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River Frome - Wool 0800 - 1400 Mild, overcast and very windy! AT 11º-13ºC. River still very pacey with a little colour but well within its banks at last. 1.16m on the E Stoke gauge still higher than I would have liked but lowest since early autumn! 11 Grayling: 7 over 1lb - best: 1lb 10oz, 1lb 8oz, 1lb 7oz. 1 Trout - small. 6 Salmon parr. 2 trip of the season to Dorset - and looking at the forecast for the next week probably my last - heavy rain will stuff the river up for several weeks again. Wind made fishing a bit of a challenge at times, it was straight downstream in most swims - in fact actually standing up in the stronger gusts was a bit of a challenge at times!! Most grayling from one swim which I kept resting and returning to. Sign on Wool bridge - might amuse some of my readers - Martin?

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 - Newbury (Whitehouse stretch) 0900 - 1100 Mild, breezy and drizzly. AT 11ºC. River very pacey and very coloured up (again!) - after 42mm of rain in the past 48hrs. 1 Chub: 6lb 2oz - SB. 1 Roach - hand-sized. En route to the Lambourn I thought I'd drop in on my 5lber slack for an hour (herein after called my 6lber slack!) With the Kennet the colour of builder's tea I really wasn't at all hopeful but the roach first cast gave me a glimmer of confidence - rewarded by the big chub 20 mins later. They would be my only 2 bites but after such a fantastic fish 1 hour became 2 before I lost my hook on what I think was a shopping trolley - signalling time to go. I had the usual audience when I landed the chub - one of who asked if it was a pike! (makes a change from asking if it's a carp I s'pose!) Season's Best Chub

River Kennet - Newbury (Whitehouse) 0900 - 1300 Bright and breezy with heavy showers. AT 8ºC. River very pacey with a tinge of colour. 1 Chub: 5lb 14oz. 9 Roach - all a 'nice' size - the one I deemed worthy of the scales went 14oz - with all the others around half that! 2 Dace - small. A quick return to my pre-Christmas venue. When I walked back to my car last week I spied a slack which simply screamed 'here be chub' and I wasn't wrong! First trot through the float buried at the end of the run and I was into a very stubborn battle. A lumbering fight more befitting of a big bream - but very pleased with a season's best chub. Couldn't winkle out another so went exploring and had decent-ish roach from the two other swims I dropped into.... Nearly a 6.

River Lambourn - Newbury 0845 - 1415 Cold and cloudy. AT -2º -> +1ºC. (Proper Grayling weather!). River very full and clear. 23 Grayling. 8 over a lb - best 4 went 1lb 14oz, 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz (X2 - different fish). 5 Brownies: all small/parrs. I do love cold days like this - wrapped up warm and staying mobile. Had the rare luxury of not seeing another angler so fished the length of the stretch twice with a break for lunch in between. Took corn but forgot it in the morning - doh - so fished with maggot first time and just corn the second. Corn caught fewer though 5 of the 8 'pounders' fell to it. Local tackle shop is stocking krill flavoured red corn which I was using for the first time. My theory is that red corn get's mistaken for trout eggs - and this stuff even smells the part!

River Kennet - Hambridge 1245 - 1500 Overcast and drizzly. AT 9ºC. River VERY high up yet another couple of inches on my last visit (11 days ago) - but with hardly any colour. 2 Chub: 3lb 6oz & 3lb 2oz. 1 Perch: 3lb 1oz (SB), 1 Dace:(small), 1 Grayling;(ditto) Usual 'flood swim' bonanza - 2nd winter in a row I've had a 3lb+ perch from here. Started downstream of my usual swim which produced the 'smaller' chub and the 2 'silvers'.

