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Chris Plumb

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Plumb

  1. Chris Plumb

    7 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Hambridge
    1800 - 2030
    Cool (14ºC or there-abouts), overcast with drizzly rain at times for the first hour. River down and inch or so on 3 weeks ago but still with good flow for this time of year.
    3 Chub: 2lb 15oz, 1lb 11oz & a chublet. 30+ Dace & Roach - in roughly equal numbers - slightly more roach. Nothing particularly big - a couple of the dace were in the 6-8oz bracket - but good to see so many 'silvers' in the river. 3 Gudgeon (also a welcome sight - they seem to be getting rarer!). 1 Bleak. 2 Brownies (small) and a 2lb+ Rainbow.
    Bigger chub first cast - followed by a good hour or so of a 'fish a chuck'. Great sport - though of course a barbel on the float from the fast gravel runs (which is what I might have hoped for a decade ago!) would have been an even more welcome sight!
  2. Chris Plumb

    14 March

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Hambridge
    0945 - 1445
    Mainly cloudy with sunny spells and light drizzly showers. River still full to bursting, not dropped at all!
    3 Chub: 4lb 13oz, 3lb 4oz & a tiddler. 3 Dace - all small, 1 Grayling. 3 Brownies (all around 8oz) and a 2lb rainbow!
    Plan for the last day was for a Double Header in the hunt for a big chub - morning at Brimpton and the afternoon here. But having trekked ¾mile with chesties and full pack I turned around and walked straight back to the car (arriving rather hot and sweaty!) - the reason - a tree had come down bang smack in the middle of where I wanted to fish - poo!

    So a quick hop upstream - to another favourite flood swim and the session was topped and tailed by the 2 bigger chub - 4lber first cast and the 3 pretty much last - certainly last fish of the season.
  3. Chris Plumb

    3 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    Willows Lake - Thatcham
    1400 - 2015
    Bright and breezy (actually blowing a hoolie!), clouding over with persistent rain from 1730 and much cooler - making for a thoroughly unpleasant evening!
    4 Tench; 2lb7oz & 3 small uns. 4 Roach - all a 'nice' size, the one I weighed went 12oz the other 3 weren't much smaller. 5 Rudd. (And no carp - don't think I even had a bite from one)
    So there are some 'silvers' in Willows as well (Have these rudd been recently stocked???) Again was hoping for a crucian to put in an appearance but bite detection was a nightmare in the very heavy chop - was boss eyed by the end. In truth I should have had a lot more - missed loads of bites and bumped at least as many fish as I landed. Had planned to fish well into dark - but the 'I'll be glad when I've had enough of this' moment corresponded with the rain abating (but not the wind!!!) and a hot bath was suddenly way more enticing than another 4 hours getting mesmerised and cold!
  4. Chris Plumb

    2 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    Alders Lake - Thatcham
    1830 - 2300
    Coolish, overcast with rain from 8-9pm - not a good evening to forget the brolly - had taken it out of my quiver as a weight reduction measure for my roving session at Brimpton last weekend and forgot to put it back in!🙄 Temps  down to 13ºC when I packed up.
    3 Tench: 3lb 13oz, 2lb 5oz and a small-un. 5 Rudd, 1 Roach, 1 Perch.
    Damp but rewarding session - first time for a while I've had any 'silvers' from here. Also had a crayfish which is also a first for me from this lake, though I know others have complained of them. Most fish during daylight - little action after 2130 (which again is unusual) - just the small tench and the roach (and the signal!) in the last hour and a half.
  5. Chris Plumb
    Middle Kennet Weirpool - Marsh Benham
    0500 - 1100
    Warm, sunny and quite humid - temps already 15º C when I pulled into the car park at 0430. A lovely summer's morning - though the mossies were out in force!
    10 Chub; 7 over pound, with 2 over 4lb - biggest 4lb 9oz. 2 doz Dace and Roach - in roughly equal nos - slightly more dace than redfins - nothing particularly big, though most of the roach were 'hand-size' or better. 1 Perch; under lb but needed the net, 1 Rainbow - c3lb.
    Throughout my teens and early 20s - 16th June was always spent  on a weirpool on the lower Kennet - and this is now the 2nd year running I've started my season here - on a nice quiet spot above Newbury. Chub, as always, were a first day target and they didn't disappoint - nice to get a brace of 4s - they looked in fine condition too. Took a ledgering rod - and again not a sniff on ledgered meat - they clearly prefer maggot!

