Chris Plumb

River Kennet - Speen Moors 1200 - 1515 Mild and overcast. 8ºC. River full and clear. 3 Chub: 3lb 11oz, 2lb 14oz, 1¼lb. 1 Dace; small, 3 Gudgeon. After getting trouted out on my syndicate stretch in the morning it was nice to run a float through a couple of swims without the expectation that every bite would be from something with an adipose fin. Had planned to explore a bit but ended up just fishing the weirpools.

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1115 Mild, calm and overcast. 6º-8ºC. Lovely benign Winter's day. River quite full - though has clearly dropped several inches in the last fortnight - very clear. 2 Chub; 3lb 3oz, 1½lb. 1 Brownie C.3lb and 3 Rainbow's; a lump of around 4-5lb and 2 half that. If there's anything worse than catching brownies - it's hooking rainbows! A brownie will usually reveal itself straight away - boil on the surface - allowing one to play it hard and hope it comes off! Rainbow's on the other hand stay deep, don't charge around like their spotty bethren and do a damn good job of imitating chub! Levels had dropped enough to get back on the main river - and conditions were neigh on perfect for some winter's chubbing. And the morning got off to a promising start with the 3lb chevin from my first swim. Alas, swim 2 produced a thashing brownie - which eventually got off and swims 3 & 4 just the rainbows - with the biggest one having me convinced I was connected to a very nice chub indeed - alas not. I'd always intended to just fish the main river and move downstream in the afternoon - but en route back to the car spent 20mins on the carrier at chub corner for the brownie - which didn't get off and the smaller chub!

River Frome - Wool 0800 - 1430 Bright and sunny. Cool 3º-6ºC. River bank high - but not in the fields any more! Still with a slight tinge of colour. 1.27m on the E Stoke river guage (I've only fished the river once before when it's been this high!). 14 Grayling; 9 over a lb. Best 4: 1lb 12oz, 1lb 13oz, 2lb 0oz, 2lb 2oz. 4 Brownies; a 3lber, another half that and a couple of smalluns. 1 Sea Trout; 1½lb - a bar of silver - still covered in sea lice! The Frome coarse season is only 4 months (Nov - Feb) and for most of the last 2 months it has been well over the banks and only been remotely fishable in the last week or so. The river was still very pacey and today's tactics were about finding slightly quieter water. All fish from just 4 swims with 2 of them producing nice ladies after lengthy rests. I also spent nearly ¼hr connected to a decent salmon! I'd started to get the better of it and was wondering how the hell I was going to get it in the net when the hook pulled. Next trot through and it took my maggot again resulting in another 5 minute battle - with the same result ! Nice to see some large ladies returning - not had a 2lber from here since 2019.

Tom Verlaine https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64442824

River Kennet - Hambridge 0900 - 1300 Cool & cloudy. AT 2º-5ºC. River still very high and clear - down a couple of inches on last weekend but not dropped as much as I'd expected after a dry week. 1 Chub; 3lb 7oz, 1 Bream; 2lb 3oz. 2 Grayling. Scratchy morning in my favourite flood swim with bites at a premium. Bream and grayling in the first ¾hr. Chub first cast after resting the swim for nearly an hour, while I had a leisurely lunch on the bank. Had planned to venture over to Speen this morning but didn't fancy battling with the chaos that is Newbury traffic at the moment - one of the main E-W routes is closed because of a gas leak!

HAHA! Early angler catches the chub - or something like that ....

Working again after a month's haitus!

River Kennet - Hambridge 1300 - 1500 Cold and bright. AT 5ºC. River in full flood - barely within its banks - but crystal clear. 2 Chub: 4lb 3oz & 3lb 6oz. Quick detour on the way home to drop into a swim where the chub to trout ratio was likely to be much better than my morning venue. 2 bites in the first 20 mins were both 'converted' into nice chub - but despite resting the spot for a while I didn't get any more interest.

Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0800 - 1200 Cold, bright and sunny. AT -1ºC -> 5ºC. River very full but crystal clear after a cold, dry week. 4 Chub: all between 2lb 13oz - 3lb 11oz. 6 Brownies 2-3½lb. A sparkly day in West Berkshire. All chub from the same spot - with a brace in the first ½hr or so and another two after resting the swim for a couple of hours. All I caught in the intermediate period were nuisance brownies! Frosty Chub

What's being done about removing the seal?

Sounds horrendous!

Haha!

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0830 - 1615 Bright and sunny and VERY windy all day. AT 7ºC. River high - barely within its banks and with a tinge of colour - in great winter's nick! 20 Chub: 15 over 1lb with 12 over 3lbs. The biggest 5 went 4lb 4oz, 4lb 10oz, 4lb 15oz, 5lb 2oz & 5lb 8oz. 7 Roach & 4 Dace - all small. 6 Brownies; 2½-4lbs. Birthday treat to myself (twas yesterday) resulted in a splendid days winter chubbing. Wind was challenging to put it mildly - nearly got blown in the river once and had discarded my hat within the first 5 mins of fishing after it got blown off my head twice in a minute! Casting and keeping the float on a trotting line was near on impossible at times - especially in the morning when it was particularly lively! However, I persevered with my usual tactics of trotting corn which produced all the big chub and finished off with 45 mins on the (much more sheltered) carriers failing to find any big dace. Biggest of the Day

Makes a change from otters! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-64199038

No. Didn't even lift the net out of the water - don't think it makes for great fish care having all those fish flapping on top of each other - especially perch with their sharp gill covers....