K&A 'flowing' Canal - Thatcham 0900 - 1200 Cool, overcast and drizzly at times. AT 8ºC. River VERY full, flowing quite hard (for a canalised section) but clear. 2 Dace: 1lb 1oz (!!!) & 11oz WOW! I visit here quite infrequently as it isn't a particularly prolific stretch - though it has thrown up some big autumn dace in recent years - and that sort of what I was hoping for - but wasn't expecting anything quite so jaw dropping. I'd started on The Arrowhead - for old times sake - (I haven't caught a decent fish from it in a decade) and after a bite-less hour dropped down onto the canal proper. 'Smaller' dace was first cast followed almost immediately by the pounder which I assumed was a small chub until I got it to the surface. My biggest dace for 20 years.

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0945 - 1415 Warm, overcast and breezy. AT 16º-18ºC. River down around 6-8 inches on my last trip here 3 weeks ago. 14 Perch: All 12oz or more - best two went 1lb 10oz & 1lb 12oz but all of the others were a few ounces either side of a lb. 6 Chub: 2lb & 1lb 10oz and 4 chublets. 9 Roach - all small apart from one 'netter' of round 10oz. 1 Dace - small. 12 (!) Gudgeon. 2 Brownies - a lump of around 3½lb and a parr. Super morning's sport and I was glad I'd saved some lobs as I started out on worm in a spot where I usually catch perch - but never in such numbers. And it can't be a coincidence that the sudden increase in gudgeon numbers - is linked to the number of perch around. 12 gonks is more than I've caught in an entire season - in some recent years (2021-22 for example when I only caught 11 all season!)

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0700 - 0900 Warm, calm and overcast. A lovely, benign autumn morning - perfect perching weather! AT 11º-14ºC 10 Perch: 7 over 1lb (6 over 1½lb). Best 3: 2lb 13oz, 2lb 6oz & 2lb 4oz After Monday's false start (on the Perch front at least) it was a first visit of the season to a more reliable perch venue - though one that didn't produce a 2lber for me last season. That was all put right in the first ½ hour when I had 6 perch from my first 6 casts - including all 3, 2lbers. Bites then suddenly stopped - and it was soon apparent why - Mr Esox - which chased in one of the smaller perch and then bit me off precipitating a, slightly earlier than planned, pack up! Biggest of the morning.

Warwicks Water - Thatcham 0700 - 1300 Warm, calm and overcast (though a thunderstorm rolled in just after I packed up ) AT 16º-18ºC 2 Tench: 5lb 14oz, 2lb 2oz. Doz+ Perch: all fairly small. Reports of big stripeys had me starting my autumn perch campaign on this rarely fished and somewhat neglected pond. It was always going to be a case of trying to avoid the small perch and hope a biggie turned up. However I thought I'd hit the jackpot first cast - my float hadn't even cocked properly when it sailed away and I was into something putting a good bend in the rod. I was just thinking 'well that was easy' when the smaller tench rolled into the net. Not quite what I was after but an autumn tinca is always welcome. There then followed a couple of hours of small perch - nothing to trouble the scales and some barely bigger than the whole lob they took. The tench weren't finished with me however and for the second time I thought I was into a good perch - though this would have been a REALLY good perch! Not a Perch Also not a Perch!

River Kennet - Hambridge 1400 - 1630 Bright with thundery showers. AT 15ºC. River up 10 inches on my last trip (I measured it!) and quite coloured up. 1 Bream; 2lb 4oz. 2 Perch 1¼lb and one around half that. 10 Roach - all handsized. 2 Dace. 2 Gudgeon. With 37mm of rain yesterday (1½inches in old money) making it the 9th wettest day in the last 20 years - locally, I wasn't surprised to see the Kennet close to winter flood levels. Perfect excuse to drop into my favourite flood swim for a couple of hours between the showers. No chub in residence but the Perch and Bream both came in the opening 20 minutes and the roach were a nice size too. Unfortunately there was also a pike occupying the slack which kept attacking my float on the retrieve - but thankfully didn't snaffle any of my roach...

