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Chris Plumb

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Plumb

  1. Chris Plumb

    24 December

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Lambourn - Newbury
     
    0930 - 1315
     
    Cold, overcast and quite breezy. AT hovering around 0ºC all day. Just warm enough not to suffer iced up rod rings. River low and clear.
     
    17 Grayling. 9 over 1lb (!), best 3, 2lb oz (!!!), 1lb 13oz & 1lb 10oz.
     
    Cracking morning's trotting - until I got married I always went fishning on Christmas Eve! Catch a couple and move on tactics. Fish were hungry - in a couple of swims they were boiling on the surface when the freebies went in - soon got spooked when one of their brethen were hooked though! 1st 2lber from the Lambourn since Dec 2001, also lost something which was MUCH bigger and though was suspiciously barble-ly was probably a troot.
     
    Christmas Grayling

  2. Chris Plumb

    28 December

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Nr Newbury
     
    0815 - 1600
     
    Misty and drizzly all day - temp up to a balmy 7ºC. River low with just a hint of colour after over-night rain and snow melt. WT a chilly 41ºF
     
    1 Chub; 3lb 2oz, 14 Dace; 3 gooduns - best of which went 12oz. 6 Brownies - biggest 3lb 11oz.
     
    Satisfying days angling all things considered. Due to low water we were restricted to a short section of river and with a low WT, salt and snow melt in the river we expected sport to be slow. Spent most of the morning playing hunt the fish (and 'Avoid the Trout'). I said to Paul when we do find them they'll be shoaled up and so it proved - I found the dace and Paul the chub (he had 6 to 4lb 7oz).
     
    Paul's 4lber....

     
    The Dace swim...

     
    Paul's Chub swim...

  3. Chris Plumb

    16 January 2011

    By Chris Plumb,

    Middle Kennet Estate.
     
    0800 - 1615
     
    Overcast and breezy - drizzle for last hour, 10ºC. River still quite low - up maybe a couple of inches on our last visit here in November. Carrying quite a bit of colour - more than I expected to see!
     
    6 Chub; 5 over 1lb, best 3:- 5lb 6oz, 4lb 6oz, 4lb 3oz. 6 Perch; biggest 2lb 2oz, rest all small. 1½doz dace, 2doz+ roach - all small though a few of the dace were circa 6oz and one roach warranted the scales though it 'only' registered 12oz, ½doz gudgeon, 1 skimmer, 5 brownies to 3lb, 4 rainbows to 3¾lb.
     
    A morning spent playing find the chub finally came to fruition at around 1400 at the 8th swim of asking! Caught all 3 biggies in last couple of hours from a swim which looks like it was designed by Mr Crabtree for chub but which has never produced for me in the past - until now! Most fish on trotted maggot. Spent and hour or so perching with lobs which produced the 2lber - and not a lot else - though Paul lost a quite substantial stripey. Paul had many many more dace and roach - with some really decent dace gracing his net. Didn't find any substantial chub and did the honours removing a pike from my chub swim which was causing a nuisance - attacking my float on the retrieve!
     
    Big Mouth!

     
    Here be Dace - big Dace!

     
    Only an ounce bigger!

  4. Chris Plumb

    28 January

    By Chris Plumb,

    Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Hungerford
     
    0730 - 1715
     
    Cold, mainly overcast with some sunny spells especially after noon. -1ºC->2ºC but felt MUCH colder in a raw NEly wind. River still quite low for late Jan.
     
    42 Grayling; 15 over 1lb - best 3, 1lb11oz, 1lb10oz, 1lb 8oz. 3 Dace; small(ish!), 8 Brownies - biggest 2lb 10oz - but most were parrs, 7 Rainbows to 3¼lb.
     
    A chilly days grayling fishing with Paul. Tried and failed to find any big dace - water levels were too low for them - so concentrated on what this venue does best - the ladies. Paul fared even better with 59 (over 100 between us!) his biggest going 1lb 13oz. He even managed to get more dace than me despite spending less than ½ the time I did looking for them!!!
     
    Still thawing out!
     
     
    Paul's Biggest...

