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 cam to float fished maggot in the hours before dusk (twas secretly trying for one of the lakes elusive crucians).

Johnsons Lake - Marsh Farm 1600 - 2315 & 0245 - 0500 (with 3 hours kip in the car) Warm, muggy overcast with showery rain all evening. Bright an breezy in the morning. 11 Tench; 5 over 5lb, best 3 - 7lb 7oz, 6lb 7oz, 6lb 4oz. 3 Crucians; 3lb 14oz (new PB), 3lb 2oz, 2lb 10oz. 2 Rudd to 10oz. Another cracking June trip here - 4th season in a row - though this one was definitely more eventful! My hopes weren't high to start with as reports from the first few days were of anglers struggling. Most of these were casting to the horizon and after carp whereas I would be float fishing the first few yards of lake for crucians. Things did get off to a slow start but quickly got going as the light faded. The 2 rudd were all I caught before 2000 - then came the 3 crucians in ascending size order - I thought the biggie had to be a 4lber and was shaking as a weighed it! After that the tench moved in - bullying the crus out of the swim methinks as I didn't get another sniff of one. The morning was just as eventful - for all the wrong reasons because I, err, fell in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No half measures either, slipped/tripped just as I was casting out my float rod and went head first into the drink. Lost my glasses and head torch - thankfully I have some prescription sunglasses which got me home. Phone seems to have gone into some kind of safe mode so it 'might' be ok - currently drying out....Pride comes before a fall they say! Pity as I was still catching and had planned to stay much longer......

Well done JC - nice to see there's at least a couple of us keeping this blog going!!!

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford 0700 - 0400 Bright and breezy, mainly sunny. Lovely clear night with some high cloud and a gorgeous full moon. 9 Tench; best 5lb5oz with 6 of the rest over 4½lb. 2 Crucians; 2lb 0oz & 1lb 11oz. 2 Perch. 4th IAC Paul Goulbourn memorial fish-in. Yet again 20 of Paul's friends came together to honour his memory and try (and mainly fail!) to catch a crucian! Bites were at a premium all day though I think most anglers caught at least 'A' tench - I had my biggest pretty much first cast. However only 6 crucians were caught by the allotted time. Gary started the ball rolling with a splendid fish of 2lb 12oz - easily enough to win in previous years - however he had only seconds to enjoy the moment as news spread along the bank of a 2lb 15 (and a ½!) oz fish which fell to Alex - which naturally was the winning fish. I fished on after everyone had gone and as in previous years the fish came on the feed at 2130. I then had a lively few hours catching mainly tench until it went completely quiet at around 0200. I packed up as soon as it got light and headed home for some sleep. Money raised for Duchess of Kent Hospice was in excess of £300 meaning the IAC has now raised nearly £3K through this (and the winter Grayling) fish-in. MANY THANKS to all who came and gave.

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!

There was certainly a sudden increase in weights at the turn of the millennium - in the 4 seasons 98/99 - 01/02 I had 22 PBs with my barbel PB going up every year. However I reckon there were many more fish in the river 25 years ago - for example my diary records the opening day of the season 1993 - spent at Brimpton (in the pouring rain!) I had 6 chub and 7 barbel that day yet no fish (of either species) was over 3½lb and despite catching over a 100 chub and barbel that season (mainly from Brimpton and Lower Benyons) my seasons best was 3-06 for chub and 4-02 for barbel! How I wish for those days now! Thankfully the chub still seem to be hanging on in reasonable numbers (and size) though the big perch and barbel of any size have all but disappeared....

Hi Jojn - yes - I've got diaries going back to 1971/72 season (when I was 10!) and always fished the Kennet system since then - so have quite a bit of data! For me it all kicked off in 1999/2000! In those 2 years I had my first 6lb + chub, my first 3lb+ perch and first 10lb+ barbel. All of which were big step ups from previous PBs. My Chub pb in particular leapt up from 4-13 to 6-3 in one go in 1999 - having crept up by just 12oz in the previous 11 years. For 15 years from 1979 - 1994 my best barbel was a modest 6lb and when I caught my first double it added 1½lbs to my pb. My perch pb stood at 2-03 (1993) before smashing it with a 3.01 in 1999 - at the time I'd only ever caught 3 perch over 2lb!. A lot of commentators put all this down to the explosion in signal crayfish numbers at around the same time - and who am I to disagree but it does give an explanation as to why there are no pbs before 2001 (my Rudd was the last one!) The 2001-05 period is partly due to access to great waters - the roach and dace were on the same day - from a swim that Martin Bowler fishes (and catches a 1-02 dace!) in Catching the Impossible - alas I no longer have access to this (the old boy that ran the fishery passed away and it was bought out by owners that no longer allow coarse fishing). Similarly the pike was from a water I can no longer fish (in fact that was my last ever visit though I didn't know it at the time!)

