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Chris Plumb

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Plumb

  1. 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!
     

  2. Chris Plumb

    24 December

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Lambourn - Newbury
     
    0745 - 1115
     
    Cool and mainly overcast. 2º -> 6ºC. River low and clear (of course!)
     
    33 Grayling; 10 over 1lb (!) best 4, 1lb 15oz, 1lb 13oz, 1lb 7oz, 1lb 6oz with another dozen around the 12oz mark. 3 Brownies - all small but bigger than parrs.
     
    Christmas Eve sees the annual cleaning of my bait fridge as the maggots are served with an eviction order and the appliance is commandeered for Christmas duties. As usual for this venue it was a case of starting at the top and working my way down - fishing every likely look run - resulting in a remarkably similar return to my last visit here (see 23 November). Unlike last month though the fish were a bit more spread out - though all the 'pound plussers' came from just 3 spots - the 2 biggest from the same swim - one devoid of fish last time out though equally last months hot spot was empty. It really pays to travel light!
     

  3. Chris Plumb

    8 December

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - nr Thatcham
     
    0745 - 1015
     
    Cool, overcast and breezy with some light drizzle. Travelling light so forgot thermometer (in other bag!). River low and looking rather threadbare.
     
    2 Chub; 3lb 2oz, 2lb 15oz. 3 Grayling 10 - 12oz+. 1 Brownie c12oz
     
    Every year I try and get a chub in every month of the season - so that's December ticked off! In truth I was hoping to make a re-acquaintance with the 5lb+ fish I caught from this swim back in the summer but given the low water a brace of 3lbers will do just fine!! Grayling are packing on some weight - second one I caught was close to a pound - hope they're still around this time next year.....
     
    Big gob...
     

  4. Chris Plumb

    18 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
     
    1830 - 2330
     
    Cool, overcast, breezy and drizzly (well it is July!). 13ºC. River lowish and quite coloured.
     
    1 Barbel; 6lb 11oz. 1 Chub 2¾lb.
     
    A pleasant evening despite the conditions! Both fish in 1st couple of hours - chub first cast. Enjoyment of session somewhat tempered by the sight of a really big dog otter - 1st time I've ever seen one here - and pretty sure its a different animal to the one I've seen further upstream - had a good long look at it as it swam upstream at around 9.00pm - not surprisingly the swim went a bit quiet after that!
  5. Chris Plumb

    27 November

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Frome - Wool
     
    0745 - 1445
     
    Bright and sunny and VERY breezy - lashing rain for 1st hour! River low and clear.
     
    11 Grayling; 3 smalluns - all the others between 1lb 9oz - 2lb 2oz (2X2lbers). 1 Dace (small). 9 Trout (all small). 1 Salmon 4½lb, 1 Salmon parr.
     
    A challenging session due to the strong downstream wind - made presentation a nightmare and I must have spent half the session with my float waving around in the sky everytime I tried to rebait. No surprise that my 2 biggest ladies came in the first hour when it was cloudy (and wet! ) Salmon fight was, err, interesting and it had obviously found a taste for maggot as it had another angler's hook in its scissors - with maggots still attached! Was briefly connected to a MUCH bigger salmon - which thankfully got off! Had wanted to try and find a few dace on this trip - but a couple of hours fishing the supposed right area produce just one smallun.
     


  6. Chris Plumb

    3 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    NAA Stillwater - Widmead
     
    0415 - 1015
     
    High cloud - warm. 15º -> 20ºC
     
    4 Carp; 10lb 1oz, 9lb 6oz, 9lb 0oz, 7lb 11oz. 1 Crucian; 3lb 2oz. 2 roach, 1 rudd (all 3 of which needed the net to land.)
     
    Despite the splendid crucian and the hard fighting commons - a quiet morning bite-wise. Crucian on float fished meat - in the margins - pretty much only bite of the morning - apart from the roach and rudd - wasn't even 'carped' as is the norm. Biggest common on the feeder - other 3 all caught on bread in the last ¾hr when they started to feed on the top. My biggest crucian from an NAA water for 14 years - and first crucian from this lake since '06 - well chuffed.
     

