Search the Community

Middle Kennet Estate Water - Kintbury. 0700 - 1800 (!) Mainly overcast though mild with a strong southerly breeze. River 'full' with a little colour - in great winter nick. 25 Chub(!): Apart from 4 X1lb class fish which turned up in my various 'dace' swims at first and last knockings, all 3lb class fish. 3 over 4lb @ 4lb 14oz, 4lb 6oz & 4lb 1oz. 6 Dace - one decent fish of 10oz. 4 Roach - including one @ 12oz. 1 Gudgeon (possibly my first ever from here!). A dozen brownies to 3lb. End of season chub fest - part 2! A very blowy day in West Berkshire! All bigger chub on trotted red corn - got through 3 tins of the stuff - and ran out by mid-afternoon! - All lovely brassy fish - though at times the fishing was of Mr Castwell proportions (yet another 3lb chub!). Was hoping to find some big dace and having a pound chub show up got the heart racing at first until I saw it. What dace I did catch had clearly just spawned. Tried half -heartedly for perch - but visited that particular swim to pay my respects to Paul - who's ashes were buried nearby.....

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham 0700 - 1600 Mild and becalmed. River quite high up nearly a foot on my last visit in Jan. 14 Chub; 11 over 1lb - best 3lb 12oz, 30+Roach, 6 Dace, a dozen + Brownies to 3lb. End of season bash part 1!! Again invited Rusty to join me on my syndicate bit of river - and he actually caught some chub this time! Also got to meet some other members - first time I've met another angler here!

River Kennet - Brimpton 0730 - 1000 Bright and sunny after a foggy start - mild. River quite full with a bit of colour - in lovely winter 'nick'. 3 Chub; 4lb 2oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 5oz. 1 Brownie. Breakfast on the river for some fine winter's chub then home to cook the Sunday roast for Mother's Day.

River Kennet - Brimpton 0800 - 1100 Cold and bright after a cloudy start. AT around 1ºC but felt MUCH colder in a biting NE wind - should think the wind chill was sub zero! . River 'full' and quite clear. 2 Chub 3lb 7oz & 2lb 8oz. I Brownie of 2lb. Chilly morning after the chub - and bites were at a premium - so very happy to winkle a couple out! Fished 3 swims and had both chub from the last one visited.

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham 0900 - 1500 Cool, calm and mainly overcast. AT around 6ºC all day. River a couple of inches lower on my last visit over Christmas - with most of the colour dropped out. 8 Chub; 5 over 1lb - best 3lb 2oz, 2 doz+ Roach, 4 Dace - to 8oz & 4 Perch (all small). (NO trout - bit of a first for here!) Birthday treat with Rusty as my guest. Low water meant chub were a little on the spooky side - only found one swim where I caught more than one in succession. Roach were in abundance as always - just as well as Rusty had a frustrating time losing chub!

River Kennet - Brimpton 1200 - 1545 Mild (10ºC) and overcast with drizzly rain for first hour or so. River up a touch and carrying a bit of colour. 5 Chub; 4lb 12oz. 4lb 10oz, 4lb 6oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 3oz. Cracking afternoon's chubbing and a very satisfactory start to 2018. All fish in lovely winter condition and a superb average size ( 5 fish for over 20lb) though in truth I was hoping to re-acquainted myself with one (or both!) of the 5lbers I had from here back in the summer! Fished 3 swims in rotation - had fish from all of them - with 2 coming after swim's being rested.

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham 0900 - 1600 Cold and sunny with snow on the ground from yesterday max temp 4ºC (briefly!). River up a couple of inches on last visit here (Nov) and carrying a little colour. 7 Chub: 4lb 5oz, 3lb 6ox, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 8oz, 2lb 0oz and 2 sub 1lbers. A dozen+ dace to 10oz, 4 dozen+ roach - most hand sized or bigger! 4 Brownies and a rainbow - all 2-3lb. Chubbing in the snow - loverly! This venue really comes into its own in the winter months and it didn't disappoint! Most chub in the first hour - then spent most of the day trying to find some bigger (ie 1lb+) roach and whilst they came thick and fast with a LOT of fish in the 6-8 oz class I only caught one which warranted the scales but that was still 3oz shy of a pound. Cracking sport none the less.