  6. Chris Plumb
    River Kennet - Brimpton
    0500 - 1200
    Cool, bright start - becoming VERY windy and showery. AT never above 16ºC - so the fleece never came off! River with good flow and a little colour.
    1 Chub 2lb 2oz. 6 Dace - a couple of chunky ones (6-8oz). 1 Grayling - circa 10-12oz. 10 Brownies - most around 12oz with a couple much bigger to 2½lb.
    Pleasant mornings trotting despite the wind and I also had a couple of fruitless hours ledgering meat - without a touch (not even from the crayfish). Rather too many trout for my liking but did at least get a chub from the 4th swim I dropped into. 1st choice banker swim still out of action due to fallen tree!
  7. Chris Plumb
    Dobsons Lake - Widmead
    1500 - 0600
    Mainly overcast with drizzly showers - Cool 12-15ºC.
    2 Carp; 10lb 10oz & 6lb 3oz. 1 Bream; 5lb 6oz. 6 Perch. 1 Roach.
    Slow, slow night, punctuated on the stroke of 1am by a rather nice common - the only time my bite alarm indicated a fish in the whole session. All the other fish fell to float fished maggot on the marginal shelf (I was hoping to connect with some of the tench that had been showing recently!) Of course I wasn't even meant to be here today - this was the day pencilled in for the 5th Paul Goulbourn charity fish-in at Marsh Farm - which has had to be postponed due to Covid 19 - hopefully the re-arranged date in August will still happen!
     
    Ignore date on camera for carp pic -  it's still on GMT!


  8. Chris Plumb
    Johnsons Lake - Milford
    1300 - 2315
    Bright and sunny - though felt surprisingly chilly in the shade and into a stiffish breeze.
    5 Tench; Biggest 4lb 11oz
    I've had a trip here every June since 2014 and over the past 6 years haven't failed to get  one (usually several!) of the lakes famously big crucians (even getting a PB last June). So it was more in expectation than hope for a repeat performance. I had reckoned on picking a Monday would find the venue a little less busy - a total miscalulation - the place was rammed and dropping into the only free swim on the railway bank was a little deflating. To make matters worse little was being caught - not that I was unduly worried as I intended to fish well into the evening - often the best time AND return the following morning after a kip in the car. By 9.00pm, however,  I'd had just one (descernible) bite resulting in what would prove to be the biggest tinca of the session. Not a hint of a crucian - least not that I could detect with the heavy chop on the water. Bites did pick up a bit as it got dark - but it resulted in just more tench. Plan A was thus abandoned and at the allotted kicking off time I nipped next door instead of having 3 hours of fitful sleep in the car!

  9. Chris Plumb
    Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford
    0000 - 0500
    Clear, quite cool, still with some breeze. 11ºC - but felt chillier.
    5 Crucians: 3 over 2lb - 2-13, 2-11 & 2-04. 10 Tench: most in the 2-3lb class. Biggest 2 went 6-05 & 4-04. 1 Perch.
    If the previous 10 hours angling had been frustrating the next 4 were totally frenetic. Fishing right under my rod tip in the margins my float fished prawn sections were taken within minutes of casting out each time. What was slightly curious was the 'catching order'. I started off with 5 tench - then had all the crucians in quick succession - only for them to be pushed out again by the tincas. Day break saw an abrupt end to the action ( I think I only caught one fish after 0415 - which was the 6lb tench) and by 5 o'clock I was staring at a completely stationary float without a hint of what had preceded!