My PB List. Haven’t done one of these for a while (though it hasn't changed much in the last 5 years!) and as I had a query about my PBs I thought I'd put an updated list on here... Best Carp – 27lb 6oz. 15 August 2008. Blue Pool – Burghfield. Method feeder – hair-rigged hemp bogey. Blog Entry: http://www.anglersne...63-1415-august/ Best Pike – 18lb 10oz. 10 February 2001. River Lambourn – Newbury. Free-lined Lamprey section. Best Barbel – 12lb 4oz. 27 July 2004. River Kennet, Arrowhead – Thatcham. Ledgered Halibut pellet. Best Bream – 12lb 2oz. 2 July 2011. Summer Pit – Yateley. Float fished (lift method) maggot. Blog entry; http://www.anglersne...ry-704-12-july/ Best Brown Trout – 8lb 12oz. 14 March 2008. Middle Kennet Estate – Newbury. Trotted Maggot. (No photo) Blog Entry; http://www.anglersne...y-222-14-march/ Best Tench – 7lb 10oz. 18 June 2003. Wylies Lake – Thatcham. Float fished (lift method) black pudding. Best Chub – 6lb 7oz. 19 February 2012. Middle Kennet Estate – Nr Kintbury. Trotted Red Sweetcorn. Blog Entry; http://www.anglersne...48-19-february/ Best Salmon – 5lb 10oz. 13 October 2008. Lower Itchen Fishery. Trotted Maggot. (No Photo) Blog Entry; http://www.anglersne...281-13-october/ Best Rainbow Trout – 4lb 10oz. 5 March 2004. Barton Court – Kintbury. Trotted Maggot. (No Photo) Best Perch – 4lb 5oz. 28 October 2013. Kennet & Avon Canal – Thatcham. Float fished lobworm. Blog Entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1140-28-october/ Best Crucian – 3lb 13oz. 26 June 2011. Newbury AA Lake – Widmead. Float fished (lift method) bacon grill. Blog Entry; http://www.anglersne...ry-699-26-june/ Best Grayling – 2lb 15oz. 6 January 2002. Lower Itchen Fishery. Trotted maggot. Best Roach – 2lb 11oz. 7 February 2003. Middle Kennet Carrier – Nr Hungerford. Trotted maggot. Eel - 2lb 1oz: 12/06/15, Ledgered prawn. Mill Farm, Pulborough Blog entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1299-12-june/ 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. Rudd - 1lb 11oz 18/06/18. Float fished prawn sections, Johnsons Lake - Milford. [/url] Blog Entry; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1532-1819-june/ Best Dace – 1lb 2oz. 7 February 2003. Middle Kennet Carrier – Nr Hungerford. Trotted maggot.

A satisfactory season despite (yet again) not a barbel on the bank. Best Carp: 23lb 10oz. 21 June Ledgered Pellet - method feeder Jubilee Lake - Thatcham. Biggest carp for 10 years and my biggest ever Common. Best Bream; 7lb 14oz. 17 Nov, Trotted corn, River Frome - Wool. Something of a surprise capture as I was after Grayling - my biggest ever river Bream. Best Chub; 6lb 4oz. 9 Dec, Trotted maggot, River Kennet - Brimpton. First 6lb+ chub for 7 seasons (since 11/12) and first ever from this venue in 37 years of fishing it! Best Tench; 5lb 15oz. 19 June. Float fished prawn sections, Johnsons Lake - Milford. Best Pike; 3lb 13oz. 28July. Ledgered meat, River Kennet - Marsh Benham. Had quite a few jacks this winter on lobs - perch fishing. This one was caught fishing a fast gravelly run at the tail of a weirpool - allegedly for barbel! Best Crucian; 3lb 11oz. 19 June. Float fished prawn sections, Johnsons Lake - Milford. VERY fat fish which is my 2nd biggest ever Crucian (2 oz off my pb). Best Perch; 2lb 15oz. 31 Dec. Float fished lob, Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton. 2 years 'prospecting' for new perch swims finally pays off! Best Grayling; 2lb 5oz. 17 Nov, Trotted corn, River Frome - Wool. Nearly didn't renew my DDAS ticket this year - this fish will ensure I renew for next year! Best Rudd; 1lb 11oz. (New PB). 18 June. Float fished prawn sections, Johnsons Lake - Milford. My longest standing PB (1991) gets broken twice in a couple of hours this lovely rudd was preceded by a 1lb 8oz fish - both beating my previous best of 1lb 6oz. URL=http://s964.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Plumb/media/Rudd1-11_zpsqbshaogl.jpg.html][/url] Best Roach; 1lb 2oz. 22 Dec. Trotted maggot, River Lambourn - Newbury. This water has a habit of occasionally throwing up a surprise roach amongst the numerous grayling. Best Dace; 10oz. 4 August, Trotted maggot, River Kennet - Brimpton. Not a great year on the Dace front!

