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Chris Plumb

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Blog Entries posted by Chris Plumb

  1. Chris Plumb

    27 August

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Harris Lake - Marsh Farm, Milford.
    1500 - 0000
    Cool, calm and clear evening. Lovely evening for star (and planet) gazing - Jupiter is in oppostion at the moment so is particularly bright.  AT a chilly 9ºC when I packed up - felt a little autumnal!
    9 Crucians; All bar one over 2lb (and even that one was only 2oz shy). Best 3: 3lb, 2lb 12oz, 2lb 9oz. 2 Tench; 4lb 9oz & 3lb 13oz. 4 Rudd.
    Five hours without a bite (save for the micro rudd which annoyingly kept attacking a bare hook as I was trying to shot my waggler at the start!) followed by a couple of hours of frenetic activity. As so often happens here the dinner bell rang just as it got dark and by 10pm I'd had 10 fish - with the only bite after this time (nearly an hour later) being the bigger tinca. All fish caught mere inches from the bank in around 18 inches of water! (ie NOT where my float is in the cover pic). The fish here are used to the day ticket anglers discarding their bait in the margins and move in after closing time to hoover it up!


  2. Chris Plumb

    16 January

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1415 - 1640
    Mild(ish), mainly cloudy. AT 8ºC.
    6 Perch: Biggest 1lb 11oz - all the rest ½-1lb.
    Quick sesh to make the most of the short mild 'snap' though suspect the water temps haven't caught up with the air ones. Only 1 bite before 1615 - then a flurry of activity for 20 mins in the increasing gloom - as per normal!
  3. Chris Plumb

    9 March (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1500 - 1800
    Bright and breezy. AT 11ºC - but felt a whole lot cooler on an exposed canal bank!
    8 Perch: a solitary 'pounder' - and that not by much - nearly all the others around 8-10oz.
    Having been well and truely sated on the chub front the aim is now to try and get some decent perch in the last days of the season. This venue has been disappointing this winter  - and today was no different! No bites at all until 1715 - then a flurry of activiity - but not from anything of any size, alas.
  4. Chris Plumb

    9 March (Part 1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Lambourn - Newbury
    1000 - 1200
    Bright and breezy. AT around 10ºC. River at normal levels.
    7 Grayling: all small. 4 Brownies: ditto.
    Had to pop over to the tackle shop to top up the bait fridge for the final push and as I correctly reasoned I'd have this popular spot to myself on a week day thought I'd have a couple of hours. Was hoping to get a grayling or 2 yesterday on the Kennet - so today was to make up for the lack of them yesterday. Usual tactics of catch one and move - bumped the only sizeable one that I had a bite from - sigh!
  5. Chris Plumb

    5 March

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet carrier - Marsh Benham
    0900 - 1400
    Cool, overcast and breezy with showers to finish. AT 4º - 6ºC (but felt much chillier in the stiff breeze). River up a couple of inches but still at the bottom end of normal!
    6 Chub; 3X3lbers 3lb 13oz (yes I had another one shortly after you left - Steve!) and a brace at 3lb 8oz - possibly same fish - caught 90mins apart from same swim - though chub are not usually so careless!, 2lber and a couple of 'pounders'. 1 Roach - small & a Rainbow of circa 3lb.
    Started off on the main river in high hopes that the extra water will have brought the fish out - but all my usual haunts were bereft of fish - not so much as a bite. So all fish from the carrier - in fact most from a shallow run at the top of the fishery - catching chub from the shallow-est part of the venue - not at all what I expected!
  6. Chris Plumb
    Lower Itchen Fishery
    0830 - 1730
    Bright and sunny all day - quite breezy at times. AT -2º -> 10ºC. River looked in good nick.
    16 Grayling: most around 8-10oz with 4 bigger. Best went 1lb 5oz. 1 Chub 3lb 10oz. 6 Brownies; 1½ - 2½lb. 2doz+ Salmon Parr!
    Since Paul's passing in 2015 I've organised (or tried to) a couple of fish-ins a year to a couple of our favourite venues - and places where Paul himself used to organise get togethers of the Internet Angling Club. This was the first Itchen trip for 3 years however. 2020 succumbing to Storm Dennis & 2021 to Covid so it was nice to catch up with friends old and new and raise a few pounds for Duchess of Kent Hospice.
    Some of my party had never seen or caught a salmon parr before, and after today I don't think there'll ever want to see one again! Blighters were every where - in the same way that minnows can be! At least it meant no-one blanked - even Glenn caught one! Grayling however were a little thin on the ground - half of mine came from the very last swim I dropped into (along with the chub). Best of the day that I heard of was a 1lb 9oz fish to Phil - with one of Steve's mates getting one of a similar size. I think the bright conditions made the fish a little spooky, shame it didn't have the same effect on the Salmon parr.
    A BIG thank you to everyone who came - and to those that didn't but still gave me a donation for Sue Ryder - MUCH appreciated. Will post final total in the next day or so but it is already over £350 after paying the fishery. Final contribution to Sue Ryder came in at £365.
  7. Chris Plumb

