish caught in daylight (for a change). Everyting caught under my rod tips - float fishing with prawn and maggot weighing in equally with fish. Fed much more sparingly than usual which seemed to stop the tench arriving en masse!

Johnsons Lake - Milford 1530 - 2315 Warm and sunny with quite a stiff breeze until dusk. 2 Crucians; 3lb 3oz, 2lb 15oz. 6 Tench - all over 3½lb - best 2; 5-12 & 5-02. 2 Carp (very small - one may have scrapped a pound the other less than half that!). 3 Rudd - all small. Very pleasant evening's float fishing the margins - as usual not a lot until dusk (just the rudd) - first fish (the 2-15 cru) at around 1930 - thereafter steady sport until 2300. All fish on prawn (apart from the rudd - on maggot).

I've always wanted to fish the middle Stour since someone told me it was a place where you could reasonably rely on a good bag of roach with a good chance of a fish over 1lb. I was able to combine it with visiting a family member. Would the fishing come up to expectation? 15 Nov 1.30-4.30pm. The fishing shop steered me in the direction of a 'mill pond', weir pool really. But this immediately raised a question. Where on earth in a weir pool do you find roach? Such experience as I have of weir pools involved perch, trout, chub and a few dace, but never roach! I felt the most likely place for fish generally was near the tail of the weir pool where the flow curled nicely against the bank, but my health requires me to sit for fishing most of the time nowadays, and there wasn't a suitable spot. In the end I sat on a stanchion where I could fish the back flow and tried casting a maggot feeder into likely places. My theory was that, even if I only caught very small ones, it could give clues as to where the fish were. But after nearly an hour - zilch. So I moved to a spot on the main river 100 yards below the weir pool. As I was set up I continued with maggot feeder. The first fish was a small roach, and I became hopeful that there would be more. But the next fish was a perch, and the next, and the next...… It was a relatively short session as I had spent a fair bit of time exploring and moving swim, but I had about 8 perch with a couple over half a pound, not too bad on maggot feeder. 16 Nov 11.30am -2.30pm A different 'mill pond', but I decided to try the main river again. It was quite narrow but about 10ft deep with a nice medium flow. I decided to feed roach specific ground bait (as I thought) to avoid the perch, and started with feeder to ensure the feed ended up where I wanted it. I planned to switch to float when I had a reasonable layer of bait laid. I started with single maggot on the hook. After a few minutes a gentle bite - perch. After a few more minutes - big perch, 2lb 6oz no less! Well that made sense, my ground bait was attracting lots of little roach which attracted the big perch. But then a 3 inch perch, what led him to be there? And so it went on, always perch, though none over 4oz except the big one. I tried trotting a maggot through - perch. I switched back to feeder with bread on the hook - nothing at all. On the way back I met an angler who'd had a nice bag of roach up to a pound, as I'd been led to expect, but my experience from two sessions was that the river was full of perch. Of course I was delighted with the 2 pounder, and if I can arrange another trip I shall go armed with lobworms! Out of interest, has anyone else fished the middle Stour?

River Lambourn - Newbury 0700 - 0930 Bright and sunny - milder than recently (no frost). River very low. 21 Grayling; Nearly all fish in the 10-14oz bracket - with quite a few just over 1lb too. Biggest 1lb 5oz. 2 Brownies. Catcha couple and move on downstream tactics - though in the low water it was often sight fishing - watching the fish take the bait - and trying to get the biggest in each shoal!

River Kennet - Brimpton 0800 - 1100 Cold and bright after a cloudy start. AT around 1ºC but felt MUCH colder in a biting NE wind - should think the wind chill was sub zero! . River 'full' and quite clear. 2 Chub 3lb 7oz & 2lb 8oz. I Brownie of 2lb. Chilly morning after the chub - and bites were at a premium - so very happy to winkle a couple out! Fished 3 swims and had both chub from the last one visited.

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham 0900 - 1500 Cool, calm and mainly overcast. AT around 6ºC all day. River a couple of inches lower on my last visit over Christmas - with most of the colour dropped out. 8 Chub; 5 over 1lb - best 3lb 2oz, 2 doz+ Roach, 4 Dace - to 8oz & 4 Perch (all small). (NO trout - bit of a first for here!) Birthday treat with Rusty as my guest. Low water meant chub were a little on the spooky side - only found one swim where I caught more than one in succession. Roach were in abundance as always - just as well as Rusty had a frustrating time losing chub!