River Kennet - Hambridge 1600 - 2230 Overcast, breezy and quite cool - clearing to reveal great views of the blue super moon! AT 17ºC - 12ºC. River a little on the low side... 1 Chub: 4lb 13oz. 2 Perch 1lb 9oz & a tiddler. 5 Dace & 3 Roach (all small). 4 Gudgeon. 4 Brownies - all small. Evening session ledgering for barbel preceded by half an hour's trotting to inoculate me from a blank! I needn't have worried however, as the chub fell well into the dark on my ledgered pellet and gave a very good impression of a barbel in the fast current and giving that classic 'three foot twitch' when it picked up the bait. And whilst I love chub I was actually disappointed to pick this out with my head torch as I landed it as up to that point I was convinced I was getting my first decent beard from here in ages!

Alders Lake - Thatcham 1730 - 2230 Bright and breezy. AT 20º - 15ºC. 4 Bream: 4lb 8oz, 4lb 5oz, 4lb 2oz, 3lb 10oz. 4 Tench: 4lb 3oz, 3lb 3oz X2(different fish I think!), 2lb 11oz. 2 Carp: unweighed but both around 1½lb. 6 Perch; - most around 6-8oz. 2 Rudd. A very busy evening with bites and fish from the off - smallest Bream was actually first cast!. Bites tailed off after dark - only one fish after 9pm - exact opposite of what usually happens. All fish on float fished prawn (of course!). Annoyingly I also got smashed 3 times by the lake's rogue (they were never meant to be stocked in here) carp - the third time after scaling up to a 6lb bottom - which was still snapped like cotton! Still - one of my best returns on this lake - good thing I remembered my stink bag for my net and mat!

River Kennet - Hambridge 1300 - 1600 Warm and muggy. AT 25ºC. River still with good levels for mid August! 3 Chub: 3lb 13oz, 3lb 0oz and one of around ¾-1lb. 8 Roach & 8 Dace - all small. 2 Gudgeon. 1 Brownie- small. Friday afternoons - I am 'persona non grata' at home as Mrs P has a coffee afternoon with her friends - a tradition that goes back over 30 years (it was originally her post-natal group!) so Friday's are going to be a regular fishing day now that I have retired. Today, however I did more tree surgery than fishing - as 2 willows had come down across my favourite swim. Thankfully I keep a hand saw in my fishing bag - but it still took 45 minutes to gain access to the water! When it was time to fish I reasoned the commotion would have put fish down so I rested the spot and started elsewhere. Returning an hour later - with a few tiddlers including a rare gudgeon to show for my efforts, both 3lb chub came almost instantly followed by a steady stream of 'silvers'. A Kennet gonk - rarer than a 3lb chub!

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm Fishery - Milford 1430 - 2300 Hot and sunny with a warm southerly breeze all evening - very welcome as it kept the mossies and dew at bay. AT 25º and still 18ºC when I left. 5 Crucians: 3lb 4oz, 2lb 14oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 3oz, 1lb 13oz. 9 Tench - various sizes from barely a lb up to a best of 4lb 14oz. 16 Rudd - all handsized with 3 netters of around 10-12oz. 5 Roach& 6 perch - all small. Fabulous evening's sport. Only my second trip over to Milford this season and whilst the pre-occupation with tench in one of my local club lakes has saved me a bit of petrol money this summer - it has been at the expense of catching another of my favourite species - crucians! So today was all about rectifying that - and the evening got off to a great start with the 2-10 the first on the scene - just as I was taking a first bite into a sandwich for my tea! I then had to wait a couple of hours for my next bite (from a fish!)- but it resulted in a new lake best Crucian for me! I have been fishing this lake since 2007 and had a 3lb 3oz fish on that first visit - which I haven't bettered from here since! There then followed a frenetic evening as it got dark and as the tench moved in - though there was still time for 3 more crucians - the last one (and smallest) part of a double hook up just before 11pm which got me into a bit of a tangle and prompted an end to proceedings - though I'd already said to myself 'pack up next fish or 11pm whichever comes first'!