    19 February

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1415 - 1715
    Bright and VERY,VERY blowy - never see such waves on the canal before! AT 10ºC
    4 Perch: a couple of 'pounders' and a couple half that.
    I ummed and ahhed about what to do today given the conditions and heavy rain around mid-day. Ended up having another fairly fruitless session trying to winkle out a big stripey from my nearest water - though yet again conditions were very sub-optimal. Only had a couple of 2lbers from here in half a dozen trips and they both came on my second visit in November. All the 'action' if you can call it that today came in the first hour under bright sunshine. Dusk brought not a bite - or if there was one it was to subtle to detect in the heavy chop!!!
  8. Chris Plumb

    12 February

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Marsh Benham
    0900 - 1430
    Overcast morning, brightening up after lunch (to the detriment of the fishing!)  and quite breezy. AT 5º -> 9ºC. River low and clear (at normal summer levels!).
    3 Chub; 4lb 0oz, 3lb 4oz, 2lb 2oz. 1 Bream; 3lb 10oz. 17 Roach; most around 6-8oz with a couple of biggers ones. 1 Bleak.
    Whole session on the main river of my syndicate stretch. Had a first cast trout - which got eventually off but only after totally trashing my first swim! Nearly all the fish from a 'new' swim - or at least one that has been opened up by the removal of some branches by last week's little working party - (thanks chaps!). Meant I can now get a cast across the river to run a float under the far bank trees....😉
  9. Chris Plumb

    5 February (Part1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Hambridge
    0900 - 1200
    Cool, with milky sunshine. AT 2ºC ->9ºC. River still low though up an inch or so on my last visit at the begining of Jan.
    5 Chub: Best 3lb 11oz, the others all ½-1½lb. 7 Dace - one netter of around 8oz. 1 Roach; small. 2 Grayling. 2 Brownies - both ¾-1lb (Possibly same one!)
    A quick sesh at my favourite chub swim - and to check out the recent efforts of the working party here (nice work chaps!). I'm still hoping to make a winter acquaintance of the 5lber I had from this swim back in the summer - but the only decent one was well shy of that stamp - and kept me waiting until well into the session to make an appearance. Usual bait and wait tactics turned up grayling and dace first and second trot!
  10. Chris Plumb

    5 February (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet and Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1500 - 1700
    Overcast and very windy with occaisional (and un-forecasted!) drizzly showers. AT 9ºC. Completely different weather to earlier in the day.
    3 Perch; 1¼lb, another one half that and a tiddler.
    Bites at a premium and a very stiff downstream wind didn't help one bit! No 'witching hour' switch on either.
  11. Chris Plumb

    29 January

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet (& Carrier) Marsh Benham
    1000 - 1530
    Mild and very breezy (too breezy for good float control). AT 9ºC. River low and looking a little threadbare after 3 consecutive months with below average rainfall.
    5 Chub: 4lb 10oz, 2lb and 3 between ½-1lb. 16 Roach - various sizes but nothing to warrant the scales. 11 Dace; most small with a couple of clonkers - best weighing in at 12oz. 1 Rainbow; 3lb & a Brownie c2lb.
    A trip to my syndicate stretch with Martin (Bayleaf The Gardener - of this parish) as my guest. Alas, I couldn't put him on a big chub - though I at least managed to show him they DO exist!😉 Started on the main river - where I had my 2 bigger chub (& the Rainbow - which was a first cast fish in one of my chub swims and was another non-triploid fish as she emptied her eggs into my landing net!). All the silvers from the carrier where Martin also fared much better - see his blog for the full story!
    Rare pic of me actually holding a fish - courtesy of BTG!
     