  7. Chris Plumb

    20 January

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Frome - Wool
     
    0830 - 1645
     
    Overcast, mild and breezey (rather too breezey at times). River clear and quite low.
     
    16 Grayling; best 3 1lb 11oz, 1lb 10oz, 1lb 9oz. The rest mostly small. 5 Brownies - most small with a couple of pounders.
     
    Ever since my first visit here in November I've been bending Paul's ear to come and join me - and the premise of a belated birthday trip was the perfect excuse. However work (his) threatened to get in the way and we only decided to go yesterday. Fortunately DDAS are rather more forward looking than a lot of angling clubs - and a simple paypal transaction resulted in Paul's Guest Ticket being emailed to me within 5 minutes of payment - I was very impressed.
     
    So a quiet day by the river in deepest Dorset!! You gotta be kidding - the morning was as if Armegedon had started. Numerous fire engines, dozens of police cars and a ruddy police helicopter hovering overhead for 2 hours. We were checked out a number of times - with police cars pulling up - and in one case crossing the field towards us. Most surreal was when we moved 400m upstream and the helicopter followed us!!!! Once home it all became clear!
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-16650234
     
    The morning's fishing was pretty uneventful - at least for me. We started off in what I'd boldly said were banker swims - as they had produced 2lbers on my previous trips in November - so of course we struggled. I was really keen for Paul to catch as I'd persuaded him into this jaunt - and thankfully he scored the only success of the morning with a very fat lady of 2lb 3oz - A fish that made fools of both of us as we estimated it at much bigger.
     
    There was no mistaking the size of Paul's next biggie though!! After lunch we had moved downstream and whilst I was saying we might have a chance of dace here Paul started to catch grayling. A tiddler was followed by a 1-10 fish. He then connected with something that he annouced was a trout. However from my vantage point I could see from the first flash of the fish in the clear water that this was a grayling - and a rather special one at that!!! Acting as netsman I managed to net it first pass - And we were quickly guessing its credentials - a 3? My guess was a modest 2-14 - I was an ounce out; both sets of scales registered an ounce below the magic 3lb mark. Still an awesome grayling and a new PB for Paul.
     
    Things then started to look up for me too - and I started to get amongst the grayling - they had obviously moved down into the deeper water. Paul had the last say though with a third and final 2lber. I don't think I'll need tooooo much persuasion for a return visit next year!!!
     
    The 'Banker' swim - no fish here!

    Top of the fishery looking down to where Paul got off the mark!

    Paul's First 2 of the day...

    Woolbridge Manor (Wellbridge House in Tess of the D'Urbervilles)

    Paul's clonker - 2lb 15oz.

    I get in on the act at last.

    Paul perfects the ancient art of grayling juggling with his 3rd, 2 of the day.

    Sunset over Wool Bridge.

  8. Chris Plumb

    14 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Thatcham
     
    0700 - 1030
     
    Bright and breezy. A chilly 9ºC rising to 16ºC. River very low - dread to think what it will look like in September if it stays dry...
     
    10 Dace, 6 Brownies, 2 Chublets & a Grayling.
     
    Pleasant mornings trotting despite failing to connect with a barbel or two - didn't even see any on the shallows. Nice to get another grayling from here - decent size too, not far shy of a pound. Most of the dace were of a decent stamp as well.
  9. Chris Plumb

    9 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet, Nr Thatcham
     
    1930 - 2315
     
    Cool, overcast some light drizzle at times - more like October than mid-July!
     
    Blanked!!
     
    Cue another Rusty faux headline!!! Shocked on 2 counts when I arrived. The first was not being able to even get in the car park - full of anglers cars. And the second was the state of the river - really coloured up and tanking through - more like mid-winter condition. I did consider turning around and going elsewhere - a thought that stayed with me all evening as I looked at a stationary quiver tip. No bites, not even a hint of one - or even a crayfish - in fact didn't even need to change my hair-rigged pellet for the entire time I was on the bank...
  10. Chris Plumb

    7 January

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    0830 - 1130.
     
