Chris Plumb

Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford 0730 - 2315 Hot, sunny and sultry. AT around 25ºC all day and still 18ºC when I drove off at a little before midnight. 11 Tench: various sizes from quite small bars of soap up to 5lb - biggest 5lb 3oz. 2 Crucians 2lb 4oz & 1lb 2oz. 30 Rudd - most handsized - with a few a bit bigger, the one I deemed worthy of the scales went 14oz. A dozen roach - all small. Annual gathering of the Internet Angling Club - to remember our departed friend Paul and raise a few pounds for Duchess of Kent Hospice. Unusually for an IAC fish-in everyone caught fish - there were tench aplenty. Crucians on the other hand were thin on the ground with only 4 anglers catching them during the day (mine came after dark). Best crucian of the day fell to Howard with a fish of 2lb 9oz (closely followed by Glenn - who usually blanks! - with a fish an ounce lighter). Howard also won in 2020 and is now the first to win this twice - so I'll be accepting bribes to give him an unfavourable swim next year! I caught 9 of my tench during the heat of the day but stuck it out with grim determination to get a cru and was rewarded with 2 in 2 casts a little after 2200 - the smaller fish followed by another exactly double that next cast - should have packed up there and then as all I got was more tench - and was then smashed in the lilies - prompting a pack up.

Steve Todd was fly fishing for them a few pegs up from me on Tuesday evening - did quite well and looked a lot of fun!

Another tweak to tactics - I didn't put in ANY ground bait or loose feed - hunch that it pulls in the carp more than anything else!

Another session that backed up my little article for the newsletter They just sit in the fastest current with their mouths open when hooked - can take an age to coax them upstream. Seems like these two forgot to close their mouths when they were on the bank!

Haha - happy birthday - twas those blanks that inspired me to give it a go - thought I might not get plagued by the carp - sort of worked too!

No - and that WAS a surprise - not a single minna and no sucked maggots from them. The dace were of a disappointing stamp as well....

River Kennet - Widmead (Bulls Lock) 1200 - 1430 Warm and mainly sunny. AT 23ºC. River good depth and flow. 1 Chub - small. 1 Grayling 1lb 3oz, 9 dace all small save for one that needed the net. Quick lunchtime session in a swim that always flatters to deceive. Grayling was a nice bonus though.

Willows Lake - Thatcham 1500 - 2230 Warm with sunny spells - clearing at dusk with a nice southerly breeze to keep the mossies off. AT 21ºC or there-abouts for most of the afternoon. 3 Tench; 6lb 8oz, 5lb 3oz, 1½lb. 3 Carp; 10lb 11oz, 7lb 8oz, 6lb 11oz News that the carp in here weren't showing very well (post spawning malaise?) had me chancing my arm for the tincas. Went all out with my default tench tactics - prawn sections float fished lift method style and it wasn't long before I was having my hook straightened by a muscular carp! The next time my float went under it resulted in the 10lber - and whilst I was rather pleased to land it on my float rod I thought I was going to be in for an evening of carp frustration. I need not have worried, as the sun sank behind the trees - putting my swim in shade - the tench showed up - with all 3 in quite quick succession. The first up being the 5lb male. The 6 my biggest for 4 years and my best from an NAA club water since 2010.

River Kennet - Brimpton 1700 - 2030 Warm and sunny. AT 24ºC. River quite full for high summer - great to see so much water in it! 6 Chub: (in order of capture) 2X ¾-1lbers, 2lb 5oz, 3lb 13oz, 4lb 3oz, 5lb 4oz (they got bigger as the shadows lengthened!). 4 Brownies, a 'pounder' and 3 in the 6-8oz class. Super evening's sport - though, as per usual, had to rely on the 'rest and return' policy after 2 splashy trout in the first 5 mins from my banker swim. Fished 5 swims in total but only had fish from 2 of them...

How did you get on, there?

River Kennet - Hambridge 0430 - 0800 Warm, muggy and overcast with a welcome heavy shower just after I packed up. AT 17ºC (but felt a lot warmer!). River quite full - especially for June! 6 Chub; 3lb 3oz, 2lb 10oz and 4 between ¾-1½lb. 21 Dace - nothing especially noteworthy - though they weren't tiddlers either. 2 Roach (same!) and 2 Brownies c½lb. A morning's trotting and home for breakfast - gotta love June! And I really should follow my own advice - I recently re-worked this old article for AN for my club's quarterly newsletter - though gearing it more to summer chubbing. I was making the point that in June chub can be found in surprisingly fast water - and that was certainly true this morning. I'd blanked in my usual chub hot-spots and switched to a fast glide in search of some feisty dace - and whilst it was nearly fish a chuck - there was also a shoal of chub in residence at the tail of the swim where it shallowed up. The result - a great morning's sport!

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0430 - 1200 Warm and sunny. AT 13º -> 26ºC. River in good nick, nice depth and flow - still benefiting from a wet winter and early spring. 3 Bream: 5lb 2oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 11oz. 2 Chub 2lb 13oz and a 'pounder'. 6 Dace - 2 gooduns that needed the net, 1 Roach - small. 1 Brownie - 2lber and 1 Rainbow - around 4lb. For the second year running my season opens with some nice river bream - the 5lber my biggest from here. Started in the weir-pool but struggled somewhat - with the only fish putting a significant bend in the rod having adipose fins. All bream and chub coming from the swims above the railway bridge.

Welcome back - hope you find your new lake!!!

Would have thought the Angling Trust would have had experience of this - might be worth asking them - https://www.facebook.com/AnglingTrust

I'd heard that Atlantic Salmon had been turning up where they shouldn't in Canada - didn't know the reverse was also true! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-65645793?fbclid=IwAR0GhIaLOKuzxvTS6q-TW6dDaogUkmtSpG2bgUipFYs6BExvUaXRwjb6lRA

Shame he didn't write any more books - I feel sure Dave had MANY more stories to tell. A quick google reveals that Angling Vagabond is still widely available from all good bookshops (& Amazon!). Worth picking up a copy if you haven't read it. This is what I said about it at the time.... https://www.anglersnet.co.uk/reviews/book-and-media-reviews/angling_vagabond_dave_park/

VERY sad news - Elton's said it all - and an angler's, angler - his species count was V impressive! RIP - Dave.

Martin - have you seen this thread on AN - a little on the old side - was started in 2013 - but might yield some useful nuggets for you in your new home....

I know but a chilly day in mid-March is chub weather in my book....

And therein explains why I take a hiatus every spring! Though can'y quite believe you went to Willows on the last day of the river season...

Gordon Lightfoot https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-singer-songwriter-gordon-lightfoot-has-died-84-cbc-2023-05-02/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65341994

Mark Sheehan https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65281865

More just posted up on DDAS FB page - who would deliberately poison a lake - and why? https://www.facebook.com/ddasfishing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg31xxwwj0zo