     
    Frosty Sunset

  5. Chris Plumb

    6 February

    By Chris Plumb,

    Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham
     
    0815 - 1215. Overcast, mild and very breezey. WT 49ºF
     
    4 Perch; 3lb exactly, 1lb 10oz and a couple of tiddlers.
     
    Slow morning - 3lber in the 1st 15 minutes. Would have liked to have started ¾hr earlier but had to take Sam into work. Stiff upstream breeze made accurate casting and presentation difficult. (And when I did get it right a ruddy canoeist would come along - had to reel in 37 times for them - yes I counted!)
     
    Little & Large!

  6. Chris Plumb

    12 February

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    0815 - 1115
     
    Mild and overcast. Battery flat in thermometer so no temps. River up a bit to normal levels and carrying a bit of colour.
     
    1 Barbel; 3lb 14oz. 3 Chub; 3lb 9oz, 3lb 3oz, 2lb 13oz. 2 Perch 1lb 12oz and one just shy of a lb. 2 Dace & 3 Gudgeon.
     
    An 'insurance' session!! Meant to be having a day on the middle Kennet tomorrow - but if the weather forecast is accurate I'll probably get up, check the rain radar and go straight back to bed!! So this morning, on the excuse that I had to pop over to Tony's to get some maggots anyway, I thought I'd sneak in a couple of hours or so on the bank as I suspected the river would be in good nick - and so it proved. A barbel on the pin at any time is to be welcomed - all the more so in mid-February. All the chub and the barbel on trotted lobs (and one of the dace!). The rest including both perch on double red maggot.
     

  7. Chris Plumb

    20 February

    By Chris Plumb,

    Middle Kennet Estate
     
    0900 - 1730
     
    Cool, Overcast and Dry. AT around 5-6ºC all day. River at normal levels and carrying a tinge of colour - all in all neigh on perfect winter conditions!
     
    10 Chub. 8 over a pound, biggest 3; 4lb 5oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 5oz. 13 Dace. Most a good size, best 4; 14oz, 11oz 10ozX2. 1 Grayling - 1lb 7oz. 8 Brownies to 2½lb.
     
    Typical day spent wondering the banks with rods in hand. Spent all morning searching out the dace and had caught just 4 by lunch time though it did include both 10oz & the 11oz fish. Post lunch the focus switched briefly to chub and I had ½doz in quick succession - half on maggot and half on corn. Then after a quick visit to poach Rusty's swim - forlornly as it turned out for a perch - it was a long trek down to a swim rumoured to hold really special chub - unfortunately when I got there I realised I'd left my sweetcorn at the top of the fishery. This meant changing up my dace tackle to something a bit stronger and fishing double white maggot. A small chub resulted quickly followed by the grayling - small compensation for the MUCH bigger lady I lost in the morning due to my own stupidity. I hooked what I firmly believed to be a brownie - and played it really hard - hoping it would get off. The plan worked in the same instance I realised I was connected to a really substantial grayling not a troot! Last hour was spent in a known dace swim - resulting in my last fish of the day being a rather special dace of 14oz.
     

     
    3 of Paul's fish from Sunday....



  8. Chris Plumb

    25 February

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Itchen
     
    0830 - 1730
     
    Mild and overcast all day. AT 13ºC Max. River at near normal levels though carrying quite a bit of colour.
     
    22 Grayling; 12 over 1lb, with 6 of those over 2lb - biggest 2lb 7oz. 2 Chub 4lb 3oz, 3lb 8oz.
     
    Thanks to Paul's excellent networking skills (& silver tongue) we had exclusive use of this lovely bit of river for a second time (see blog entry 13/10/08 for the first). Bites at a premium and quite hard work at times - but if you stuck at it the fish would take - eventually!! About half my fish on red sweetcorn - most of the rest on white maggot (4 of the 6, 2lbers on corn). Paul managed less well on the grayling front with a dozen fish to 1lb 10oz - mainly beacuse chub kept turning up in his swim (or sea trout). Think he had ½doz chub and a suprise 2lb perch along with some salmon parr - much more of a mixed bag than I managed!
     