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!

​River Kennet - Speen Moors ​0700 - 1500 ​Mild and overcast. AT 14ºC. River at normal levels. ​4 Chub; 4lb 3oz, 3lb 11oz, 3lb 3oz, 2lb 13oz. 5 Dace, 3 Roach, 4 Brownies - 2 'pounders' and 2 parrs. ​Kennet chub-fest part 2! 3 of the chub caught in the first hour which took the pressure off somewhat so went exploring - with little reward. Had quite a few lobs to use up but none of the usual perch haunts produced so much as a bite. Ended up in a swim where I caught my first ever 3lb+ perch (in 1999) but have rarely fished it since. This did at least produce my 4th chub of the day plus a couple of semi-respectable roach.

​River Kennet - Thatcham ​0815 - 1415 ​Mild and overcast. AT up to a very balmy 16ºC when I packed up. River quite pacey and clear. ​4 Chub; 4lb 0oz, 3lb 11oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 8oz, 3 Grayling, 1 Dace. ​Fished 2 venues - one immediately downstream of the other - though different clubs - and had a brace of chub from each. All the grayling were quite chunky - in the 12-14oz class.

​Northcroft Stream ​0700 to 0930 ​Mild and cloudy with sun breaking through. River up a bit but with very little colour. ​5 Chub: 4lb 1oz, 3lb 2oz, 2lb14oz, 2lb 9oz, 2lb 6oz. 1 Perch. ​Last minute change of plan which paid off handsomely! Had intended to fish much further downstream but hadn't reckoned on ¾in of rain yesterday and reasoned that the river below Newbury/Thatcham might be coloured up. 2 chub from the weirpool - (which had a salmon in it trying to jump the gauge weir!!!!) and 3 chub including the 4lber from my favoured chub swim further downstream... ​River Lambourn - Shaw ​0945 - 1130 ​7 Grayling.

I've dropped out of angling pretty much for the past two seasons due to a serious cycling habit - but the allure of the rivers is drawing me back. Once June 16 hits I hope to wet a line. Unlike my my inventive fishing partners who employ a range of fishing techniques for a range of species, I will invariably drop into a trotting session with float and fixed spool reel (my centrepin days never really took off). I guess my hopes for next season include a summers day, sun shining (yes I know that knocks my chance of catching), hearing the water burbling past and my float smoothly edging down the swim, across gravel beds between streamer weed. I'll probably lug my gear along by train and public transport. Happy to cough up a few spondoolies for a day ticket. But where? Countryside or urban I don't care. I don't want you to put me on your fish. But somewhere interesting where I'll have a sniff. Thanks folks Tiddler Tamer

Northcroft Stream 0930 - 1400 Mild, overcast and VERY breezy. River in great winter shape - quite pacey with very little colour. 3 Chub; 4lb 6oz, 3lb 15oz, 2lb 11oz. 23 Dace. Couldn't decide where to go today - the mild weather suggested a canal perching session - the howling gale whistling around the house when I awoke at 0530 suggested other wise!! So a lay-in and Plan B - Chub - always a winter favourite. Smaller one in the weir-pool - the other 2 plus most of the dace from a nice run above the bridge.

River Kennet - Thatcham 0945 - 1315 Overcast, mild and breezy. River at normal levels with a tinge of colour. 2 Chub; 3lb 14oz & 3lb 11oz. 6 Dace - 4 in the 8-10oz bracket (nice!). 2 Grayling. 6 Trout; 4 over 1lb to 2lb 14oz. Nice to get more than one chub from here and nice to get the place to meself - somewhat surprisingly. A couple of the trout had gorgeous golden colouration - including the biggest one - though I wish they didn't impersonate barbel in they way they fought.