  12. Chris Plumb

    22 January (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne
    1415 - 1645
    Cool and overcast. 4ºC
    3 Perch: 1lb 7oz, 1lb 4oz and a tiddler.
    Now this was a real gamble! The upper pegs of this stretch were still frozen over so the water temps would have been very low. However I always fancy my chances in the winter when the light fades - and so it proved. I pater-nostered  a lob - to keep it in the same spot adjacent to the common reed and after 2 hours without any indications what-so-ever the float bobbed once and went under at 1620 - the result a 1lb+ perch on the bank. The next 2 casts also produced bites (and fish) but by 1630 the action was all over!
  13. Chris Plumb

    22 January (Part 1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Speen Moors
    0900 - 1330
    Cool and overcast. 4ºC or thereabouts all day. River low and clear - up an inch or so on my last trip here before Christmas but still low for mid January.
    4 Chub; all ½-1lb. 4 Roach - 1 netter of around 10-12oz and 3 smalluns. 4 Dace (all small). 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & 1 Brownie: 2lb+
    Another 'scratchy' session here - saved - as per usual - by the weirpool swims which accounted for most of the fish. Only bite I had from 3 swims on PD resulted in the bigger roach.
  14. Chris Plumb

    9 January

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Lambourn - Shaw
    0915 - 1130
    Cool & bright. AT 1º-6ºC. River low and crystal clear as it always is!
    11 Grayling. Best 1lb 7oz with another 4 in the 10oz -1lb class. 4 Brownies - a 'pounder' and 3 small-uns.
    Usual tactics of catch a couple and move on - though in most swims it was catch one and move - apart from the very last swim I dropped into which accounted for nearly half of the morning's catch. Rather busy with other anglers - though, thankfully, I'd fished (and caught) from my favourite spots before they rocked up....
  15. Chris Plumb

    3 January 2022

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Hambridge
    0900 - 1115
    Mild and overcast. 9ºC. River still quite low @ normal summer levels - though up an inch on my last visit here with just a hint of colour.
    2 Chub: 2lb0oz & 1lb 12oz. 9 Dace - 3 in the 6-8oz class. 4 Roach (handsized). 2 Gudgeon. 1 Brownie c 2lb.
    Quick couple of hours to get 2022 underway! Plan was to start the New Year with a chub - successfully executed first cast! Would have to wait until pretty much last cast for another - which then sicked up all my freebies over my bait smock!
    First fish of 2022.

  16. Chris Plumb

    31 December

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet (& carrier) - Marsh Benham
    0900 - 1400
    VERY mild (14ºC) and cloudy morning - brightening up for last couple of hours. River still on the low side but up a couple of inches on 3 weeks ago and carrying a bit of colour.
    4 Chub: 4lb 1oz, 2lb 2oz and a couple of chublets - one of around a pound the other half that. 1 Bream; 5lb 2oz. 40+ Roach and Dace - mainly roach in an approx ratio of 2-1. Nothing particularly newsworthy - though they weren't tiddlers either - a couple of the dace were over ½lb. 2 Bleak. 2 Brownies - both 2lb+. 1 Rainbow - unweighed but close to 4lb.
    A morning on my syndicate stretch - as I reasoned that all the Christmas rain - and the springs bursting on the downs might have wakened the river up! And so it proved - the first 3 fish were the 2 bigger chub and the bream before - alas - the trout turned up to wreck things! Spent a couple of hours on the carrier which produced the 2 smaller chub and most of the roach and dace.
    My biggest bream from here.

  17. Chris Plumb

    28 December

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1400  - 1615
    Bright and breezy after morning rain. AT 10ºC. Canal surprisingly coloured up after recent rains - surprising - as the canalised river below Woolhampton lock wasn't at all coloured!
    8 Perch; 3 'pounders' - best 1lb 9oz. None of the rest particularly small - all around 8-10oz class.
    Dusk session to take advantage of the mild temps and a (temporary) cessation of precipitation! Whilst I wasn't at all confident when I arrived and saw the colour of the water I needn't have worried as bites were immediate and were slow and steady for the duration - with the biggest, first fish caught.
  18. Chris Plumb

    23 December (Part 1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Speen Moors
    0915 - 1345
    Dull and drizzly.AT 7º - 9ºC. River very low and clear.
    3 Chub; 1¼lb & 2 chublets. 3 Dace, 1 Roach (nothing of any size), 1 Brownie1½lb
    Pre christmas trip to use up my maggot as my bait fridge in the garage gets its annual clean and is sequestered for the turkey and other Christmas victuals. A rather dismal session - and that wasn't just the weather - very few of my banker swims produced so much as a bite - and I even struggled for bites on the weirpool - almost thankful for a brownie to put a bend in the rod!
  19. Chris Plumb

    18 December (Part 1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Thatcham
    0900 - 1130.
    Cool & murky. 7ºC. River low and clear - very low for December.
    1 Chub: 3lb 15oz. 7 Roach - all handsized with a couple of netters of around 10oz. 1 Dace - 11oz (first cast!). 2 Brownies - small.
    With river levels so low both of today's venues were a bit of a gamble. And one which very nearly didn't pay off! I'd fished all my usual hotspots with nothing remotely chubby in residence - though the big dace was a nice bonus. I was trotting my final swim before packing up for an early lunch and a move downstream. The swim is a long shallow glide - I don't expect to get chub from it - but that's what turned up in it today - right at the bottom of the trot too - took an age to coax it up in the current. And whilst not as big as I'd hoped (or thought it might be from its dogged fight)  it saved the day - especially as I all but blanked in my afternoon session (see Part 2).
  20. Chris Plumb

