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Chris Plumb

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Plumb

  1. Chris Plumb

    12 January

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1330 - 1630
    Overcast and Mild(er) 7ºC. Canal gin clear!.
    6 Perch; 4X14oz(± a couple of ounces)& 2 tiddlers.
    Birthday trip to make the most of the milder weather. Up until Sunday the mean average temperature for January (locally) had been a lowly 1.1ºC so with temps up as 'high' as 9ºC this Mon/Tues I was hopeful that the perch would have woken up. And the session started off promisingly with the 2 tiddlers in the first 20 mins - however I then had to wait 2½hours for my next bite - with the 4 'bigger' fish coming in a flurry as the light went. The time between was punctuated with an argument with one of the barge owners who claimed I was breaking lockdown rules by angling - must print off the AT guidance for next time I go!!!!
  2. Chris Plumb

    12 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    Summer Pit - CEMEX Yateley
     
    1800 - 2330
     
    Warm and overcast. Temp 'down' to 18ºC when I left.
     
    4 Tench: 6lb 1oz, 4lb 10oz, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 3oz. 1 Crucian 2lb 11oz. 1 rudd
     
    Can't have too much of a good thing when it comes to catching big crucians! (or tench for that matter!). 3 Tench on 6mm s-pellet in the margins, 1 tench and the crucian on meat about 1½ rod lengths out. Both caught in consecutive casts just as it got properly dark.
     

  3. Chris Plumb

    12 July

    By Chris Plumb,

    Johnsons Lake - Milford
     
    1530 - 2315
     
    Warm and sunny with quite a stiff breeze until dusk.
     
    2 Crucians; 3lb 3oz, 2lb 15oz. 6 Tench - all over 3½lb - best 2; 5-12 & 5-02. 2 Carp (very small - one may have scrapped a pound the other less than half that!). 3 Rudd - all small.
     
    Very pleasant evening's float fishing the margins - as usual not a lot until dusk (just the rudd) - first fish (the 2-15 cru) at around 1930 - thereafter steady sport until 2300. All fish on prawn (apart from the rudd - on maggot).
  4. Chris Plumb

    12 June

    By Chris Plumb,

    Mill Pond, Mill Farm Fishery, Nr Pulborough
     
    0700 - 1600
     
    Warm (23/24ºC), overcast and very muggy. A heavy shower early morning and mid afternoon (though the forecast thunderstorms didn't materialise - thankfully!)
     
    40+ Silver Bream to 11oz. 9 Roach (with 3 half decent at 11, 14 & 15oz), 2 Crucians; 1lb 5oz & 1lb 2oz. 1 Carp; 4lb 7oz. 1 Eel 2lb 1oz (a new PB!)
     
    A day that started out with both Paul and I wanting to catch our first Silver Bream ended with both of us trying desperately to avoid the little buggers! In truth we rather hoped to get amongst the bigger fish - and had said to each other on the drive down that it would be nice to get a 1lb+ fish. However we quickly established that the lake - or at least our end of it was absolutely teaming with 4-6oz fish. Fish that were on the bait within seconds of casting out.
     
    Tactics and baits were chopped and changed in order to try and tempt something bigger. A ploy that worked (of sorts) with some nice roach a couple of crucians and a 'bonus' eel - only my 2nd ever over a pound (my first was caught trotting maggot on the Test at Timsbury a decade or so ago!). I just couldn't tempt a bigger Silver Bream.
     
    Paul faired no better - and even scaled up to 15mm pellet - and STILL caught small Silvers! And whenever he connected with something bigger it turned into a carp - I think he ended up with 8 to around 7lb - all taking an age to land on light tackle!
     
    On chatting to the bailiff in the car park as we packed up he said that we might have been better off at the other end of the lake where the water is a bit deeper! Information we could have done with at 10 hours earlier! So whilst this was a venue that has been on our to do list for some time a return visit looks on the cards! It IS a very nice water - well looked after and in a lovely part of the world being within the South Downs National Park. We shall be back!
     
    Our first Silver Bream.


    My PB Eel.

    A 'bonus' Crucian

  5. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,

    Middle Kennet Estate
     
    0730 - 1815
     
    Cool overcast and showery. 5-9ºC. River clear and at normal levels.
     
    6 Chub; Smallest 2lb 0oz, Biggest 4lb 5oz. 7 Grayling; biggest 2lb 2oz, the rest all between 12-20oz. 1 Bream; 5lb 6oz. 12 Dace; biggest 11oz. 1 Perch; circa ¾lb. 8 Brownies to 3lb.
     
    A great mixed bag from a very pleasant days roving in the company of Paul, Merv & Dave. Spent most of the day to 3.00pm trotting corn which resulted in the chub AND the 2lb grayling (which nailed 3 kernels on a size 8). Biggest ever lady from the Kennet and 1st ever 2lber from this venue. Bream a bit of a shock! Merv caught his 1st ever 1lb Dace and Dave had a nice haul of Perch.
     