     
    A couple of Paul's fish - including his Itchen stripey!
     


  9. Chris Plumb

    6 March

    By Chris Plumb,

    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.
  10. Chris Plumb

    Crock of Gold

    By Chris Plumb,

    As ever my spring will be spent collecting and reading angling books and knocking out the odd review for Anglersnet. This is a book Jaq bought for me when it first came out last autumn - but it was squirrelled away and given me as a Christmas pressie, hence I've not long finished it....
     
    Crock of Gold – Seeking the Crucian Carp by Peter Rolfe
     
    For me, the epitome of summer is sitting by a misty pool an hour before sunrise on a balmy June morning – staring intently at the red tip of a quill float as a blizzard of pin-prick bubbles surface and pop around it. Crucians’ are on the feed! But will they take my offering on the hook? Often the answer is no! Or maybe the bite is so tentative as to be hardly detectable! Crucian fishing can be infuriating and triumphal in equal measure. Triumphal when the piece of quill lifts an inch, a strike brings resistance and after a short struggle a wonderful bar of gold breaks the surface – brightening up my morning long before the sun is up!
    Suffice to say that crucians are one of my favourite species – not for their fighting qualities – more for the challenge in water craft and bait presentation that they pose an angler. And up until now they have been sadly neglected in angling literature. Crock of Gold by Peter Rolfe does a grand job at plugging that gap! Peter Rolfe has for years been an unsung hero of the species – restoring ancient Wessex ponds and Victorian estate lakes and stocking them with true crucians. Four decades of dedication, which was recognised recently with Peter receiving the first Fred J Taylor Award for Environmental Stewardship.
    Much of Peter’s experiences in creating ideal crucian habitats are in the book. However there is much more besides. I hadn’t realised that the enigmatic crucian was such a fascinating species with some curious and quite unique survival strategies. For example they exhibit ‘phenotypic plasticity’ which means to you and me the ability to change shape. This they do in response to the presence of predators – growing deeper – so that they are harder to grab. This transformation known as ‘gape defence’ can be effected in a matter of weeks. Crucians also have legendary survivability in low oxygen levels. This is because they have the highest levels of glycogen of any vertebrate. This is used to provide necessary energy if oxygen isn’t readily available – a by-product of which is ethanol. Your average crucian, spending the winter under an iced up pond probably has a higher blood alcohol content than a New Year’s Eve reveller!
    Such strategies are much needed as the poor fish is the ‘prey of choice’ for pike and perch and taken in preference to pretty much anything else these predators are likely to find in an English still-water. And it is for this reason, many an angling club has put a stock of crucians into a water – never to be seen again!
    You can probably tell from the above that Peter Rolfe’s book is well researched – delving into and quoting from numerous scientific papers – often from Scandinavia where the fish has been much studied. There are also a chapters written by a dozen guest contributors such as Martin Bowler, Chris Yates, Mark Wintle, Hugh Miles, Peter Wheat along with less well-known names and specimen crucian anglers from Sweden (6lb+ Crucian anyone?). These anglers contribute pieces on tactics as well as reviewing famous crucian waters such as Marsh Farm. They are interspersed throughout the book and do rather give it a bit of a higgledy-piggledy feel at times. (I was also mildly irritated by the typos I came across – but then I am practically OCD about such things!)
     
    Peter spends quite a bit of time on the thorny issue of identification and hybridisation – with numerous colour plates to illustrate. He even sets the reader a little ‘Can You Tell the Difference’ test – which I’m rather pleased to say I got 100% right! Invaluable information which will probably ensure my copy of Crock of Gold will constantly be referred to in years to come. Regardless of anything else the book does an excellent job of raising the profile of a neglected species.
    If you’re a fan of the fish then no doubt you will have already acquired this ‘cornucopia of all things crucian’ as the book has been out since August 2010. If not, why not? To any other angler interested in this fascinating species I recommend it whole-heartedly!
    Hardback published by MPress 2010. ISBN: 978-0956093585 Price £35
    Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crock-Gold-Seeking..._pr_product_top
  11. Chris Plumb
    Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley Complex
     
    0000 - 1000
     
    Warm, still and overcast night (14ºC). Torrential rain after 0700 - and cooler.
     