River Kennet - Brimpton 1200 - 1545 Mild (10ºC) and overcast with drizzly rain for first hour or so. River up a touch and carrying a bit of colour. 5 Chub; 4lb 12oz. 4lb 10oz, 4lb 6oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 3oz. Cracking afternoon's chubbing and a very satisfactory start to 2018. All fish in lovely winter condition and a superb average size ( 5 fish for over 20lb) though in truth I was hoping to re-acquainted myself with one (or both!) of the 5lbers I had from here back in the summer! Fished 3 swims in rotation - had fish from all of them - with 2 coming after swim's being rested.

So there I was at work the other day, thinking as I often do about where and when I was next going to fish and it popped into my mind that I still had a new pair of carp rods that I'd bought in December to christen. It just so happened that I finished a bit early that day, so after a little detour I was en route to check out the little lake that I had been stalking in the summer. To be honest with the state of the rivers I highly doubted that I'd be able to get near it but apart from a heavily saturated field that was just navigable with wellies all was A ok. I'd not seen the place since autumn but it didn't appear to have changed all that much with the seasons, the water still being absolutely gin clear, if not even clearer than it was over summer, despite the deluge of water than must have gone into it. After my stroll round I'd seen very little, bar one old corpse floating around near to the island... Fearing the otter's had been busy again I had a little poke and, for want of a better word, it 'thankfully' showed none of the telltale signs. I rolled a quick fag before leaving and stood watching over the rippled surface before something caught my eye just off a denuded tree that was growing well out from the island. Sure enough, on closer inspection, it was a carp, a few carp in fact, all doing a circuit of this tree and looking extremely active for the time of year. I knew that was the spot to catch one from so left and started hatching a plan. A couple of days later I was out for a night with my mates and as I was pretty much driving past the lake on the way home I grabbed a bit of bait and in an extremely hungover state trudged across the water-laden field before spreading 40-50 baits all around the area that the fish had been spotted. I'd return at some point the next day after I'd caught up on some much needed sleep. (getting old ). 10/2/14 - Private Lake True to form I massively overslept and didn't arrive at the lake until 12.30pm and for once didn't even have the rods set up ready. A sizeable plume of bubbles erupting and a fair bit of silt kicking up soon gave me the kick up the ass that I needed and a small bag was soon flicked onto the active spot. This occurred a fair bit short of the area I'd baited but at least it gave me confidence that fish were in the area. Before setting up the other rod I grouped 10 baits closely over the best looking spot near that tree and 10 minutes later a little white pop up was on the money. I was cursing my inability as it took 3 casts before I was happy but within only 5 minutes that rod was away... the fight was extremely uneventful to be honest but a dark little mirror was soon in the net, shortly followed by another one on the same rod after topping up with a similar amount of baits. A few pretty shoddy self takes were snapped of each fish before they were slipped back. More practice is certainly needed in that department. A mate popped down shortly afterwards and after moving the unproductive rod to another spot along the treeline I had another take and a monumental scrap with a pretty common... only 11-12lb but in absolutely fin perfect condition... the sun even came out to help light up the pics. That was the last of the action unfortunately but the rest of my bait was spread around the area before leaving in preparation for next time. A thoroughly enjoyable session all in all, even though it did only last 4 hours tops.

But that didn't stop us!! Started at Reepham fishery just after 8:30. The fishery consists of a large square lake that is connected to a "wilder" lake via a channel. The "wild" lake makes for very pleasurable fishing with its many cut backs and reed beds. Plenty of features to fish to. My father, brother and I headed to that lake, getting into a swim large enough for the three of us. We fished simple tackle, waggler set ups on 8lb line. Just using bread or corn and feeding hemp, maggot, corn and pellets. Unexpectedly because of the chilly weather the fish started biting really quick! Both my brother and father hooking into decent sized carp! I bagged a couple as well...but my trusty brother is yet to send me the photographic evidence!! The fish continued feeding well....Dad taking to his usual method of slow sinking bread with a float change for an unexplained reason every ten minutes or so! However his technique continued to catch consistently all day! Decent carp as well! Weighing upward of 14lb for the largest! All in all I would think between the three of us we bagged up on 20+ fish each, varying in size between a couple of pounds and just into double figure fish! And all keeping it as simple as possible! A great start to our fishing year! Reepham fishery isn't to everyone's cup of tea; the fishing is easy but it is such a pleasure as well! Day tickets are £10; 7 til dusk It's a really nice place to fish though you might be spoiled if you usually fish harder waters! ?