    Mild with broken cloud, 6º -> 9ºC. A lovely benign, winter's morning. River still on the low side - though up an inch or so and very clear - as it usually is in the winter. WT 46ºF - a little on the cool side for good sport - good thing no one told the fish!
     
    4 Chub; 5lb 5oz, 3lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 2oz. 1 Barbel; 3lb 5oz. 1 Bream (!); 2lb 10oz. 19 Dace, most quite small with 2 or 3 nice ones, 2 Roach (1 a nice size, circa 8-10oz), 10 Gudgeon.
     
    Hurray the chub are back!! And despite a cracking morning's trotting I am still kicking myself on 2 counts. The first for being a complete dolt. I had bumped a good fish and been snapped twice before it occured to me that a size 18 to 2½lb bottom is not the tackle to bully big chub away from tree roots in a fast flow - can't believe I tied a new one on after losing the first! After losing a second 18 I retied with a 14 to 6lb mono and the next 2 fish (the 3-11 & 2-13) were given short shrift, bullied away from the tree and played out in open water. Then followed the barbel and not long after the 5lber - with one of my 18s in its scissors - so at least I got a hook back. I didn't lose another fish after scaling up and still caught some of my bigger dace and the bigger roach. The second bout of idiocy was leaving my camera at home, it was still plugged into the computer after downloading Monday's big Esox. A pity as a 5lb chub AND a winter barbel of any size on the float are always worthy of a portrait!! Bream was also a bit of a suprise - more so for the fact it was caught in the fastest of flow - and punched way above it's weight - thought it was another decent chub until I got it to the top.
  11. Chris Plumb

    15 January

    By Chris Plumb,

    Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury
     
    0900 - 1630
     
    Frosty and bright, temps around 2-4ºC all day. River low and clear
     
    8 Chub; 4 chublets and 4 over 2lb, biggest 5lb 6oz. 16 Dace; half over 8oz, biggest 13oz & 12oz. 3 Roach, biggest 1lb on the nose. 6 Brownies - biggest 2, 4¼ & 3¾lb.
     
    NAA day on this lovely part of the Kennet so had to share the place with a couple of dozen other anglers! Highlight of the morning was seeing Rusty do an impersonation of Nigel Mansell as he raced off to bagsy the weedrack swim and seeing 2 other anglers pull in behind us on the Kintbury rd, unload their car in a blind panic and practicallly sprint off to their swims to ensure Paul and I wouldn't get them!! In truth we weren't at all bothered as we were pretty sure our secret dace swims were safe (as they were!!). All in all, a fairly slow day as you'd expect in such bright conditions. Paul and I both caught decent dace early on though I had much better success in the last hour when I had the 13oz dace and the 1lb roach in consecutive casts. Paul caught more dace overall - he having had a better 'middle' part of the day - again local knowledge playing a big part. Equally my 'banker' chub swim was unoccupied mid-afternoon and trotting 3 grains of corn on a size 8 quickly brought some decent chub to the net - the 5lber was first cast. Paul and I pride our selves in being last off the venue on such days - but Rusty outdid us - we were on our way home when I got a call from Chris - to say he was still fishing!!!!!
     
    Pics from Paul (apart from the chub)...





  12. Chris Plumb

    16 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    2000 - 2330
     
    Breezy with clearing skies after (yet another) rainy day. Min 15ºC - felt very pleasant. River looking in superb nick, fuller than I've seen it for many a summer and running quite clear too.
     
    3 Barbel; 3lb 15oz, 3lb 4oz, 2lb 6oz. 2 Chub 1lb 13oz, 1lb 10oz.
     
    So maybe not the biggest fish in the river but after last Monday's monotony of looking at a stationary quiver tip it was a pleasant change to see the rod rattle (chub) or thump around (barbel). All fish caught in the first couple of hours - no bites after 2230 - so could have had an extra hour in bed!! All fish on pellet.
     