  10. Chris Plumb
    River Kennet - Widmead
    0845 - 1145
    Warm & Sultry.
    1 Chub: 1lb 10oz, 21 Dace - with around a third 8oz or better - weighed a couple, both at 10oz and had another 4 or 5 that weren't much smaller. 1 Grayling - small. 3 Brownies - a pounder and 2 tiddlers.
    Having exhausted my first swim it was off to another spot a mile or so downstream - and a haul of cracking dace. This swim 'looks' very chubby so it was nice to have that confirmed - all be it right at the end of the session - it was the last fish caught - a good 30 mins after my last dace.
  11. Chris Plumb
    Alders Lake - Thatcham
    1830 - 2230
    Cool, overcast evening after a day of persistent rain. 14ºC all evening but felt cooler facing the breeze (which at least kept any mossies away!)
    7 (!) Tench; 4 small ones (last year's stocking?) and 3X3lbers - biggest 3lb 8oz.
    Well I wasn't expecting that! It's taken a while since the fish kill 15 years ago and the remodelling of this lake - but if this is the sport now on offer then all the effort has not been in vain! I hadn't even planned to fish here today but I didn't really fancy standing on the river bank  in the pouring rain. Bites and fish straight away - though 2 of the 3 bigger ones came after 2130 as it was getting dark. All fish on float fished maggot - took prawn but didn't use them.
  12. Chris Plumb
    River Kennet - Hambridge
    0500 - 0800
    Cool, misty start - though quickly warmed up. River at normal levels and carrying a surprising amount of colour - didn't think there would have been much boat traffic to colour it up.
    1 Pike; 9lb 6oz, 2 Chub; 3lb 3oz & a pounder. 1 Dace.  2 Brownies  one that must have been close to 2lb and a tiddler.
    I had planned an evening session on a stillwater for today - but weather warnings for thunderstorms this evening saw me up at the crack of dawn again and standing up to my thighs in river water  trickling in maggots at 0445 hoping to get a shoal of chub feeding with abandon. Last night when I got my gear ready for today I lobbed a box of plugs into my fishing bag - remembering I often get pike trouble fishing this swim in the summer. Within 10 minutes of starting to fish I was tackling up my feeder rod with one of it's contents. As planned the 15 minute prebaiting resulted in a chub first cast quickly followed by a dace - and as  I lifted it into my hand to unhook a pike jumped clear trying (and failing) to snatch it. 3rd run through with a floating lure and I had a very aggresive take - again just as I was about to lift to recast. A brief but lively battle followed before I had her on the bank - my first deliberately caught Esox in a while (I usually get a few each winter perch fishing!). After all this excitement further action was hard to come by until I eventually snaffled another chub before the swim was again trashed by a couple of splashy trout.

  13. Chris Plumb

    16 June 2007

    By Chris Plumb,

    Dixons Mere
     
    0000 - 1200
     
    Warm night, Showers
     
    3 Carp (best a mere 4lb 13oz) 1 Tench (3lb 3oz). 3 doz. bits (Rudd, Roach, Perch)
     
    Slow start to the season though Paul faired much better in the next swim - he had half a dozen tench and a similar no. of carp. I didn't get a bite until well into the morning - and that was only after I decided to get some IAC Species Race* points on the board!
     
    Tench - Float Fished maggot
    Carp - Free-lined Imitation Chum Mixer
     
    * Species Race web site: http://www.iac07.42inch.net/
  14. Chris Plumb

    16 June 2008

    By Chris Plumb,

    Marsh Farm
     
    0730 - 1930
     
    Sunny, becoming cloudy and breezy. Temp 10ºC -> 20º -> 16ºC.
     
    5 Crucians (1lb 13oz, 1lb 10oz, 1lb 8oz, 2<1lb), 4 Tench (1½lb - 4lb 11oz), 3 Bream (1½ - 2½lb), 2 Roach (best 1lb 2oz), 2 Perch, a dozen+ Rudd.
     
    Started on Harris and struggled all morning for bites (even using maggot) though did manage the bigger of the crucians from here. Paul started on Richardsons and faired much better so I joined him in the afternoon - just to see my float move occasionally! Most fish on 6mm S-Pellet, float fished TIGHT to the margins - lift method.
  15. Chris Plumb

    16 June 2009

    By Chris Plumb,

    Marsh Farm, Godalming
     
    0815 - 1930
     
    Warm with bright sunshine. Max 23ºC
     
    5 Crucians - best 1lb3oz, 2 Tench - best 3lb, 1 doz Roach & Rudd (best roach 1lb 5oz), 1½doz perch, all small except for 1 just shy of a lb, 1 gudgeon.
     
    A 'social' start to the season in the company of Alan and Paul. Alan and I 'toughed' it out on Harris all day in the hope (forlorn in my case, though Alan had 3, 2lbers) of a monster Crucian. Paul wimped out and moved to Richardson after a couple of hours and bagged up on loads of tench and bream in the 2-4lb bracket. I had an early, tantalising glimpse of a very big crucian floundering in the surface at the end of my line - out of netting range. Alas the hooked pulled and I didn't get a second chance! Poo!
  16. Chris Plumb

    16 June 2012

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet, Newbury & Thatcham
     
    0400 - 1230
     
    Cool, overcast and very blustery. River quite coloured and very full for the time of year - highest it's been in the summer for many a year.... (well since 2007 now I come to think about it!!)
     