    5 Tench; 7lb 7oz, 5lb 10oz, 3X3lbers (3.13,3.12,3.03). 1 Bream 8lb 11oz, 2 perch.
     
    Nice socialable start to the season - permit not valid till midnight so arriving in the dark gave it that special feel of the 16th. Paul and I shared a swim - one we've both fished before - hence our name for it - 'Doubles'. Alas though Paul hardly had a bite - not helped by the fact he missed most of the feeding time from 0500 - 0700 as he had to go home to take wifey and daughter to work. Bites stopped after the rains came - and boy did they come. Spookily we were talking at the begining of the session of the potential for big bream in the water - I was relaying a story I'd heard last season of it producing doubles - though neither of us really believed it - as it hardly ever produces bream of any kind - so to get one of nearly 9lb - maybe just maybe. All fish caught on meat - except the perch which fell to maggot. 7lb tinca is my 3rd biggest ever and my best from this water.
     
    Pics to follow - though not alas of the bream - was so shocked to get it it went back before we realised we hadn't taken its portrait....
     
    Summer Pit at Dawn...

     
    The Same an hour later....

     
    My 7lb 7oz Tench..

  12. Chris Plumb

    17 June

    By Chris Plumb,

    Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham
     
    0530 - 1430
     
    Cool & overcast - drizzle from 1100.
     
    3 Carp; 10lb 10oz, 8lb 1oz & 3lber. A doz rudd & roach and 1½doz small perch.
     
    Slowish day alledgedly fishing for crucians - though Paul fared better snaffling a brace of 1¼lb+ fish. 10lb carp 1st cast - lucky to land it on a size 18 to 2¾lb bottom! Fished meat & maggot in rotation. All the roach were of a good stamp circa 8-10oz - pity there weren't a few more of them!
     
    A pic of one of Paul's Crucians - love the buttery colouration...

  13. Chris Plumb

    22 June

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
     
    0700 - 1000
     
    Cool, breezey and overcast. One sharp shower followed by an absolute downpour just after packing up!! Max 15ºC
     
    3 Barbel; 7lb 6oz, 4lb 3oz, 2lb 9oz. 1 Chub (unweighed but circa 1lb). 3 Dace, 1 Gudgeon & 2 Brownies one of which went 2lb 14oz.
     
    A return to the venue I visited on opening day and as I hoped I had the place to myself! This meant I could fish all ½ doz swims in rotation. Biggest barbel from 2nd swim other 2 from 5th one I dropped in. Brownie was chasing in minnows - so 'spinning' a red/white maggot past its lair induced a take! Session was curtailed by the river suddenly turning to the colour of chocolate with loads of debris coming down. Wandering upstream to investigate - there was a JCB in the tail of the weir re-modelling the the river bed! Given the subsequent rain I'm not too displeased!
     
    Pic of the 7lber - which put up a merry battle on the Harrison!
     

  14. Chris Plumb

    26 June

    By Chris Plumb,

    NAA Stillwater - Widmead
     
    0445 - 1045
     
    Warm and overcast with sun breaking through after 0900. 15ºC->24ºC
     
    1 Crucian; 3lb 13oz - new PB! 2 Commons; 11lb 3oz & 8lb 5oz. 2 Perch - 1 just on 1lb and a nice Rudd of 10oz.
     
    Yippee got what I came for - had heard of some big 3's showing and even whispers of a 4lber so thrilled to have snaffled one. Sat right back and float fished under my rod tip about 2 foot from the bank - lots and lots of little lifts and movement from the off - which was obviously just rudd and perch. Had one classic lift about an hour after starting and briefly connected with something solid which quickly shed the hook - felt this was a crucian and that my chance had gone - thankfully a little after 0800 same thing happened and as soon as it was hooked I knew it was a crucian - couldn't believe the size of it when it popped to the surface for the first time and it took 3 more plunges before I had it subdued - very very nervy couple of minutes - was convinced I had a 4lber!! Had to settle for 3oz light but still can't wipe the smile of my face!!!! Biggest common off the top - with bread flake - other one on the method.
     