  6. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    1130 - 1430
     
    Cold (2ºC) with stiff NE wind - Brrrr. WT down to 41ºF
     
    3 Grayling; 2 smalluns and one close to a pound. 22 Dace, 1 Roach & 11 Gudgeon.
     
    I had great plans for this week - however they all involved mild, misty spring mornings (and evenings!) by the canal in pursuit of monster perch. The cold, Siberian blast over the last couple of days as put paid to those thoughts. I did dither about going at all today - but needed some bait - so a couple of hours in a banker swim for dace and grayling was in order. Also hoped I might fluke a barbel - but its clearly too cold for them as well!
  7. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet, K&A Canal, 'Flowing' Canal, Thatcham
     
    0630 - 1800
     
    Mild, neigh, warm at times under a milky sun (and out the wind). Clouding over mid afternoon. WT 51ºF.
     
    4 Chub; 5lb 11oz, 5lb 4oz, 4lb 14oz, 4lb 2oz. (4 fish for 20lb give or take an ounce!) 6 Dace; ALL over 8oz (!) biggest 11oz. 2 Grayling; 1lb and the other was not far shy. Pike 5lb 1oz. Trout 3lb.
     
    A peripatetic day with 5 venue changes and over a dozen swims fished - yet all the time within earshot of Thatcham level crossing! Swims new and old both came up trumps. Biggest chub of the day was from a swim I'd never fished before (and just after I'd scaled down to an 18 after the dace). In fact all the chub were from different swims - with 2 old favourites producing one a piece and 2 new swims also throwing up a fish. Dace were very much in full spawning condition - and mainly sandpapery males (5/6 were definitely males). Spent last hour hoping for a big stripey - but just as last Saturday could only manage a 5lb pike.
     
    A Pair of Fives.


     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  8. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Lambourn - Shaw & Newbury
     
    0600 - 1230
     
    Cool & misty giving way, eventually, to bright sunshine. AT -1º -> 6ºC (line icing up in the rings for the first hour) River gin clear as per usual. EA Gauge at Shaw - 0.26cm.
     
    24 Grayling - with around a ¾ 12oz or better. Plus 7 Dace, 3 Roach & a Chublet form the drain!
     
    Morning session which turned into an impromptu Anglersnet fish-in with Rusty, Steve Walker & JV44 all rocking up to the venue at 0930. By then I'd already fished my way down Shaw for a dozen ladies and did the same lower down - though found a slightly better stamp of fish here. Finished off snaffling dace, roach (and a chub) from the drain next to where I park the car - watching the fish take the bait - took me back to my childhood!
     
     
  9. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,

    Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury
    0730 - 1730
    Cool (5ºC or thereabouts all day) and very blowy with frequent squally showers of rain,sleet or hail! River VERY VERY high - highest I've ever seen it here - many swims needed waders just to get to the'bank'. 
    21 Chub; 7 over 4lb - biggest 6lb 3oz - a real lump! 4 Dace; 2 that were weighed went 14oz & 12oz - the other 2 weren't much smaller. 2 Roach - small and only 3 Brownies - all 3lb +
    A wild day on a wild venue - thankfully though, despite the huge volumes of water everywhere, the chub were in their usual haunts. Spent until mid afternoon just trotting red corn (got through 3 tins of the stuff) before switching to one of the carriers for a succesful dace hunt.

    My first 6lb chub from this venue since my PB from here back in 2012.

  10. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1500 - 1800
    Sunny with scattered showers. Windy/blowing a hoolie, especially during the squalls. 8ºC
    9 Perch: 2lb 14oz & 8 small uns - one of which was close to a pound the rest half that or less. 2 Pike: 3lb 13oz & 3lb 4oz. 1 Chub circa 8oz.
    Pike are always a piscatorial hazard when fishing lobs but slightly miffed to get one from each of my 2 'banker' perch swims. It looked like my last trip here of the season would end in disappointment on the perch front until quite literally last cast (in the ever increasing gloom) produced a perch that actually fought back! Turned out to be my best of the season from this stretch of canal - still not had a 3 from here since I started coming here in 17/18 but this is now the 3rd season in a row I've come within a few ounces of that mark.