    Just noticed that this blog has now had over 50000 views!
  13. Chris Plumb

    3 August

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    0630 - 0900
     
    Breezy with the odd light shower, river down an inch or two but quite clear.
     
    3 Chub; 1¼lb and a couple of chublets, 2 Perch; 1lb 14oz & a tiddler, 30 Dace, 1 Roach, 2 Gudgeon and a brownie of around a pound.
     
    Pre-Olympics trotting session - hoping for a barbel but more than happy with nearly a fish a chuck - a couple of the dace were real lumps (for dace!). and the perch was a nice bonus too.
  14. Chris Plumb

    28 January

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Lambourn - Newbury
     
    0800 - 1130
     
    Cool and Overcast. 2-5ºC. River low, VERY low for late January.
     
    26 Grayling; 10 over 1lb(!). Best 2 both 1lb 10z.
     
    Change of plan due to footy being re-arranged for this afternoon had pencilled in a Speen session. Scratchy sort of morning until I found a shoal of nice, feeding, grayling - had only caught 7 by 1030 - so had a manic last hour (from the same spot too!)
  15. Chris Plumb

    7 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    NAA Stillwater - Widmead.
     
    0400 - 0800
     
    Soggy!! Not actually raining for most of the trip (though tipped it down at the end of it) - but sat under the trees it was drip, drip, drip all morning!!
     
    2 Carp; 7lb 12oz, 5lb15oz. ½doz or so rudd, 1 roach.
     
    Frustrating morning after crucians. Had fishing rolling in my swim 3 or 4 times but the rudd were insatiable, nailing whatever baits I tried. Bigger carp on floating crust.
  16. Chris Plumb

    6 August

    By Chris Plumb,

    Willows lake, Thatcham
     
    0530 - 0930
     
    Overcast, clearing to bright sunshine for last hour.
     
    5 Carp; 12lb 9oz, 11lb 2oz, 8lb 11oz, 7lb 2oz, 6lb 13oz.
     
    Another forlorn crucian hunt - but at least at this venue there are some 'easy' carp (too easy!! ) to amuse.
     
    2 smaller fish on float tackle - bigger 3 on floating crust in the margins (ie within 1m of the bank!)
     
    Biggest one:

  17. Chris Plumb

    8 August

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Nr Thatcham.
     
    0630 - 0930
     
    Overcast and muggy with a little drizzle at times. River down a few inches on a month ago but still in fine nick with little colour.
     
    2 Chub; 2lb 2oz, & 1¼lb, 6 Dace - all really chunky specimens, 2 Gudgeon & 4 brownies biggest 1¾lb.
     
    Pleasant early trotting session - spent a fascinating 10 minutes watching a barbel feeding no more than 3 feet from my waders - obviously taking grubs and whatever I was disturbing with my feet - tried to handline a maggot to it - but that spooked it!
  18. Chris Plumb

    27/28 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    NAA Stillwater - Widmead
     
    1330 - 0600
     
    Warm and Sultry - fresher in the morning!
     
    8 Carp; Best 8lb 10oz - almost all the others were circa 6lb. 8 Roach, 4 Rudd and a Perch.
     
    Very slow night - especially as neither Paul or I caught anything that we were actually fishing for - tench or bream. Nearly all my fish fell to float fished maggot right under my rod tip - just 2 carp on the method rod. Paul had a solitary blank saving common of around 7lb after 14 hours of fishing!
     
    Paul got bored and started taking pictures of the insect life - will post some up if they're any good!!!

  19. Chris Plumb

    21 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    NAA Stillwater - Widmead
     
    0430 - 0830
     
    Murky low cloud with sun breaking through. 11-14ºC
     
    2 carp; 7lb 3oz, 5lb 13oz. 10 rudd.
     