Middle Kennet Estate Water - Kintbury 0700 - 1815 Mild,damp start, VERY windy with some further lumpy showers (hail), brighter by the afternoon. River with a bit of water in it at last! 21 Chub; Biggest 3 - 5lb 6oz, 5lb 3oz & 4lb 9oz - with nearly all the rest in the 2½ - 3½lb class, a couple of pounders and one just under turned up in my dace swims at last knockings. 12 Dace - best 10oz, 6 Roach - all 'hand-sized', 1 Perch <1lb & around a dozen+ brownies. A chub fest with a very similar return to my trip here last year (see: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1527-14-march/ ) and if last year's trip here was windy this was positively hurricane like - to the point of having trouble standing at some point! Still it put a good ripple on the water and clearly my poor float control didn't put the chub off - I had 9 chub in the first 2 hours including both 5lbers. All the fish caught on trotted red corn apart from the few smaller chub and silvers caught on maggot at dusk. Finished off searching for big dace and had my hopes raised by getting a 10oz male fish in full spawning garb (rough sand papery skin) alas it's female companions didn't put in an appearance!

River Kennet (& carrier) Marsh Benham 0900 - 1530 Bright and breezy (very breezy at times in the morning!) Mild-ish but didn't feel that way in the wind. River up an inch or two on last visit here (3 weeks ago). 7 Chub; Best 5lb 2oz - all the rest between 2½ - 3¾lb. 3 Bream: between 2¾ - 4lb. 15 Roach, 5 Dace & 5 Trout (3 browns & 2 rainbows all between 2½-3½lbs). Pleasant days trotting despite the wind - spent most of my time on the main river and weirpool which produced my biggest chub here this season.

Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton 1330 - 1700 Still mild with milky sunshine - clouding over and quite breezy. 9 Perch; 5 over 1lb - 2lb 1oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 13oz, 1lb 12oz, 1lb 3oz with a couple more just shy of 1lb. 1 Chub 3lb 1oz, 1 Roach; 14oz. 3 Pike - all between 2-3lb Can't get enough of a good thing at this water atm! Pike were a bit of a pain forcing me eventually to move swims - which resulted in the chub and the roach - both caught on whole lobs.

River Kennet - Brimpton 0745 - 1200 Quite mild, dry and cloudy with sunny spells - river up to near normal winter levels with a tinge of colour. 1 Chub; 2lb 13oz. 2 Grayling, 4 Brownies to 2½lb Was hoping to re-acquaint my self with some of the big chub I had from here at the start of winter (see; http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1572-9-december/ ) but, alas the trout were rather to eager, trashing swim after swim. Eventually had a chub from the 5th swim I dropped into (the only one NOT to produce a troot) but it was half the size of what I was looking for!!!

River Frome - Wool 0800 - 1530 Bright and sunny - quite warm (16ºC) for Feb despite a frosty start. River quite full (1.06m at E stoke) and a little coloured. 7 Grayling - 4 over 1lb best 2lb 1oz & 1lb 11oz. 2 Trout (both sub 1lb) and a Salmon Parr. Sparkly day in Dorset with bites at a premium - especially in the morning - when I broke for lunch I had just 3 modest sized grayling to my name - but returning to the 2 swims that produced them resulted in better sport in the afternoon. Few other anglers which was a surprise for the last Sunday of the season here.