    2 Chub; 2lb & 1¼lb. 1 Barbel 3lb. 57 Dace, 7 Roach, 3 Grayling, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & a 1¾lb spottie.
     
    Pleasant start to the season with plenty of fish to put a bend in the rod - we had planned an overnighter on a local lake put had been put off by the weather forecast which wasn't half as bad as predicted in these parts. Paul also had a good haul of silvers but nothing big so we moved venues for the last couple of hours to one of my favourite parts of the river for a float caught barbel. This is Paul's first year on this book - so he was getting his first sight of the venue. I plonked him in one of my favourite swims and thankfully my gillie-ing paid off as it wasn't too long before I heard the ratchet go on his pin and he was drawing a fighting fit 4lb+ barbel to a waiting net. I couldn't repeat the trick to add to my earlier barbel only catching the troot after the move - though I did suffer a smash up fishing at very long range...
     
    Some pics from Paul - as per usual.
     
    Gudgeon! (Paul's entered the annual IAC species race!)

    Paul's first barbel of the season.

    Me.

  17. Chris Plumb

    16 June 2013

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    0415 - 0615
     
    Mild, overcast morning - river at or slightly above normal summer levels - with a bit of colour.
     
    1 chub 4lb 9oz, 11 dace, (3 really chunky ones - would have weighed them had I not been standing mid-river), 1 roach, 2 gudgeon and a spottie.
     
    Very quick trotting session to christen the season before dashing off to watch Sam in his first AAAs final at Bedford this morning. Nice to see a decent chub turn up in this swim (you know which one, Chris ) alas didn't have time to find out if his brothers and sisters were also in residence!

  18. Chris Plumb

    15/16 June 2014

    By Chris Plumb,

    Marsh Farm - nr Godalming
     
    2000 - 1030
    (2000 - 0500 Harris, 0530 - 1030 Johnstons)
     
    Over cast with a chilly northerly breeze. Min 12ºC (though max wasn't much more!)
     
    4 Crucians, biggest 1lb 14oz, 5 perch - all 'net-ers' though the biggest was barely a pound, 1 rudd.
     
    Start the season on a 'easy' tench and crucian venue - then switch to a new water after bagging up all night - what could possibly go wrong!!! Well a chilly north wind for a start - whatever was the reason bites were VERY hard to come by. Paul managed 4 fish - a rudd and 2lb crucian and a couple of tench after we moved - all my fish came from Harris. Ho hum !
     
    Some pics to follow (though not of any fish!)
    The fishing was frenetic (not!)

    Lovely looking lake...

     
  19. Chris Plumb

    15/16 June 2015

    By Chris Plumb,

    Harris Lake, Marsh Farm Fishery, Milford.
     
    1600 - 0700
     
    Cool clear night, with bright sunshine before dusk and cloud building just after sunrise.
     
    6 Crucians; 4 over 2lb - best 2lb 4oz. 5 Tench; Biggest 5lb 7oz. 4 Roach, 3 Perch, and a Gudgeon!
     
    Mission accomplished. Paul and I both said, rather wistfully, that we'd like a 5lb + tinca and a 2lb + crucian to kick off the summer. The crucian part of that equation being the one we thought we might struggle with as they haven't been showing very well recently from this lake - but we had a dozen between us with Paul getting 3 over the 2lb mark to 2.06.
     
    In truth it was something of a strange session. I had all bar one of my fish (my biggest tench), float fishing the margins after dark (all fish caught between 2200 - 0415), whilst Paul only had one fish of note during the night and caught the bulk of his fish in the afternoon. He had way more tench than me - including a brace of 5lbers - and a stunning and very unexpected rudd of 1lb exactly (we weighed it on both scales!). Morning saw my swim go back to sleep - and Paul (in the next peg down!)start catching again - most curious!
     
    Marsh Farm Gallery. Pics of my first tench of the summer, Paul's and my best crucian of the night and Paul's lovely rudd (a PB for him BTW!)




  20. Chris Plumb
    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    0400 - 0630
     
    Warm, bright and sunny! River not as low as I'd expected.
     
    2 Chub; 3lb 13oz, 3lb 3oz, 16 dace, 2 Roach, 1 grayling, 3 brownies.
     
    And so another season begins and what better way to start than standing up to my thighs in cooling Kennet water after a hot muggy night!
     