    Fruitless morning chasing crucians and/or tench. If the rudd didn't nail the bait the commons did - both took an age to land on my float tackle.
  20. Chris Plumb

    23 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
     
    1945 - 2345
     
    Clear warm evening. River full and looking in very good nick with a little colour. Shirtsleeves all evening - lovely!!!
     
    1 Barbel; 4lb 14oz. 2 Dace and a spottie of a round ¾lb.
     
    Took the trotting rod - to save Rusty from having to compose another headline - though in truth the dace weren't exactly playing ball either. Not helped by the troot wrecking my first and favourite swim with its airbourne antics. Only bite on the lead came quite late - after 2300 just as I was begining to doubt whether I'd picked the right swim again....
  21. Chris Plumb

    20 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Nr Thatcham
     
    1000 - 1300
     
    Bright and sunny after a frosty dawn. 4ºC -> 11ºC. River at its perennial autumn minimum - very low!
     
    1 Chub; 3lb 10z, 3 Grayling; all around 12oz. 2 dace (small). 1 Brown Trout; 2lb 10oz.
     
    On the hunt for a big chub so started out with corn and lobs - but ended up catching everything on double red maggot! All grayling a nice size - hope they grow on to be 'pounders' next year. Bit disappointed with the spottie - was convinced I was bringing a barbel to the net - nice looking fish though!
     
    Just realised this is my 300th blog entry.
  22. Chris Plumb

    7 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Itchen
     
    0800 - 1815
     
    Mainly cloudy with sunny spells. 11ºC -> 15ºC -> 9ºC.
     
    41 Grayling; 18 over 1lb, best 5 - 2lb 4oz, 2lb 2oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 14ozX2. 2 Chub 4lb 6oz, 3lb 7oz. 10 Brownies to circa 1¾lb.
     
    A 2lb crucian and a 2lb grayling in the same week!! River was low and consequently the fish were quite spooky so it was a case of catch a couple and rest the swim - my biggest 2 fish both came from swims that had already been fished 3 or 4 times. About half my fish on trotted red corn - including most of the bigger fish, the rest of single red maggot. Paul had a frustrating morning - but did much better in the afternoon once he changed down his hook size (!) - think he ended up with a couple of dozen ladies to 1lb 14oz....(and a couple of chub too )
    Piccies of one of my 2lbers, one of Paul's chub and a belligerent cow who took exception to where Paul wanted to fish and refused to budge!



  23. Chris Plumb

    31 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    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.
     

  24. Chris Plumb

    13 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham
     
    0700 - 1200
     
    Mild/warm, still and overcast - 13ºC -> 17ºC. Neigh on perfick!
     
    18 Perch: In order of capture: 2lb 14oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 8oz,*, 2lb 6oz, tiddler, ~, 2lb 6oz, 1lb 6oz, 3lb 3oz, 2lb 6oz (again! all different fish I think!), 1lb 7oz, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 2oz, 3lb 0oz, 3lb 14oz (equal PB!), 2lb 13oz, 1lb 3oz, tiddler,tiddler,~. !!! Nearly 40lb of perch !
     
    1 Tench*: 4lb 3oz. 2 Chub~; 1¼lb and a chublet.
     
    WOW - make hay while the sun shines. Or rather catch perch while its a dull overcast day!!! Never been so disappointed to catch a 4lb tench - for a couple of minutes I was convinced I was connected to a huge perch. I knew it wasn't a pike - never even entered my head that it wouldn't be a perch! Most fish caught by 1030 - and the run of 4, 3lbers in 4 casts was just after a couple of barges had come through the swim. Often the death knell for sport but not today! Had planned to do a lot of wandering and did fish one new swim on the way back to the car - did mean I didn't have a keepnet with me - which I have taken to bringing for perch sessions - putting them back 40/50yards upstream didn't seem to affect the swim, mind!
     
    First time I've ever had 5, 3lbers in a single session!
     
    Pics below are of the 3 biggest & the tinca...




  25. Chris Plumb

    29 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    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...
     


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