River Kennet - Newbury 0945 - 1415 Very mild, with milky sunshine at times. AT 59ºF. WT53ºF. River low and clear - almost at summer levels. 3 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 2 'pounders'. 5 Perch; 4 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 15oz, and one just shy of 1lb. 20 Dace. 6 Roach. 2 Grayling; both around 12oz. 3 Brownies; 2lb+ fish and a couple of parr fish. Very productive trotting session - standing in the middle of the river in shirt-sleeves in December! Found a shoal of perch right at the end of the session and a quick change to lobs saw 4 of them on the bank in 20 mins. (First one on maggot).

Northcroft Stream - Newbury 0930 - 1330 Mild, overcast and blustery with some drizzle in the wind at times. 12ºC. River at 'normal' levels and quite clear. 2 Chub; 3lb 3oz & 2lb. 2 perch - both around 10-12oz. 30 dace, 4 roach, 1 Rainbow trout - 3lb. Aim was to get amongst the chub - achieved with the first 2 fish caught - though when I dropped down from the weirpool to my more reliable chub spot I could only catch dace. Rainbow fight was interesting at is was chased around the weirpool by a rather large pike. Thankfully it didn't managed to grab it but it certainly made for a lively couple of minutes!

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2300 Cool, calm and overcast. 11ºC river low and carrying quite a bit of leaf litter. 1 Chub: 5lb 2oz. A similar start to my last visit here 3 weeks ago in fact I have a suspicion it might even be the same fish. However as my camera was still plugged into the computer at home I didn't get to take it's portrait for comparison. Only bite of the evening - so no barbel main course after the chub starter. Was subjected to a barrage of twitting from a tawny owl sitting in the branches not 20 foot from my head making a hell of a racket for the first hour of darkness.

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham. 1330 - 1630 Bright and breezy after HEAVY morning rain (circa 1inch). River coloured up but dropping. 4 Chub: 3lb 6ox, 1¼lb and 2 chublets. 5 Dace - 1 clonker of 10oz (weighed), 1 Roach, 2 Gudgeon & 2 Brownies - both over 1lb. Post 'monsoon' trotting session. Reckoned the chub might be on the feed - reckoned right!

I've pinched this from Vineys "Frustrating session" thread as I think it deserves a thread of its own Both are really interesting in content and there is room for further discussion in each, but if continuing in just one thread it might get a tad confusing....or it would for me at least On these Upper Thames chub Steve....I bet a free-lined slug would be a superb bait! I've used them with almost devastating effect on the Kennet, to the extent that on more than one occasion I've been bringing a chub to the net, with the slug hanging outside its mouth, only for another chub come and try to take it !

Only a short afternoon visit, and a bit shorter than planned as I spent far too long waffling with the owner of the local tackle shop where I buy my maggots! That said, he did recommend a swim on the river Blackwater where I might get a chub or two. He didn’t mention that it was also full of gudgeon! So after ten minutes trotting maggots, and ten bites, and ten gudgeon…..I moved to another swim! The move paid off, second trot through my 6 x No.4 stick float dipped, and I had my first chub….all 2oz of it! A few minutes later another chub, getting bigger, this one would have pushed the scales to around 4 ounces. Next one was even bigger, around 12oz and playing this one, and yes I did have to be a bit careful….2lb hooklength and a size 17 hook…unfortunately attracted the interest of a pike which repeatedly went for the chub as I tried to get it in the net as fast as I could. I’d guess the pike was around 7-8lb, average kind of size for the Blackwater, and great fun to catch on the right tackle…a plan for later into the winter. Last chub of the brief afternoon foray was very much in the size range I had hoped for, even Mr. Pike didn’t bother as I tried to keep this one under an element of control. I had a few anxious minutes as the chub tried its utmost to reach the safety of the tree roots eventually tiring enough for me to slide the net under it. Three pounds and twelve ounces…that would do….mission accomplished. I did also get a few dace to around 6oz, and a couple of perch, so all in all a very successful 90 minutes fishing! Not brilliant quality picutes as I left my camera at home, and haven’t yet got to grips with the camera on my new phone, give me another six months and I might be a bit better…or not!