K&A Canal - Woolhampton 1500 - 1730 Bright and sunny. Mild - 16ºC 4 Perch; 3 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 14oz Another successful dusk session for stripeys - though the biggest one was caught well before the sun had sank below the trees....

K&A Canal, Woolhampton 1500 - 1715. Mild and mainly cloudy. 3 Perch: 2lb 4oz, 2lb 1oz, 1lb 7oz. Had to make the most of this mild spell with a dusk session for stripeys. Thankfully they'd read the script and whilst bites were at a premium every one resulted in a nice perch.

River Kennet (& carrier) Marsh Benham 0930 - 1400 Mild and bright, clouding over by the time I left. River still not very high for mid Feb. 3 Chub; all 2lbers. A dozen roach, biggest 1lb exactly with nothing else remotely close to that!. Half dozen dace, 3 Brownies between 2-3lb & 4lb+ Rainbow. Most fish from the weirpool - though started with a 2½lb chub from 'Chub Corner' first cast - turned out to be the biggest of the day!

Lower Itchen Fishery 0830 - 1700 Bright and breezy (very at times), River well up and coloured from yesterday's heavy rain - though conditions gradually improved throughout the day. 9 Grayling; best 1lb 8oz. 2 Brownies - 2½lber and a parr. 4th IAC Paul Goulbourn memorial grayling day - so it was nice to catch up with some old friends. Fishing was a challenge for all though as the river fined down I think most caught a few. Gary, who I fished with all day, was the star of the show with 5 ladies over 1lb - and the 2 best fish of the day at 1-10 & 1-15. He also managed to embed a size 14 deep into his finger and had to drop into minor injuries unit on the way home to have it extracted!

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River Kennet - Newbury 1100 - 1330 Cold, bright and sunny with snow on the ground AT -2ºC -> 3ºC. River up a couple of inches but running gin clear. 2 Chub: 2lb 9oz, 2lb 2oz. 3 Grayling - all 8-10oz. 3 Brownies to crica 1lb. Lovely crisp winter's day (though I got stuck in snow in the car park and some kind souls dug me out and gave me a push!) Chub and grayling are reliable quarry when the thermometer is close to zero and I wasn't disappointed despite the very bright conditions!

K&A Canal - Woolhampton 1400 - 1615 Mild, overcast and breezy with drizzly showers turning to rain. AT 10ºC. WT 9.1ºC 3 Perch; 1lb 9oz, 1lb 4oz, 13oz. 1 Pike 2lb 4oz. 2 Chub(lets) Mild snap had me heading for the canal in pursuit of stripeys. Didn't get a bite until 1530 then a flurry of fish around 4 o'clock - usual pattern for winter perching on the canal!

River Lambourn - Newbury 0830 - 1045 Mild and overcast. River low. 19 Grayling. Over half a couple of ounces either side of 1lb with the biggest, a lovely jet black fish of 1lb 10oz. 2 brownies - both small. Usual catch a couple and move on trotting tactics.....

River Kennet - Brimpton 1015 - 1515 Cold, bright and sunny. River low - very low for mid Jan 2 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 1½lb. 1 Brownie 2½lb A bright sparkly day though not ideal conditions - perseverance paid off - didn't get a bite until 1430 then 3 fish in half an hour from swims that appeared devoid of fish a couple of hours earlier (sun was off the water!)

River Kennet (and carrier) Marsh Benham 0930 - 1530 Overcast, mild and quite breezy. River down on a fortnight ago (well we have had zero rainfall in that time). 3 Chub; 4lb 1oz, 3lb 3oz & 2lb 11oz. 1 Pike 2lb 10oz, 4 doz Roach & Dace (roughly 2 -1 ratio). Biggest roach 12oz with a lot more circa 8oz. 2 Brownies 4lb 14oz & a pounder, 2 Rainbows - both 3lbers (possibly same one!) Chilled out birthday trip! Carrier was very low so fish were very spooky - though did land the pike from here which had clamped down on a dace and didn't let go - steered it into the net before it realised what was happening! Most of the time spent trotting the weirpool. Big brownie was actually a bit of a disappointment - didn't fight at all like a troot - kept deep, hugging the bottom radiating gigantism, thought it had to be a huge chub - though I even entertained the notion it might be a barbel - didn't see it till I brought it to the net. Stunning fish but not what I was after!!

Just ignore it - I've uploaded some pics this morning - and they're showing in my blog! C.