River Kennet - Hambridge 1030 - 1430 Showery and very breezy after heavy morning rain (28mm already this month). AT 10ºC. River up again on Monday's levels and with a lot more colour. 2 Chub: 4lb 11oz & 2lb 8oz. 8 Perch; 7 over 1lb, with 5 over 2lb - best 2lb 10oz. 4 Roach - a netter of around 10oz and 3 small-uns, and the now obligatory gudgeon! Quick return to Monday's swim - though better prepared this time for a stripey campaign! Took lobs, and my keepnet made a rare appearance. I have a long held theory that perch that are returned after capture quickly tell their shoal mates of the jeopardy!. So every one caught today was subjected to temporary incarceration. Seemed to do the trick - five, 2lbers was a splendid return - though, as ever, the chub were first to appear on the scene!

Welcome - can't help much with the Oxford canals - my stomping grounds are just a bit further south!

Just checked back through my diaries to confirm that was my first ever 3lb stripey from Hambridge - lovely colouration but quite an old and tatty looking fish - I photographed its good side - signs of a pike attack on its other flank!

Yeah a real red letter day. I do wonder where the Perch hide at other times - sulking under the branches a 'spose. Not the first time I've had a brace of decent stripeys here when it's flooded up - had a similar return 3 years ago.

River Kennet - Hambridge 1330 - 1500 Bright and sunny. AT 6ºC. River bank high - with a lot less colour than I expected to see after such a wet weekend. 2 Chub: 6lb 5oz & 4lb 13oz. 2 Perch: 3lb 6oz & 2lb 6oz. 4 Roach, 1 Dace - all fairly small. 1 Gudgeon. WOW! Gotta love a good flood swim! Having fished out the Lambourn I thought I'd at least have a look at the Kennet - expecting to see it coloured up and flooded. And whilst it was bank high there was surprisingly little colour - so couldn't resist dropping into a favourite swim when the river is in flood. Even so didn't quite expect what was to follow - especially after a first ¼hr that was biteless. First up was the 2lb perch - sort of what I was expecting/hoping for as they seem to show here when the river is up. I certainly wasn't expecting another at a whole lb heavier which was pretty much next trot through - and a season's best too boot! I'd just put that back when the very next cast produced the big chub - a very stubborn fight - took an age to get in - in fact at one stage I thought I'd foul hooked a big bream as I couldn't budge it off the bottom! As soon as it was in the net I knew it was a 6lber - in fact I was even harbouring thoughts of a new pb - but the needle was a couple of ounces shy of that mark! The silvers and the gudgeon were next up and I was just about to quit while I was ahead when another fat chub decided to put in an appearance - 2 chub for a combined weight of 11lb 2oz - not bad eh? I've fished this stretch for 41 years and in the space of 10 mins caught my venue best chub (only my 2nd ever 6lber from here) AND my biggest ever perch from the venue - wow!

River Lambourn - Newbury 0900 - 1230 Cool, bright and sunny. AT 6ºC. River at normal winter levels - and as clear as gin (of course) despite heavy rain all weekend. 12 Grayling: 4 over 1lb - best 1lb 10oz. 5 Brownies - a lber and 4 parrs. An insurance session as I reckoned 32mm of rain over the weekend would have stuffed up the Kennet too much (I was wrong see part 2!) so opted for a couple of hours on the Lambourn as a cure for cabin fever! Bit of a scratchy morning - not helped by 5 other anglers on the stretch - most of my fish from a swim I've not caught from before - but which will warrant further attention on future trips - as I bumped a big grayling pretty much first run through. Not quite my first fish of 2023 (that was a trout parr!) - but the first one to need the net!

Advantages of a slow news day - this was featured quite prominently on the Beeb this morning.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63747838

Kennet carrier (& main river) - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1330 Bright and breezy with a few light (& one heavy) showers. AT 5º-7ºC. River at normal levels - carrier still a little on the low side for winter. 1 Chub: 2lber. 20 Roach & Dace (slightly more roach - nothing note-worthy). 3 Brownies and a Rainbow - all 2½ - 3½lb - with the Rainbow at the top end of that and possibly pushing 4lb... A morning spent playing (and largely failing!!) at avoid the trout. Got off to a promising start with a chub in the first 10 mins - alas, it would be my only one! Turned into something of a syndicate Christmas social - with over half the membership turning up at some point in the morning!

River Kennet - Brimpton 1030 - 1330 Bright and sunny. Cooler than last couple of days. AT 4º - 6ºC. River at normal levels and with a tinge of colour. 1 Chub: 4lb 6oz. 2 Brownies; Biggest a brute of a fish - must have been close to 4lb but unweighed - the other around half that size. Impromptu trip based on Jaq announcing she was hitting the sales!! Bright winter sunshine are not the ideal conditions for a spot of chub fishing but I reasoned the recent rise in river levels and turbidity might mitigate this - thankfully I was right. However, and as per usual it seems, I started off with trout - though as both fish chose to hug the bottom as opposed to performing their usual aerobatic display, I was convinced I was bringing in decent chub to the net. Thankfully my 3rd fish of the morning didn't have an adipose fin - and whilst it was a fine chub - as fat as a barrel I was rather hoping to re-acquaint myself with either of the 5lbers I had from here back in the summer - would love to see either at their winter weight! Boxing Day Chub

Kennet and Avon Canal - Woolhampton 1330 - 1615 Bright and VERY breezy. AT 11ºC 1 Perch; 1lb 11oz That was a bit below expectations to put it mildly - especially after starting with a semi decent perch in the first 10 mins (and in bright sunshine)- it would prove to be my only bite!!! Wind was a nightmare and way stronger than this morning - made accurate casting and good presentation all but impossible. I fished on hoping that the witching hour would rescue proceedings - but it came and went without incident - alas!