  11. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Lambourn - Shaw
    0900 - 1030
    Bright and breezy with a couple of light showers. AT 10ºC. River quite low and, as is usual, gin clear.
    14 Grayling; Most around 8oz with 3 or 4 bigger ones. 3 Brownies; 1¼lb and a couple half that.
    I hadn't planned on going again until Monday - but when Mrs P announced she was out all morning at the hairdressers I thought it would be the perfect excuse to christen Rusty's Harrison that I have recently acquired. Unusually for the Lambourn a dozen of my fish came from the same spot - found a shoal boiling at the freebies and just holding back meant most hooked themselves (though quite a few bumped off too!) Cover pic was the first fish caught...
  12. Chris Plumb

    12 March

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1430 - 1730
    Mild, cloudy & quite breezy with drizzle at times. AT 10ºC
    2 Perch: 1lb 14oz & 1lb 11oz.
    A much milder day than recently, so decided to try for some stripeys on the canal. Suspect the water temps haven't caught up as bites were few and far between - with both fish in the last 45 mins before I then got bit off by a jack.
  13. Chris Plumb

    12 March - Part 1

    By Chris Plumb,

    Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham
     
    0615 - 0815
     
    Mild and overcast - sunny for last 20 mins. AT 7ºC. WT an encouraging 48ºF.
     
    2 Perch; 1lb 6oz & a tiddler. 1 Chub 1lb 11oz.
     
    Dawn raid for stripeys in seemingly perfect conditions - pity no one told the fish that! Started off promisingly enough with a few bites, activity and the 3 fish all in the first ¾hour. But the rise in water temps seems to have woken up the crayfish and after about 0700 they were relentless. And despite switching between 3 or 4 different swims - the signals were on my lobs within minutes each time, so starting to lose my lobs at a rate of knots I beat a hasty retreat....
  14. Chris Plumb

    12 March - Part 2

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Thatcham.
     
    0900 - 1100
     
    Bright with milky sunshine. AT upto 13ºC when I left - a lovely early spring morning.
     
    1 Chub; 2lb 13oz. 1 dace. 1 Brownie 1¼lb.
     
    So having been crayfished off the canal, plan B was to see if I could snaffle a March barbel on the pin. (Having first picked up some maggot from Tony's for Monday - as ever he wasn't a happy bunny - this time coz I proffered a 20 and he had no change! ). Anyways, Plan B got scuppered almost before it got started. 1st trot through - having fed the swim for over ½hour before fishing - resulted in the brownie - which went absolutely mental - jumping all over the place. So I never got to find out if my baiting had got anything else feeding in my 'banker' barbel swim!! I dropped down a swim a had the dace followed by the chub - hooked as I was reading a text message from the wife asking me to pick up one of the lads from training - bringing an earlier than anticipated end to my day's angling.....
  15. Chris Plumb

    12 November

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet Estate Water - Nr Hungerford
     
    0645 - 1615
     
    Bright sunny start, showers then HEAVY rain after 1500. AT 5º -> 11ºC. Water VERY low.
     
    44 Grayling, 18 over 1lb, best 2 - 2lb 0oz, 1lb 14oz, 21 Dace, best 2 - 13oz & 12oz - also weighed another at 10 oz and had quite a few of similar size - unweighed, 5 Rainbow Trout - to 2½lb, 3 Brown Trout - to 2¾lb.
     
    Surprisingly good day given the very low water conditions. Best return of 1lb+ grayling from this venue in a day (by a long chalk). 2nd ever 2lber from the Kennet (1st was back in Feb from the same venue,). All fish on trotted maggot ( white seemed to significantly out-fish reds!)
  16. Chris Plumb

    12 November

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Brimpton
     
    0730 - 1230
     
    Cool, bright and breezy after a showery start. River low despite recent rains.
     
    2 Chub: 5lb 1oz, 4lb 0oz. A dozen brownies to 2½lb. 1 bleak!
     
    Lovely brace of chub caught from the same swim (the 2nd and bigger fish after resting it for 90 mins). Trout were a bit of a pain!
  17. Chris Plumb

    12 November

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1530 - 1645
    Mild (13ºC), overcast & breezy.
    6 Perch: 3 over a lb - biggest 1lb 11oz.
    Bunked off work an hour early to make the most of some ideal autumn perching weather - alas the 2lbers stayed away!
  18. Chris Plumb

    12 November (Part 1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Thatcham
    0815 - 1115
    Warm (very for November) and mainly overcast (clearing for last ¾hr). AT 15ºC. River very low despite 5 inches of rain in the past 3 weeks!
    2 Perch 1lb 12oz & 1lb 7oz. 1 Chub 1¼lb, 1 Dace, 1 Roach , 1 Gudgeon, 5 Trout parr.
    Started off, with worms for a change, in the weirpool as I've (correctly as it turned out) thought for a while that the place screams "Here be Perch!". However I'd caught the chub first cast and had been bitten off by a pike before the stripeys eventually turned up - just in time, as I was considering abandoning the project! Switched to maggot and went exploring my usual chub swims - but not a sniff of one - and 5 trout parr in 5 casts from my most 'reliable' chub hotspot set the tone for what was to come in the afternoon!
  19. Chris Plumb