River Kennet - Nr Newbury 0500 - 0800 Overcast with heavy drizzle for most of the session. 17ºC - river quite low. 2 Chub; 2¼lb & 1½lb. 18 dace, 14 roach and a dozen gudgeon. Pre-breakfast trotting session in the rain - most notable for my very first sighting of an otter on the Kennet. Paul had just arrived - ½hour after I'd started fishing and had waded out to join me mid-stream. I'd just announced that my bites had dried up and we quickly saw why! The animal wallowed in my swim then scurried up the bank not 20 feet from us - sniffed the air - glanced in our direction and slid back into the river heading upstream. Definitely an otter, no question glad Paul was with me to verify!!!! Update! Having returned home for brekkie leaving Paul fishing 'my' swim I wasn't too surprised to get a text from him sometime later - I was surprised to get the news that at last he'd got his first ever 6lb chub!!! Pic of his 6lb 1oz fish below...

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley 1900 - 0445 Balmy, overcast night - min 13ºC but felt warmer in still conditions - and sat under the trees - didn't need a coat or a brolly all session. 9 Tench: best 3, 5lb 11oz, 4lb 13oz, 4lb 12oz. All others between 3¼-4¼lb. 1 Roach. A busy evening - I had 5 fish including the biggest 2 by 2230 - followed by a quiet night. Kept at it, hoping for a crucian or two to put in an appearance but it was not to be. 5 fish on meat, 4 on 6mm pellet all float fished - lift method - great fun in the dark seeing the starlight lift and go flat. Dawn broke to a millpond surface with not a bubble to be seen - so whilst I had planned to fish longer, this sight plus the lack of bites in the previous 2 hours persuaded me that some kip followed by a late breakfast was the better option!!!

NAA Stillwater, Widmead 1830 - 0800 Heavy evening showers giving way to clearing skies - feeling quite cool by dawn (12ºC) 3 Tench; 6lb 14oz, 3lb 6oz, 2lb. 3 Bream; 5lb 3oz, 4lb 5oz, 4lb 1oz. 4 Carp biggest 5lb 14oz. 4 roach & 4 perch. Slow but steady night - quite a lot of activity which didn't translate to bites! Paul had a much quieter session ( he did sleep through most of it!) with just a blank saving bream to show before he packed up at first light! * All carp (and biggest bream) on the feeder, others caught float fishing the margins. Biggest ever tench from this venue. *Paul has asked me to point out that his half hearted attempts at trying to catch something were due to his ignoring his wife's advice (she's a nurse by the way!) not to go fishing when he wasn't feeling very well. A night on a chilly, damp lake bank is probably not the best cure for a streaming summer cold!

Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley 1800 - 2330 Warm and overcast evening - still 18ºC when I packed up. Lovely shirtsleeves evening - though the mossies were a pain! 5 Tench; 4lb 11oz, 4lb 6oz, 3lb 13oz, 3lb 12oz, 3lb 3oz. 1 Crucian 1lb 15oz (and a bit!) Very pleasant evening's float fishing. Quite a bit of activity and loads of bubbling. 3 Tench and the Crucian caught tight (ie less than 1 metre) to the margins. All fish on meat over pellet. 1st Crucian from here for a couple of years!

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1830 - 2330 Overcast quite breezy with a couple of very light showers. Min 15ºC. River low. 3 Barbel; 7lb 1oz, 4lb 10oz, 4lb 1oz, 1 Chub 2½lb A pleasant evening by the river - chub caught early in session - all barbel caught after 2200. Ledgered 14mm halibuts - as per usual!