Chris Plumb
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Posts
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Everything posted by Chris Plumb
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River Kennet - Newbury (Whitehouse) 0900 - 1300 Bright and breezy with heavy showers. AT 8ºC. River very pacey with a tinge of colour. 1 Chub: 5lb 14oz. 9 Roach - all a 'nice' size - the one I deemed worthy of the scales went 14oz - with all the others around half that! 2 Dace - small. A quick return to my pre-Christmas venue. When I walked back to my car last week I spied a slack which simply screamed 'here be chub' and I wasn't wrong! First trot through the float buried at the end of the run and I was into a very stubborn battle. A lumbering fight more befitting of a big bream - but very pleased with a season's best chub. Couldn't winkle out another so went exploring and had decent-ish roach from the two other swims I dropped into.... Nearly a 6.
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River Kennet - Newbury ('Whitehouse' stretch) 1230 - 1430 Mild, overcast and windy. AT 12ºC. River full and clear. 8 Roach - all quite chunky - in the 6-10oz class. 1 Dace: a good-un - worthy of the scales at 13oz. Been yonks since I last fished here - but rumours of good silver fish catches (including big dace) had me investigating on a recent visit to B&Q and vowing to return with rod in hand. Had originally intended to fish down the length of the Lambourn again - but instead decided to switch plans for an exploratory session here to finish off my maggots prior to my bait fridge getting its annual clean and pressed into Christmas duties. As it turned out I didn't move from the first swim I dropped into - the fish coming in a slow and steady fashion - I also bumped something much bigger so a return trip and a longer stay will be a priority in the New Year!
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River Lambourn - Newbury 0900 - 1200 Mild, overcast and very windy due to Storm Pia - some swims had some jeopardy due to falling branches! AT 11º/12º. River very high and clear. 1.67m on the Shaw gauge. 8 Grayling: half over a lb - best 1lb 11oz. 3 Brownies - all small/parrs. Bit of a 'scratchy' morning with most of my more reliable swims hardly producing a bite. Think all the extra water has pushed the fish into some unlikely spots. Eventually found some fish and had 4 from one slack - including the biggest of the morning...
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Second time - this year!
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0845 - 1400 Mild and overcast - quite breezy. AT 10º-12ºC. River VERY high, up another 3 or 4 inches on last month and with a hint of colour. 4 Chub: 2lb 14oz, 2lb 10oz, 2lb 3oz, 1lb 10oz. 4 Roach, 3 Dace, 1 Perch (all small). 1 Brownie 4½lb Morning got off to a cracking start with all four chub caught in the first ½hour - then switched to a slack on the weir-pool that has been throwing up nice perch all autumn - but they weren't in residence - though their prey was! Another move to a rarely fished swim produced the big brownie....
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Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 1400 - 1600 Cool, calm with some milky sunshine. AT 7ºC 10 Perch; most quite small - with one good-un @ 2lb 4oz. 1 Pike c2½lb Successful dusk session after a big stripey, in a canal basin that is something of a winter aquarium - for predators and prey - as evidenced by a couple of the club's seasoned match anglers who were also fishing it when I arrived. They kindly let me drop in above them - and I was quickly having problems with pike - I got bitten off twice in the fist 20 minutes. A series of small perch followed before something that put a decent bend in the rod and that wasn't a pike was brought to the waiting net. A 'scissors hooked' pike soon followed and proceedings were brought to an end with yet another bite off.....
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Middle Kennet (& Carrier), Marsh Benham 0900 - 1315 Cool, calm and cloudy - a lovely benign winter's day. AT 5º-7ºC. River very full and clear - though down a couple of inches on 10 days ago. 2 Chub: 3lb 5oz & 2lb 7oz. 3 Brownies; 2½-3½lb. I had a cunning plan for today - return to the south bank flood slack I found last week - pre-bait with copious amounts of red sweetcorn and empty the swim of big winter chub - or at least that was how it played out in my imagination! The reality was somewhat different. I usually have great faith in red corn as a winter chub bait - but after a bite-less hour I switched to maggot and had a 3lb chub immediately - ho hum. It would prove to be my only bite from the main river - so it was a long walk back to fish the top of the carrier - for the inevitable 'trout-fest' (I lost as many as I landed!) before eventually catching a more modest chevin!
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8 & 11.12 - Treoes lake
Chris Plumb commented on Bayleaf the Gardener's blog entry in The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker
Very good thing, and to think trebles for carp used to be de rigueur - my 1952 copy of Mr Crabtree has them being in-bedded in a par boiled spud for bait! -
River Lambourn - Shaw 0930 - 1330 Cool, overcast and drizzly. AT 6ºC. River full and clear. 1.68m on the Shaw river gauge. 6 Grayling - a couple of 'pounders' - biggest 1lb 6oz, 3 around 8-10oz and a tiddler. 12 Brownies - all small/parrs. I had planned to fish the Kennet today - but another 14mm of rain yesterday will have completely stuffed up even my most favoured flood swims. Somewhat of a scratchy morning - largely failing to avoid the small trout which were everywhere. Session somewhat redeemed by the last fish caught which was also the biggest lady, from a swim that had recently been vacated by another angler!