    12 November (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Brimpton
    1200 - 1430
    Warm with bright sunshine. AT 17ºC. River very low (of course!)
    1 Chub: 1lb 10oz, 1 Dace. 4 Brownies 2 in the 1½-2lb range and two under a lb.
    I hate trout! Bright conditions and a low, clear, threadbare river were already very sub-optimal conditions for autumn chubbing. And what I really DIDN'T need were acrobatic brownies turning up 'early doors' in ALL my favourite chub hotspots. Alas, that's exactly what happened. Dropped into the weirpool for 15 minutes just to catch something without an adipose!
  20. Chris Plumb

    12 November (Part 3)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1500 - 1645
    Bright -though getting damp and dewey as the sun set.
    3 Perch - all 6-8oz.
    Inconspicuous end to the day - turned into something of a recce session as both my first two choices of swim were already occupied by anglers! None of the 4 swims I dropped into merit further investigation though heavy boat traffic (very unusual for November) and very heavy footfall on the towpath from walkers, dogs and cyclists made it a less than enjoyable 90 or so minutes on the bank!
  21. Chris Plumb

    12 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    Summer Pit - Yateley
     
    1915 - 2315
     
    Mild, still evening, quite balmy under the trees. 17ºC ->16ºC. WT 14ºC
     
    1 tench 3¼lb
     
    Last throw of the dice to try and get a late season Crucian. Water was pretty lifeless though and was pretty surprised to get a fish 1st cast. Not surprised that this was my only bite of the evening! Fished meat (which caught the tench), bread and pellet.
  22. Chris Plumb

    12 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Itchen
     
    0830 - 1815
     
    Bright and sunny all day. River VERY low and gin clear!
     
    51 Grayling: 27 over 1lb of which 8 were over 2lb - biggest 2lb 6oz., 4 Chub: 4lb 11oz, 3lb13oz, 3lb5oz, 2lb 6oz, 20+ Brownies to 2½lb.
     
    Lovely day spent trotting the river with Paul - who had a similar return - though he managed to all but avoid the trout. Most fish on maggot - a few to corn - though the brownies seemed to get to the corn first.
  23. Chris Plumb

    12 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Nr Thatcham.
     
    0930 - 1300
     
    Bright with sunny intervals after early rain. 10ºC. River low and carrying a bit of colour.
     
    6 Chub - all over 1lb, biggest 3¼lb. 1 Barbel; 3¾lb. 6 Dace. 1 Roach & 3 spotties.
     
    Well its been a while since I've had a session like that from here! In fact the last time I caught more than 3 chub in a session from this venue was on the first day of the 1993 season! (when I also had 6). Nothing particularly huge, 3 of them were around the 1½lb stamp bur very nice to see some 'schooly' sized fish coming through, All the fish bar a couple of the troot were from the same swim too.
     
    Plan for this morning had been to start with a dawn raid on the canal and then switch to a trotting session on the river. Part one of that plan was abandoned at 0530 when I got up, poked my head out the door, checked the rain radar and went back to bed for an extra 2½hours kip! By the time breakfast was over so was the rain so part 2 was put into action. Had planned to cover more water but in the end just fished 3 swims with the bulk of the time spent in just one - really didn't need to move! Cracking sport!
  24. Chris Plumb

    12 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    River Kennet - Newbury
     
    1730 - 2200
     
    Mild/warm evening 14ºC. River very low.
     
    2 Chub; 2lb 13oz & 1lb 10oz, 9 Dace and a Brownie of around 1lb.
     
    Still no barbel - but I did at least get a couple of chub this time. Yet again had an otter visit my swim!
  25. Chris Plumb

    12 October

    By Chris Plumb,

    Lower Itchen Fishery
     
    0830 - 1830
     
    Warm (still 19ºC when I got home at 2030!), overcast and very windy - rainy for the first hour or so. River very low and weedy with lots of leaf litter and detached weed coming down.
     
    50+ Grayling - nearly every fish in the 12oz-1lb class with a lot just over 1lb too. Nothing substantially bigger - alas - best went 1lb 7oz. 2 Chub; 3lb 5oz & 2lb 14oz. 1 Roach (13oz) & 10 brownies to 2½lb.
     
    A very blowy day in Hampshire - upstream wind, so by and large it helped presentation - though on one occasion my 4ssg loafer got blown upstream - impressive considering the speed of the flow here! Nearly lost my hat on more than one occasion too! Rotated between red corn and maggot hoping to find some bigger fish and found the bottom of the fishery (between the M27 and concrete bridge) particularly productive - possibly because it appeared to have had less angling pressure (I didn't see anyone else on that stretch!). Tired limbs and tennis (fishing!) elbow this morning!
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