    Crucian beats previous PB by 3oz - a 3-10 fish from a nearby lake caught on 22/6/99 - my 2nd longest standing PB until today.
     

     

  15. Chris Plumb

    29 June

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Padworth.
     
    1700 - 0000
     
    Bright and breezey start with clouds clearing and temps dropping. 20ºC->12ºC when I packed up. River at near normal summer levels (perhaps a tad on the low side) and carrying its usual summer colour...
     
    1 Chub; 6lb 6oz (Equals my PB! ). 2 Barbel; 9lb 7oz & 4lb 4oz.
     
    Well, well, well! For the 2nd year running my first 'static' barbel session of the summer throws up a 6lb+ chub. From the same venue as last year too - though from a swim several hundred metres downstream. Whereas last years 6lb was a beat up old warrior who fought more like a bream on diazepam last nights was in great nick, fought very well for a chub and gave a very good imitation of a barbel - was real surprised when it eventually surfaced. Don't get many chub here - to put it into context - in 10 years of regularly fishing this venue this is only my 3rd chub of any size - and 2 of them have been over 6lb! Chub was caught 2nd cast (about and hour after starting).
     
    Smaller barbel around 2130 - which didn't fight half as well as the chub and the 9lber just as it got properly dark at 2300. The 9lb 'radiated gigantism' fought like fury and I had real difficulty shifting it from the bottom - usually the sign of a good fish. Thought all the world it would be a double - long and lean though - needs to pack on some post spawning weight!!!!!
     

     

  16. Chris Plumb

    1/2 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    Summer Pit - Cemex Yateley
     
    2030 - 0600
     
    Still, balmy night with high cloud - temps 20ºC->13ºC but felt a lot milder under the trees!
     
    3 Bream; 12lb 2oz - another PB , 8lb 7oz, 4lb 15oz. 2 Tench; 4lb 1oz, 3lb 3oz. 3 Perch & 2 Rudd.
     
    I'm utterly gobsmacked - 2 PBs and 1 = PB in a week! I said last weeks crucian would take some beating - this might just be the fish for me, that does! My first ever double figure bream - previous PB was 9lb7oz - so this has annihilated it!!! What's even sweeter I was tring to catch bream too!!! On our visit here on the opening day Paul and I suffered quite a few liners - I had a hunch that these were caused by bream - not tench as we might have supposed. So last night I just wanted to fish the dark hours and fish maggot on my lift method float rigs. During the day this is suicide as the bait gets massacred by the micro rudd and perch - but I guess these are feeding by sight as I didn't get bothered by them at all during the night (but did as soon as it got light again).
     
    First fish (the small tinca) just on 1100 - and thereafter bites were slow but steady - also bumped a couple - probably striking at liners. Big Bream caught at 0100 - the 8lber a couple of hours later as the first traces of dawn streaked the eastern sky in front of me.
     
    Pic shows a rather scarred and beat up looking slab - I wonder if this is spawning damage - no sign in the mouth that this has ever been caught!
     
    I cannot believe the amount of slime on my landing net when I packed up!
     

  17. Chris Plumb

    6 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet, Newbury
     
    1600 - 2300
     
    Overcast and breezy with some drizzle. 20º->15ºC but felt a LOT chillier where I was sitting in the breeze! River at normal summer levels and carrying quite a bit of colour
     
    1 Bream; 2lb 10oz
     
    An evening barbelling session with Paul to this (once) prolific section of river. Over the years I have come to call this swim THE Banker - I can't remember coming here in high summer and NOT catching a barbel. These days the only certainty about the place is that your almost gauranteed to see an otter! Paul and I saw it here last summer and we saw it 3 times last night. It swam upstream through our swims at around 2000. It did the return journey a little before 2200 and at 2300 poked its head out right underneath my feet - I could have leant down and stroked it - if I'd been quick enough! Given all this its amazing we caught anything! My bream was caught in the fastest stretch of water and gave a very good account of itself - taking line against the clutch. Paul managed a solitary barbel of 7lb 2oz between the 1st 2 otter sightings. So we didn't blank - but 5 years ago we might have reckoned on 10 to a dozen barbel between us from such a session - with perhaps the odd chub thrown in as well - a species which appears to have completely disappeared from the stretch!
     