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!

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0700 - 0830 Mild and overcast. 4 Perch: 2 'pounders' though not by a lot. 1 Chub 1lb 10z. 1 Carp 5lb 3oz. Detour en route to Speen to check out a couple of 'banker' stripey swims from last winter. First cast perfection as the lob plopped an inch from a semi-submerged branch was met with the float shooting under before it had time to cock and a powerful fish charged up the cut. I knew it wasn't a perch - and whilst I had hoped it would be a nice tench my suspicions were confirmed when I eventually got it under control - a ruddy carp - my first ever from here in over 30 years of fishing it. Some target fish followed but nothing over 1lb 6oz before a slightly more welcome chub put in an appearance....

Hello everyone. I fancy having a go at fishing the Thames around Richmond, what would my chances with artificial lures and spinners be there? What is the likelihood of catching Pike in that stretch of the Thames? Any advice on decent spots around that area, and any tips in general? Thanks ! Sebbo

As Rusty alluded to in his most recent blog, there would be three reports from the same outing on 9th Febraury….and following on from Chris, this is the last. The reader may think that being the last to be published means it has taken the longest to write and is therefore likely to be a work of literary genius. However…..it probably isn’t. Being the chief organiser of the day, my plans got off to a very poor start when, less than 24 hours before the meet up time, I found out that we wouldn’t be able to have access to the stretch that I really wanted to fish. Then, to add to my sense of dismay, I saw the weather forecast! From being really excited about a day out on the river I started to look forwards to the beer on the way home, and that was before I had even done any fishing! The day dawned exactly as forecast, well, not so much of a dawn, more a change in light conditions from totally dark to nearly dark. At least it was light enough to see the edge of the river as we walked upstream to our chosen swims, and to see the snowflakes. After trying the main river a little further downstream from Chris, spending 30 biteless minutes, my usual impatience set in, and with so much water to explore, I went for a wander. Now, the sensible thing to do on a day when the angler knows it is going to be tough going, is to fish swims that have produced results in the past. So, I did the exact opposite and went to explore a section I hadn’t fished before! The reader will agree however, that this first swim looks like a perfect chub haven. Unfortunately, the chub didn’t have the same opinion and I didn’t get a bite. Another 50 metres downstream and an even more “chubby” looking swim. Surely there would be hordes of chub here, even Mr. Crabtree would have been dribbling at the prospect of fishing here. Fourth trot through, the float dipped and a fish was very briefly attached to the other end of my line, before the hook pulled. Checking the size 18, I established that the hook point was about a sharp as a stick of celery, so new hooklength attached I tried again. After another 5 minutes feeding maggot and guiding the float through the trailing branches, the float dipped again, and this time the hook held. At a few ounces under 3lb’s, it wasn’t a monster by any stretch of the imagination, but mission accomplished, my target for the day had been to catch a coarse fish! Little did I know as I poured a celebratory coffee, that this was to be my only coarse fish of the day! The hordes of chub that I expected to be under the branches….weren’t there or at least if they were, then my maggots were failing in their task of attracting fish to eat them. Having negotiated our mid-morning relocation to a new section of a Kennet carrier, I went all the way to the top limit, and it was easy to see at this point why it is called a chalk stream! Ninety minutes, and a brown trout later, we stopped for lunch, lovely location for a fishing hut, well, okay, more accurately, a lovely location for a shed. At least it had a couple of chairs and it was nice to sit down for a few minutes after all the walking we had done. Back to the main Kennet after lunch, for more walking around throwing maggots in likely looking spots. Yet another “chubby” looking swim,......with no chub. I did manage to catch another three fish in the afternoon, two more brown trout and a very fat rainbow of around 5lbs, before the light started to fade…. ….and the call of the pub with good beer and an open fire became too strong to resist. A struggle of a day, but it was nice to be out in the fresh, if not a bit damp, air, with good company, and if fishing was easy all the time, it would get boring…..wouldn’t it ?

Just started a YouTube channel. Let me know what you think, guys.