River Kennet - Brimpton 1415 - 1615 Mainly overcast and quite breezy. AT 20ºC. River up a good couple of inches and carrying a bit of colour. The Colthrop sluices are obviously open more than the Crookham ones' as there was a lot more flow here than a couple of miles upstream - before The Aldershot joins the river. 3 Chub: 4lb 6oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 3oz. 5 Brownies, a 'pounder', the rest between 6-10oz with one a repeat capture! All chub from my banker swim which I fished twice - with a rest in between while I went blackberry picking! 4lber first cast after the usual bait and wait approach - made a pleasant change from a splashy trout grabbing my maggot first put in!

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.

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1500 - 2230 Warm with sunny spells - clearing at dusk with a nice southerly breeze to keep the mossies off. AT 21ºC or there-abouts for most of the afternoon. 3 Tench; 6lb 8oz, 5lb 3oz, 1½lb. 3 Carp; 10lb 11oz, 7lb 8oz, 6lb 11oz News that the carp in here weren't showing very well (post spawning malaise?) had me chancing my arm for the tincas. Went all out with my default tench tactics - prawn sections float fished lift method style and it wasn't long before I was having my hook straightened by a muscular carp! The next time my float went under it resulted in the 10lber - and whilst I was rather pleased to land it on my float rod I thought I was going to be in for an evening of carp frustration. I need not have worried, as the sun sank behind the trees - putting my swim in shade - the tench showed up - with all 3 in quite quick succession. The first up being the 5lb male. The 6 my biggest for 4 years and my best from an NAA club water since 2010.

River Kennet - Brimpton 1700 - 2030 Warm and sunny. AT 24ºC. River quite full for high summer - great to see so much water in it! 6 Chub: (in order of capture) 2X ¾-1lbers, 2lb 5oz, 3lb 13oz, 4lb 3oz, 5lb 4oz (they got bigger as the shadows lengthened!). 4 Brownies, a 'pounder' and 3 in the 6-8oz class. Super evening's sport - though, as per usual, had to rely on the 'rest and return' policy after 2 splashy trout in the first 5 mins from my banker swim. Fished 5 swims in total but only had fish from 2 of them...

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0430 - 1200 Warm and sunny. AT 13º -> 26ºC. River in good nick, nice depth and flow - still benefiting from a wet winter and early spring. 3 Bream: 5lb 2oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 11oz. 2 Chub 2lb 13oz and a 'pounder'. 6 Dace - 2 gooduns that needed the net, 1 Roach - small. 1 Brownie - 2lber and 1 Rainbow - around 4lb. For the second year running my season opens with some nice river bream - the 5lber my biggest from here. Started in the weir-pool but struggled somewhat - with the only fish putting a significant bend in the rod having adipose fins. All bream and chub coming from the swims above the railway bridge.

River Kennet - Hambridge 0430 - 0800 Warm, muggy and overcast with a welcome heavy shower just after I packed up. AT 17ºC (but felt a lot warmer!). River quite full - especially for June! 6 Chub; 3lb 3oz, 2lb 10oz and 4 between ¾-1½lb. 21 Dace - nothing especially noteworthy - though they weren't tiddlers either. 2 Roach (same!) and 2 Brownies c½lb. A morning's trotting and home for breakfast - gotta love June! And I really should follow my own advice - I recently re-worked this old article for AN for my club's quarterly newsletter - though gearing it more to summer chubbing. I was making the point that in June chub can be found in surprisingly fast water - and that was certainly true this morning. I'd blanked in my usual chub hot-spots and switched to a fast glide in search of some feisty dace - and whilst it was nearly fish a chuck - there was also a shoal of chub in residence at the tail of the swim where it shallowed up. The result - a great morning's sport!

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0000 Warm (ish), overcast with drizzly rain to start - clearing and becoming quite cool. AT 21ºC -> 12ºC. 1 Carp 8lb 1oz, 1 Tench 3lb 8oz. A frustrating evening on the float. Lots of dithering, dips and rises and lots of striking at thin air for the first 3 hours! When I did eventually connect with something it was the right weight - but the wrong species! 8lb+ tench have been coming out of here this summer and I'd really like to get one as my PB is under that! Darkness eventually resulted in a tinca but it would prove to be my last bite of an otherwise disappointing evening!