    Home of the otter!

     
    Paul's 7lber...

  18. Chris Plumb

    11/12 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    Summer Pit, CEMEX Yateley Complex
     
    1930 - 0545
     
    Warm, overcast night temps didn't dip lower than 15ºC - lovely night to be out!
     
    3 Tench; 5lb 12oz, 4lb 13oz, 3lb. 1 Pike 4lb*. 8 perch, 1 roach, 1 rudd.
     
    Slow, slow session. First tench around 2330 then a mini flurry of activity between 0200 - 0400 when I had the other 2 and also lost 2 more which threw the hook in the weed. All 3 on my margin rod - not a touch on the rod fishing further out.
     
    * The pike managed to get itself 'banked' 3 times - the 1st when it simply grabbed a perch and wouldn't let go - until it was in the net - perch released without a mark on it! The 2nd time it simply swam into the net as I netted the 5lb tench! And then it grabbed a tiny piece of meat I was reeling to pack up - the only time I actually hooked it!
     
    Everso everso skinny - poor thing!

  19. Chris Plumb

    15/16 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    NAA Stillwater - Widmead
     
    1500 - 0700
     
    Overcast and breezy with light drizzle most of the night after a warm sunny afternoon. Min 15ºC - mild despite the breeze!
     
    6 Carp - all commons - biggest 9lb 13oz, smallest 6lb 8oz. 1 Bream 4lb 8oz. 1 Tench 2lb 8oz. 2 Doz+ Roach and Rudd.
     
    It comes to something when the highlight of your fishing trip is breakfast!!! However the pork and bramley apple sausages, fried egg sandwiches and mugs of steaming fresh tea were much anticipated! The fishing again was slow - Paul and I were after tench and bream - but again were thankful for the occasional carp showing up to put a bend in the rod. And at least these were a little more respectable than last time. Shame, as it started so promisingly - Paul had a bream first cast (he wouldn't get another!) and I spent nearly 20 minutes in mid afternoon battling what we were convinced must be a 20 on my float rod - only for it to turn out to be a 7lb+ common hooked in the derriere - which as Paul was quick to point out doesn't count!!! Still at least the overnight rain wasn't as heavy as forecast - and I was prudently home and dry before the heavens opened. Paul who fished on to try and add to his tally of 5 carp and the bream wasn't quite so lucky but thanks to keeping an eye on the rain radar on his Blackberry missed the worst of it!
     
    Pic (ala Rusty ) of the sausages!
     

  20. Chris Plumb

    20 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    Marsh Farm Fishery, Nr Goldalming (Harris Lake)
     
    0730 - 1900
     
    Cool, calm and overcast with light rain all afternoon from 1300. Max 16ºC
     
    14 Tench; Biggest 3 - 6lb 2oz, 5lb 9oz & 4lb 9oz with the vast majority being around the 3¼lb mark (only 1 under 3lb).
    4 Crucians; 2lb 3oz, 2lb 6oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 13oz. 1½doz 'bits' - mainly roach with a couple of rudd, perch and even a gudgeon!
     
    A very enjoyable day's angling - our 'annual' visit here postponed from June when we bottled it due to a poor weather forecast - a shrewd move given what we caught! Made a very nice change to fish this place in a flat calm - always been blowing a hoolie when we've come in the past. Paul had a very similar return - eventually. After a slow start, 2 swim moves - including a spell on Richardsons - he ended up with some nice fish in the last 3 hours - including a cracking crucian of 3lb 6oz - (equalling his PB for the 3rd time). I should point out though that Paul caught the vast majority of his fish on the method feeder - the cad - so of course they don't count!!
     