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8 & 11.12 - Treoes lake
Chris Plumb commented on Bayleaf the Gardener's blog entry in The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker
I've heard of whitebait being used as a carp bait in the past - so not surprised you had one on a sprat! -
River Kennet - Hambridge 0945 - 1415 Cool with a bright start - clouding over (thankfully). AT 4º-10ºC. River VERY high - highest I've seen it this winter - yet with surprisingly little colour considering it rained most of yesterday! 2 Chub: 3lb 10oz, 3lb 3oz. 2 Perch: 3lb 0oz , 2lb 7oz. 1 Roach (small), 1 Grayling (ditto). 1 Brownie - c2lb. Started off in my downstream flood swim - as it is more shady and had both chub from it (plus the red-fin, lady and brownie). Moved upstream after lunch as it was clouding over and my first swim had been trashed by the trout. Only 2 bites in the afternoon but they both produced quality stripeys including a second 3lber from this swim this winter. A fat 3lber!
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6.12.23 - River Ely, St Fagans
Chris Plumb commented on Bayleaf the Gardener's blog entry in The Newbury & Port Talbot Blanker
I feel your pain- Martin! Though I'd still see a brownie on trotted maggot as a hollow victory! -
Denny Laine https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67630264
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Middle Kennet (& Carrier) - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1400 Cool, overcast with some light drizzle at times. AT 4º-5ºC. River very full with a little colour after yesterday's rain. 4 Chub: 4lb 13oz, 4lb 3oz, 3lb 11oz, 3lb 8oz. 1 Roach - small. 9 Brownies, 8 between 2lb-4½lb and a small-un. Fished the whole length of the carrier in the morning, think I pretty much ran a float through every swim for a solitary roach and the 9 Brownies (groan). Then walked down the canal bank to retrieve a float I'd unwisely cast into the bushes and to have a crack at the South bank of the main river for a change. Thankfully this resulted in finding some decent chub at last and had all 4 in pretty much consecutive casts (though I did rest and feed the swim between each fish). Proceedings were brought to an end by another splashy trout which got off but not before going airborne at just the spot where the chub had been taking my bait - sigh!
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Sounds a plan - and will take some to the Lambourn where I can see how the ladies react to it!
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How soft are they? Are they gonna stay on the hook for more than one trot on my local chalkstreams?
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I'm not up with the latest baits - so have never heard of the stuff - might investigate the next time I'm in Tony's.....
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River Lambourn - Newbury 0845 - 1415 Cold and cloudy. AT -2º -> +1ºC. (Proper Grayling weather!). River very full and clear. 23 Grayling. 8 over a lb - best 4 went 1lb 14oz, 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz (X2 - different fish). 5 Brownies: all small/parrs. I do love cold days like this - wrapped up warm and staying mobile. Had the rare luxury of not seeing another angler so fished the length of the stretch twice with a break for lunch in between. Took corn but forgot it in the morning - doh - so fished with maggot first time and just corn the second. Corn caught fewer though 5 of the 8 'pounders' fell to it. Local tackle shop is stocking krill flavoured red corn which I was using for the first time. My theory is that red corn get's mistaken for trout eggs - and this stuff even smells the part!
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River Kennet - Colthrop 0900 - 1300 Sunny spells - quite cold. AT 5ºC. River very high and gin clear! 1 Dace, 1 Roach (both small). 2 Gudgeon. 1 Brownie. Another venue I visit infrequently (last time was three years ago), but whispers of large chub had me investigating first hand. Started out on the flowing canal in a failed attempt at emulating last week's big dace capture. All in all I struggled for bites all morning....
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Reel is a Chris Lythe - strapped to Rusty's Harrison....
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River Lambourn - Shaw 1215- 1500 Sunny spells - quite breezy and getting chilly. AT 8º-5ºC. River very full but crystal clear as always. 11 Grayling: 5 over a lb. Best two @ 1lb 10oz & 1lb 9oz. 8 Brownies; one 'pounder' the rest all quite small. Looks like being a great year for Lambourn ladies - another couple of fish well above expectations for this venue - and both first cast fish from a couple of usual hot-spots. River very pacey which meant some of my other favoured swims were too turbulent to be holding fish (though that didn't stop me running a float through them to confirm my hypothesis!).
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Reviving another old thread - had this 1lb 1oz beauty yesterday on a canalised stretch of Kennet at Thatcham!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1245 - 1500 Overcast and drizzly. AT 9ºC. River VERY high up yet another couple of inches on my last visit (11 days ago) - but with hardly any colour. 2 Chub: 3lb 6oz & 3lb 2oz. 1 Perch: 3lb 1oz (SB), 1 Dace:(small), 1 Grayling;(ditto) Usual 'flood swim' bonanza - 2nd winter in a row I've had a 3lb+ perch from here. Started downstream of my usual swim which produced the 'smaller' chub and the 2 'silvers'.
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K&A 'flowing' Canal - Thatcham 0900 - 1200 Cool, overcast and drizzly at times. AT 8ºC. River VERY full, flowing quite hard (for a canalised section) but clear. 2 Dace: 1lb 1oz (!!!) & 11oz WOW! I visit here quite infrequently as it isn't a particularly prolific stretch - though it has thrown up some big autumn dace in recent years - and that sort of what I was hoping for - but wasn't expecting anything quite so jaw dropping. I'd started on The Arrowhead - for old times sake - (I haven't caught a decent fish from it in a decade) and after a bite-less hour dropped down onto the canal proper. 'Smaller' dace was first cast followed almost immediately by the pounder which I assumed was a small chub until I got it to the surface. My biggest dace for 20 years.
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Kennet & Avon Canal - Woolhampton 1430 - 1615 Cool and overcast. AT 9ºC 5 Perch; 3 between ¾-1lb+ and 2 tiddlers. All fish 10 mins either side of 1600 - not a bite before then!