    A couple of chub in the first 20 mins got the season off to a cracking start and dropping down 60m or so brought a dace a chuck before it was time to miss the rush hour and head home for brekkie!
  21. Chris Plumb

    16 June 2019

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Marsh Benham
     
    0500 - 1400
     
    Bright and breezy with heavy showers. River with good flow and a tinge of usual summer colour.
     
    4 Chub to 3lb, 1 Bream; 4lb 3oz, 5 Dace, 4 Roach & a Perch.
     
    And so another season begins - a nice quiet secluded start on my syndicate stretch. All fish on trotted maggot despite ledgering for several hours (during the rain) with meat - which didn't produce a jot of interest - not even from the cray fish!
     
     
  22. Chris Plumb
    Willows Lake - Thatcham
    1830 - 2300
    Coolish, overcast evening though temps didn't really drop when it got dark - 14ºC.
    2 Carp; 8lb 5oz & 7lb 11oz
    Entertaining evening as both fish took an age to land on lightish tackle and float rod (I was after crucians as per usual!). Thankfully there are few snags and you can wear them out at distance with the only jeopardy being when you get them close in to net and they seem to realise there are tree roots available! Was hoping that dusk might bring some action from my target species - but saw little evidence of them....

  23. Chris Plumb

    21/22 June

    By Chris Plumb,

    Willows Lake - Thatcham
     
    1500 - 0500
     
    Cool clear night - down to 7ºC by dawn.
     
    3 Carp; 12lb 11oz, 7lb 9oz, 4lb 6oz. 2 Perch.
     
    I last took my brother, Colin, fishing on 26/1/91 - when he caught a brace of 13lb pike from the Kennet at Padworth - so was somewhat surprised to be asked at a family gathering last Christmas to come fishing with me again - ' I'll take you carp fishing' I says - expecting to hear no more about it! But he was serious so a plan was hatched to get him a carp on the bank! A plan that very nearly back-fired as an hour or so into darkness the carp started spawning scuppering my claims that we'd do really well after the light went! We had a few liners during the night and apart from a 6lber for Col that was the only fish caught in darkness- we packed up as soon as it got light to leave the fish in peace and slept for an hour or so in our cars before it was a respectable time to arrive home! Thankfully my bruv had preceded his night time fish with a very muscular common caught on one of my light float rods which gave him a merry run around and took an age to get in - and at 7lb 14oz was just 2 oz shy of the stamp of fish I'd promised we'd get so he went home more than happy!
     
    All my fish came to float fished maggot in the hours before dusk (twas secretly trying for one of the lakes elusive crucians).
     

  24. Chris Plumb
    Willows Lake - Thatcham
    1400 - 2200
    Warm and sunny with a nice breeze to keep the mozzies away!
    1 Tench: 3lb 13oz. 2 Carp: 5lb 11oz & 4lb 6oz.
    A rare (very - I usually have a bit of a break in the spring) 'closed season' outing - a trip to cure the lockdown blues! Just wanted to sit on the bank and watch a float for a few hours not even so bothered about catching! As usual I set my stall out to try and snaffle one of the lake's big but scarce crucians and as the tackle shop had no maggots it was straight out with the float fished prawn sections a rod length (or less) from the bank. Bright conditions did not make for good sport and I didn't get a bite until gone 6.00pm when the bigger carp snaffled the bait. There then followed a really frustrating evening - lots of sail-away 'un-missable' bites which had my striking into thin air - it happened time and time again - think fish must have been attacking the shot. The only time I did connect it was another carp until finally just before 2200 a dithering sort of a bite resulted in the lovely plump tinca - can't remember catching one bigger in Willows at least not for the last 20 years. And just as I slipped her back the International Space Station passed overhead! A lovely evening all round.

  25. Chris Plumb
    Warwicks Water - Thatcham
    1800 - 2300
    Warm sticky evening - shirtsleeves weather - apart from the mossies!
    1 Tench; 2lb 7oz. 2 doz+ Roach & Perch (2-1 in favour of roach) - all small - save for a couple of perch which might have pushed 6-8oz.
    Started off float fishing maggot - a plan that I was quickly dissuaded from - as the float never had time to cock before I had a fish on. So within half an hour I'd switched to corn and settled down to an evening watching a stationary float. With the light fading I switched to prawn sections - hoping this wouldn't be a magnet for the perch! Thankfully the only bite came a little after 2200 just as I was contemplating packing up when without warning the float shot under and a muscular male tench was the result. This success prompted me to stay another hour without so much as a flicker of further activity.
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