    23 December (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne
    1400 - 1600
    Dull with low cloud and a little drizzle. AT 9ºC
    6 Perch; Best: 2lb 6oz, 1lb 14oz. The rest all around ¾-1lb
    Bit of a gamble - though temps were well up on yesterday I was worried the water temperature wouldn't have caught up. My concerns were unfounded - and as it approached 4pm the switch was flicked for dinner and I had 5 fish in 5 casts. Could possible have had more - but a large pike chased the last one - making an unscuccesful lunge as I netted it - unsurprisingly bites immediately ceased!
  21. Chris Plumb

    18 December (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Brimpton
    1215 - 1445
    Cool & overcast. 8ºC. River low and positively threadbare - we need some rain!
    1 Dace - 8oz or so. 3 Brownies - a couple over 1lb and one of around ½lb.
    A real struggle in very low water - I'd hoped the dull weather would compensate - but not to be! I did actually find some chub - shoaled up under some tree roots in around 18 inches of water - but despite trickling maggots past their liar for 20 minutes - couldn't tempt them out into open water.
  22. Chris Plumb

    12 December (Part 1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Marsh Benham
    0830 - 1315
    Mild, mainly overcast - with a few bright spells. 10-12ºC. River very low for mid December - but then we have had less than an inch of rain since the 1st Nov.
    3 Chub: 5lb 3oz (SB 👏) and a couple of chublets of around ¾lb - 1lb. 2 Doz Roach - of various sizes - the one I deemed worthy of ths scales pulled the needle round to 13oz - looked bigger!). ½ doz Dace - all bar one 6oz+. 1 Bream; 1lb 14oz, 1 Bleak. 1 Rainbow trout; 2¾lb.
    A morning's trotting on my syndicate stretch - the carrier may be weed free - but is in desperate need of some more water so I headed down to the main river. As per usual, I made 'base camp' at the weirpool and fished 4 or 5 swims in rotation - searching for the chub - the big one coming from the last swim I visited. Planned to return to it but Steve turned up with his pike gear - so I left him to to it - though he was Esox-less when I left!

  23. Chris Plumb

    12 December (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton
    1415 - 1615
    Mild, overcast with drizzly showers. AT a mild 12ºC
    4 Perch; 3 smalluns and one of around 14oz-1lb.
    Quick couple of hours to make the most of the sudden rise in temperature - though the 'witching hour' came and went with not so much as a hint of a bite - all 4 fish coming in the first ¼hr!
     
  24. Chris Plumb

    4 December (Part 1)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Lambourn - Newbury
    0800 - 1015
    Cool & bright after early rain. AT 4ºC. River very low and gin clear as it always is!
    8 Grayling; 5 over a lb. Best 2 - 1lb 9oz & 1lb 6oz. 1 brownie - small.
    A curious couple of hours, notable for the paucity of bites AND the quality of the ladies that did show up for breakfast. Starting at the top of the stretch and working my way down I was somewhat surprised and disappointed to not get as much as a chewed maggot from my first 4 swims. Was then doubly surprised to get a good fish on my first trot from my 5th swim. It would prove to be my only bite from here. This then set the pattern for the rest of the session. My next 4 swims produced a 1lb+ grayling within the first couple of run throughs and very little else. I guess low water and bright conditions made the fish especially spooky - giving you pretty much one chance in each spot. Within a couple of hours or so I'd worked my way down most of the stretch and meeting another angler working his way up decided to abandon proceedings and head 'round the corner' for a quick session on the Kennet (see part 2).
  25. Chris Plumb

    4 December (Part 2)

    By Chris Plumb,


    Coarse Fishing
    River Kennet - Hambridge
    1030 - 1200
    Cool & bright. AT 6ºC. River low (very low for December) and clear.
    1 Chub: 2lb. 10 Roach (nothing of any size). 5 Dace; (a couple in the 6-8oz class). 1 Grayling. 1 Brownie c1lb.
    Hadn't planned on a '2 venue morning' but having abandoned the Lambourn early couldn't resist a sneaky hour or so in a favourite swim. As the river was bathed in bright winter sunshine I really didn't expect any chub so forewent my usual bait and wait approach and started fishing as soon as I was on the bank. Ironically the grayling was my first bite followed by 20 mins or so of the silvers at pretty much 'a fish a chuck'. Bites were just starting to tail off when the chub showed up -  a bit of a bonus and before the swim trashing brownie put in an appearance!
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