    I spent the whole time in the same swim on Harris - got off to a cracking start with the 6lb tinca and a 2lb cru in the first hour and thereafter caught steadily throughout the day - particularly in the afternoon after it started raining - the lower light levels appeared to bring them back on the feed after a bit of a lull late morning. All my fish caught float fishing in the margins - with 4mm or 6mm pellet. Most of Paul's fish fell to worm or worm/caster cocktail.
     
    Some Pics...
     
    My best tinca.

     
    1st Crucian of the morning.

     
    My best Crucian of the day.

     
    Paul's 3lber.

     
    Yellow tench - caught by Paul.

  21. Chris Plumb

    25 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    NAA Stillwater - Thatcham
     
    0500 - 1000
     
    Bright and sunny - cool start. 9º -> 16ºC
     
    5 Carp - biggest 2; 11lb 0oz & 9lb 7oz - a few 'bits' - roach, perch & a gudgeon.
     
    A dawn raid hoping for a crucian or 2 but alas the carp were too voracious!! Whatever I put on the hook - bread, maggot, meat, pellet the carp nailed within minutes - didn't give the crus a look in. Bumped as many as I landed too! Biggest carp however was caught deliberately - on floating crust - bit of a " if you can't beat them, join them" effort!
     

  22. Chris Plumb

    1 August

    By Chris Plumb,

    Newbury AA stillwater - Widmead
     
    0500 - 1000
     
    Warm, overcast and sultry. 16ºC->21ºC
     
    3 Tench; 3lb 10oz, 3lb 7oz, 1lb 11oz. 2 Carp; 9lb 14oz & 8lb 5oz. 7 Rudd.
     
    Dawn raid in the hope of another monster crucian - and whilst I had a big fish roll shortly after baiting the swim it was a case of nothing doing. Rudd were a nice size - upto 9-10oz, though in truth a bit of a pain as they kept giving crucian like bites on my lift float rigged meat! Carp off the top in the last hour - having thrown in freebies all morning!
     

  23. Chris Plumb

    5/6 August

    By Chris Plumb,

    Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead.
     
    1500 - 0800
     
    Warm and overcast. Mild night, temps didn't go below 14ºC
     
    4½* Carp, biggest 8¼lb, 1 Bream 4¼lb, 20+ Roach & Perch - in roughly equal nos.
     
    Another "Breakfast was the highlight of the trip" trip! Spent the first couple of hours fretting over my swim choice which saw me move swims and immediately get a bite which resulted in the bream - thereafter bites at a premium. Paul had had an identical return when I packed up having joined me 4 hours after I started. He fished on for another hour or so and added a 2nd bream to his tally plus the rather unusual looking carp below. He thinks it might be a Koi? Strange looking critter - note the lack of dorsal fin!
     
    *The ½ was a fish I landed on Paul's rod - he was dealing with a snagged up method feeder when his other rod went off - I struck and landed the fish - a carp of 8lb exactly - I reckon it should be mine!
     
     


  24. Chris Plumb

    10/11 August

    By Chris Plumb,

    Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley
     
    1930 - 0130
     
    Overcast and very breezy - this lake is so sheltered it's unusual to feel any wind at all - not last night! Mild - min 15ºC.
     
    1 Bream; 8lb. 1 Tench; 3lb 7oz. 2 rudd & a perch.
     
    Fished a new swim for the first time - at other end of the lake to usual haunts! Both fish caught just as it got completely dark - tench on meat at 2200 and the bream on maggot ½ hour later. No bites at all thereafter - though a few liners and fish topping which kept me bankside longer than I intended!!!
     

  25. Chris Plumb

    22 August

    By Chris Plumb,

    Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead
     
    0530 - 1100.
     
    Bright and sunny after a cool, misty start. 10º -> 20ºC
     
    1 Crucian; 2lb 2oz. 8 Carp; best 2 - 12lb 6oz & 11lb 9oz, smallest 6¾lb. 3 rudd & a perch.
     
    A morning's float fishing (lift method as per usual!!). Crucian and 3 of the smaller carp on 6mm S-Pellet. Meat just got nailed by the rudd. Last couple of hours spent freelining bread - which brought 5 more carp including both bigger ones. Smallest crucian from here in 7 years...
     



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